Jane Austen - Early Feminist - Essay Example

Jane Austen - Early Feminist? Jane Austen has been a long-debated figure in British literature. As a female pre-Victorian writer, she presents a view of the world not typically captured in other literature of her time. “Hers was chiefly the outlook of the present tense. … She took her world as she found it, wishing for nothing better” (Bald, 1963: 2). Yet in presenting the people she saw around her throughout her series of social novels, Austen nevertheless made commentary upon the world she lived in, perhaps capturing something between the lines that has been missed in modern criticism. Austen produced six novels in her lifetime: Northanger Abbey (written in 1797), Pride and Prejudice (written in 1797), Sense and Sensibility (1811), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1816) and Persuasion (1818). In each story, similar settings of country manors and small villages take center stage along with the people in them. “If we bear in mind … the important part played in eighteenth-century England by the small community, the great house, the landed gentleman, the network of personal contacts, the ideal of concern for others, the system of manners, and the formal social occasion, Jane Austen’s novels are revealed as being much more in touch with the main currents of her age than has sometimes been supposed” (Monaghan, 1980: 5). Although they take on many similar characteristics, each of Austen’s books remains markedly separated from the others within their own context and in the minds of her readers. “Her books are all alike in spirit, but subtly different in matter. She handled the same type of character, only to produce entirely distinct individuals” (Bald, 1963: 17). In working to capture the “polite social relationships between members of the landed classes within the context of the village and the great house” (Monaghan, 1980: 5), Austen has been said both to be a champion of the Victorian ideals of female submission and subservience as well as of being a forerunner to the feminist movement that would have its roots in this culture. To determine whether Jane Austen was intentionally trying to criticize and ridicule her society’s expectations of women, classifying her among the proto-feminists, an investigation of the ideas she presents in her books regarding marriage, wealth and social status among men and women through her books is necessary. Marriage Supporting the concept that Austen was concerned with reinforcing the proper roles of women in the eighteenth century yet emphasized in the role a greater sense of purpose than typically considered, Bald (1963) indicates that all of the women of Jane Austen’s world were “obsessed by the game of matrimony, but some of them, anyhow, played it without desiring any handicap. Her clever women were on a practical equality with her clever men” (24). This begins to establish the various ways in which Austen portrayed the complicated relationship and reconciliation women found within the narrow world allotted to them. According to Fay Weldon, it is not surprising that marriage should be the all-time goal of all of Jane Austen’s characters as “only thirty percent of women married. … Women were born poor, and stayed poor, and lived well only by their husbands’ favour” (1984: 37). However, the world that Austen captures in her books is a world that is changing from the rigid class systems and gender roles of the past to a new definition. “The social world she described so minutely was that of the Regency, a period, partly in the 18th, partly in the 19th century, that had its own particular characteristics. It was a time when the rigid class system of the earlier 18th century was breaking down, especially in the middle, between the top ruling class of the wealthy and influential land-owning aristocrats and the working classes” (Priestley, 1960: 79). This meant a change in the rigid system of manners that had typified the upper classes as wealthy merchants and sailors began to afford the properties of the decadent rich who, often placing more value on appearances than realities, began overspending. With this change, the role of women was also changed, and it is this change that Austen captures in her novels as she introduces the idea of women as full thinking, feeling and reasonable people, planting the early seeds for the future feminist movements. Austen’s characters, in true female fashion, sought nothing more than an advantageous marriage that would bring honor and dignity to the family as well as comfort and prosperity to her home, depicting the social ideal that the woman’s place was in the home and her career, regardless of her personal tastes, opinions or desires, was to be marriage. “In addition to being able to sing, play an instrument and speak a little French or Italian, the qualities a young … gentlewoman needed, were to be innocent, virtuous, biddable, dutiful and be ignorant of intellectual opinion” (Thomas, 2007). While each of her heroines