Classicism and Romanticism : Dynamics of Jane Austen's Novels

This dissertation explores Jane Austen's six completed novels, Northanger Abb~9y (1818), Sense and Sensibility(1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), and Persuasion (1818), from the perspectives of classicism and romanticism. It is imperative to investigate her works from these perspectives because she historically belongs to the time of transition from the classical period to the romantic. Although many critics tend to see mainly the notable aspects of classicism in all her novels except Persuasion, I dispute the traditional assessment that Au sten is only a classicist. My dissertation attempts first to explore the classical and romantic aspects in Austen's works by examining her six novels chronologically, second to reveal the shift from her interest in only classicism to her emphasis on both classicism and romanticism, and third to show how and why she begins to accept romanticism in her later years. Finally, it seeks to conclude that Austen, who deepens her romantic tendency in Mansfield Park and Emma, attains an identity as both a classicist and a romanticist in Persuasion, and to evaluate the significance of such a new dynamic identity.