Jane Austen and The Feminist Tradition
Jane Austen and The Feminist Tradition
Jane Austen and The Feminist Tradition
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7 "A Fair But Frozen Maid: A Study of Jane Austen's Emma," Literature and Psy-
chology, 19 (1969), 104.
8 "Emma and Miss Bates: Early Experience of Separation and the Theme of De-
pendencyin Jane Austen's Novels," SEL, 9 (1969), 573-85.
9 Referencesin the text to Jane Austen's writingsare from The Novels of Jane
Austen, ed. R. W. Chapman, 3rd ed., 5 vols. (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1932-34);
Minor Works,ed. R. W. Chapman (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1954); and Jane
Austen's Letters to her Sister Cassandra and Others, ed. R. W. Chapman, 2nd ed.
(London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1952).
10 Bradbrook,p. 26, thinksthat Anne's remarksare no more than a rejoinder to the
patronizing treatmentof women in The Tatler and The Spectator.
11 Thomas Gisborne,An Enquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex, American ed.
(Philadelphia: J. Humphreys,1798),p. 16; James Fordyce,Sermons to Young Women,
American ed. (Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson, 1787), pp. 161-62. Jane Austen refers
to Gisborne in her Letters (p. 169) and to Fordycein Pride and Prejudice (p. 68).
thosedistinctionswhichFordyceadducesare ofspecialinteresthere
because theyare identicalto thatbiological analogywhichAnne
Elliot hearsfromCaptain Harville: "I believein a trueanalogybe-
tweenour bodilyframesand our mental;and thatas our bodies are
thestrongest,so are our feelings"(Persuasion,233). Now Anne does
seize upon this"spiritof analogy,"as she calls it, in orderto claim
that,by thesame token,a woman'sfeelingsare "mosttender."But
she does not appear to accept the biological analogyexceptas an
ironicmeansof turningCaptain Harville'sargumentagainsthim-
self.For when Anne does expand upon what she regardsas the
sourcesoffemale"feelings"and attitudes, shetalksin termsofsocio-
centricinfluencesratherthan in termsof inherentlyfemaletraits
predetermined by biologicaldestiny.In otherwords,those"unen-
viable" qualitieswhichare supposedto be the "gloryof thefemale
sex" reallyresultfromthewoman'sconditioningin a male-oriented
world. And when she outlines this sociocentricinterpretation
of long-livedfemaleemotionsher language is anythingbut self-
congratulatory: "It is, perhaps,our fateratherthanour merit.We
cannothelp ourselves.We live at home,quiet, confined,and our
feelingspreyupon us." As formen,theirbusyroundson behalfof
"home,country, friends"sparethemthedubiousgloryofbeingthe
"prey"ofconstantfeelings(Persuasion,232, 233).
Moreover,whenwe link Anne's remarkswitha major thematic
argumentin Persuasionas a whole,it is clear thatJane Austenis
rejectinga biologicallyinspiredconceptof human perceptionand
feeling.Thus Anne's own maturationinvolvesa progressionfrom
thevulnerable"tenderness"of an overlypersuadableyouthto the
firm,but humane,feelingsof her adulthood.And, of course,this
synthesis ofstrength in theself-reliant
and feelingis intensified Mrs.
Smith,whosurvivesbecausesheis morethana merely"submissive"
or "resigned"woman:"thiswasnota case offortitude or ofresigna-
tion only.-A submissivespiritmightbe patient,a strongunder-
standingwould supplyresolution,but here was somethingmore;
here was thatelasticityof mind,thatdispositionto be comforted,
that power of turningreadilyfromevil to good, and of finding
employmentwhich carried her out of herself,which was from
Nature alone. It was the choicestgift of Heaven" (Persuasion,
154). Conversely,Captain Wentworth, who embodiesthatkind of
"strength" bywhichCaptain Harvilledefinesthe"male character,"
As forlong-lastingor long-livedaffections,
MaryWollstonecraft is
more scornfully directthan Anne Elliot, but her argumentis es-
sentiallythe same.Female constancyis a resultof social condition-
ing,ratherthaninherent"sentimental talents":"A mistakeneduca-
ti,on,a narrow,uncultivatedmind, and many sexual prejudices,
tendtomakewomenmoreconstantthanmen."13 And,lookingeven
furtherahead to the twentiethcentury,we findthat Mary Woll-
stonecraft's
attackon conventionalnotionsof tenderne,ss and con-
stancyanticipatesthemodernliberationist'srejectionofpassivity as
the "feminine" ideal.14
To sumup, the textualparallelsbeitween
Persuasionand Rights
of Woman suggestthat thereis a significant
connectionbetween
JaneAustenand writerslike MaryWollstonecrafton thesubjectof
16 Fordyce,pp. 161-62.
17 Wollstonecraft,pp. 52, 53.
18 Friedan, p. 254.
21 Wollstonecraft,p. 81.
tionalistrhetoric,thatJaneAustenis in "flightfromheterosexual
passion."22But themythof the asexual JaneAustennovel is more
revealingof our surfeitedtwentieth-century "senses"than it is of
Jane Austen'swork. The implicationsof Lydia Bennet's "high
animalspirits"and her"elopement"withWickhamshouldbe clear
enough.So shouldbe Maria Bertram'sindiscretions, or MissSteele's
obsessiveinterestin "beaux." Marvin Mudrickat least recognizes
thatshedoesnotavoid thesubjectofsexualpassion,but he deduces
herstandardsfroma discreditedviewofJaneAusten'ssocialmoral-
ity:sheattacks"sensibility" and passionatelovein Love and Freind-
ship because she "prefersa world in which the ego, disciplined
againstexpression, maybe safelytreatedas a constantof inadequacy
... incapable of fulfillingits social requirements."23 But what is
reallybeing attacked in Love and Freindshipis thehypocrisy which
enables Laura and herkindto pretendthattheir"sensibility"is an
emotionaland moralideal whichisopposedtoa selfishand material-
istic world. Laura's so-calledsensibilityis really a narrow self-
interestin mattersof money(she and her friendsstealor refuseto
repay debts), familyties (contrivedrebellions against obviously
reasonableparents),and, of course,sex (casual, instantaneousaf-
fairsdisguisedas idealisticlove). Indeed, termslike "love," "friend-
ship," and "sensibility"are ironic partlybecause theirnormally
idealisticconnotations are undercutbytheselfishsexualityofLaura
and herfriends.
Once again thewritingsof MaryWollstonecraft shed some light
on Jane Austen'sthemes,forthe use of "sensibility"as an ironic
euphemismin Love and Freindshipmaybe comparedwithWoll-
stonecraft'scriticismof the sexual obsessionsof superficially edu-
catedwomen:
In fact,fromtheeducation,which[women]receivefromsociety,the
loveofpleasuremaybe saidtogovernthemall.... In short, women,in
general,as wellas therichofbothsexes,haveacquiredall thefolliesand
24 Wollstonecraft,pp. 104-5.
25 Mudrick,p. 120.
26 The Rambler, No. 97, 19 February 1751. See also The British Essayists,ed. Alex-
ander Chalmers,45 vols. (London: J. Johnson,1803), XX, 236.
28 See Friedan, p. 117. Cf. Clara Thompson, "Some Effectsof the DerogatoryAtti-
tude toward Female Sexuality,"Psychiatry,13 (1950), 349-54.
29 Fordyce,p. 162.