Looking at Patrick's question from a slightly different angle
Posted by Caroline on January 15, 1998 at 18:47:20:
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
Did she seek balance and order and rational behaviour for her characters? Or did she seek to overthrow the rational and balanced?
So far, no-one has really delved into what JA said herself, either through her novels, or in other writings.
I 'd like to consider exactly what she did say.....
Does the comment about thre "lopp'd and cropp'd" P&P being "rather too light and bright", and "wanting shade" apply in this? Should it have been stretched out with passages of sombre tone, or long discourses of "specious nonsense?" I have always taken this particular comment to be a serious one, and to be a reference that the ideas of balance have not been achieved, according to her own judgement.
Also, Patrick, I think it hasn't been said, but been implied that JA perhaps moved away from the enlightenment ideal as she got older. Do you see less "balance" in Persusion, than in P&P? Do you see less of the "man is intrinsically good, society is what makes him bad" in Persuasion than in her other works? I think Mansfield Park is the most "Enlightenment-based" of her novels---am I right?
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