However, Jane Austen’s Persuasion is the story of Anne Elliot’s coming of age; when she frees herself from the expectations of society and subsequent pressure from her family, Lady Russell and herself. Persuasion is a reflection of the influence within each person to rise above the conflict of values as Anne must. Anne’s relationship with Captain Wentworth only furthers her connection to her values, therefore she is not hindered by the coincidence of her engagement and her freedom. Austen is not painting persuasion as a power that keeps individuals from their happiness; but rather, she is using it as a motivating factor towards that happiness. Anne Elliot proves that the individual is in charge of its own happiness, that all other factors are obsolete, through her friendships, her firm stance in morality, and her triumph of self-doubt.
Rheotorical Question – How do different contexts change the values in stories appropriated from the classics? Let’s look at Jane Austen’s Emma, written in 1815 and Amy Herkerling’s “Clueless” – a film made in 1995. We find in both, universal themes of marriage and social class – but are these themes similarly valued? The contrast in context is examined through narrative devices such as characterization and ironic omniscient narrators in ‘Emma” and film devices such as camera shots and non-diegetic music in “Clueless’. Emma Marriage For Jane Austen, marriage was a permanent affair that conferred financial and social security on a woman.
She uses very personal attachments and ideas to replicate and sometimes just briefly hint at the events that happened in her life, in her novels. Jane uses superb wording and excellent examples in her novel Persuasion to depict some of the events in her actual life. Jane Austen is a very well educated woman from the 19th century who, even though was not allowed to write back then, did it anonymously. Her work was so good it couldn’t be ignored. Even after people found out it was her, they didn’t believe a woman could write so well so they thought it wasn’t her.
During the Regency Period, many women believed that “they must always be protected, guarded from care, and all the rough toils that dignify the mind,” thus wasting “life away the prey of discontent” (Policelli Document 4). Although women were capable of more, their fear kept them from standing up to the standards of the time; however Elizabeth strays from the beliefs that most women had of themselves. While talking with Lady Catherine, a women of high status, Elizabeth gives a series of curt responses to answer her questions. Lady Catherine is “quite astonished at not receiving a direct answer and Elizabeth suspects herself to be the first creature who had ever dared to trifle with so much dignified impertinence” (Austen 162). Standing up to a figure of higher status was unheard of during Elizabeth’s time, however she does this with confidence, demonstrating her tendency to diverge from societal norms.
By holding important dialogue between characters in all of these different settings and contexts, Austen adds important information for the reader to unpack without having to explicitly explain it. To give a brief overview, in early nineteenth century England women were allowed to do very few things and make very few choices without the aid or approval of a man. Often times the men who controlled every action they were allowed to take was usually either their husband or father. Women were virtually forbidden from making a living at that point in time or achieving any financial success, so whether or not they pleased a man would often determine their entire livelihood. This often meant that very few things could be done outside the house that did not involve domestic errands.
In her writing, Jane Austen used literary techniques to display her character’s integrity, poise, grace and charm, or lack thereof. Throughout most of Austen’s works, a common theme is women and their behavior. In Emma, Jane Austen weaves a story between the differences of society through the actions of a young woman, Emma Woodhouse. The strongest literary technique in Jane Austen’s Emma is the use of a foil. According to LiteraryDevices.net, a foil is a character who embodies the qualities that are in contrast to the qualities of another character with the objective being to highlight the traits of the other character.
Austen. In the story Mr. Austen had felt that Diana did not care about him at all. He states, “she is already his everything but only she doesn’t care about it” (Par 35). He didn't feel loved from Diana. Also he felt unwanted by Diana.
The main goal of this novel was to bring light to many different social issues. One being that women should be and are typically frail beings, scared to voice their opinions, is completely thrown out with Austen's powerful main character Elizabeth. In writing a controversial love story, that brings together two unlikely individuals from completely diverse backgrounds and social status, shows how Austen believes that society should remove the heavy importance that social economic status weighs to each member of society. Another main message is the more obvious fact that people should marry for love and pay no mind to social status and the pride it brings. The development of Elizabeth and Darcy essentially strengthens her view points.
As described by Gillian Skinner, “The public law of all women, sole and covert, may be easily described: in public law there was no place for them” (91). This exemplifies the lack of representation that women held in everyday society and in all spheres of the public. This trend continues into literature, hence the popularity of Jane Austen for breaking it in such a successful manner. Therefore, it is not her gender that enabled her to describe women in a natural way, but is a result of her talent as a writer. While there is a clear difference in her depictions of women when compared to other authors, Jane Austen’s skills should be attributed to her ability to portray women in such a realistic manner while still highlighting the unique aspects of each character.
women were seen as household wives in the story we began to see women doing kitchen chores evidently in the Victorian era women were responsible for household chores, however, Austen’s fiction primarily focuses on English women in order to show people that women are as central to society as men. Austen’s realistic notions of women show her contemporary views of female characters. She presents the females as strong and intellectual figures. Even though some of Austen’s female characters obtain only a home education, they have the ability to dance, play music, sing, draw, and speak modern languages. They are also interested in reading literature and expressing their own thoughts on the arts.