Date of Award
2000
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Kurjiaka, Susan K. H.
Abstract
The character of Elinor Tilney in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey states, "A mother could have been always present. A mother would have been a constant friend; her influence would have been beyond all others" (180). Ironically, however, Jane Austen's portrayal of the protagonists' mothers is inevitably less than the paragon that Tilney describes. Mrs. Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility, Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, Mrs. Morland in Northanger Abbey, and Mrs. Price in Mansfield Park all fail their daughters. Mrs. Dashwood, like her daughter Marianne, falls into the excesses of emotion that mimic the Romantic era. Mrs. Bennet errs because of defects in her character and her failure to understand the elements necessary for a successful marriage. Mrs. Morland neglects her daughter, and Mrs. Price virtually abandons hers. Seen against the standards of motherhood from the eighteenth-century philosophers, the eighteenth-century courtesy literature, and letters from the author, the heroines' mothers present a portrait of bad mothering of the period.
Extent
93 p.
Recommended Citation
Musso, Darlene Groves, "Looking for the good mother in Jane Austen's novels" (2000). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009. 86.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_5/86
Identifier
FADT15779
Comments
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2000.|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters