Jane Austen as a Conservative Writer

Paper Summary:

This paper examines Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park" and "Pride and Prejudice" in an attempt to argue that Austen is most definitely not a conservative writer. Concentrating specifically on her portrayal of women, the family, marriage, and her subtle criticism of patriarchal systems, the aim is to demonstrate how Austen uses conservative conventions to conceal her ambiguous feelings toward social customs. It contrasts surface meanings of the text with close critical readings of selected characters and events in order to show the subtlety Austen adopts to present social criticism. The characters of Fanny Price of "Mansfield Park" and Elizabeth Bennet of "Pride and Prejudice" are of particular importance to this argument.

From the Paper:

"On the surface, Mansfield Park appears to be a more conservative novel than Pride and Prejudice. The heroine, Fanny Price, seems to be an ideal conduct-book heroine, as she is what Hester Chapone terms 'private and domestic.' She is described in the novel as 'the perfect model of a woman' mainly because her emotional responses remain internalised and private as opposed to the open and frank mannered Elizabeth. Considering the contrast between the heroines of Mansfield Park and Pride and Prejudice, indeed, Fanny undoubtedly appears to be a more conservative character than Elizabeth. However, a closer reading of the text leaves Mansfield Park as the more radical of the two. Mansfield Park was the first of Austen's novels to be written and published in her maturity."

More papers on Jane Austen as a Conservative Writer:

• Book Review # 91941 : "Jane Austen's Social Satire"
• Comparison Essay # 23068 : "Jane Austen and Mary Wollstonecraft"
• Analytical Essay # 141344 : "Jane Austen's "Emma"

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