Denna uppsats analyserar Jane Austens roman Mansfield Park samt Elizabeth Gaskells roman Wives and Daughters för att utröna likheter och skillnader. Uppsatsen utgår ifrån en komparativ metod för att se hur romanerna närmar sig den romantiska konflikt som uppstår, samt karakteriseringar och värderingar. Syftet är att se hur romanerna är en del av/upprätthåller en motivtradition. Uppsatsen visar att romanerna i hög grad liknar varandra gällande intrig och motiv, och att de på så vis är en del av den romantiska motivtraditionen.

In this thesis, I maintain that a focus on a narrowly defined sense of ‘fidelity’ is used to discourage and devalue adaptations that work to comment on class, racial, and gender dynamics that the original author did not. An emphasis on strict fidelity can also be a misogynistic response to Austen adaptations’ popularity among young women. While certainly one may have legitimate aesthetic concerns in regards to adaptations of any form—novel, film, YouTube, or otherwise—it is important to scrutinize the claim that such artistic differences are not, in fact, rooted in general disdain for narratives and media embraced by, or seemingly embraced by, women (particularly young women). Just as importantly, the motivations of those claiming to produce feminist narratives must be equally scrutinized, as I have found that these content producers at times use the very real misogyny directed at young women and their interests in order to shield themselves from criticism of their own portrayals of women and feminism. I discuss the discourse around contemporary film and book adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, as well as evaluate two recent adaptations that have made waves in popular culture: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.

Through four novelists from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries-Haywood, Defoe, Austen, and Chopin-this work examines the way the mother's importance evolves throughout literature. In Haywood's works, motherhood is seen as a dominant force in her child's life, but not a dominant force in society. Defoe approaches motherhood in a dramatically different way; for him, motherhood is secondary to financial security, and this opinion is reflected in the lives and actions of his characters. In spite of the absence of a maternal influence, Austen's characters do not experience true hardship in the way that Haywood's and Defoe's do. However, their lives are adversely affected by this absence. Chopin's protagonist has never experienced a maternal influence, and this absence has dramatically affected her life. She is unsure about what she wants from life, and this knowledge, along with her realization of society's restrictions upon her, ultimately leads to her suicide.

Jane Austen, seen by some as the mother of all chick-lit, is synonymous with tales of love and marriage. Generally, scholars have classified the types of marriages Austen writes about as either companionate (a marriage based on love) or pedagogic (a marriage based on an older man training a younger woman to be his ideal wife). In comparing the companionate and pedagogic marriage models in Austen's Sense and Sensibility and Emma, however, one finds that these traditional definitions and classifications of the companionate and pedagogic marriages prove to be complicated. The companionate marriage is not only a marriage based on love, but also takes into account rank, wealth, social status, religious values, and moral character. The pedagogic marriage, on the other hand, includes not only a marriage where an older man takes a younger woman and “trains” her to be the perfect wife for him, but also when a woman admires a man's values and approach to the social world and changes her behavior to reflect those attitudes. Elinor Dashwood and Edward Ferrars from Sense and Sensibility and Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax from Emma are classified by scholars under the companionate marriage model. However, neither of these couples fits into the companionate model due to Elinor and Jane's lack of fortunes and Edward and Frank's lack of good character. Marianne Dashwood and Colonel Brandon from Sense and Sensibility and Emma Woodhouse and Mr. Knightley from Emma are classified by scholars under the pedagogic marriage model. Marianne and Brandon would fall under the category of the woman changing her behavior to reflect the behaviors of a superior man, while Emma and Knightley would fall under the category of an older man training the younger woman to be his wife. Marianne does undergo a transformation, but it is not a result of Brandon's values or influence. She changes based on self-reflection and then turns to Brandon and falls in love with him. Emma and Knightley, on the other hand, do start out with a mentor-pupil relationship. However, as the novel progresses, so does their relationship. By the end of the novel, Emma and Knightley equally teach each other and discover a relationship based on mutual respect and love. Therefore, none of the relationships fall neatly into their assigned categories; each relationship is more nuanced and full of complexities that can't easily be classified. By more clearly understanding the complexities involved in each relationship, readers can gain an even greater appreciation for Austen, thus helping them to value Austen as more than an author of chick lit.

Countering traditional claims that the feminist movement all but vanished during the early nineteenth century, this thesis suggests feminism remained prominent in both the literature and rhetoric of the time. In tracing the development of the "New Rhetoric," a rhetorical movement that aimed to accommodate new principles of the Enlightenment, I focus in part on the rhetorical battle between Edmund Burke, with his Reflections on the Revolution in France, and Thomas Paine, with his Rights of Man. From there, I suggest that Mary Wollstonecraft, writing in the wake of the Burke-Paine debate and drawing upon the rhetorical philosophy of George Campbell, was able to establish a distinctive feminist rhetoric in her Vindication of the Rights of Woman. This feminist rhetoric had traits that equipped it to continue developing into the nineteenth century, particularly in the works of women novelists such as Jane Austen. My final chapter shows how Austen analyzes Wollstonecraft's rhetoric to better explain how feminist goals of increased understanding and moral agency might be attained.

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