INDIRECT COMMUNICATION AND FEMALE AGENCY IN JANE AUSTEN’S COURTSHIP NARRATIVES
Keywords:
Keywords: Jane Austen, female agency, indirect communication, courtship conventions, emotional expression, gender norms, theatrical performance, female subjectivity.Abstract
Abstract. This article examines how female characters in Jane Austen’s novels express affection and exercise agency within the social conventions of courtship. Drawing on close readings of Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Emma, and Mansfield Park, it explores the communicative significance of letters, silence, gratitude, gestures, and theatrical dialogue. Particular attention is given to the tension between women’s awareness of their feelings and their opportunities to communicate them openly. The discussion of Mary Crawford’s participation in Lovers’ Vows reveals how performance can enable emotional expression while creating anxiety about personal exposure. The analysis argues that indirect communication should not be equated with passivity: it allows Austen’s heroines to influence relationships, although it also leaves their intentions vulnerable to misunderstanding. Female agency consequently emerges as a negotiation between personal feeling, individual judgement, and social expectations.
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