Female Bildungsroman as a Means of Resistance to Patriarchal Literary Tradition in Jane Austen's Emma

Abstract

This paper examines the concept of Austen's Bildungsroman in Emma and seeks to justify Emma more a female Bildungsroman figure. The traditional male Bildungsroman had been defined in a way that largely excluded the experiences and stories of females. So, it become important to redefine what female Bildungsroman meant. The middle class Victorian women led a largely prescribed existence and their well-being and security were often directly tied to the status and conduct of the men in their lives. To minutely observe the hidden female Bildungsroman features in Emma, Abel, Hirsch and Langland, Buckley, Ruth Perry's etc., new definitions of the Bildungsroman from the women's perspectives have been applied. Critics and novelists of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries deliberately missed the development, knowledge and enlightenment of the female protagonists in the journey of their lives. Like males, females also involved in their life journey and they ultimately could grow and mature. It might be that they had their own way of developing, but it was neglected in the novels and only focused upon the males' development. Taking this opportunity, Austen revolted against the traditional definition of the Bildungsroman by producing such novel, Emma. This paper minutely focuses on the neglected women's development in different phases of their lives, and tries to redraw the traditional concept of male Bildungsroman.