Title: Women owning property : the great lady in Jane Austen
Abstract: After commenting on an inheritance received by their wealthy uncle, Mr Leigh-Perrot, in a letter to Cassandra, in July 1808, Jane Austen writes: “Indeed, I do not know where we are to get our Legacy - but we will keep a sharp look-out” (Le Faye 143). Plainly aware of her and Cassandra’s comparatively strained circumstances and of inequality not just within her own family but throughout society, Jane Austen reverses this disparity in her novels. Here, in her narrative economy, property less women are given a central position and propertied women become secondary characters. In contrast to the way Georgian genteel women have been represented by scholars of the period, the great ladies in Jane Austen are not portrayed as either creators of spaces, managers of their property, or socially conscientious members of their community. Instead, they share various negative characteristics, with most of them being described as despotic and arrogant. The exception to this is the heroine of Emma, in which the future proprietor is central to the narrative. Presented as a potentially tyrannical great lady who does not contribute to the improvement of her community, Emma must reform herself in order to escape this destiny.
Publication Year: 2016
Publication Date: 2016-11-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
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