Women in novels
Jane Austen wrote the novel "Sense and Sensibility" in the 19th century whereas "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" was written by Muriel Spark in the 20th century. The fact that these novels were written at different times means that the societies that they portray are different from each other in varying degrees depending on what aspect is taken into account. In both novels the main characters are women. In "Sense and Sensibility" the most important women are two sisters called Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. In "The prime of Miss Jean Brodie" Jean Brodie is the only main female character. The two novels involve different contexts; therefore, they are quite different from each other not only from the content point of view but also from the style of writing used by the authors. In this essay I will analyse the differences and similarities of the women in these two novels. In addition to this I will examine gender roles, the one of women in particular. The relationships between the two sexes are important in both novels; therefore it is worth looking at that too. First of all I am going to write about "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie". This novel is shorter than "Sense and Sensibility", but it contains valuable information all
the same. The style used to write this novel by Muriel Spark is very interesting; this is because the structure of the novel is segmented in different time spans. In other words the narration jumps from one year to another. Therefore, the novel is set in different years before and after the Second World War. It narrates about a primary school teacher who is going through the prime of her life and the effects of her ideas on some students she teaches, especially the Brodie set which is a group of girls who are Jean Brodie's favourites. They are Sandy Stranger, Monica Douglas, Rose Stanley, Jenny Gray and Mary Macgregor. Marianne is the second daughter of Mrs. Henry Dashwood. She is the opposite of her sister Elinor. She is romantic and she plays the piano. She cannot hide her feelings, therefore when she is deeply hurt her pain is felt from the people around her. Marianne falls in love with Willoughby but they misunderstand each other. In fact Willoughby doesn't love Marianne. This is when she is mostly hurt in the novel. She believes that her future husband should be young and handsome, but at the end she sees that love does not necessarily have to be of a certain age. The Colonel and Marianne marry each other at the end. Jean Brodie is an important character in this novel because she keeps the novel together. She is a woman who sticks to her ideas and respects the differences between the women and men. The society is which Jean Brodie lives in is different from the one in which Elinor and Marianne live in, but apart from this fact some roles of women have not changed. For example in both novels women are somehow regarded as sexual objects. Willoughby is a man who likes to interact with a lot of women just for pleasure. In "Sense and Sensibility" the males are supposed to be the main financial source for a family and they have to seek approval from their mothers if they want to marry. In "The prime of Miss Jean Brodie" the choice of having a love affair is up to the each individual; Jean Brodie does not have to ask permission to do so, but a love affair is quite different from a question of marriage. Willoughby has betrayed women and so has Mr. Lloyd, but they have tried to keep it a secret. In the novel Elinor is the character who is mostly known for her sense. She is the most rational of the characters. She is capable of hiding her feelings, which is typical of these types of people whose sense overtake every other characteristic of their personality. In addition Elinor is not a romantic person. She falls in love with Edward Ferrars, but she is insecure about his feelings towards her. In fact Edward is engaged to someone else, Lucy Steele. The revelation of this fact causes Elinor a lot
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1839
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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