The Coming of Age of a Woman : Proto-feminism and Female Bildung in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey

Abstract: This thesis examines the influence of the proto-feminist ideas of the Enlightenment on Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, specifically their presence in the coming-of-age journey of the novel’s heroine Catherine Morland. In this thesis, the proto-feminist ideas of the Enlightenment discussed are based on the ideas of Mary Wollstonecraft as presented in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. I focus on Wollstonecraft’s emphasis on the importance of reason for the emancipation of women as well as the role of virtue and modesty, but also on the existence of an ambivalent relationship between sense and sentiment. The aim of the thesis is to show that Catherine Morland’s coming-of-age journey in Northanger Abbey can be understood as a representation of the emancipation of women that Wollstonecraft hopes for, and that the obstacles standing in the way of Catherine’s maturation are parallel to the obstacles which, during the Enlightenment, prevented women from claiming reason for themselves. First, I draw upon Wollstonecraft’s criticism of sentimental fiction and its hampering effect on women’s minds and show that the same idea is present in the narrative of Northanger Abbey, in the shape of gothic fiction. Then, I show how Catherine’s ability to discern between virtuous and immodest behaviour improves drastically as she starts to exercise her reason, in concurrence with Wollstonecraft’s claim that all virtuous thought must stem from reason. I analyse the importance of Catherine’s choice of partner and its relationship to the proto-feminist critique of women’s inability to express ideas contrary to those of a man. Finally, I dissect the proto-feminist ambivalent relationship between sense and sentiment and connect it to the finale of Northanger Abbey. These elements put together all point toward Wollstonecraft and Austen being coextensive, and demonstrate how Austen makes use of Wollstonecraft’s ideas to promote the emergence of female bildung.