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Reforming the Heroine: Female Characters in Late Eighteenth-Century English Women's Novels
Teichmanová, Klaudia ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Clark, Colin Steele (referee)
This thesis explores the reformed heroine tradition in the English literature of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. It focuses on four novels: The Reform'd Coquet by Mary Davys from 1724, The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless by Eliza Haywood from 1751, Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World by Fanny Burney from 1778 and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen from 1813. In the centre of the thesis stands the fallible heroine who is capable of development. The first chapter concerns the social changes of the eighteenth century which introduced the idea of companionate marriage, and it explores the establishing novel of the reformed heroine tradition, The Reform'd Coquet. It stipulates the main characteristics of the reformed heroine character: inexperience, vanity, absence of a reliable authority and overrating her own judgment. Additionally, it describes the relationship of the reformed coquette and the lover-mentor and notices the absence of female guardianship. The second chapter focuses on The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless and explores similarities and differences between Betsy and Amoranda. It also describes Haywood's critics on the discrepancy in approach to male and female virtue and the hypocrisy of distinguishing between the public appearance and...
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