Hyenas in Petticoats
A multidisciplinary MA dissertation exploring fashion in Jane Austen's Novels as a space of ideological conflict. I combined close readings of the novels with information from contemporary diaries, newspapers, magazines, advertisements, items of clothing, and rival novelists' work to form a holistic picture of the fashion system in the Regency period, and how it affected women.
Abstract
This research analyses fashion within Jane Austen’s work as a space of ideology and conflict, particularly relating to women and a contemporary burgeoning feminism. The work is contextualised by research into Regency period media, magazines, and literature, particularly silver fork fiction, which constitute the majority of primary resources, as well as encompassing relevant dress and social history, which largely make up the secondary research, along with notable components of the existing critical framework for Austen’s work. In examining ideologies in an ultra-feminine space, it became clear that there existed an ambivalence for women in relation to fashion, largely due to their exclusion from other spheres. It was also evident that there was support within Austen’s novels for ideas in line with those of 18th century feminists such as Mary Wollstonecraft, concerning female autonomy.
Key words: Jane Austen, fashion, feminism, English literature, 19th century society.