Women’s lives in around the turn of the 19th century revolved around one important social tradition: marriage. Jane Austen uses this conventional idea in each of her six Canonical novels but looks at it a different light. Her personal views on marriage evolve in her works so much that scholars have analyzed it relentlessly as women’s roles progressed over the years after her death. Her stances range from viewing marriage as the lynch pin in a passive young woman’s life in her earlier novels to her more independent female leads and their determination to marry for good reason (love) rather than because of social expectations.
So why are Jane Austen’s renderings of marriage so widely recognized? They not only show the social view of marriage in the late 1700s and early 1800s, but also that women were already trying to assert their independence by gaining respect from their communities as worthy individuals capable of more than just being homemakers and bearing and caring for children. Austen’s works prove that women were beginning to recognize their worth long before men were forced to acknowledge it. Jane Austen is a crucial contender of the modern definition of the word “marriage.”
The following selected bibliography provides sources that take an in-depth look at Austen’s works, especially noting her views on marriage and courtship. The cited resources have a variety of publishing dates, showing heavy concentration in the 1960s through ‘80s when feminism was a controversial topic commonly debated all over the country. From journal articles to dissertations and theses, the collection of works varies in length, stance, and formality. The articles range from six to twenty-three pages and offer a compact explanation of marriage, courtship, separation, and dependency in Austen’s novels. The longer works analyze her individual works and the ever-changing depiction of marriage that they present.
All of the works included in this collection focus on Austen’s portrayal of marriage, but they vary slightly in what aspects of the marriage they analyze. The sources cover everything from a basic analysis of the different social and moral roles marriage plays in the lives of Austen’s leading ladies to the more in-depth explorations of the meaning of widowhood and dependency shown by both the main and secondary characters.
Students, scholars, and lovers of Austen’s works should gain great insight into the mind of one of the most influential female writers in recent history through the use of this collection. It provides a thorough look into romance, courtship, and marriage in Austen’s novels and makes it known how her interpretation of marriage varies from the norm, which is useful to anyone looking to study Austen’s works or anyone trying to gain an understanding of feminism and marriage around the turn of the 19th century.
Brodie, Laura Fairchild. Society and the Superfluous Female: Jane Austen’s Treatment of Widowhood. Diss. Rice University, 1996. Web. 29 September 2013.
In her dissertation, Brodie identifies and analyzes the variety of ways Austen’s female characters are represented in her novels, focusing especially on widows and the “dark cloud” that hovers over them. She delves deeply into the worlds of Lady Susan and Mansfield Park, comparing two of Austen’s most prominent widows, Lady Susan and Mrs. Norris. She also analyzes the unrealistic romances in Northanger Abbey and Emma, showing the range of character diversity and its relevance to marriage. Brodie exposes the supposed “darkness” of widowhood and its effects on disposition in this article.
Elsbree, Langdon. “Jane Austen and the Dance of Fidelity and Complaisance.” Nineteenth Century Fiction, 15.2 (1960): 113-136. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.
This 23 page article explains the inefficient ways of courtship and marriage at the turn of the nineteenth century through a continuous metaphor: the dance. Elsbree uses the dances to describe the ups and downs of relationships seen in Austen’s novels—that is, how the relationships are great at some point, but they always seem more choreographed than realistic. The expectations lead to infidelity and rebellion on one part or another if love is absent in the marriage. The article can be used as a tool for anyone looking to find a realistic analyzation of marriage in Austen’s works.
Giles, Heidi. “Resolving the Institution of Marriage in Eighteenth-Century Courtship Novels.” Rocky Mountain Review, 66.1 (2012). Web. 1 Oct. 2013
Giles looks at Austen’s females as unconventional for the time; they are more prone to taking the initiative in their relationships. She analyzes the prominent word “resolve” that appears in many of Austen’s novels at crucial moments affecting the protagonist’s relationships. She compares Austen’s use of the word in each of her well-known novels to its wide spectrum of meanings during the eighteenth century and goes so far as to compare these to the word used in other great novels of the time, such as Jane Eyre and The Mysteries of Udolpho.
Hansen, Serena. “Rhetorical Dynamics in Jane Austen’s Treatment of Marriage Proposals.” Persuasions On-line, 21.2 (2000). Web. 1 Oct. 2013.
Hansen’s article is a brief analysis of Austen’s consistent structure of marriage proposals in her works. She focuses on the wording of the proposals and their impact on the female receiving them. She also notes that the successful proposal scenes are somewhat lacking in description. With section titles such as “Characters Accounting for the Persuasive Process,” “Happy Persuasion: Reason and Rapture,” and “Processes of Persuasion in the Novels,” Hansen defends that Austen had a unique way of portraying marriage and proposals in her work.
Hinnant, Charles H. “Jane Austen’s Wild Imagination: Romance and the Courtship Plot in the Six Canonical Novels.” Narrative 14.3 (2006): 294. Literature Resource Center. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.
Hinnant’s essay delves into the world of Austen courtship, looking especially at the shift all of the couples must face between their initial innocence and the more mature, self-knowing individuals they become before a marriage can occur. He also explores the seven models of courtship, from the “Cinderella” plot to the “previous loyalty” plot that Austen uses to vary her story lines. The essay is divided into three parts: “Seven Models of Courtship and Romance,” “The Movement from Illusion to Reality,” and “Anti-Courtship Novels?” The source is particularly useful for anyone looking to break down Austen’s use of courtship and marriage in her works.
