Balance
Posted by Hil/mr on January 11, 1998 at 11:34:06:
In response to What did JA think of her society?, written by Patrick/mr (moved from the PP board) on January 11, 1998 at 11:30:18
] The question is, was JA a child of the Enlightenment? Did she seek balance and order and rational behaviour for her characters? Or did she seek to overthrow the rational and balanced? In my own humble view, JA thought that order was a large part of the problem with society.
Its an interesting question, especially for someone like me who knows little about the Enlightenment. I think I essentially agree with Erin. Going simply from the JA novels that I have read, I think JA believed that our best (or if you prefer, her characters best) is achieved when we exercise all our abilities - when we use our rationality and our emotions; our wildnesses and our traditions; - and these in both personal and societal spheres, and in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. It is a striving to maintain balance of all these things within the bounds of society, and while staying attuned to our own integrity. So I guess I think JA wrote about balance above all. She thought we ignore reason, emotion, our own intrgrity and order at our cost.
Her attitudes propably changed a bit over time, too, as she got older, maybe? Did she get more impatient of society as time went on?
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