are shown to possess these qualities in some form or another – Catherine of Northanger Abbey is innocently drawn into the world of ‘horrors’ represented by the Gothic novel, Marianne Dashwood is illustrated as being an accomplished musician in Sense and Sensibility and Anne is greatly admired by Mr. Elliot for her proficiency in translating Italian in Persuasion – most are also shown to have an independent streak that insists upon happiness as well, pushing their restrictions to find a semblance of freedom and independence even within the institution of marriage. This was not an easy task. Not only limited by whether or not she was able to attract a man, women were also limited in their pursuit of ‘marital freedom’ brought about by a congenial marriage dependent on the size of their dowry, the size of their potential husband’s holdings and the approval of her parents if she was younger than 21 (Poole, 1993). In addition, “once a woman has accepted an offer of marriage, all she has or expects to have becomes virtually the property of the man she has accepted as husband and no gift or deed executed by her is held to be valid; for were she permitted to give away or otherwise settle her property between the period of acceptance and the marriage he might be disappointed in the wealth he looked to in making an offer” (Ladies Handbook cited in Poole, 1993). If parents didn’t approve of the boy’s lineage or character for any reason, sometimes based on frivolous reasons, the girl was either obliged to attract a more ‘suitable’ candidate regardless of her own feelings or to risk waiting until she was of legal age to give her own consent. Lydia’s elopement in Pride and Prejudice and the secret engagement between Lucy Steele and Edward Ferrars of Sense and Sensibility are each evidence of independent women making decisions for themselves despite the conventions of society. While Lucy’s marriage requires saving by Mr. Darcy and Lucy’s marriage doesn’t materialize, they nevertheless represent the beginnings of recognition that women required a greater say in their own futures. The image of the ideal woman that emerged in the Victorian era were continuations of ideals that had been held previous to Victoria’s taking of the crown as is evidenced in many of Austen’s lesser characters. These ideals included the already mentioned ideals of entertainment qualities such as being able to play an instrument and being able to speak French or Italian (the languages of the arts). “Whether married or single all Victorian women were expected to be weak and helpless, a fragile delicate flower incapable of making decisions beyond selecting the menu and ensuring her many children were taught moral values” (Thomas, 2007). In characters such as Mrs. Bertram, this is certainly seen to be the case: “She was a woman who spent her days in sitting, nicely dressed, on a sofa, doing some long piece of needlework, of little use and no beauty, … guided in everything important by Sir Thomas” (Mansfield Park, 567). Isabella is unable to avoid attempting to improve her own fortunes by flirting with Captain Tilney, a much richer man with a much more sizable estate to inherit even after having secured her future in an engagement with James Morland in Northampton Abbey. Mrs. Bennet has already worked herself nearly into insanity in trying to determine just how to successfully marry off all five of her daughters without the fortune necessary to attract high stakes suitors. Marilyn Butler (1975) discusses how the most important activity of a young woman, that of choosing a husband, is the driving force behind Austen’s protagonist’s growth in Emma. It is only when Emma begins considering whether she herself should be looking for a husband that Emma begins to come out of her world of illusion to contemplate the real world around her. “What she is about includes a criticism of what value her class is to live by, the men as well as the women” (Butler, 1975: 250). By including the concept that a mere woman, such as Emma, might consider it her duty and charge to also judge the values of the men begins to put the lie in her claim. However, the idea that men were necessary for the completion of a woman, who was incapable of seeing to her own well-being is reinforced in the novel when it is revealed that Mr. Knightley “watched over her from a girl, with an endeavour to improve her, and an anxiety for her doing right” (Emma: 425). Emma is criticized as being too frivolous and silly and the necessary role of men is reinforced as it is observed that “at the personal level marriage would mean submitting to continued moral assessment by a mature man, who would fortify the stronger, more rational, objective and stringent side of Emma’s mind. She is much more attracted to her self-indulgent spinsterhood, which renders her unchallengeable because her supposed mentor, her father, submits to her as readily as Harriet does” (Butler, 1975: 252). What Butler sees as reinforcing the old social conception of the