Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1978

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Sloane, Mary

Abstract

Jane Austen refutes the eighteenth century idea of a dichotomy between male-reason and female-imagination. She asserts the intellectual equality of the sexes through her heroines. The heroines of Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion are totally rational women who consistently evince the correct balance between reason and imagination. The second heroine of Sense and Sensibility, and the heroines of Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma are, at first, misled by the indulgence of imagination and romantic ideals. However, they overcome their faulty reasoning and achieve the correct use of reason. Austen indicates that the intellectual weakness attributed to women was due to their poor education rather than any innate inferiority to men, and reinforces this idea through her use of mentor characters. Her heroines are the intellectual equals of the heroes, and Austen implies that women should be given the same strong, formal education as men.

Extent

102 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1978.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FADT13925

Format

pdf

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