The Integration Of Realism And Idealism In Mansfield Park

Jane Austen, living in the late18thcentury and early19thcentury, is a famousBritish female novelist. In her works, she only depicts the life at England countrysidewhere she almost spends her entire life. However, the limited object of her portrayaldoesn t limit her conveying of profound meanings at all. Such a characteristic isdemonstrated fully in Mansfield Park, which therefore exposes her great literaryambitions. In the novel, she consistently adopts her realistic vision and writing stylebut in a more mature and sophisticated way, which directly constructs the complexityof its characters and plots. Meanwhile, her idealism is also embodied in thecomplexity, which can be specifically interpreted as her longings for the glorioushumanity, the pure homeland and the perfect society.In contrast with the other five complete novels by Austen, Mansfield Park catchesthe least attention among both common readers and literary critics. Many a critic hasmade a lot of incisive and penetrating comments on the novel from differentperspectives. Some critics apply the traditional mode of criticism, such as the analysisof characters. Some critics introduce the theories of western modernism orpostmodernism into their criticism of the novel, in which imperialism and feminismare the most influential critical trends. The realistic style of the novel is undoubtedlyconfirmed, since Austen is noted as a realist writer. However, her idealism which ispermeated through the whole novel is ignored by most critics. On the basis of thetexts, the thesis intends to explore how realism and idealism are integrated to makethe novel as a unity of profound meanings. It is expected that my thesis might make atiny contribution to the research of Austen s Mansfield Park.