Representing Courtship and Marriage in the English Novel, 1780-1860
Název práce v češtině: | Namlouvání a manželství v anglickém románu, 1780-1860 |
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Název v anglickém jazyce: | Representing Courtship and Marriage in the English Novel, 1780-1860 |
Klíčová slova: | namlouvání, manželství, román, Anglie, Burney, Austen, Brontë, Eliot |
Klíčová slova anglicky: | courtship, marriage, novel, England, Burney, Austen, Brontë, Eliot |
Akademický rok vypsání: | 2010/2011 |
Typ práce: | diplomová práce |
Jazyk práce: | angličtina |
Ústav: | Ústav anglofonních literatur a kultur (21-UALK) |
Vedoucí / školitel: | PhDr. Soňa Nováková, CSc. |
Řešitel: | skrytý![]() |
Datum přihlášení: | 18.05.2011 |
Datum zadání: | 20.05.2011 |
Schválení administrátorem: | zatím neschvalováno |
Datum a čas obhajoby: | 29.05.2012 09:00 |
Datum odevzdání elektronické podoby: | 02.05.2012 |
Datum proběhlé obhajoby: | 29.05.2012 |
Odevzdaná/finalizovaná: | odevzdaná studentem a finalizovaná |
Oponenti: | PhDr. Zdeněk Beran, Ph.D. |
Zásady pro vypracování |
This thesis focuses on the motifs of courtship and marriage as experienced by the female characters in the novels published from the end of the 18th century till the second half of the 19th century. These novels include Evelina (1778), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Jane Eyre (1847) and The Mill on the Floss (1860). As all these novels are written by female authors, the thesis provides a unique female perspective of the issue. The chosen texts deal with the motifs of courtship and marriage, play with the conventional discourse, and at the same time challenge the established perception of the role of a woman in the process of courting. Besides discussing the novels, I explore also the way the themes of courtship and marriage are presented in the original 18th and 19th century literature. For this purpose, I scrutinized various conduct books and essays of the period.
The first chapter of the thesis is introductory and explains the main ideas and terms used in the thesis. The second chapter focuses on the social background the heroine comes from – her family, character and education. Hence, the role of the family is discussed in reference to the process of courtship. Great attention is given primarily to the role of a father as a possible social guardian and the model of a future husband. The third chapter deals with the motif of courtship itself. I describe the way courting is depicted in the novels and the barriers which are necessary to be overcome in the progress of courting. The courtship is subdivided into three main categories including courtship as seduction, courtship as knowledge and courtship as personal affection. In the fifth chapter, the issue of marriage is scrutinised as the desired goal of successful courtship. I explain the significance and meaning of marriage as perceived in the 18th and 19th centuries and describe various laws and regulations governing the institution of marriage. Consequently, I discuss the issue of matrimony as both a safe harbour for the heroine and a possible threat. The last subchapter analyses the role of women without masculine protection, their social status and social possibilities. By discussing the issues of courtship and marriage, this thesis hopefully achieves to provide an insightful picture of courtship and marriage as they are represented in the chosen novels. It demonstrates the main trends in the perception of these issues; it shows how some new ideals of courtship and marriage were created and as other notions related to these issues were rejected. |
Seznam odborné literatury |
Primary Literature:
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. NY: W.W. Norton, 2001. Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. . NY: W.W. Norton, 1971. Burney, Frances. Evelina. NY: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1998. Eliot, George. The Mill on the Floss. NY: W.W. Norton, 1994. Secondary Literature ( 18th and 19th century authors): Chapone, Hester. Letters on the improvement of the mind. London: J. Walter, 1790. Ellis, Sarah. The Women of England. NY: D. Appleton, 1839. Fordyce, James. Sermons to young women. NY: M Carey, 1809. Gaskell, Elizabeth. The life of Charlotte Brontë . NY: Cosimo, Inc., 2008. Gregory, John. A father's legacy to his daughters. Boston: James B. Dow, 1834. Mill, John Stuart. The Subjection of Women. London : Dent & sons, 1929. Mill, John Stuart, Mill, Harriet Taylor. Essays on Sex Equality. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1970. Patmore, Coventry. The Angel in the House. Teddington: The Echo Library, 2006. Thompson, William. Appeal of one half the human race. NY: Burt Franklin, 1970. Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. London: Dent & sons, 1929. Secondary Literature (contemporary authors): Ablow, Rachel. The marriage of minds: reading sympathy in the Victorian marriage plot. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007. Barrett, Dorothea. Vocation and Desire. London : Routledge, 1991. Bloom, Harold. Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. NY: Infobase Publishing, 2007. Bloom, Harold. Elizabeth Bennet. Broomall: Chelsea House Publishers, 2004. Brownstein, Rachel M. Becoming a Heroine. NY: Columbia University Press, 1994. Caine, Barbara. English Feminism 1780-1980. NY: Oxford University Press, 1997. Cooke, Stewart J. Evelina. NY: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1998. Chesler, Phyllis. “Women as Psychiatric and Psychotherapeutic Patients”. Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 33, No. 4, Special Double Issue: Violence and the Family and Sexism in Family Studies, Part 2 (Nov., 1971), pp. 746-759 Christ, Carol T. The Mill on the Floss. NY: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1994. Dunn, Richard J. Jane Eyre. NY: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1971. Ermarth, Elizabeth. “Maggie Tulliver´s Long Suicide.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 14, No. 4, Nineteenth Century (Autumn,1974), pp. 587-601 Foster, Shirley. Victorian women's fiction: marriage, freedom, and the individual. Worcester: Billing&Sons Limited, 1985. Fuller, Margareth. Woman in the nineteenth century. Toronto: Dover Publications Inc, 1999. Gilbert, Sandra M. “ Plain Jane´s Progress.” Signs, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Summer, 1977), pp. 779-804 Greenfield, Susan C. Mothering Daughters: Novels and the Politics of Family Romance. