Concealment as Enablement: Privacy in Jane Austen’s Two Novels

• Main Authors: Chun-Yao, Chuang, 莊竣堯
• Other Authors: Song-Yen, Lin
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/36937851638986943625

碩士 === 國立暨南國際大學 === 外國語文學系 === 97 === This thesis is intended to discuss the issue of privacy in the eighteenth century and to figure out the function of privacy in Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. Chapter one begins with introduction of the formation and the importance of privacy in the eighteenth century. Chapter two discusses the issue of reading in privacy, personally mutual conversations, and individual pursuit-diary and letters in Pride and Prejudice. Chapter three discusses the issue of the expression of sensibility and the issue of concealment as a platform for enablement in Sense and Sensibility. Privacy originally acts as the self-enclosure to prevent the exterior disturbance. Besides, privacy also provides temporary shelter for people to have clear ideas of thought about the current situation. Therefore, in this kind of self-enclosure, people can revise their former self-knowledge so as to obtain brand-new perspective instead. Then, this appearance of concealment in privacy supplies people space to relax with free will. However, the behavior of staying in privacy still needs suitable self-control to get involved in due to the fact that the appearance of suitable self-control give people appropriate self-knowledge to figure out the current situation. Then, with the assistance of appropriate self-knowledge and suitable self-control, people have the opportunities to perform the transformation of their integrity and individuality. Finally, the process from concealment into enablement and the individual transformation is accomplished.