Jane Austen's Emma
Jane Austen's Gentleman Ideal in Emma
In her third novel, Jane Austen created a flawed but sympathetic heroine in the young Emma Woodhouse. Widely considered her finest work, Austen's Emma once again deals with social mores, particularly those dealing with ethical actions and social status.
This paper focuses on how Austen uses the figure of George Knightley to propose a new English Gentleman Ideal to criticize the strictures regarding the role of women and the skewed relationship between the sexes. In the first part, this paper looks at the social world of England in the early 19th century, in which Austen lived. It then compares the reality of these conditions with the seemingly idyllic settings Austen portrayed in novels like Emma.
The second part of the paper then examines Austen's redefinitions of the ideal English gentleman, as embodied by Mr. Knightley. Despite the expected happy ending, this paper argues that Austen presents George Knightley as a gentleman who is both socially upright, an ideal marriage partner for Emma Woodhouse. By "quitting Donwell (and) sacrificing a great deal of independence of hours and habits," Austen portrays Mr. Knightley as a person who, in his own way, understands and accommodates the changing roles of women in society.
England in Jane Austen's time
Jane Austen's life spanned the late 18th to early 19th centuries. She was born on December 16, 1776, in Steventon, a small town in the English province of Hampshire. The effects of the French Revolution, following "reign of terror" were sweeping through England. The American colonies were waging a war for independence. The Industrial Revolution provided new employment opportunities and caused a stream of movement between the rural countryside and the cities.
The new political and technological upheavals, however, did not necessarily translate to changes in the status of women. Until well into the mid-19th century, most English women still worked in agriculture. In addition to farm work like feeding animals, milking cows and preparing hay, countrywomen also took care of domestic works and care taking.
In the cities, most women were confined to the traditional occupations like seamstress, embroidery or millinery. Unskilled women, however, worked in undesirable occupations like chimneysweeps and butchers. The most common unskilled occupation, however, was working as a prostitute. In 1801, there were an estimated 70,000 prostitutes out of a population of 900,000.
Towards the end of the 18th century, women were deemed incapable of too much education, limiting the teachings to social graces like dancing, piano-playing and French language lessons. Those with limited education from ladies' academies sought work as governesses. In some instances, such as Austen's, women from polite society turned to writing, which was one of the few occupations open to respectable members of the gentry. Otherwise, women's lives were to revolve around their husbands, the home and family.
For many women of the late 18th and early 19th century, the object was to marry well. Because most marriages required a dowry, however, only 30% of English women could afford to marry. The rest would grow into spinsterhood, destined to become wards of their wealthier male relatives.
Marrying well was prized because it brought women financial security. The laws of primogeniture prohibited women from inheriting property from their families. Thus, even women from relatively wealthy families stood to lose their property upon the death of their fathers. Austen touched on the unfair effects of this law on the Bennett girls in Pride and Prejudice and the Dashwoods in Sense and Sensibility, although this same restriction was not applied to Emma Woodhouse.
Peasant women could still find husbands if they proved sturdy and hard working. Middle-class women, on the other hand, needed to have social skills and pleasing personalities. In Emma, part of the heroine's flaws was her strong "masculine spirit," which was a stark contrast to Isabella, the quiet and indulgent mother who was the "model of right feminine happiness."
Upon marriage and in the narrow confines of the domestic sphere, women were expected to run the household but to defer to their husbands. In Emma, Mr. Knightley observes that the heroine was "preparing (her)self to be an excellent wife all the time (she) was at Hartfield...on the very material matrimonial point of submitting (her) own will and doing as (she) was bid."
In addition to managing the household, the married woman's main task, was to bear children. Because of poor nutrition and hygiene, however, one in every four pregnancies ended in miscarriages. Infant...
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