Jane Austen and her Novels - Essay Example

Jane Austen and her Novels Jane Austen and her Novels Literature and its significance in the modern world need no introduction. Even though there are concerns over the diminishing habits of reading among the present generation, there are many writers who are held in high esteem and whose works continue to enthrall the world. Jane Austen is one such writer, whose works are widely read, despite more than a century having passed after her death. Her works have thus stood the test of time and have enthralled generations of readers. Her themes and the innovative methods of treatment that she undertook are important reasons as to why she is considered to be one of the most important writers in the history of English literature. Austen’s main focus had always been upon the conditions of women in the period immediately preceding the Victorian era. This period, known as the regency era, was an interesting one, since it represented a period of time when England was going through a series of changes in its social structures. Moving from a period of feudalism to an industrialized society, there was a great deal of social churning in England. As Marilyn Butler says, Austen to a certain extent, distances herself from the ideologies that emanated from the French revolution (Butler, 231). She however, writes stories that depict a world that is changed. Men of wealth were no longer exclusively from the aristocracy but also ones that made their fortunes during their own lifetime like Mr. Bingley in Pride and Prejudice (Austen). This change also led to changes in the lives of women who however, still had to find for themselves a husband so as to sustain themselves. In a world that followed the French revolution, the presence of the standing militia was a constant threat to their security. Apart from this, it was also a lure to several women who found men of the militia irresistible. However, since the militia was always moving from one place to the other, definite social relationships could not be forged on many occasions that led to difficult situations for women. It is this set of problems that faced women that Austen sought to represent in her novels. Her representation of women, while not always very empowering, was radical for its times in that it offered their heroines a certain kind of charm and individuality that many other novels of the time lacked. They also offered narrative space for the heroine to flourish and express herself. Austen’s contribution to the heroine as a character is immense. This can be analysed in relation to her contribution to the novel as a form. Around the beginning of the nineteenth century, with the beginning of circulating libraries as an option for providing opportunities for women to read. The rise of the novel form accompanied the rise of these circulating libraries. With Jane Austen, the novel came to be a genre that talked about the trials that had to be faced by women. Women’s issues came to take the centre-stage in the novel, since much of the readership consisted of women who took to reading the novel as a means of spending their leisure time. The novel was considered to be an inferior form of literature, as opposed to poetry and drama during the Victorian era when the men of the aristocracy wouldn’t read novels, at least openly, thinking it to be a womanly activity. Austen’s greatest contribution to literature has been her espousal of feminism. Austen tackles serious concerns of the society and thus was one of the first writers to procure respectability for the novel as a form of literature. Devoney Looser remarks, “In the thriving industry of Jane Austen criticism, the driving force is arguably feminist” (Looser, 1). This is true due to a variety of reasons. Even though Austen’s heroines end up in conventional marriages that force them back into conventional roles from the relatively liberated ones that they assume early on in the novel. Heroines like Emma are vivacious and energetic during the beginning of the novel; however, they change into conventional, yet relatively radical heroines (Austen). Austen’s heroines lack the revolutionary fervor of other literary heroines of her age, but they represent voices of moderation in a world that was very conventional and according to Michel Foucault, was one that sought to repress any mode of protest through the structure of the family that was repressive and conformist (Foucault, 14). This means that the one of the ways of protesting against the existing frameworks with least resistance from the existing order was the one that Austen adopted. Her heroines are able to settle into marriages that unite considerations of materiality and love, thus helping them transcend the kind of marriages that are oppressive to both men and women, and end up as nothing more than a transaction. These transactions are sanctioned by the society but the marriages that happen to the heroines of Austen’s novels manage to subvert these models by introducing the idea of love as a deciding factor in marriages. The idea of feminism is also important in the novels of Jane Austen because they remind readers of the ways in which men too are oppressed by the society. Men, in Austen’s society are viewed as nothing but potential husbands for the women in the novels. A character like Mr. Collins is in a sense, tricked into marrying Charlotte Lucas, out of material considerations as his