Jane Austen is known for being a writer of women, and romance, but she is a major influence of gender stereotypes after her time. In many of her works, Austen would flout at how femininity and masculinity were ruled by societal standards. Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey follows suit with this concept, by depicting her characters as what was expected of their gender to what was abhorred in upper-middle class and high society.
The second to the youngest of eight children, Jane Austen was born on the seventeenth of December in 1775. Jane Austen began her life in Hampshire, England with her parents George, a clergyman, and Cassandra Austen. For a woman raised in the Georgian era, pre-Victorian, Austen was well educated due to access to her father’s …show more content…
In thus they are a progression and digression of masculine norms, depending on the character. For the most part, Austen does not place an emphasis on these men. During the Georgian/Victorian era, men were essentially allowed to do as they pleased as long as they either pursued a marriage that would raise their wealth and standing or married of equal ground. At least in terms of monetary value, the woman brought to the marriage, there was always a hierarchy between genders. Whereas, a woman is required to remain innocent and chaste until marriage; a man, however, could be “particularly pious he might manage to stay chaste until he married. Many respectable young men, however, resorted to using prostitutes” (Hughes). The absence of piety is easily perceived in Captain Tilney’s character, and John Thorpe’s belligerence throughout the novel arranges him close to Captain Tilney’s nefariousness. Unfortunately, both Captain Tilney and John are astounding examples of masculinity for the time. The Captain does as he pleases, taking what he wants with no regard to the impact it will have on the woman’s life. Then, there is John, hunting down Catherine’s hand in marriage at any cost. John’s desire to marry Catherine holds the same reasoning behind it as his sister Isabella’s desire to marry James. The possibility of a raise in money and
The second to the youngest of eight children, Jane Austen was born on the seventeenth of December in 1775. Jane Austen began her life in Hampshire, England with her parents George, a clergyman, and Cassandra Austen. For a woman raised in the Georgian era, pre-Victorian, Austen was well educated due to access to her father’s …show more content…
In thus they are a progression and digression of masculine norms, depending on the character. For the most part, Austen does not place an emphasis on these men. During the Georgian/Victorian era, men were essentially allowed to do as they pleased as long as they either pursued a marriage that would raise their wealth and standing or married of equal ground. At least in terms of monetary value, the woman brought to the marriage, there was always a hierarchy between genders. Whereas, a woman is required to remain innocent and chaste until marriage; a man, however, could be “particularly pious he might manage to stay chaste until he married. Many respectable young men, however, resorted to using prostitutes” (Hughes). The absence of piety is easily perceived in Captain Tilney’s character, and John Thorpe’s belligerence throughout the novel arranges him close to Captain Tilney’s nefariousness. Unfortunately, both Captain Tilney and John are astounding examples of masculinity for the time. The Captain does as he pleases, taking what he wants with no regard to the impact it will have on the woman’s life. Then, there is John, hunting down Catherine’s hand in marriage at any cost. John’s desire to marry Catherine holds the same reasoning behind it as his sister Isabella’s desire to marry James. The possibility of a raise in money and