Jane Austen’s Views On Men

Jane Austen, who has charmed worldwide critics and audiences for the last two centuries, is one of the most renowned and remarkable female writers in English Literature. Throughout her six complete novels, Jane Austen has carved a microcosm of human society out of the "picture of domestic life in country village", continuously guiding people to exploit her world and inspiring them to reflect on their own lives.Since Jane Austen used to dwell on depicting gentry’s life in rural areas, mainly talking about marriage and love issue of her characters, the topic of the two sexes has always been the research objects among critics. While many people have dealt with this subject by focusing on the females, little attention has been put on the males in Jane Austen’s world. In this case, by closely examining three most representative works including Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma, this thesis aims to provide a comprehensive study on Jane Austen’s views on men in the light of gender theory. In this study, Jane Austen is figured out as a woman who doesn’t blindly worship men but at the same time shows sympathy to men, who truly voices against master-slave relationship but definitely admires a partner relationship with two sides playing respective roles, who tries to deconstruct patriarchal social system but in the meantime seeks a compromise with it. Following the above clues, the essay falls into three parts.Chapter one,"Jane Austen Constructing Men", discusses various male images that Jane Austen has presented to the audiences in her literary works. Male Images have occupied quite an important position in Jane Austen’s novels just like their brilliant female images do. It could be further divided into three categories:there are "real men" who find a way to negotiate with their living society and appear to be quite charming and attractive; there are "male chauvinists" who seem to act as loyal followers to the patriarchal system but turn out be quite pedantic and ridiculous; there are also a group of men who misuse the so-called male privileges without fulfilling their responsibilities, being abominable but meanwhile pitiful, we don’t know whether we could call them "knave or fool". Based on the above analysis, this chapter would further conclude Jane Austen’s attitudes towards men and suggest Jane Austen’s new principle for being an ideal man-being competent rather than perfect.Chapter two,"Jane Austen Building Relationships", analyzes different kinds of relationship between two sexes portrayed in Jane Austen’s novels. Three types of relationships are listed:"real men" would find their wives who they really love, the two becoming "soul mates" of each other;"male chauvinists" would search for an "angle", building a house with "an angel"; the last type of men which we couldn’t figure out whether they are "knave or fool" would find one who is willing to fall victim to his tricks, they together becoming a pair of "loser and idiot". Again based on the above analysis, this chapter probes into Jane Austen’s attitudes on male-female relationship:men are the backbone of families and they play an indispensible role in women’s world, offering both material support and spiritual company to the women. However, women should also enjoy their self-dignity, being treated by men as a partner rather than a slave.Chapter three,"Jane Austen’s views on Men", leads a discussion about Jane Austen’s views on men by concluding Jane Austen’s ideal male image and dream male-female relationship. Based on this, this chapter would explore the reasons why Jane Austen has developed such conservative view on men, digging into the social background and her life experiences, further throwing light on Jane Austen’s feminist consciousness.In conclusion, in Jane Austen’s eyes, men are by no means perfect but they are also absolutely not good for nothing; men are by no means the dominator in women’s lives but they are absolutely indispensable.