Jane Austen
Born in Steventon, England, as the seventh child of Cassandra and George Austen, Jane Austen (December 1975-July 1817) is one of the most respected authors of our time. Though not widely known during her lifetime, Jane’s comic novels of love gained significant popularity after 1869 (Whitson 24). Recently, she has gained more recognition and mention after four of her novels adapted television and film, with her literary work regarded one of the finest in the modern world. In most of her work, Jane wrote of the trials and tribulations of the middle class in the early nineteenth century. Chronologically, Jane’s six novels fall into two natural groups. Whereas the first three novels; Pride & Prejudice, Northange Abbey and Sense and Sensibility were written and revised before their final publication, the other three novels; Emma, Mansfield Park and Persuasion belong to Jane’s years of maturity. Ideally, Jane Austen’s novels reveal a growing perfection of style and restraint. Her novels do not only thrill the readers, but they also offer excellent guidance to the upcoming writers. This paper hopes to discuss Jane Austen’s perception and style, the feminist style as expressed in her novels and her impact on literature.
Perception and Style
In most cases, the most superficial examination of the work of literature is to have a quick look at its cover. Even without considering much of the design of the cover, it is the title of a book/novel that bears a number of layers of information one is expected to find about the content and the author. When it came to marketing her novels, Jane Austen seems to have mastered the ‘art’. In most of her work, the conversations, thoughts and behavior of the characters become obvious without the noticeable interference of a narrator through her flexible narrative techniques. But what is Jane Austen’s perception and style in her writing?
While Jane’s novels are believed to have ‘fairy tale elements’, most of her work is characterized as “comedies of manners of country house novels” (Javeid, Bashir and Raza 139). Compared to other literary work of the 19th century, which have more narrative and scenic description, Austen’s novels contain much more dialogue. She in this case shapes a distinguishing voice for each character. Nevertheless, Jane Austen’s distinguishing writing style shows a blend of irony, satire, realism, mockery and free indirect speech. In most of her work, she used mockery and satire for comic effect and irony to challenge the representation of women in the eighteenth century and hypocrisy in the society.
Jane Austen also uses several rhetorical schemes to shape the responses of the reader. In Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey and Emma for instance, Jane’s writing techniques work through characterization, narrative, style and reader-narrator relationship as a way of encouraging the readers to exercise their perception. Her consistent use of conceptual terms to describe behavior encourages the readers to use the terms to analyze behavior while adopting the standards the terms imply (Kariya 1). She is in this case able to entice the reader to continue reading even without much suspense.
Additionally, Jane’s use of ironic language delights the readers and encourages them to differentiate between reality and appearance. She in this case encourages the audience to view character as more important than appearance. She also manages to retain the interest of the readers through her realistic characters, while shaping their perception in the ways she represents her speech. Jane also deepens the readers’ understanding of the theme and the exercise of the judgment while encouraging perception and sympathy of readers by allowing them to make their own decisions about some characters (Rodham 1). Jane’s narrative method also creates a double view for readers so that they must sort out their perceptions just as the mortal heroines must.
While Jane’s plots seem to be more about education, marriage and feminism, the theme of her works dwells more on “religious seriousness”, “duty to the society” and “good manners”. People and especially women must in this case behave well in order to be recognized in the society. In most of her novels, thoughtful reading is connected with moral and intellectual development. Most scholars have also debated on the extent to which Jane’s writings express the themes on “feminism”.
Jane Austen’s work has also been described as politically progressive and conservative. For instance, some critics maintain that Jane’s “superwomen” sustain the existing social structure through their sacrifice and dedication. Throughout her work however, there is war between the claims of the society and that of an individual. She is in this case considered one of the pioneers of the interiorized, modern novel character (Javeid et al 140).
Generally, Jane embodies feminization of the English literature. In her work, the men do not appear alone and they seem to be always accompanied by women and engaged in such activities that women can participate in to portray lack of masculinity. While this is regrettable, Jane’s work ought to be praised for its uniqueness. As a matter of fact, the artistic excellence of her novels deserves to be highly praised. Her plots are for instance executed and contrived with excellent skill. She in this case does not leave any deviations or loose ends dangling and there seems to be no redundancy among her characters (Whitson 55). While the dialogues are natural, they are lovely and help to develop the plot and the evolution of character. Jane’s style in this case appears concise and balanced.
The Feminist Style
Throughout history, women have been feminists (Whiston 6). Whereas Austen is characterized as a feminist writer, a great deal of her criticism is from a feminist perspective. Looking at Austen from a feminist perspective, it seems ironic that the author placed more emphasis on love and marriage. On the periphery, Austen conforms to the attitudes and ideas of her society since some of her main characters are in search of marriage based on wealth. She maintains that women must use their God-given feminist qualities to entice only the men who are considered important in the society.
By no means, Jane Austen was a radical feminist by the standards of today. She has been said to be a feminist because of her “portrayal of women” in her novels, probably emanating from her background. During the ancient period, women were not expected to maintain a life for themselves. Their families influenced them to marry to the affluent in order to have a good future and be provided for by their husbands. As evident in Pride and Prejudice, more emphasis was placed on money and class. The living style as a consequence provided the background to feminism, prompting Austen to paint the world she knew (Kruger, Fisher, Strout and Lewis 199).
According to Austen, a woman must be “a certain type of person” and act in a certain way in order to be accepted, respected and deemed accomplished. The perfect lady in this case is the one who achieves all this. She is the representative of the times and Jane successfully exploits feminist perfection to show that her society was quite the opposite when it came to the lives of women. In the ancient times, no woman was considered accomplished in spite of the efforts shown to do so.
On the other hand, Austen juxtaposes “the perfect lady” in order to show that the perfect lady is really a shallow-minded conformist (Whitson 44). With characters like “Miss Bingley”, however, Jane creates resentment for the accomplished lady generalization in the reader’s head. The reader at this point dislikes the highlight of the English society, realizes its sexism in restricting the freewill of women while favoring the characters that are vessels for feminist notions like Elizabeth.
Evidently, Austen holds feminist opinions and uses Pride and Prejudice to portray them. In Jane’s society, the ladies in the upper class are almost always treated as breakable goddesses with marriage being considered an elegant courting ritual and an important part of any society (Javeid et al 139). Jane however portrays the perfect ladies as “gossips, fakes, idiots, snobs and liars” and marriage as “one-sided affair” where women are forced into the sexism of early 19th century England. She further shows that the place of the woman in the society takes away her free will while encouraging conformity.
In most of Jane’s work, feminism is also inseparable from education. “Harriet” in the marriage passage is used as atypical example of how women were expected to view marriage. They were in this case supposed to be accomplished in female things including singing, drawing or playing musical instruments. Together with charm, these accomplishments were meant to help a woman get a suitable husband, one who would take good financial care of her (Javeid et al 140).
The Impact on Literature
As Misslda (1) depicts, English writing has been the good example of literature in the whole world. As a writer who was herself inspired by “Ann Radcliffe” and “Fanny Burney”, Jane has herself inspired young writers in more than ten decades. In 1913 for instance, the first fiction work was developed based on her literary work. In the fan fiction, “Old Friends & New Fancies” by Briton, Sybil, the author mixes the characters from Jane’s literature and makes them blend (Misslda 1). Other famous writers influenced by Jane Austen include “Joanne Rowling” of Harry Potter Series, “Stephanie Meyer” of Twilight Saga, where the series of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice are mentioned. Other authors who have written fiction with Austen’s motivation include “Amanda George” and “Seth Grahame-Smith”.
According to Javeid, Bashir and Raza (140), Jane Austen provided castigation and reformation to the 18th century novel and was among the literary personalities who wrote pure novels. While her concepts were refined and simplified to reflect the true picture of the English society during her time, she maintained her focus on the structural and technical importance of a novel. Instead of expanding the existing themes of the romantic age, she focused on the basic human sentiments and emotions experienced during everyday life. As Javeid and colleagues maintain, Jane was one of the best examples of the individuals who wrote art for art’s sake (140).
By helping readers to enhance and practice the main ethical skills of empathizing with other peoples’ perspectives and lives, literature has a significant though indirect role in moral education. Austen’s books are for instance credited for spreading novel reading while reducing violence in the past centuries. By providing the readers with mediated understanding of the feelings of others, people as a society become less cruel. Austen’s literary power also extends beyond the areas of feminism and romance (Wiegard 1). She has for instance been able to offer criticism of social and political limitations of her day at the same time that her heroines lived within those structures. Austen also shows her readers how to look at themselves and how to identify and analyze their own moral character. She not only teaches how to live well, but also how to love well.
