Abstract
In this paper, I argue that Jane Austen’s treatment of Fanny Price, a character who embodies the conservative feminine ideal, exposes the contradictions within that ideal. I take Hannah More’s 1799 Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education: With the View of the Principles and the Conduct Prevalent Among Women of Rank and Fortune as a paradigmatic representation of this ideal. Fanny is often in agreement with More, not least on the subject of German playwrights, whom both women find subversive. Fanny also obeys many of More’s prescriptions: she is quiet, submissive to male authorities, and prone to self-doubt. In More’s telling, it is precisely because they possess these qualities that Christian women are able to ensure the ultimate triumph of their own values. Austen’s narrative, however, shows that these same qualities make those who have them ineffectual moral guides.
Recommended Citation
Boulukos, Dorothea A. "Mansfield and More." (Jan 2026).