Date of Award
Summer 8-2016
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Program
English
Department
English
Major Professor
Easterlin, Nancy
Second Advisor
Fitzpatrick, Barbara
Third Advisor
Marti, Kevin
Abstract
Many critics have examined the shifting nature of female friendship in Jane Austen’s Emma from cultural and historical angles. However, a comprehensive scientific analysis of female-female alliance and competition in the novel remains incomplete. The Literary Darwinist approach considers the motivations of fictional characters from an evolutionary perspective, focusing primarily on human cognition and behaviors linked to reproductive success, social control, and survival. While overt physical displays of male competition are conspicuous in the actions of the human species and those of their closest primate relatives, female aggression is often brandished psychologically and indirectly, which makes for a much more precarious study. In this paper, cultural criticism and evolutionary psychology work together to unravel the most complicated and arcane layers of intrasexual competition between women in Emma. Ultimately, this dual interpretation of the novel steers readers towards a deeper understanding of Emma Woodhouse’s imperiled friendships, and by extension, their own.
Recommended Citation
Lyman, Melissa M., "Exposing the “Shadow Side”: Female-Female Competition in Jane Austen’s Emma" (2016). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 2232.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2232
Included in
Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Other Psychology Commons, Women's Studies Commons
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.