woman as empty vessel and the man as rational, objective reason, others have interpreted as an early turn toward feminism in the novel through the expression of an imperfect, but fully capable thinking and growing individual in a society ready to consider new possibilities. Throughout each of the novels, Austen demonstrates that women had definite ideas of a proper match for themselves that was based not only on sentimental feeling, but also on the rational, reasonable considerations frequently only thought of as belonging to men, ultimately leading to a much happier and thus more fulfilling match for both parts of the couple. Perhaps Austen’s most emblematic female character in terms of representing the traditionally held ideals of humble domesticity is Fanny Price of Mansfield Park. This most quiet and self-effacing girl nevertheless finds it necessary to express her own opinion on the subject of marriage, “I think it ought not to be set down as certain that a man must be acceptable to every woman he may happen to like himself” (Mansfield Park, 809). This reinforces the concept that even the typical girl could feel it necessary to have some independence in her marriage. “Elizabeth acted on the same principle when she refused Mr. Collins” (Bald, 1963: 24). Austen emphasizes the idea that what women really wanted was a degree of independence all their own as Emma, rich and comfortable in her current single status, has the luxury of indulging: “I have none of the usual inducements of women to marry … Fortune I do not want; employment I do not want; consequence I do not want: I believe few married women are half as much mistress of their husband’s house, as I am of Hartfield; and never, never could I expect to be so truly beloved and important; so always first and always right in any man’s eyes as I am in my father’s” (Emma: 84). While she is strongly encouraged to marry, she is unwilling to accept a man strictly on the grounds that he has the correct family, power, money or other social attributes. This becomes obvious as her flirtations with Frank take on greater intensity. “As time goes on, and she is more and more certain that she will refuse Frank, her flirtation with him takes on a worse moral colouring. Providing she is not in love with him, she sees that she preserves her autonomy, and perhaps the whip-hand over him as well” (Butler, 1975: 255). Emma’s wish is to retain autonomy in her actions, something she feels she can only do if she remains single and outside of the control of men. Throughout her novels, Austen demonstrates that her view of marriage is at odds with contemporary thought. “For her, the proper marriage is one in which the two parties operate on a basis of mutual respect” (Monaghan, 1981: 44). In demonstrating the growth of Emma, becoming progressively more ‘fit’ to be the wife of Knightley, Austen demonstrates ways in which Knightley, too, must grow to become ‘fit’ for Emma. “Many readers mistakenly think that he is perfectly fit for Emma even at the start, and that he never changes” (Mansell, 1973: 174). However, as the novel progresses, Knightley reveals that he had incorrectly felt himself to be objective regarding Frank, for instance, when he was, in reality, under the sway of jealous emotions. This revelation that a man, too, could find it difficult to separate emotions from rational, objective decisions illustrates that this is a human, rather than a womanly, trait, which is discussed more fully regarding social issues revealed in the novels. In the end, Austen allows Emma to marry the man who is perfect for her and who she is perfect for, again reinforcing the conception of a match of equals rather than a necessary capitulation of the woman to the man selected for her by others. This is a pattern that can be traced through each of her stories. Perhaps the most revealing of this new definition of women as stronger, more active members in society appears in Persuasion in the image of Admiral and Mrs. Croft driving Anne home after her long walk: “… by coolly giving the reins a better direction herself, they happily passed the danger; and by once afterwards judiciously putting out her hand, they neither fell into a rut, nor ran foul of a dung-cart; and Anne, with some amusement at their style of driving, which she imagined no bad representation of the general guidance of their affairs, found herself safely deposited by them at the cottage (Persuasion: 68). In her expression of differing opinions from that of her sister and father, in her willingness to go against Lady Russell’s misinformed opinions and in her marriage to a sailor, Anne begins to take on many of the characteristics of the more equal marital companion represented in Mrs. Croft. Money and Possessions The importance of money and possessions takes on new meanings as Austen illustrates the plight of women who do not wish to fall under the rule of a man. As Harriet worries over Emma’s future status as a dreadful ‘old maid’, Emma calmly reassures her that the