CHARLOTTE AND ELIZABETH: MULTIPLE MODERNITIES IN JANE AUSTEN'S "PRIDE AND PREJUDICE" by Melina Moe
This article provides an in-depth critical perspective on "Pride and Prejudice" by focusing on the often-overlooked character of Charlotte Lucas and her contrasting views on marriage with Elizabeth Bennet. The paper re-frames the relationship between Charlotte and Elizabeth as an "agonistic exchange" that explores "multiple modernities" and competing forms of female subjectivity, moving beyond the traditional critical view that Charlotte is merely a "vestigial figure" or a foil for Elizabeth's development. Crucially, the resource engages with and critiques historical feminist literary analysis that has often overlooked female subjectivities, like Charlotte's, which prioritize perseverance and self-discipline over the pursuit of freedom and self-expansion in marriage. By examining Charlotte's choice to marry Mr. Collins as a mode of agency—seeking safety and social necessity rather than romantic love—this text offers a sophisticated framework for discussing economic constraints, individual fulfillment, and the political implications of conjugality in Austen's world.
Jane Austen and the Feminist Tradition by Lloyd W. Brown
Although older, this article provides a foundational argument for linking Austen's work directly to the 18th-century feminist tradition of revolt, prioritizing a liberationist philosophy over earlier vague critical classifications of female novelists. The paper offers a sophisticated framework for critical analysis by critiquing traditional psychoanalytic and post-Freudian readings that reduced Austen's womanhood to conventional notions defined by biological needs for sexual dependency and motherhood. It analyzes how Austen's characters, particularly Anne Elliot in Persuasion, actively challenge male-dominated assumptions about female dependency, education, and the restrictive, socially conditioned nature of "special" female emotions. By drawing parallels between Austen's themes and Mary Wollstonecraft's ideas on education and female identity, the article provides essential material for discussing the political implications of social roles in the novels that is still relevant today.
Left Hanging: Silence, Suspension, and Desire in Jane Austen’s Persuasion by Christien Garcia
This article offers an in-depth literary analysis of "Persuasion," focusing on complex and often overlooked thematic elements such as "silence, suspension, and desire". The paper moves beyond conventional readings of heroine Anne Elliot's silence as a mere deficiency, instead proposing it functions as a form of "suspension" that maintains narrative indeterminacy and defines the intimate relationship between Anne and Frederick. Furthermore, it engages with significant academic conversations, including feminist debates about female inarticulacy and the restoration of a woman's voice through marriage, providing multiple critical perspectives for students. By drawing parallels between the novel's themes and psychoanalytic ideas on desire, separation, and intimacy, the resource offers a sophisticated framework for understanding the novel's enduring complexities and its ambiguous ending.
Shame and Sensibility: Jane Austen's Humiliated Heroines by Ashly Bennett
This article offers a sophisticated critical framework for analyzing Jane Austen's novels, focusing on the revisionary and mediating function of shame in the lives of her heroines. It directly challenges traditional critical views that equate the heroines' humiliation with repression, instead arguing that shame facilitates important self-knowledge and a strategic movement away from the perilous extremes of "sentimental absorption" and "affected indifference." By examining scenes of "mortifying perusal" and "momentary shame" in texts like Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey, the paper provides students with insights into Austen’s innovative use of narrative voice, especially free indirect discourse, to stage an interior spectacle of the self. Finally, the analysis situates Austen's work within 18th-century debates regarding the cultural anxieties surrounding sensibility and the status of the novel as a "feminized" genre, making it excellent material for discussing literary history and critical reading practices.
The Continuity of Jane Austen's Novels by Juliet McMaster
This article offers a foundational critical argument that Austen's novels must be viewed as a "totality," where each work systematically functions as a development, qualification, or correction of the preceding ones. The essay provides a sophisticated framework for comparative study by detailing how Austen consistently employs a "complex system of balance and qualification" across her entire opus, defining the limits of every virtue or vice rather than endorsing extremes. It meticulously traces the thematic evolution between novels, such as the shift from Elinor’s endorsed sense in Sense and Sensibility to the exploration of Elizabeth’s "mental overactivity" and prejudice in Pride and Prejudice. Furthermore, the analysis highlights the author's changing social philosophy, moving toward increasingly "radical" social attitudes, particularly in Persuasion, which sets up the merit-based Navy as a standard against hereditary class.