Men In Austen's Novel

Jane Austen successfully created a lot of unforgettable male characters in her novels. The purpose of this dissertation is to have a complete and detailed analysis of these male characters. Three questions will be answered through the research: first, why are these male characters so attractive? Second, how did Jane Austen achieve this? Third, does the popularity of these characters have anything to do with Jane Austen's being a female writer herself?The research is mainly divided into four parts. Part One is about the characterization of men in Austen's novels. In this part, male characters are classified into four categories --- heroes, false heroes, comic figures, and fathers. And these four categories are analyzed one by one from the point of view of language, technique, and narration. The similitude and difference between them are analyzed. And it also tries to disclose Austen's real attitude towards these characters through the analysis.Part Two is about the men in Austen's life, including her father and brothers and most importantly her suitors. It is intended to find out the relationship between these real men and the men in her novels and also to figure out the impact of these real men on her writing.Part Three is about the social environment of Jane Austen's time, including the political and economic situation in the early Nineteenth-Ccentury England as well as the literary trends at that time. The influence of these situations is discussed in detail.In Part Four, the stress is transferred to Jane Austen's identity as a female writer. Women's living condition—especially their low social status—at that time is discussed. It tries to answer these questions: As a female writer, did Austen feel the bondage of a woman? What was her real feeling about this? And was such an attitude shown in her novels? How did her attitude influence her characterization of her male characters? The research shows that there are two reasons why Jane Austen could create such popular characters. On the one hand, she owned the special ability of observing, the gift of language, and the unique techniques of writing. So she could always get inspiration from her life and create all those vivid male characters in her novels. On the other hand, as a female writer, she also felt the inequality between male and female at her time. So she expressed her wish for sexual equality in her novels. Her male characters do not always play the part of absolute authority or that of mentors. They also have defects, and sometime they are even powerless. The men and women are treated as equal in Austen's novels. This is the special achievement of Jane Austen, and also one important reason for her popularity.