negative attributes of a spinster are only applicable to women who must beg, borrow and work to support themselves, bringing them to a frightful state of social subjugation to both men and women. “I shall not be a poor old maid; and it is poverty only which makes celibacy contemptible to a generous public! A single woman, with a very narrow income, must be a ridiculous, disagreeable, old maid … but a single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as anybody else” (Emma: 85). The philosophy of the time regarding why poverty is so contemptible has less to do with money than it does with character. This is explained by Emma as she informs Harriet that the problem with poverty is that it “has a tendency to contract the mind, and sour the temper” (Emma: 85). A woman caught without a husband, father or brother to support and care for her was a woman without means, easily finding herself living on the street at the whim of the individual (male) named as heir and guardian regardless of the woman’s age. While women were able to find employment doing a variety of things – Jane Fairfax considers, with horror, becoming a governess in Emma and Mrs. Smith struggles to support herself by selling various knitted items through her nurse in Northanger Abby – this is typically considered the last resort and is usually seen as being just barely enough to subsist upon. While being a governess was considered the only viable alternative to marriage available to a young woman of gentle birth, it was considered much in the same line as the slave-trade, since there were no restrictions on hourly limitations or minimum wages in place. In addition, the ability to be a governess did not necessarily ensure a stable future as the need for governesses was not nearly as great as the women available to be governesses. “In 1869, the Home for Unemployed Governesses took in 24,000 women and turned away many more” (Brown, 1967: 63). It is no surprise, then, that none of Austen’s “heroines has any ambition to be admitted into the professions, to manage an estate or to join the army. Instead, they concentrate their energies into the world of manners until, at the conclusions of the novels, they add to this the concerns of marriage” (Monaghan, 1981: 45-46). This concept of marriage as a profession is also reflected in Austen’s portrayal of women as marketable goods searching for a suitable buyer in order to accomplish specific goals – whether that be for title, lands or strictly for her own personal comfort. Yet emotions and sentiment rarely enter into the equation. For example, in Pride and Prejudice, it is Mrs. Bennett who is concerned about how to save the family home when it is revealed that Mr. Collins will inherit the estate while Mr. Bennett remains relatively unconcerned. She becomes furious with Elizabeth for refusing Mr. Collins’ proposal as this may put the family’s comfort in jeopardy. The lack of emotion in this regard is evidenced by Mr. Collins’ systematic approach of offering marriage to each daughter in descending birth order. This aspect of the novel sets up its base as being a novel about material possessions and money. “The stylistic base … is derived from commerce and property, the counting house and the inherited estate … [Austen uses] words that suggest number of money, physical size or material value … When moral and emotional situations are persistently expressed in economic figures, we can hardly escape the recognition that this is a novel about marriage as a market, and about the female as marketable” (Shorer cited in Grab, 2005). There are plenty of other examples within Austen’s novels of the concept that marriage is less a social arrangement or personal choice than it is a business arrangement. Charlotte Lucas’ decision to marry Mr. Collins’ in Pride and Prejudice is seen as a last act of desperation to secure monetary security rather than any hope for an emotional attachment. Although not the decision of a female character, this same concept of marriage as a means of gaining financial security is reflected in Willoughby’s decision to marry Miss Grey instead of Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility which is a decision based upon purely economic factors at the expense of personal emotions. If he had married Marianne as he’d intended to begin with, “he would have had a wife he loved, but no money – and might soon have learned to rank the demands of his pocket-book far above the demands of his heart” (Thompson, 1995: 189). This idea of Willoughby turning to another women because of the size of her fortune illustrates the problems faced by all single women of this era as they struggled to retain wealth enough to attract husbands who could provide for their futures as they themselves were limited in this regard while still attempting to fulfill the wishes of their hearts to find an individual with whom they could reasonably share a life. This concept is again brought forward in Mansfield Park as the various members of the family