Choice Or Constraints Position Of Women In The Light Of Jane Austen's Novels

Present work is devoted to analyse women's position in English society from the eighteen century in the light of Jane Austen's novels. Jane Austen lived and worked in the period of considerable economic and political development of England, influenced by philosophy of Enlightenment. This era brought the idea of freedom and equality of people, which raised the question of woman's place and her role in the society. Thanks to her social background Jane Austen possessed a good knowledge about the society, about position of women, their aspirations and possibilities. The analysis of female position is done on the basis of two most important novels Pride and Prejudice and Emma. Jane Austen's women characters are drawn from woman's point of view. Her heroines have to overcome obstacles of various nature inorderto reach the most important aim of their lives: a happy marriage, proper to their social position. The female patterns have to take into account external social possibilities and expectations as well as theirinternal human characteristics. While struggling for their happiness, they go through a certain process of spiritual and mental maturity. Combining narration and dialogues Jane Austen reveals her characters in an excellent way. Depiction of characters, situations and places makes possible for the reader almost physical seeing. Events are clear and follow each other in a logic consequence. The action does not last more than a year. Happy-ending provides the reader with an optimism. All these advantages qualify Jane Austen novels as enjoyable and in the same time valuable literature.