Parenthood in Selected Novels by Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë

Abstract

This thesis looks into biological parents and those who fill parental roles within selected novels by Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë. The four novels that have been analysed are Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park, and Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Shirley. Drawing on historical sources this thesis examines the authors’ views of parenting as shown in their novels, and how it may have been at odds with the prevailing thought during the novelists’ respective lifetimes. The novelists wrote during different periods, so this thesis investigates if their attitudes towards parenting differ, and if so to what extent these differences can be related to changing views of parenting within society. It is broken up into three sections: Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, and then a comparison and conclusion. This thesis demonstrates that whilst there was not a huge change between 1775 and 1855 there was an intensification of society’s attitudes, specifically towards the ‘ideal mother’ and her place within the household. In opposition to the views that were held by society, both novelists show that the ideal mother was unattainable and unrealistic, that raising your child according to conduct literature would result in overindulged and spoilt children, and finally that happiness does not necessarily depend on having children. Finally, between Austen’s novels and Brontë’s, this thesis shows how society was changing from placing emphasis on the father as the centre of the family to the mother.