attempt to convince Fanny to accept Mr. Crawford’s marriage proposal. “Very late in the book [Lady Bertram’s] advice to Fanny is to marry Crawford because one should marry money. Well look at her. Let us recall it was she who captivated Sir Thomas. Her uncle thought she was three thousand short of an equitable claim to Sir Thomas’s fortune, but maybe he too underestimated her abilities” (Moody, 2003). As long as she is left alone to follow her own whims, she is content to allow Sir Thomas make all the weighty decisions and seems almost surprised upon his return home from Antigua to find that she missed him, indicating she, too, married for money rather than love. In respect of the pursuit of marriage, most of Jane Austen’s women are seen to fall in line with the expectations for women during this time period, but the motivations might be slightly different from what is usually anticipated. Rather than supporting the status quo of women’s place is in the home, these women can be seen to be taking the only practical approach to providing for their futures, yet even this is not enough to completely curtail the desire for independence and autonomy. Regarding the reasonably respectable trade of governess, Jane says, “No, indeed the trade does not agree with me, but it is the best way I know to make a living when I am to leave you. If I could choose otherwise, there would be no hesitation, but we both understand the limits as to my choices – to any woman’s choices. As for marriage, it is not out of consideration, but I will not be subject to a mercenary marriage, or for that matter a marriage of mercy” (Emma). Fanny is offered the prize bachelor in Mansfield Park in the form of Mr. Crawford, one of the wealthiest single men in the country, yet she refuses him because her heart belongs elsewhere and she refuses to consider money as the primary reason to attach herself to someone she cannot respect. “A fundamental idea in Austen’s novels was that a respectable marriage was an equal marriage in which man and woman were partners, and was therefore based on friendship, love, and esteem” (Dean, 1998). Through this discussion, it is seen that while marriage is the ultimate object of a well-mannered Victorian girl, the motives for such actions are not the genteel notions of fulfilling their proper role in society as much as they are attempts at gaining a secure future. However, in many of Jane’s characters, independence of thought is to be prized even greater than security despite the already limited options available to a woman, suggesting an early form of feminism. In addition to seeking a respectable marriage, women were also expected to be capable managers of the household, denoting a stronger importance than is commonly attributed. This is also a concept that emerges stronger and stronger within each novel. In Northanger Abbey, for example, Catherine is almost never bothered by the concept of money, only being told by her father that she’ll be given money as she needs it. However, it is the only female member of the Tilney household, Eleanor, who thinks to offer Catherine money for transportation fare when she is sent away, indicating she has access to at least some funds and is capable of foreseeing the possible needs her friend might have in the upcoming days. Elinor in Sense and Sensibility is the practical voice of financial reason for her sister and mother in determining where to take a new home when they are displaced by John Dashwood and Fanny and it is Fanny who persuades John that it would be hurtful to their own family if he were to provide his half-sisters with the monetary inheritance he had promised his father he would bestow and that he himself had determined he could afford. Emma is completely in charge of the functioning of her household finances, as her father defers all decisions to her. Mrs. Norris’ “love of money was quite equal to her love of directing, and she knew quite as well how to save her own as to spend that of her friends” (Mansfield Park: 559), indicating that here, too, it was a woman who was primarily in charge of the family funds and necessarily more fiscally aware than society would recognize. Social life There have been many harsh observances regarding the social lives of the women in Jane Austen’s novels, most having something to say about the way in which she criticizes the weaknesses of her female characters. “”She had no mercy on people like Mary Musgrove [Northanger Abbey] or Lady Bertram [Mansfield Park] with their affectations of ill health. She was equally severe on the affectation of excitement … The mere sincerity of an emotion was no passport to her favour; she condemned outright any taint of pampered ‘sensibility’” (Bald, 1963: 23). Similar points can be found in all of Austen’s other novels. For example, Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice is criticized for her lack of logical thinking through the consequences of her actions and the demonstrated folly of her open mouth. “The trouble with