Resolving the Institution of Marriage in Eighteenth-Century Courtship Novels

Abstract

Two features of the famous exchange between Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Elizabeth Bennett in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice —a crucial moment in a crucial courtship novel—are particularly significant: its treatment of marriage, and its use of the word "resolve." This moment reveals that in Jane Austen's portrayal of courtship, instead of submitting to authority and convention, a young woman takes charge of her own marriage. With the help of various critics, we have come to think of certain tropes, such as "sensibility," "reform," and "duty," to name a few, as central to our understanding of the eighteenth-century novel. I propose "resolve" as a trope of similar importance. The repeated use of "resolve" in the dialogue between Elizabeth and Lady Catherine represents a culmination of many decades of use of the language of "resolve" in crucial moments of courtship novels by authors including Eliza Haywood, Samuel Richardson, Frances Burney, and Ann Radcliffe. The contradictory definitions of "resolve" appeal to these authors. The paradox of language allows for, indeed helps to induce, the wellknown paradox of courtship novels: voluntary submission. Thus, Austen (and others) can use this language to empower their heroines while still emphasizing the sacrifice—the potential dissolution and disintegration of identity—that lurks behind every resolve.