A Study Of The Literal And Symbolic Representation Of The Woman's "Puritism" In Jane Austen's Novels

The heterosexual romance in the novels of Jane Austen has been in the focus of criticism for many years. This study has been able to move beyond the issue love, courtship and marriage to the conflicts emanating from the salient Romantic ideal of the imagination as the model and source of all creativity. This is achieved through the symbolic interpretations embodied in this work.In the literal representation, the journey of the woman from her maiden days to her marriage is discussed. Each phase she undergoes in life presents different symbolic significance. Her childhood days, the period of adolescence, her presentation to the world of men, her choice of man, the conflicts the choice generates and finally the success of her choice which leads to marriage. The argument and focus of this essay is on how this simple narration presents the early Romantic ideals that flourished in her time between the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century England. These ideals are predominant in the poetic world and critics have richly devoured it. These ideals have presented themselves in the novels of Jane Austen in symbolic structures.The symbolic metaphoric expressions and the unique interchange of the masculine and the feminine domain have adequately sustained the arguments that give insight to the journey of humanity through life to attain the state of completeness which can only be achieved through the marriage of mankind to nature and since nature presents two forms in the good and bad and nature is also the source of all perverse pleasure according to Romantic belief, mankind is faced with a moral dilemma. The choice(s) mankind encounter(s) have two conflicting models, the internal creative imaginative model and the outside constitutive construct which is usually not manmade but established for man to follow.The symbolic images are:one, the home front as Eden; two, the father figure as God and the son figure as nature; three, the woman as mankind and the journey of the woman from her maiden days to marriage as the journey of mankind from this world to the original home of mankind called Eden, the period of maturation, when the woman is introduced to the world of men symbolizes the casting out of Eden (the period of maturation and adolescence captured by the Romantics represents the period of sin in the garden of Eden) and the woman's marriage to the man symbolizes the marriage of mankind to nature.This work begins with the introduction of the writer and her works, stating brief arguments and critical viewpoints that push for the research, it then presents the literature review which sheds light to the writers journey so far in the critical world and the incitement to pursue this line of research, then the arguments, the methodology and the research significance is presented, presenting the central argument of this essay and the method of research and finally, the explanation of the key word,"the woman's puritism" is presented, given the socio-political and cultural background of the work and also the constitutive placement of the male and female gender, with emphasis on the female gender.Chapter One takes us to the theoretical framework where arguments and key points on the Romantic ideals, principle and influences are discussed; in this chapter, the historical arguments on the time of the Romantic flourish, the different views on the definition and the principles of Romanticism, and the diversity and applications of Romanticism. Chapter Two gives a discursive analysis of the literal representation of Austen's works; the heterosexual romance, emphasizing the woman's (heroine) experiences in life, her choice of the husband and the conflicts surrounding it and finally the success of her choice and her marriage.Chapter Three discusses the symbolic representation of the home front and the man, presenting the narrative technique that presents the characteristics and duties that form the symbolic subjects.Chapter Four gives discursive insights to the symbolic representation of the woman and her journey through life to her marriage. The significance of her experiences in the symbolic structure, her childhood, her maturity, her introduction to the world of men, her struggles and choices, and finally her marriage are presented in their symbolic forms.The Conclusion summarizes the work and establishes the conflicts presented between the internal and external structures and emphasize the supremacy of the imagination and its place in the construction of civilization and true virtue.