Pride and Prejudice is that many readers do not perceive just how critical the author is of Elizabeth’s way of thinking. … Confusion enters because as a whole intelligence is represented as faulty in the novel” (Butler, 1975: 216). Catherine of Northanger Abbey is demonstrated to be almost stupid in her lack of understanding the hints and games being played by her friend Isabella until it has been demonstrated beyond any doubt that Isabella is as false as Catherine is true. A closer examination of Austen’s criticism of women, though, reveals an underlying call for feminine rights and freedoms. Austen’s criticism of Emma can be seen in the way she is set up to fail early in the story, not only in her machinations in trying to bring Harriet and Mr. Elton together, but also in the way she is evaluated as a judge. While Mr. Knightley assesses her performance with intellect and objective observation, “She will never submit to anything requiring industry and patience, and a subjection of the fancy to the understanding” (Emma: 37), Mrs. Weston judges her through the affection she feels toward Emma. Not only are Emma’s abilities found to be lacking in a realistic sense, but women in general are shown to be incapable of rational, unemotional thought. Butler (1975) comments “Both Mrs. Weston and Emma are far too much influenced by their preconceptions for steady judgment. Mrs. Weston hopes that Frank will marry Emma, Emma believes that it is she who attracts him, and so both conceive that Frank is walking to Hartfield when he is really engineering a call on Jane” (254). The ability of the women to be fooled by their own emotions and desires is further highlighted by the fact that the male character in the scene, Mr. Knightley, is perfectly capable of reading the clues that are laid out before him. “Only Mr. Knightley himself perceives that there is some prior understanding between the two strangers … his careful, literal registering of each piece of evidence compares with the many scenes in which Emma has suppressed such facts, because they do not fit her favourite schemes” (254). This assessment certainly supports the contention that Austen firmly held to the beliefs of her age regarding the abilities or disabilities of women, yet it also fails to consider the nature of Emma herself or the process she experiences throughout the course of the novel as well as the confession of Knightley, discussed earlier, that he was also ruled by emotions in his assessments of Frank. In her inability to make judgments based on anything more than emotional sentiment, Austen is merely reflecting the ‘education’ of women as it then existed, yet is criticizing it at the same time. Women were taught “to practice propriety instead of displaying their intelligence, to practice self-denial instead of cultivating self-assertion, and to think of themselves collectively, in terms of universals of the sex, instead of contemplating individual autonomy, talents, and capacities or rights” (Poovey, 1983: 155). Rather than having the classical education that fosters critical thinking and objective reasoning that is praised in Mr. Knightley, Emma is only able to work upon the skills she’s been given, yet her growth through the novel illustrates her capacity to think and suggests she might have done better had she received better instruction at an earlier age. Emma is perhaps the strongest female character Austen created socially. With a healthy, vigorous constitution and an almost aggressive personality, she is not afraid to take on the world as she understands it. Although the woman of the household, she is presented as every inch the true power of Hartfield as her father is seen to give in to her judgment in all important matters. Because of the status of her family, she is also seen to be a pillar of the community, a difficult position to attain for a ‘mere’ woman. Yet this, too, is seen by Butler to be a reaffirmation of the status of women as a second-class citizen. “It is a misreading of Emma’s character to say that she grasps at power, for she neglects rather than exploits her opportunities at Highbury. Jane Austen’s purpose in giving her an exceptionally unfettered social position is rather to leave her free to act out her willful errors, for which she must take entire moral responsibility” (Butler, 1975: 251). Yet her social growth in the novel, beginning to understand her role in the real world of her class and accept the limitations of it, such as finally allowing Harriet to return to the social class to which she truly belonged, illustrates that the concepts of class and proper social behaviour were not merely an affectation of the rich. Before meeting Harriet, Emma’s beliefs regarding the lower classes reflected an outright snobbery, indicating that the yeoman of the farming class were beneath her notice (Church, 1962 cited in Bloom, 1997:156). Yet, her affection for Harriet proves that she is capable of loving someone beneath her as well as teaching her a valuable lesson