Lady’s Perspectives On Male Characters

Jane Austen is considered as an outstanding female novelist in Britain of thenineteenth century. In her short life, inheriting excellent literary tradition of thesenior writers and depending on the outstanding and elegant languages, Austencreates six masterpieces: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park,Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. This thesis will give a full reflection tothe six novels, analyze the male images and sum up her male perceptions andfeminist consciousness from lady’s perspectives.The first chapter discusses the importance of the male characters in literaryworld of Austen. Males and Females are not only relatively independent, but alsointerdependent of the human bodies. Their special personality and glamoursignificantly influence the world outlooks and value of females. As a mirror, males areindispensable elements for females to look for the existent meaning of themselves.Females show themselves in the process of contacting with, deviating from andinosculating males. Every stage of females, including growth, love and marriage,cannot develop without males’coordination. Being fathers, husbands, brothers orlovers, males play a decisive role in such different stages. Almost every femalecharacters described by Austen has her corresponding male roles that can set off her.The male characters who are in sorts of attitudes have distinctive personalities, whichgreatly enrich the female images. This chapter makes an analysis or a generalizationof the male according to three categories: "Suitor Images", "Father Images" and"Pastor Images". In addition, the article discusses similarities and differences of malesin the aspects of love, marriage, and tacking with others. Thus, on this basis, we couldscan the outlook of the male in her novels from a macroscopic view and describe the basic points of the writer with the view of“dim male images”.ChapterⅡdepicts all kinds of male images in Austen’s novels and furtherreflects the female author’s masculinity .For one thing, Austen discourses the idealmale image from four aspects:“integrity of moral character”,“the relationshipbetween self and the others”,“non-mercenary view upon love and marriage”and“theconcept of democratic and harmonious family”, all reflect altruistic ethics Austenadvocates. Therefore, she shows high praise for the personal quality of honest,self-restraint, emphasizes social responsibility and opposes selfish. As to relationsbetween sexes, she values the equal relation in love and marriage between male andfemale, considering that the ideal male should show respect to the female, understandand approve female’s value; a couple ought to operate their love and marriagetogether, so as to make a democratic and harmonious family. For another, aiming atthe standpoint of traditional patriarchal culture of sexual inequality, Austen unfoldsnarration, scan and judge male characters from a lady’s point of view. Shesummarizes the decay of males who were thought of the center of the society andfamilies by“the downfall of patriarchal authority", obtains“the deconstruction ofmale-superior-myth”. Besides, Austen also gives examples to prove her view of“female being smart”through the feminist consciousness in Persuasion, achieving thegoal of assuring female’s value and enhancing feminist consciousness. To sum up, thenovelist questions thousands of years’patriarchal culture, clears up the male-centereddiscourse system and comes up with unique opinions on males (in fact including thefemales).ChapterⅢanalyses that the essence of Austen’s viewpoint of male isprotesting and betraying patriarchy, which shows awakening of author’s feministconsciousness and the self-conscious in writing and expression. In the era dominatedby patriarchal culture, Austen’s unique handing on the theme of love and thepersonalized engraving of the British middle-class ladies and gentlemen, illustratesthat she has already built a harmonious and ideal relation between sexes consciouslyor unconsciously. For instance we can refer Austen’s feminist ideology to popularityand advancement by the comparison with a senior heterosexual author Richardson .Then, through comparing with junior homosexual writer Charlotte Bronte,we could get the differences of the expressions of feminist consciousness betweenthem and the inevitable limitation and unthoroughness .Finally, the paper centers onthe elements, which influences Austen’s creation, especially the cause of theviewpoint of male, such as political and economical environments in Britain at thattime, and the social and family status of women, the growth experiences of Austenand existential men’s influences on her, so as to comprehend her in detail andcompletely.