Tuesday, September 19, 2006
MRS. JENNINGS AND MRS. FERRARS
These two struck me as the matriarchal pillars of the novel. In many ways, they were the most powerul people in the book — like Lady Catherine in Pride and Prejudice — and yet they were very different. JA's books seem to be peopled with anti-patriarchs, i.e., most of the men except for the main love interest seem to be sidelined and ineffectual, and it's really the women calling most of the shots. I found this very striking. I don't know whether anyone else noticed this ... or maybe it's what Christy was getting at with her "mean girls" comment ... especially in terms of when JA was writing, early 1800s, as compared with, say, the Bronte sisters' books, written in mid-1800s, which are very male-centered, even "Jane Eyre," good grief, is really about a man, as is "Wuthering Heights"..... although I can't help but see a very compelling resemblance between Cathy in "Wuthering Heights" and Marianne in S&S. (I guess Charlotte Bronte disliked JA — thought she was overrated, lacked cajones. I wonder what Emily thought...) Anyway, this is not a question, so much as a rambling, but if anyone has any thoughts on this, I'd like to hear them.
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3 comments:
Also, it just occurred to me that there's some resemblance, too, between Marmee from "March" and Marianne.
I agree, kc. Even in the start of the book, John Dashwood is the new patriarch, but is swayed from his good intentions by his wife, the new matriarch.
It also seemed that Marianne had to overlook the age difference in Brandon, and perhaps a resemblance to a patriarch.
Good call on the Marianne/Marmee resemblance.
Oh, excellent point, George, about John and his wife.
And even the dude who left the property to John Dashwood's family instead of to Marianne and Elinor's immediate family. His original intentions gave way to the charms of a toddler (John's son), which outweighed "all the value of the attention which, for years he had received from his niece and her daughters."
And in P&P, the father of the five Bennet girls is totally weak; he's just content to sit on the sidelines and basically make fun of his wife and her match-making follies.
JA removes the strong patriarch, and, into the void, women rush in. And many of them are very silly, because women were really just ornaments then, and a few of them are exceptional, like the Miss Dashwoods and Eliza Bennet and Emma, and it's like the books are a struggle between the silly women and the ones who really deserve to be in charge.
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