A controversy over Jane Austen: was she a feminist or was she not?
Autor: Nerea García Terol
Centre: INST.M E.MUNICIPAL DEL TREBALL
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A controversy over Jane Austen: was she a feminist or was she not? aims to research about whether the 19th century realist author Jane Austen was or was not a feminist, or at least if she thought like one.
I knew I wanted to work on something related to feminism, as I have been deeply interested since the moment I got to know about it. I wanted to learn further than a quick search over the internet, and as I believe it’s a topic you can never learn enough about, I thought I could really work on it. But, what I could specifically work on?
The idea to involve myself in what the research work has finally turned out on came up to me one day while I was reading Pride and Prejudice: I realized the quotations made by the characters throughout the story about what women should act like were very diverse. Some of the characters believed women should be able to read, talk about political issues, express their feelings and emotions, etc… While other characters believed women should have the power to express their own feelings, despite the fact of them being or not allowed by what society believed was correct. After reading the book, a question popped up in my mind: in which of these interventions was the author, Jane Austen, giving her own opinion about women and their decisions?
I looked over the internet several times, researching her ideals, and as many people believed she was a feminist, many others believed she was not. That could be my research work: to collect as many articles I could find, analyze them and draw my own conclusion based on what I had investigated.
Although the term feminism was not even created until 1837, much later than Austen’s death, some scholars believe she belongs to proto-feminism. After deeply investigating feminism, its history, its culture and its literature, I already had an idea of what the conclusion could be, but I wanted to be completely sure.
I finally collected as many articles as I could find on the internet, most of them made by scholars and literary critics. The fact that I only could find one against Austen being a feminist gave me a clue of what the conclusion would be, but I wanted to go further. The articles made me believe she was clearly a feminist, there were crucial points that made it obvious for her to have a feminist ideal, and the one that was against did not have any relevant reasons.
To be completely sure, I searched on the internet what characteristics a feminist author, had, and I found no results. I decided to study some authors that have been considered feminist authors, see what they had in common, and compare them to authors who talk about women’s role in society without making a clear statement on the need of a change. On the one hand, Margaret Tyler, Jane Anger, Ester Sowernam, Margaret Askey, Aphra Behn and Mary Wollstonecraft had something in common: they all made a statement on the lack of education women had, how they should be considered rational and independent creatures, how important their rights were and how equal they were to men. On the other hand, Charlotte Brontë, George Elliot and Thomas Hardy talk about women and their lives, but none of them states the need of a change.
After analyzing Austen and her works, I finally had reached a conclusion:
She was clearly a feminist. She was a realist writer and she showed reality as it was. She knew life was tough, especially for women, and she chose to manifest that in her works, but in a mostly subtle way.
In one of her most important works, Emma, Austen makes some remarks about women and their lives. Emma sees herself as a complete person, with no need of a man.
Austen talks about education in her novels. Anyone who denies that is totally blind. Not only does she speak about education, but also about how bad women have been taught and how that should change.
She was actually educated through the reading and studying of old books. Many, including myself, believe that she was inspired by Mary Wollstonecraft, the mother of feminism and author of The Vindication of the Rights of Women. Many believe Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice was actually Mary Wollstonecraft’s ideal of a woman. The character itself could have been a tribute to the known author.
The probability she did know about Wollstonecraft and her works is extremely high, and obviously, there is a chance that she agreed with her ideals as well.
Many believe she was a feminist writer, clever enough to create characters both men and women would love to read about. Even nowadays some men feel immediately attacked when they hear about feminism or women’s power. If now it causes this reaction, in that time it would have caused an ambivalent reaction if she had displayed her opinion a little more radically.As it is shown in her works, her female characters love their men, but not within the male dominant or female submissive pattern followed before.
Once the work was finished, the articles were read, and the conclusion was already written, I was completely sure she was indeed a feminist.
I knew I wanted to work on something related to feminism, as I have been deeply interested since the moment I got to know about it. I wanted to learn further than a quick search over the internet, and as I believe it’s a topic you can never learn enough about, I thought I could really work on it. But, what I could specifically work on?
The idea to involve myself in what the research work has finally turned out on came up to me one day while I was reading Pride and Prejudice: I realized the quotations made by the characters throughout the story about what women should act like were very diverse. Some of the characters believed women should be able to read, talk about political issues, express their feelings and emotions, etc… While other characters believed women should have the power to express their own feelings, despite the fact of them being or not allowed by what society believed was correct. After reading the book, a question popped up in my mind: in which of these interventions was the author, Jane Austen, giving her own opinion about women and their decisions?
I looked over the internet several times, researching her ideals, and as many people believed she was a feminist, many others believed she was not. That could be my research work: to collect as many articles I could find, analyze them and draw my own conclusion based on what I had investigated.
Although the term feminism was not even created until 1837, much later than Austen’s death, some scholars believe she belongs to proto-feminism. After deeply investigating feminism, its history, its culture and its literature, I already had an idea of what the conclusion could be, but I wanted to be completely sure.
I finally collected as many articles as I could find on the internet, most of them made by scholars and literary critics. The fact that I only could find one against Austen being a feminist gave me a clue of what the conclusion would be, but I wanted to go further. The articles made me believe she was clearly a feminist, there were crucial points that made it obvious for her to have a feminist ideal, and the one that was against did not have any relevant reasons.
To be completely sure, I searched on the internet what characteristics a feminist author, had, and I found no results. I decided to study some authors that have been considered feminist authors, see what they had in common, and compare them to authors who talk about women’s role in society without making a clear statement on the need of a change. On the one hand, Margaret Tyler, Jane Anger, Ester Sowernam, Margaret Askey, Aphra Behn and Mary Wollstonecraft had something in common: they all made a statement on the lack of education women had, how they should be considered rational and independent creatures, how important their rights were and how equal they were to men. On the other hand, Charlotte Brontë, George Elliot and Thomas Hardy talk about women and their lives, but none of them states the need of a change.
After analyzing Austen and her works, I finally had reached a conclusion:
She was clearly a feminist. She was a realist writer and she showed reality as it was. She knew life was tough, especially for women, and she chose to manifest that in her works, but in a mostly subtle way.
In one of her most important works, Emma, Austen makes some remarks about women and their lives. Emma sees herself as a complete person, with no need of a man.
Austen talks about education in her novels. Anyone who denies that is totally blind. Not only does she speak about education, but also about how bad women have been taught and how that should change.
She was actually educated through the reading and studying of old books. Many, including myself, believe that she was inspired by Mary Wollstonecraft, the mother of feminism and author of The Vindication of the Rights of Women. Many believe Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice was actually Mary Wollstonecraft’s ideal of a woman. The character itself could have been a tribute to the known author.
The probability she did know about Wollstonecraft and her works is extremely high, and obviously, there is a chance that she agreed with her ideals as well.
Many believe she was a feminist writer, clever enough to create characters both men and women would love to read about. Even nowadays some men feel immediately attacked when they hear about feminism or women’s power. If now it causes this reaction, in that time it would have caused an ambivalent reaction if she had displayed her opinion a little more radically.As it is shown in her works, her female characters love their men, but not within the male dominant or female submissive pattern followed before.
Once the work was finished, the articles were read, and the conclusion was already written, I was completely sure she was indeed a feminist.