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2003. Gray, Donald. Pride and Prejudice. NY: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001. Marotti, Arthur F. Reading with difference: gender, race and cultural identity. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1993. Menon, Patricia. Austen, Eliot, Charlotte Brontë, and the mentor-lover. London: MacMillan, 2003. Moglen, Helene. Charlotte Brontë: the Self Conceived. London: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1984. Newton, Judith Lowder. Women, power, and subversion: social strategies in British fiction, 1778- 1860. NY: Methuen &CO, 1981. Norbelie, Barbro Almqvist. Opprressive Narrowness. Uppsala: Almqvist-Wiksell International, 1992. Perkin, Joan. Women and Marriage in the Nineteenth-century England. London: Routledge, 2002. Polhemus, Robert M. Erotic Faith. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990. Showalter, Elaine. A Literature of Their Own. Princeton: princeton University Press, 1977. Spencer, Jane. The Rise of the Woman Novelist. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1986. Stone, Lawrence. The family, sex and marriage in England 1500-1800. London: Penguin Books, 1990. Straub, Kristina. Divided fictions: Fanny Burney and feminine strategy. Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 1987. Yeazell, Ruth Bernard. Fictions of modesty: women and courtship in the English novel. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press., 1991. |
Předběžná náplň práce |
From the late 18th century till the second half of the 19th century many important changes concerning the status of women in society had occurred, which could consequently alter the depiction of courtship and marriage in novels. The aim of this thesis is to analyze these changes and their reflection in literature. For this purpose I intend to analyse and compare four novels written by female authors of that time, which enables me to provide a unique female perspective on this issue. These texts include two novels published at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries called Evelina (1778) and Pride and Prejudice (1813), and two novels published approximately half of the century later named Jane Eyre (1847) and The Mill on the Floss (1860). All these texts focus on the motifs of courtship and marriage, and at the same time challenge the established perception of the role of a woman in the process of courtship.
To approach the subject of this thesis from many interesting perspectives, various kinds of secondary sources will be provided to support my arguments. The secondary literature includes critical studies focusing on the four women authors and their individual works. Among these I would rank for example studies as Oppressive Narrowness exploring the female community in George Eliot’s writings, Jane Austen:Women, Politics and the Novel discussing the social background of Austen’s novels, and Charlotte Brontë: the self conceived approaching the novel Jane Eyre from a feminist perspective. I will also include twentieth-century critical studies focusing on the issues of feminism, marriage and education of women in the 18th and 19th centuries. As the representative of this kind of literature I would mention Women and Marriage in nineteenth-century England dealing with the conception of a woman as “the angel in the house”. Finally, the third source of my secondary literature consists of books written by the eighteenth and nineteenth-century authors commenting upon the status of women at that time. As an example I give Mary Wollstonecraft’ s study A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and John Stuart Mill’s The Subjection of Women. The first chapter of the thesis will be introductory and will provide the basic terms I will use throughout the work. It will also explain the argument and structure of the thesis. This section will be followed by the second chapter. This part will focus primarily on the social background the heroine comes from and how it may influence her marriage prospects. This includes a detailed analysis of the family relationships and the role parents or guardians play during the courtship. The aspect of an ‘absent or useless parent’ will be commented upon and interpreted as a possible means of allowing the heroine to act on her own and thus be more equal to her suitor. The next point of discussion will be the heroine’s social and economic status and the way it may create tensions in the process of wooing. Last but not least, the education of the heroine will be scrutinized as well as its influence on her ideas about marriage. In the third chapter, I will proceed to the study of courtship itself as represented in the four novels. The main focus of this section will be to scrutinize the heroine, her approach towards courting, her role in the relationship and the development of her personality throughout the process of finding the right husband. For this purpose, it will be discussed what influenced the views and expectations the female characters had about courtship in the 18th and 19th centuries. I will also analyze the function of a woman in wooing at that time and how it differentiated from that of a man. Next, I will scrutinize the ways a woman could influence the process of courtship and how a courtship could influence a woman. Finally, the consequences of rejecting a suitor will be commented upon as well as the possible reasons leading to this decision. The forth chapter will deal with the motif of marriage and its depiction in the novels. The status of marriage as such will be explored in regard to the changing conditions in society. I will draw a distinction between the marriage of affection, marriage of passion and the marriage of convenience, and will explain the consequences these marriages bring to the female characters. Last, the conditions under which the courtship is successfully finished with a marriage will be analyzed as well as the instances when a marriage is considered as undesirable or even impossible. Finally, this chapter will be followed by a conclusion, in which I will discuss the results of my research. To conclude, this MA thesis is to explore whether there is any reflection of the changing position of women and their rights in the late 18th century and 19th century literature. For this purpose, the thesis focuses on the motifs of love, courtship and marriage in the four novels written by female authors of that time. Comparisons will be drawn among these writings with regard to the 18th and 19th century studies on these issues. Thus, hopefully, this thesis will achieve the desired result. |