Femininity In Jane Austen's Persuasion Essay

all of the students hair just to save the cost on combs (Bronte 84). Even in her role as a governess in the house of a wealthy man, Jane remains androgynous and attempts to maintain “the strangely empowered implications of her gender neutrality” and eventually this genderless status gives her the ability to control her own life just as persuasion gave Anne the ability to control her own life (Godfrey 859). However, Jane is placed in a situation that puts her into an effeminate standing when she is both younger and subservient to her fiancée but this does not stop her from regaining her more masculine attributes (Godfrey 865). Rather than having the male accept the feminine side, as Wentworth did in Persuasion, Jane accepts the masculine role

She creates a character that seems like it should fit the mold of femininity but rather breaks the mold by making the man admit defeat rather than the woman. She also strikes down the stereotype that a good woman is one who has masculine traits but remains womanly as seen in her descriptions of Elizabeth Elliot. Elizabeth, like her father, has masculine qualities that set her apart from the rest of the females. Austen was attempting to create in a novel, a total and absolute acceptance of women as they already are, feminine. By creating a masculine offset, such as Elizabeth, Austen utilizes the differing personalities to show the dichotomy of females; the female as seen by society and the female as seen truly by personality. Bronte glorifies a more masculine woman who takes what she wants and seizes the day basically “undermining gender identities” (Godfrey 854). By relating her heroine to a masculine trait she is for all intents and purposes creating a character that can overcome gender obstacles in any field. With Jane’s final dominance over Rochester, there is a reversal of gender roles where Rochester is taking on a more effeminate role while Jane takes on the more masculine role. Bronte creates a world where females can be anything rather than just sitting back and accepting the simplicity of femininity that Austen advocates