regarding the true worth of individuals. This lesson is reflected in Knightley’s interest in everything to do with farming to the point of discussing the matter with a lady, again indicating a cross-over of class and culture, a tendency to see people as individuals rather than men or women, ladies or miller’s daughters. Even in her criticism of Austen’s treatment of women, Bald (1963) admits to a certain power wielded by the female characters of the novels. “Generally speaking, Jane Austen’s women were not at all simple. They all had a game in hand, and many of them were ‘crack’ players. Their apparent artlessness was often the result of a carefully studied pose” (Bald, 1963: 24). This is stated outright in Austen’s Northanger Abbey when Austen comments, “Where people wish to attract, they should always be ignorant. To come with a well-informed mind, is to come with an inability of ministering to the vanity of others, which a sensible person would always wish to avoid. A woman, especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can” (76). This is also seen in Sense and Sensibility as Marianne admits to her transgressions in stepping outside of the social boundaries to which her gender is constrained. “I suppose I have erred against decorum. I should have been dull and spiritless and talked only of the weather...” (Thompson, 1995: 101). Fanny becomes tongue-tied in Mansfield Park when trying to express her reasons for refusing Mr. Crawford because it is not considered lady-like or proper for a woman to discuss the failings of men or to bring doubt or suspicion upon her betters, yet she realizes that they are betters only in terms of the social rules that surround them, not in spirit or integrity. Anne is similarly constrained from expressing her continued devotion to Captain Wentworth in Persuasion, yet finds a means of communicating her desire to him by speaking openly to others within his hearing. While it is a transgression of manners and the strict social code, it nevertheless is successful in achieving her goals even as it demonstrates to an even greater degree than some of Austen’s other novels the artificial constraints placed on women and their desire to be free of them. The structure and complexity of Austen’s novels also indicate an attempt to assert the fact that women were capable of far higher thought and grander aspirations than they were typically given credit for. In Emma, it can be seen that Austen was depicting the clueless woman incapable of rational design while reinforcing the idea that a woman was capable of learning from her experiences, growing and taking on new responsibilities and roles. Name any one of her major characters and this sort of growth can typically be traced if it wasn’t present to begin with. Catherine becomes more aware of the games other women will play in order to find a suitable match. Elizabeth learns not to judge others so quickly based on superficial evidence. Marianne becomes more sensible while her sister Elinor learns to allow herself to experience her own emotions to a greater degree. Fanny learns her true worth as she is forced to compare herself with others. While her concentration was on the psychological journey of her female characters and the novel as an idea rather than the simple telling of a story, Austen physically demonstrates beyond question that women are and were capable of higher thought and contemplation through her act of authorship. Presented as it is in the subjective point of view of Emma herself, “even the very first sentence (‘Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever and rich…’) cannot quite be taken as a neutral declaration of truth. It seems to be coloured already by Emma’s own vanity” (Mansell, 1973: 148), the novel reveals a high degree of complexity. The ability to form such an intricate narrative that it at once takes on the personal interpretation of the main character while allowing the reader to imagine a more objective viewpoint indicates a sophisticated understanding of the art of writing that belies the assumed truths of the inferiority of women. Conclusion Throughout her six finished novels, Jane Austen took her “stratified society absolutely for granted and examined the female powerlessness that underlied monetary pressure to marry” (Gilbert and Gubar, 1979: 136). In her examination of the injustices of Victorian laws especially as they related to women, Austen illustrated both the suppression of female individuality as well as the irrepressible spirit that inhabited them. By telling their stories, each similar yet unique, Austen provided women of her time with a voice that spoke eloquently not only of their hopes and dreams, but also of their limitations and failures. She acknowledged the accepted norms of her world, such as the idea that the woman’s place was in the home and that marriage and children were a woman’s ultimate goal in life, but she placed these goals within a more realistic context. She illustrated without overtly challenging