Jane’s literary work also teaches on moral education. Her novels portray virtuous characteristics for the kind of lives that most of us live in the contemporary society. While respecting the capacities of her readers, Jane carries out her mission of moral education with brilliance and flair (Rodham 1). Austen has also widely contributed her ironic world view to the English novels. The view mostly lies in her recognition that men must make choices from two mutually exclusive things. While the two are equally desirable and equally attractive, they are ironically incompatible.
Additionally, Jane Austen has successfully brought dramatic plots in English novels and literature. She has successfully entwined the perfect association of the characters and the action, the unity of purposes, and the dramatic short, ironical and engaging dialogues (Rodham 1).
Moreover, beyond the issue of romance, Austen’s work carries a central message that women are important and are a fit subject of literary effort (Wiegard 1). With years, even male writers have internalized their knowledge while struggling to populate their literary work with female characters as active agents in their stories. Jane’s familiarity with the world and her unique tact to come up with characters that the reader is able to recognize very easily also makes her a very important figure in the literature history. On the other hand, some critiques maintain that Austen’s work is outdated since the literature and the world have moved on. She cannot in this case be said to be realistic not only because the current readers cannot relate to the lives of Regency tales, but also because Austen does not meet the contemporary literary standards.
On the other hand, an impartial and objective approximation of Jane’s influence to the development of the English literature involves comparisons, which might undermine her self-imposed imitation as an artist. Ideally, Austen’s range of literature is generally narrow (Javeid et. al 139). The plots revolve around four or three families in the countryside and a few typed characters. Repeated in each of her novels, “love” and “marriage” seem to be the only theme. While the reader does not find deep philosophy of life in her literature, there are also no concealed meanings to be unearthed in the novel.
While Jane’s life scope was rather limited, she managed to understand and estimate the realistic values of life with fineness and accuracy. In summary, one would sum up her novels by noting that they are genuinely narrow and restricted in their range. While she is reserved and relates to the domestic issues of a household, Jane’s themes are concerned with matrimony, social in nature, confined to country side and more or less the middle and upper middle class. Unlike most of modern literature, one does not encounter sudden changes, breath-taking climaxes, unexpected twists or sensational thrills in any of her work. Ideally, Jane’s novels are domestic works, centered on marriage. Most of her moral discussion and commentary is directed towards defining the conditions of a good marriage and preparing one for a good marriage.
Generally, although Jane’s work enjoyed only modest success in their time, she now occupies an unusual position among literary figures by being both a popular writer with a large and fanatical fan base and a classical writer with a secure position in the literary world. Whereas her novels have been subjected to all kind of historical, critical and theoretical analysis, they have been adapted for radio, theatre and film. Despite the moral lessons one can get from Jane Austen’s work, she is not a prototype of any ideology. One sees her envision of knowledge and respect for human nature and its stubborn independence from social and political structures.
Conclusively, Jane Austen is as relevant today to human existence as she was when she wrote her novels. Modern characters continue exploring her lively characters, her tension between the woman and society and subtle humor whenever they read her novels. As a matter of fact, Jane Austen will remain an “excellent moralist” from whom we still have much to learn today.
Works Cited
Javeid, Bashir and Raza, Ali. “The Concept of Marriage in Pakistan with Reference to Jane
Austen’s Pride & Prejudice”. International Journal of Research Management, 2:4 (2012), 138-147.
Kariya, Dhimant. “Jane Austen & Her Contribution”, .Philica.Com, 327 (2012).
Kruger, Fisher, Strout and Lewis, Shelby. “Variation in Women’s Mating Strategies
Depicted in the Works & Words of Jane Austen”. Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology, 7:3 (2013), 197-210
Misslda. “Jane Austen: Her Life, Her Writing & Her Influence on Today’s Literature”. Period
Drama Blog, January 2010.
Rodham, Thomas. “Reading Jane Austen as a Moral Philosopher”. Philosophy Now.
Whitson, Kathy. Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature. USA: Greenwood Publishing Group,
2004.
Wiegard, Chris. “How Jane Austen Influence Literature”. 19th Century US History, February 12,
2011.
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|
Are you looking for a similar paper or any other quality academic essay? Then look no further. Our research paper writing service is what you require. Our team of experienced writers is on standby to deliver to you an original paper as per your specified instructions with zero plagiarism guaranteed. This is the perfect way you can prepare your own unique academic paper and score the grades you deserve.
Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.
[order_calculator]