The Masculinities Of The Main Female Characters In Emma

Jane Austen is a famous female writer in the nineteenth century in England and she plays an important part in the history of English literature. Compared with other productive writers, Austen only wrote six novels, which enjoy great popularity around the world and are profoundly loved by the readers. She creates lots of classical characters in her novels, so her works have a significant influence in the world literature. The thinking and disclosure of the female problems and the happy endings in her novels deserve our studies.Emma is often considered as Austen's most accomplished and mature novel. Protagonist Emma is the perfect woman in Austen's opinion, but she once assumed that Emma Woodhouse would be a heroine “whom no one but myself will much like”. Out of her expectation, it is Emma's imperfect personality and her characteristics of masculinity that makes her different and outstanding, which earns Emma a great popularity in the world literature.The body part of this thesis has three chapters. Chapter one focuses on different kinds of masculinities on the main female characters Emma Woodhouse, Jane Fairfax and Harriet Smith. With the independent thinking, Emma pursues equal social status. Jane is brave to follow her heart and keep her own individuality. Harriet is easy to be persuaded, but she finally chooses to get married to Mr. Martin. Chapter two analyzes the conditions that produce their masculinities from domestic and social factors, their educational experiences and different economic backgrounds. Chapter three centers on Austen's inner contradiction in the writing: taking the female writers' social status in the nineteenth century into consideration, the author aims to wake the women's feminist consciousness and also try to satisfy the male's expectations on the ideal female.This thesis aims to explore the author's inner contradiction through different kinds of masculinities on three female characters and its reasons attributing to their masculinity in Jane Austen's Emma. Owing to some domestic and social factors, Emma and some other female characters in the novel are presented as figures different, to various extents, from the traditional women in their personality traits, social relationships, domestic authorities, and their criteria to choose a soulmate. The masculinities in female characters display the dilemma which Austen encounters in the patriarchal society. She wants to get rid of shackles in order to be an independent female, at the same time it is difficult to stay away from the patriarchal society.