Sunday, October 7, 2012

DW Harding Questions


  1. Jane Austen’s scope is extremely restricted, but within her limits she succeeded admirably in expressing the gentler virtues of a civilized social order. (Harding and Linklater)- AGREE
  1. Austen as satirist is misleading; she has none of the underlying didactic intention ordinarily attributed to the satirist. Her object is not missionary; it is the more desperate one of merely finding some mode of existence for her critical attitudes. - DISAGREE
  1. Austen’s method is to offer her readers every excuse for regarding as rather exaggerated figures of fun people whom she herself detests and fears. - AGREE
  1. Readers enjoy the funny side of Mrs. Bennet but miss that Austen actually detests her. -AGREE
  1. Austen’s light satire masks a rather bitter diatribe against 1800 social customs, but masked in exaggerated caricatures that disguise the bitterness. - AGREE
One point that Harding makes that I think is interesting:

Austen effectively exaggerates the character's faults to provide a comic relief to the reader, when in reality Austen is satirizing each character.

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