The heroines of Jane Eyre and Fanny Price can be contrasted as the individual persons in relation to the British society. Both novels were written as the works of the different literary movements and thus both authors approached their characters from the different angles. These literary movements – Neoclassicism and Romanticism – represent the contrary attitudes of the society towards an individual.
Jane Austen as an authoress of the Neoclassical movement reflects some of its attitudes. According to these views an individual is expected to conform to the established social norms. The man is not seen as an individual person, but an important piece of whole – society. It is important to behave in accordance with the conventional social conduct. Rebelling against the established rules and customs is considered impudent and absurd. And although Austen is not a proponent of a blind following of conventions, she holds the view that the proper manners are important as a display of self-restraint and for gaining the public esteem.
This approach against individualism can be noticed in a distribution of an attention she pays to the characters in Mansfield Park. Although Fanny Price is the main heroine of the novel and we perceive the story mainly through her eyes and mind, Austen is not centrally concentrated on one individual hero but
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Romanticism rejects principles of Classicism. The movement builds on, among others, on individualism. It values an individual over the society and also nature over the urban life. It is concerned with emotions and passion rather than rationality. Authors of the Romantic movement questioned the rules and institutions of the society. Even the Byronic hero is a type of individualist protruding from the society and violating the social rules. Charlotte Brontë is a typical author of Romanticism and especially Jane Eyre reflects all the elements mentioned