Austen, Femininity, and Courtship

Jane Austen’s novels revolve around the idea of courtship and its interactions with feminism. This English Honors thesis, under the direction of Dr. Kristin Samuelian, critically analyzes how Austen’s characters represent femininity within courtship in the nineteenth century through instances of feminism and a submissive mentality. This discussion considers societal standards and ideas commonly read during Austen’s time, particularly those of Mary Wollstonecraft. By centering the conversation around the inner resilience of characters such as Marianne and Elinor Dashwood and Elizabeth Bennet during moments of degradation and humiliation, I give my audience an in-depth understanding of how Austen’s characters reject progressive feminism but still show inner resilience. I focus on key scenes in Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility to demonstrate the characters’ changes throughout the novels. Elizabeth begins Pride and Prejudice by casting her judgment on others and assuming a prideful nature. In the end, she experiences prejudices of her own and develops a more submissive temperament. Marianne and Elinor in Sense and Sensibility experience similar character arcs as they handle society’s biases and adapt to messy courtship situations. All these characters, especially Marianne and Elizabeth, demonstrate feminism that evolves into submissiveness to society’s expectations of women. This thesis aims to argue that Austen’s characters needed to experience humiliation and degradation to reach their full potential in society’s eyes. It shows how Wollstonecraft’s ideas and Austen’s characters interact to create a unity between feminism and courtship, allowing both to exist within Austenian relationships.

Hello everyone! My name is Maeve Randall and today I will be presenting my English honors thesis which I wrote under the direction of Dr. Kristin Samuelian. I will be discussing Austen’s depiction of feminism and courtship in the nineteenth century by focusing on the novels Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. This thesis is a critical analysis of how the main women in these novels demonstrate feminism while showcasing submissive behavior regarding society’s expectations for women. By analyzing three scenes from the novels today I aim to bring about an understanding of how Elizabeth and Marianne change over the course of the novels and thus become more submissive to society due to three influential factors: inner resilience, humiliation, and degradation.
The first, inner resilience, refers to a level of self-awareness and strength in the face of adversity. Duckworth defines inner resilience when he writes, “At times of greatest distress the “reduced” self in Jane Austen’s fiction is apt to fall back on its “resources,” an idea which suggests a Christian stoicism, an inner resilience in the face of adversity”. To fall back on this resilience, one generally needs to feel humiliation. Humiliation refers to an emotional injury to oneself. In Austen’s novels, many characters undergo moments of humiliation which affect their character development. Finally, it is important to discuss degradation. Degradation refers to an injury to one’s societal status. For example, a public humiliation leading to society casting out an individual or family. If one suffers degradation and becomes a social pariah, she will be less able to move between social circles, a prominent theme in Austen’s novels.
With this in mind, let’s look at Pride and Prejudice’s Elizabeth, who has exemplary moments of inner resilience. When Elizabeth reads Jane’s letters about Lydia’s illicit behavior and engagement she is horrified. Austen depicts Elizabeth’s reaction by mentioning how “scarcely knowing what she felt, Elizabeth on finishing this letter, instantly seized the other”. To put this into the context of inner resilience, I am going to refer to Mary Poovey: “For a modest demeanor served not only to assure the world that a woman’s appetites were under control; it also indicated that female sexuality was still assertive enough to require control”. For Elizabeth to show so much emotion was to denote a certain weakness in her person. This can be seen as a push against the expectations of society for women to be continually composed or else judged as emotionally unstable. Elizabeth’s resilience in maintaining her composure while also expressing emotion draws connections between feminism and societal expectations.
Let’s switch over to Sense and Sensibility to look at humiliation. Marianne brings humiliation upon herself when she sees Willoughby at a party: “‘But have you not received my notes?’ cried Marianne in the wildest anxiety. ‘Here is some mistake I am sure — some dreadful mistake. What can be the meaning of it? Tell me, Willoughby; for heaven’s sake tell me, what is the matter?’” Her emotional outburst was not only improper but played into emotions being a sign of weakness. Marianne quickly realizes how she has embarrassed herself and closes off from society. In these events, Marianne is forced to acknowledge the issues with her personal development. Duckworth comments on this by saying that “The dangerous tendencies of Marianne’s individualism only become apparent in her relationship with Willoughby, who is… to a large degree an invention of the imaginative mind”. A humiliated Marianne has played into society’s expectations and needs to morph into a more proper woman.
Finally, let’s return to Pride and Prejudice to see how degradation affects not only Lydia, but her entire family. In the words of Mary, who is speaking to Elizabeth shortly after Lydia has run off, “This is a most unfortunate affair; and will probably be much talked of…that loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable — that one false step involves her in endless ruin — that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful”. This loss of virtue for one family member results in the degradation of the entire family. As Duckworth puts it, they “suffer a loss of station” and “credibility in society”. One person’s actions have created a chain reaction. A breakdown and resilience in the Bennet family had to occur for them to successfully rise.
In this analysis of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, I provide evidence to support the idea that Austen’s characters exist within the confines of societal expectations while also slowly swimming upstream. The characters may become submissive to the expectations of society, but they also prove to be pushing back against the system. Although discourse on feminism in Austen’s novels exist, I hope that further discourse will include the possibility that feminism and courtship work together in Austen’s novels and that her characters, while reflecting society’s expectations, push against the boundaries in subtle ways.
Thank you for listening to my thesis presentation!