A Feminist Approach To Jane Austen's Persuasion

The British woman writer Jane Austen's (1775-1817) concern for "woman question" has long become a controversial issue. This thesis attempts to decode, from a perspective of feminist criticism, Jane Austen's last complete novel Persuasion. Jane Austen displays a keen concern for "woman question" in this novel. Not being a feminist writer in the current sense, Jane Austen nevertheless exhibits a particular feminist tendency and attributes.The first chapter of the thesis makes a review of feminist criticism on Jane Austen and her novels, and the research reveals the significance of probing into Jane Austen's concern for "woman question" in modern context. The second chapter scrutinizes feminist attributes reflected in the novel based on the analysis on Anne Elliot's subversion to the patriarchal family patterns, and on the impact of female bonds and social changes on woman. Chapter Three investigates into the feminism embedded in the narrative style of the novel in terms of viewpoint and free indirect speech. The research indicates that the adoption of seeming Cinderella's model does not actually conform to stereotyped narrative patterns in a patriarchal social setting of the time. Austen secures Anne Elliot's self-consciousness by taking her viewpoint as a narrative perspective. Her body language as a special means of communication and the use of free indirect speeches contribute to her gaining of the authority of discourse.Therefore, Jane Austen manifests her feminist perspectives in both content and form in Persuasion.