The theme of this thesis is the relationship of the Jane Austen heroine to her social environment--codes of proper behavior as exemplified by the heroines of Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion. The study follows the development of the characters from the ignorance of the social code demonstrated by Emma Woodhouse, through views of the expectations of women of marriageable age as seen by Elizabeth and Jane Rennet, to a comparison of sensible and sensitive behavior in Marianne and Elinor Dashwood, and concluding with the perfect propriety of Anne Elliot. The thesis explores the connection between propriety and the heroine, demonstrating why a heroine succeeds or fails on the basis of her individual view of the social code and her behavior in obeying or denying its dictates.

Writing the history of Tudor women is a difficult task. "Women's lives from the 16th century can rarely be constructed except when these women have had influential connections with notable men.This is no less true for the court women of Tudor England than for other women of the time. The purpose of this thesis is to discuss some of the more memorable court women of Tudor England who served the queens of Henry VIII, Mary I, and Elizabeth I, 2 and to determine what impact, if any, they had on their contemporary times and to evaluate their roles in Tudor history.