The clergy in Jane Austen's novels

This thesis examines Jane Austen's characters from a special point of view, as it focuses only on clerical figures. I will prove that against her family background the author is not partial, and that these characters are as fallible as others. The keywords are virtue, good sense, taste and noble origin; these are the features which can be examined mainly in the case of the clergymen. Using analyses and Austen's own words from the novels I will find examples which prove that these criteria play essential role to evaluate clergy characters positively, and that a clergyman needs to have all of these to become Austen's ideal clerical figure.