| dc.description | Jane Austen's novels are chiefly about women, courtship and marriage, but the context for her heroines' growth to maturity is a rigidly patriarchal society. No previous full-length study has explored the novels' depiction of the men who are the personification of this patriarchy. This dissertation focuses exclusively on the portrayal of men in the novels, and provides a comprehensive account of male authority and responsibility, its limits and its obligations. Representation of this inegalitarian world grows more sophisticated over the course of the six novels; in particular, the depiction of the male characters provides a valuable commentary not only on the few choices women have, but also on the acuity of perception and high degree of self-discipline, not to mention courage, the women portrayed require to protect themselves where their future happiness and material well-being are concerned. Relations between men and their brothers and sisters create a solid verisimilitude in the novels and these bonds are portrayed realistically as often complicated, frustrating or shallow, and occasionally as warm, supportive and understanding. Fathers mainly are found wanting. Collectively, they powerfully illustrate the theme of the abdication of responsibility which pervades Jane Austen's novels. The role of unsuccessful suitor, embodied in the early novels by clear-cut villains, later evolves into a much more complex rendering of human interaction in a world of shades and gradations where little is what it seems. Determining these men's faults requires an increasing subtlety and this aspect of interaction between the sexes aptly underlines the difficult task of discernment which women face in understanding and trusting men. A few men, the accepted suitors, get it right and stand out for their willingness to accept their faults and limitations, to grow as persons, to listen to women, and to treat them with equality and mutuality. The novels' representation of the world of men demonstrates also an evolution in the depiction of masculine emotion, a development which culminates in Frederick Wentworth's impassioned love note to Anne Elliot. The hallmark of Jane Austen's portrayal of men, the liars as well as the listeners, is the fairness of her characterization; it models an equity which few women could have experienced, and marks the novels' vision as a significant contribution to English Literature. | en_US |