the concept that while women’s goals were indeed to find a decent husband, this goal was driven more by essential need in a restrictive society that denied them any other means of support rather than a mercenary desire to uphold tradition or gain possession. However, she was also honest enough to acknowledge that many women, forsaking the hope that they might be able to marry for love, instead chose to seek their fortunes through intrigue and deceit trying to attract the richest husband within their means and limited social circle. Through these narratives, she also began planting the seeds for a future feminist movement. She did this by suggesting that women, provided with stimulating conversation and education, could grow intellectually and were capable of much higher level thinking than they were typically given credit for. By contrasting such characters as Mrs. Norris who managed to save money every year despite a rather limited income and Tom Bertram who spent so frivolously as to have squandered a large portion of his younger brother’s inheritance, Austen even goes so far as to suggest that women might make better managers than men if given the opportunity. Most importantly, however, in allowing her female heroines to choose to marry for love rather than money, money being a rather happy accident rather than object, Austen illustrates that women desired a greater freedom, a sense of respect and a chance at happiness that ultimately benefited the whole of society. Although she was constrained to write within the boundaries and understandings of her time period, which gives rise to modern criticisms of her work as being supportive of a patriarchal system, when looked at from the perspective of her own time period, Austen most definitely wrote to a feminist audience, planting the seeds of feminine emancipation for future generations. References Austen, Jane. (1815; reprinted 1991). Emma. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Everyman’s Library. Austen, Jane. (1818; reprinted 1995). Northanger Abbey. New York: Random House. Austen, Jane. (1818; reprinted 1995). Persuasion. New York: Random House. Austen, Jane. (1992). “Mansfield Park.” The Complete Novels of Jane Austen: Vol. 1. New York: The Modern Library. Austen, Jane. (1992). “Pride and Prejudice.” The Complete Novels of Jane Austen: Vol. 1. New York: The Modern Library. Austen, Jane. (1992). “Sense and Sensibility.” The Complete Novels of Jane Austen: Vol. 1. New York: The Modern Library. Bald, Marjorie. (1963). Women-Writers of the Nineteenth-Century. New York: Russell & Russell. Butler, Marilyn. (1975). Jane Austen and the War of Ideas. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Church, Richard. (1962). “Portraits of People in Austen’s Emma.” Reprinted in Bloom, Harold. (1997). Readings on Jane Austen. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press. Dean, Jennifer. (1998). “Jane Austen and the Female Condition: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century England.” University of Alabama. Available May 10, 2007 from < http://www.uah.edu/colleges/liberal/education/S1998/jennyd.html> Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. (1979). The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination New Have: Yale University Press. Grab, Ginger. (July-September, 2005). “Money and Marriage.” The Living Pulpit. Mansell, Darrel. (1973). The Novels of Jane Austen. New York: Barnes and Noble Books. Monaghan, David. (1980). Jane Austen Structure and Social Vision. New York: Barnes and Noble Books. Monaghan, David. (1981). “Austen’s Women in a Conservative Society.” Jane Austin in a Social Context. Reprinted in David Bender et al, (1997) Readings on Jane Austen. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press. Moody, Ellen. (2003). “Lady Bertram: A Cleverer Lady than One Thinks.” English and Continental Literature. Available May 10, 2007 from Poole, Daniel. (1993). What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew. New York: Simon and Schuster. Poovey, Mary. (1983). Persuasion and the Promises of Lover Ed. Carolyn G. Heilbrun and Margaret R. Higonnet. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. Priestley, J.B. (1960). “Austen Portrays a Small World with Humor and Detachment.” Four English Novels. New York: Harcourt Brace. Reprinted in David Bender et al, (1997) Readings on Jane Austen. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press. Thomas, Pauline Weston. (2007). “A Woman’s Place in C19th Victorian History.” Fashion Era. Available May 10, 2007 from < http://www.fashion-era.com/a_womans_place.htm> Thompson, Emma. (1995). The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries: The making of the film based on the Jane Austen novel. New York: Newmarket. Weldon, Fay. (1984). “England in Austen’s Time.” Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austen. Reprinted in David Bender et al, (1997) Readings on Jane Austen. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press. Read More