Male Figures In Jane Austen’s Novels—from The Perspective Of"Cinderella" Archetype

Jane Austen is one of the most important novelists of English literature. In her short life of41years, she creates six completed novels:Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. Despite her limited themes, Austen presents the real life of the upper-middle class in English country exactly as it was at her time.Austen’s studies at home and abroad are mainly concerned with such aspects as narrative techniques, satirical art, view of marriage and feminist consciousness. In recent years, many scholars have started to carry on interdisciplinary studies of her work. D. W. Harding in his essay "Regulated Hatred"1(1939) first points out the element of Cinderella in Austen’s novels. Due to the happy endings of her novels, critics have always argued about her feminist consciousness. The present author aims to interpret the Cinderella plot of Austen’s novels from the perspective of feminism and archetypal criticism. Different from previous studies, this thesis focuses on Austen’s male figures.This thesis plans to classify Austen’s male figures as Cinderella’s father, the King and male suitors according to the fairytale Cinderella, analyze the similarities and differences between male characters in fairytale and novels, and explore the cultural elements. It will further prove Austen’s feminist consciousness by analyzing male protagonists’attitude to woman.Heroines’permissive-indifferent fathers are the same as Cinderella’s father—they exist in name only. Austen’s absent fathers can be seen as the result of her own living environment and the definition of father in traditional society. The King—heroes’ authoritarian fathers are on behalf of the social system; they guarantee heroes’wealth and social status. The Prince-type male suitors are Austen’s ideal men, while their competitors are representative of defective social system. However, these competitors are of great importance as medium of promoting protagonists to realize their feelings. Male characters in novels, especially young people have changed their standards in choosing a wife comparing with the older generation. Austen shows her feminist consciousness in her stories of finding true love. First of all, Austen challenges the traditional aesthetic needs of male-dominated society by simply describing her heroines’appearance and satirizing marriage out of admiration to woman’s beauty; secondly, Austen suspects men’s expectation and requirements for women by creating imperfect heroines; thirdly, the happy marriage between hero and heroine is based on their mutual understanding and support. It is totally different from Cinderella’s marriage in which she aims to seek the Prince’s protection. Austen’s heroines pursue equality with heroes in their relation and marriage. Heroes’acceptance to this kind of equality is the best signal of Austen’s feminist consciousness.The fairytale ending in Austen’s novels seems to be her submission to male authority, while in fact, her breakthrough to Cinderella archetype in the development of plot and characterization better illustrates the growth of her feminist consciousness.