Levin, Jane Aries. Marriage in the Novels of Jane Austen. Diss. Yale University, 1975. Web. 1 October 2013.
Levin’s dissertation takes an in-depth look at all of Austen’s prominent works and the role that marriage takes in each. She uses 179 pages to look at the style in which Austen is able to fulfill the reader’s innate wish for love using a unique comic form. Each chapter depicts the lead’s goal of marriage in an individual novel, breaking down its plot’s conflicts and resolutions. She also explores the two types of conflicts her protagonists face in the pursuit of a good marriage: societal obstructions in her early works and conflicts between the lovers in her later books.
Lundeen, Kathleen. “A Modest Proposal? Paradise Found in Jane Austen’s Proposal Scenes.” The Review of English Studies, 41.161 (1990): 65-75. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.
In her 10 page article, Lundeen questions the validity of and lack of detail in the betrothal scenes in Austen’s works. She notes the scant depiction of the successful proposals and hypothesizes that Austen may have had difficulty writing the scenes because of the lack of passion in her life. She breaks down the proposals in each of Austen’s Canonical works: Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Persuasion.
Magee, William H. “Instrument of Growth: The Courtship and Marriage Plot in Jane Austen’s Noels.” The Journal of Narrative Technique, 17.2 (1987): 198-208. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.
This journal article discusses the different plot structures Austen used to write her books and how they affected her characters’ views on marriage and courtship grew as time went on. It starts out discussing the conventional views the characters in Northanger Abbey and Sense and Sensibility possess, then moves quickly into the characters that are free from these traditional views in Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park and ends analyzing the characters in Emma and Persuasion, who challenge the restrictions of marriage of the time. Magee’s 10 page article is useful for those interested in analyzing the marriages in Austen’s novels.
McCracken, Kathryn Anne. “Marriage and Maturity in Jane Austen’s Novels.” MA Thesis. McGill University, 1966. Web. 27 Sept. 2013.
McCracken uses 87 pages to look at Austen’s belief and portrayal of marriage at the turn of the 19th century. The three main chapters of her work depict the author’s ever-changing view of marriage and its ties to morality and maturity. Chapter 2 looks into the early heroines, Catherine Morland and Elinor Dashwood, who hold an immature understanding of marriage, while chapters 3 and 4 show a more advanced grasp of the concept in Austen’s later works. The thesis explains that Austen uses irony and satire to show the effects of different levels of maturity and their effects on marriage.
Moore, Margaret E. “Emma and Miss Bates: Early Experiences of Separation and the Theme of Dependency in Jane Austen’s Novels.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. 9.4 (1969): 573-585. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.
Moore’s article sets out to analyze the theme of dependency in many of Austen’s works, focusing on Emma in particular. The twelve page article relates the characters dependency to Austen’s own experiences with her family. She alludes to the fact that the heroines of Austen’s novels often fear “whole-hearted commitment,” which is why many of them are reluctant to marry. The main focus of the article centers around dependency on parental figures, but also explains the heroines’ stubborn independence in their relationships and marriages. The source is useful for readers and scholars interested in taking a closer look at Austen’s novels.
Newman, Karen. “Can this Marriage Be Saved? Jane Austen Makes Sense of an Ending.” ELH. 50.4, 1983. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.
Newman uses this 17 page article to explore the discrepancies in Jane Austen’s happily-ever-after novel endings. She challenges her readers to question the ends of Austen’s novels because there are usually psychological paradigms and raw indications of feminist ideology and women’s place in culture. The article pulls material from other sources, D.A. Miller’s works in particular, to reiterate Newman’s findings. This article may not be lengthy, but it is definitely targeted toward a scholarly crowd, as indicated by the advanced vocabulary and educated conclusions.
Ruderman, Anne Crippen. “Love and Marriage in the Novels of Jane Austen.” Diss. University of Chicago, 1990. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.
Ruderman’s dissertation compares the roles of love and marriage in Austen’s novels with the reason and rationality the works seem to strongly support. She claims that passion and virtue are conducive to happiness in a marriage, as “Marriage entails duties that are difficult to uphold without the support of affection.” Cleanly divided into five sections, the 302 page dissertation seems lengthy at first glance, but is really an easy-to-navigate piece that is clear and concise. Her recurring theme of reason and passion allows this piece to be helpful to anyone looking for a better understanding of Austen’s works.
Wilson, Heidi Aranka. “Unveiled: An Examination of Jane Austen’s Betrothal Scenes.” Diss. California State University at Fresno, 2007. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.
Wilson’s 80 page dissertation provides a thorough analysis of the accepted and rejected proposals from Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma. She defines many consistencies within the rejected proposals, such as Austen’s tendency to explain the rejection scenes with great detail, which contrasts with Austen’s norm for depicting successful proposals—leaving much to the imagination to protect the intimacy of the characters and allow the reader to use his or her imagination to fill in the holes. The dissertation presents a unique view of Austen’s works that will appeal to scholars interested in feminism and courtship of that period.
Woodworth, Megan. “’A Manoeuvring Business’: Jane Austen and the Politics of Marriage.” MA Thesis. University of New Brunswick, 2005. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.
Woodworth uses 108 pages divided evenly into three chapters to explain how Austen’s heroines held a radical new view of the conventions of marriage at the time. She uses Mansfield Park, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma to show that marriage did not have to stick with the normal conventions of the time, but could instead be an “assertation of female political rights and power.” This source provides an in-depth explanation of Austen’s inclination to stray from the normal view of masculine domination of marriage at the turn of the nineteenth century.
English Research Sources 