Jane Austen and Mary Wollstonecraft
...len is described as being obsessed with clothing and is portrayed as being of little intelligence. Therefore, Catherine only has Isabella as a role model. In looking at the relationship between Isabella and Catherine, one can conclude that their relationship is false and based on superficial grounds. In fact, when looking at their dialogue with each other, the way in which they communicate isn’t all that intimate. “There are two ways in which they can communicate. . .The first is by way of a highly stylized nonsense chatter which serves to establish a mood of intimacy rather than to exchange the knowledge which would lead to a genuinely intimate friendship. . .The second method is by talking about a character or situation in a novel as if it were a real person or event. As we can see, both involve a fundamental confusion between fiction and reality” (Griffin 41). However, the novels that Isabella advises Catherine to read are not the type of novels that will educate her in any way. Firstly, Wollstonecraft states, “Led by their dependent situation and domestic employments. . .what they learn is rather by snatches and as learning is with them, in Huff 4 general, only a secondary thing, they do not pursue any one branch with that persevering ardor necessary to give vigor to the faculties and clearness to the judgment” (Wollstonecraft 265). This is exactly what Catherine is doing in the novel. She is learning the rules of society by “snatches” from Isabella. However, the lessons that Isabella initially teaches her about society do not follow what Wollstonecraft is saying women should be. Isabella exemplifies the typical woman of Wollstonecraft’s day. She is concerned with dress, marriage, and petty conversation. Therefore, Catherine picks up on this ideology of what women’s roles are, from watching Isabella. However, as the novel progresses, this teaching from Isabella gets Catherine into a little bit of trouble. Secondly, Wollstonecraft says, “these are the women who are amused by the reveries of the stupid novelists, who, know little of human nature, work up stale tales and describe meretricious scenes, all retailed in a sentimental jargon, which equally tend to corrupt their taste, and draw the heart aside from its daily duties” (273). The novels that Isabella and Catherine read are the novels that Wollstonecraft does not agree with. These sentimental novels are no good for reading, Wollstonecraft says. She believes that women should be reading superior novels that demand independent thinking. The reasons that Wollstonecraft thinks that these sentimental novels are dangerous to women is because “they [are] necessarily dependent on the novelist for amusement” (273). What Wollstonecraft means is that women know no better because they are taught to “look for happiness in love [and to] refine on sensual feelings” (273). Considering that Catherine enjoys reading these novels with Isabella, she fails miserably in being the ideal woman of Wollstonecraft. Huff 5 Another instance in which Catherine exemplifies the woman of Wollstonecraft’s day is when she meets Mr. Tilney. Once she meets him, she is consistently running after him and trying to create situations in which she will run into him. Whenever he is absent, her night is therefore ruined, and the next day her spirit is in high hopes again in meeting Mr. Tilney. Wollstonecraft states on this subject that “the civilized women of present century, with a few exceptions, are only anxious to inspire love, when they ought to cherish a nobler ambition, and by their abilities and virtues exact respect” (258). Readers do not see Mr. Tilney thinking of Catherine all of the time and creating situations in which he can run into her. One can conclude that at this point in the novel, the infatuation is one-sided, with Catherine being the giver. However, readers must take into account the fact that Catherine still only has Isabella as a role model, and is exemplifying Isabella’s behavior because she believes it to be appropriate for women, socially. “It is during this period that Catherine’s expectations about life are distorted by her novel-reading, and she mistakenly believes that the world and the people in it will react like the characters in a book” (Griffin 40). This will change in the course of the novel, when Mr. Tilney will begin teaching Catherine the difference between sentimental reading, and superior reading. The first instance in which we see Catherine progressing in her education is when Isabella’s brother forces her to ride with him in a carriage. She keeps thinking that everything he says contradicts itself. In addition, she wants to come to the conclusion that he is an agreeable fellow, but is not able. Her intuition tells her that he’s not agreeable, and she tries to ignore any attempt on his part for conversation or dance. Huff 6 “Little as Catherine was in the habit of judging for herself, and unfixed as were her general notions of what men ought to be, she could not entirely repress a doubt, while she bore with the effusions of his endless conceit, of his being altogether completely agreeable” (Austen 71). As Catherine is turning over the difficulty within her mind of what exactly to think of Isabella’s brother, James, she initially cannot make herself see him for who he is. However, this is the first instance in the novel where Catherine actually questions one’s motivations and their person. Up to this point, Isabella has taught her that any young, single bachelor is agreeable. Considering also that James is Isabella’s brother, there would be no doubt as to whether he is agreeable or not. Isabella is the ultimate woman that Wollstonecraft is arguing against. Women whose minds are dependent upon other’s opinions; women who cannot think for themselves. The women who read sentimental novels and believe that the novels serve as reality. Isabella, if given the opportunity for something new, would still act the same at any given moment. She enjoys novels, just as Catherine does, and is the sort of ‘delicate’ lady that Wollstonecraft claims that women should not be. In addition, Isabella contradicts herself many times within the novel, saying one thing and meaning the total opposite. Her character and her motivations are questionable. For example, when she and Catherine are in the pump room, she says repeatedly that she will not dance with anyone due to the fact that her spirits are dampened because Catherine’s brother is away. A little later, Catherine sees Isabella dancing with Captain Tilney and afterwards she sees them flirting together. “Amazed that Isabella could endure it, and jealous for her brother, she rose up, and saying she should join Mrs. Allen, proposed their walking” (141). In Huff 7 this instance, Catherine is learning just how fake her friendship is with Isabella. However, this lesson is needed in order for Catherine to progress in the novel; without these lessons of how to judge character, Catherine would resemble Isabella in every way. Wollstonecraft describes women like Isabella who have “libertine notions of beauty, to the desire of establishing themselves, - the only way women can rise in the world, - by marriage. And this desire making mere animals of them, when they marry they act as such children may be expected to act” (Wollstonecraft 261). Isabella believes that the only way in which she can rise in society is through marriage. However, most women also believed this, which is what Wollstonecraft is trying to argue against. She is asking a question that ponders over the idea of why women must spend so much time in trying to please a man, just to marry someone they do not love, but someone who will raise their social status. In addition, Wollstonecraft argues that women should be friends with their husbands, not their dependents. However, Isabella, while not married but betrothed to Catherine’s brother, is not his friend. Initially Isabella is very pleasing to Catherine’s brother, in hopes that they will marry and she will have a secure future. However, it is also mentioned within the novel that Isabella does not have much money, which leads readers to the conclusion that she is marrying Catherine’s brother for his money. In fact, there is amp...