2026-09-21T23:12:05Zhttps://wakespace.lib.wfu.edu/server/oai/request

oai:null:10339/147122026-09-18T11:06:52Zcom_10339_14934col_10339_38132

McGowen, Ashley Weston 2010-04-28T21:00:14Z 2010-06-18T18:57:45Z 2010-04-28T21:00:14Z 2010-06-18T18:57:45Z 2010-04-28T21:00:14Z https://wakespace.lib.wfu.edu/handle/10339/14712 Out of England’s turbulent and transitional eighteenth century emerged a new literary genre that sought to reestablish a sense of social order by indoctrinating the average citizen with codes of politeness and morality. With its distinctly didactic tone, the novel grew increasingly popular, particularly with young girls, who could now learn virtue and propriety through the fictional heroine’s numerous adventures and etiquette blunders. Indeed, this sort of novel of manners even today continues to attract an overwhelming number of critics interested in women’s issues ranging from girls’ education to the marriage market. Yet, throughout all of the current scholarship, there still exists an apparent oversight, which leaves the male characters within this type of literature viewed, at best, as basic narrative devices or, at worst, leaves them simply ignored. With this omission in mind, I intend to trace the various types of masculine figures typically found in the eighteenth-century novel of manners through Eliza Haywood’s The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, Frances Burney’s Evelina, and Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. While I do not purport to fill this evident gap in scholarship, I would like to offer a glimpse into it. Overall, I hope to contribute to the current body of criticism by demonstrating that the male characters within this historically feminine genre of fiction are more than mere plot devices. By examining masculine representations of patriarchy and capitalism in these three texts, I intend to demonstrate that the novel of manners, rather than simply instructing eighteenth-century women readers on how to think and act properly, actually moves beyond such domestic concerns into the realm of national economy, politics, and power. en_US Wake Forest University Fiction, Novel, Novel of Manners Eighteenth Century, 18th Century Patriarchy Capitalism British, England Masculinity, Men, Male Eliza Haywood, Frances Burney, Jane Austen Blending Birth and Behavior: Masculine Representations of Patriarchy and Capitalism in the Eighteenth-Century Novel of Manners Thesis Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide. Kairoff, Claudia Richard, Jessica Jenkins, Melissa English open.access