University Paper

Jane Austen is not famous for her descri ptions of natural landscape - indeed they are few and far between. Her novels are often thought to be concerned with only the confined, domestic sphere of the upper-middle class. Charlotte Bronte famously criticised Pride and Prejudice for resembling

an accurate daguerreotyped portrait of a commonplace face carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers but [there is] no glance of a bridge, vivid physiognomy, no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck. I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen in their elegant but confined houses....

However, this essay argues that Austen uses landscape to engage with contemporary discourses which promoted female independence. In Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion, landscape is a potential source of health, hope and knowledge. Indeed Austen`s representations of landscape are more fully weighted with metaphorical value that Charlotte Bronte, or many critics since, have recognised. It is interesting that Bronte associates the novel with two images - the physiology of the human face and the landscape. For this essay argues that landscape is central to the development of her heroines in these two novels. Elizabeth Bennet and Anne Elliot find strength, and knowledge, in their physical landscape - and this eventually leads them to find ways to control their future landscape.

Pride and Prejudice exposes tensions regarding the autonomy of women against traditional values of femininity. Elizabeth Bennet is an unusually independent woman whose enthusiasm for walking clashes with the attitudes of members of England`s upper class. I argue that Austen consciously champions a heroine who takes control of the landscape in physical and metaphorical ways, and uses it as a source of strength. The Bingley sisters, ever obsessed with decorum, are shocked when Elizabeth makes the three mile walk from Longbourn to Netherfield. They think her appearance is `almost wild` when she arrives, and Caroline`s sneering word `scampering` suggests that such behaviour is almost animal. Apart from Elizabeth`s inelegant appearance, Caroline is particularly shocked by her display of `conceited independence` (PP, 26), for travelling by foot is clearly too strenuous for the ability of a woman. Austen`s satirical portrait of the upper class women is humorously extravagant - however, it does portray contemporary discourses about female independence.

There is no evidence that Austen was influenced by Mary Wollstonecraft`s radical theories, but it seems unlikely that she wasn`t aware of them. In the epistolary collection from A Short Residence in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, Wollstonecraft proves to be a woman who cannot stand confinement and years to be constantly travelling abroad. Mary Favret points out that, `here as elsewhere we see Wollstonecraft identifying the domestic sphere with inertia and pointless routine`. For example, she constantly highlights the value of her physical excursions in contrast to the `idleness` of the local Swedes, Of course, Wollstonecraft was vastly more radical in thought than Austen, however Austen`s novels engage with some of her key debates. As Havret points out, `it was common for radicals of the middle class to picture the aristocracy as especially languid, lethargic figures, ensconced on their sofas and sated with pleasure`. Austen`s depiction of the free-spirited Elizabeth clashing with the proud Bingley sisters thus can be seen as a subtle engagement with some really radical contemporary discourse.

Austen exaggerates the ridiculously of their objections - Caroline, trying desperately to sour Darcy`s admiration, declares that walking alone is an `exhibition` of oneself, which suggests wantonness (PP, 26). She later says to Elizabeth `let me persuade you to follow my example, and take a turn about the room - I assure you it is very refreshing after sitting so long in one attitude` (PP, 41). Mocking Elizabeth, who she knows is a great walker, Caroline recommends a type of exercise which is more elegant - strictly indoors and restricted to gentle walking. Caroline`s obsession with decorum is clearly represented throughout the novel as absurdly pompous however, modern readers often underestimate how unconventional Elizabeth`s behaviour is for its epoch. Claudia Johnson argues that, as `judged by the standards set in conduct books and in conservative fiction`, her behaviour `constantly verges on unladylike athleticism. Elizabeth not only walks great distances alone - something that propriety-conscious Emma would never do - but she `runs, jumps, springs, and rambles`. Lady Catherine`s status-conscious views create further tensions with Elizabeth. For her, it is unthinkable for women to travel alone: `young women should always be properly guarded and attended`, she tells Elizabeth (PP, 158).

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