benefactress wishes that he be married. In the first place, his desire to marry Jane or Elizabeth is motivated by considerations related to the property of the Bennett, which would be his after the death of Mr. Bennett. This again points to an inequality in the apportioning of the fruits of the society. Men are the only members of the society who have a claim in the property of their parents. In the absence of men in the family, the closest male relative would inherit the estate. Austen’s novels thus critique the institution of patriarchy in more ways than one. This indicates a thorough understanding of the ways and means in which patriarchy oppresses women and men, a great achievement for a woman during a time when their education was not given a lot of importance to. Austen’s position as a woman writer itself was a precarious one during the Victorian era, since women who entered the market were associated with prostitutes, simply because they had made an entry into a marketplace. Austen’s novels teach the reader the ills of a patriarchal society that is unable to accommodate the concerns of its men and women. The repression that the members of such a society have to face is numerous. The novel draws our attention to such structures since they are the cause of many other structures that enable the maintenance of the primary structures. The economic sustenance that women draw from men is the highlight of most of Austen’s novels. This again teaches the reader that the emancipation of women in society requires that they acquire economic autonomy. The rest of the structures would crumble if women are able to economically match up to men. Most of Jane Austen’s heroines, even though they are rebellious, have to finally curtail their rebelliousness due to the economic structures of the time that fail to provide a niche for women to act liberally in the society. A focus on these structures is necessary since the origin of the oppression that women face in society, even in the present age, is largely owing to their economic subordination. Austen’s works are relevant in a lot of developing and underdeveloped nations where women do not enjoy a high status in society. The marginalization of these women is similar to the marginalization of the heroines of Austen’s works, since it is economic deprivation that dictates the social inequalities of these societies. The content of the novels of Jane Austen is thus, still relevant in a very important way. There are societies today that experience conditions that are similar to those related in the works of Austen, some due to colonization and other because of other reasons. A close analysis of Austen’s novels can throw up various ideas and solutions to the problems that are faced by men and women in contemporary societies. The answers will not be present in the novels since they are set in societies that are not as multicultural as ours. Moreover, there are very few similarities between the world that Austen writes about and the twenty first century barring the causes for the conditions of oppression that women have to face. To be considered to be a great piece of literature, a certain work has to stand the test of time. Works that are considered to be classics have the power to reach out to the reader and are relevant in a manner that is almost timeless. Either the concerns that are dealt with in the work or the aesthetic value of the book that is considered to be great would have a timeless quality to it. The expressions of protest against oppression against women in the novels of Jane Austen have a timeless quality to them. Moreover, the novels are beautifully structured and the literary devices, especially irony, which Austen employs, are for the purpose of furthering the concerns of the novel in the best possible way. The manner of the employment of these devices also determines the greatness of any work of literature. The concerns that are dealt with in a work also determine its greatness. Works like that of Jane Austen capture the essence of an age and the concerns that are of paramount importance to it. Issues of an age, when well captured, also facilitate a profound analysis of the age. In realist novels, like Jane Austen’s were, the work of literature becomes, in a sense, the mirror of the society that it seeks to represent. The mirror then is able to show the society its flaws and errors that it needs to rectify. This is not to suggest that great literature is always didactic but to say that literature that can be considered great always has a sense of purpose and social responsibility. The artist, as it were, is responsible to the society in a way that people of no other vocation are. Austen’s works are considered to be great because of their ability to entertain and enlighten their readers and the sense of responsibility that they display towards the Victorian society that they are set in. Works Cited Austen, Jane. Emma. New Delhi: Penguin, 1995. Print. Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Penguin, 1997. Print. Looser, Devoney. “Introduction: Jane Austen and Discourses of Feminism”. Ed. Jane Austen and Discourses of Feminism. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995. Print. 1 Butler, Marilyn. “Jane Austen and the War of Ideas”. Ed. Dennis Walder. The Realist Novel. London: Routledge, 1995. Print. 231. Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1. New Delhi: Penguin, 2003. Print. 14 Read More