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Jane Austen's rejection of Rousseau: a novelistic and feminist initiation. (Jean-Jacques Rousseau)

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From: Papers on Language & Literature
Date: 19940622
Author:Cohen, Paula Marantz

Jane Austen's evolution as a novelist paralleled her growth as a feminist thinker, as evidenced by a comparison of her portrayal of education in 'Northanger Abbey' and 'Pride and Prejudice.' Accepting Jean-Jacques Rousseau's concepts of womanly education, Austen depicts the protagonist of 'Northanger Abbey' as being educated in a manner that would allow her to become a faithful servant to a man. In 'Pride and Prejudice' Austen depicts women as self-thinking with their own convictions, the opposite of Rousseau's notion that women's opinions are given to them by their husbands.

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