Women and independence in the nineteenth century novel : a study of Austen, Trollope and James
Abstract
'Women
and
independence in the nineteenth century novel : a
study
of
Austen, Trollope
and
James', begins
with the
concept of
independence
and works through the three
most common usages of
the
word.
The first, financial independence (not
needing to
earn one's
livelihood)
appears to be
a necessary prerequisite
for the
second
and third forms
of
independence,
although it is by
no means an
unequivocal good
in
any of
the
novels.
The
second,
intellectual
independence (not
depending
on others
for
one's opinion or conduct;
unwilling
to be
under obligation
to
others),
is
a matter of asserting independence
while employing
terms
which society recognizes.
The third,
of
being independent, is
exemplified
by
an
inward
struggle
for
a
knowledge
of self.
In
order
to trace the development
of
the idea
of self
during the
nineteenth century,
I have
chosen a group of novels which seem
to be
representative of
the beginning, the
middle, and the
end of
the period.
Particular
attention
is
given
to the
characterizations of
Emma
Woodhouse, Glencora Palliser, Isabel Archer, Milly Theale and
Maggie
Verver. Whereas in Jane Austen's
novels
the self
has a
definite shape
which the heroine
must
discover, and
in Anthony Trollope's
novels
the
self
(reflecting
the idea
of socially-determined man) must
learn to
accommodate social and political changes,
in Henry James's
novels
the
self
determined by
external manifestations
(hollow
man)
is
posed
against
the exercise of
the free
spirit or soul.
Jane Austen's
novels
look backward,
as she reacts against
late
eighteenth century romanticism, and
forward,
with
the development
of
the heroine
who exemplifies
intellectual independence. Anthony
Trollope's
women characters are creatures of social and political
adaptation; although
they do
not
derive their
reason
for being
from
men,
they
must accommodate
themselves to
men's wishes.
And
Henry James looks backward,
wistfully, at
Austen's
solid, comforting,
innocent
self and
forward, despairingly, to the dark,
unknowable self
of
the twentieth
century.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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