2.1 Austen’s Assertion of Women’s Intellectual Power
In Jane Austen’s time, it was a common notion that women are inferior to men in intelligence. They were cultivated to conceal their intelligence: “but if you happen to have any learning, keep it a profound secret, especially from the men, who generally look with a jealous and malignant eye on a woman of great parts, and a cultivated understanding” (Monagham 105). So, meekness was considered the major feminine virtue and the ideal woman that men dreamed of was always an angel.
However, Jane Austen insisted that women were inherently as rational as men. One did have to think independently and to judge rationally to be free. Jane Austen was also against the view that meekness was a fault rather than a virtue. Emma, a brilliant heroine in Jane Austen’s novel, is a young woman who can judge by herself, make her own decisions and voice her own thoughts rather than keep silent and stay obedient.
2.2 Jane Austen’s Concern for Women’s Role in the Society
In the society of the 18th or 19th century, women were regarded as ornaments of men. Their lives were rounded and complete, and they required nothing but the calm recurrence of those peaceful home duties in which domestic women rightly felt that their true vocation lay (Morris 44). Women’s proper role was consistently the filial daughter, the submissive wife and the patient mother. Women’s self-worth was achieved through their devotion to the family and the services to their husbands.
By contrast, Austen argued that women played a crucial role in guaranteeing the order of the society. The importance which Jane Austen attached is obviously reflected in Catherine, one of her earliest stories: “…the welfare of every Nation depends upon the virtue of its inpiduals, and any one who offends in so gross a manner against decorum＆propriety is certainly hastening its ruin. You have been giving a bad example to the World, and the World is but too well disposed to receive such” (Park and Rajeswari 79). In Jane Austen’s opinion, a woman should walk out of the limited circle and more into other areas of activity in the society rather than confine herself to home. Emma was such a passionate person who devoted herself to her society, especially to helping other women. In short, Jane Austen’s feminist concerns are a mode of perception, developed both by Austen herself and by the women in her novels. 浅析《爱玛》女主人公的女性意识(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_18737.html