Sarah Strassel and Kathryn Krall
English 335
Professor Howe
18 March 2006
Byrne, Paula. Jane Austen and the Theatre. New York: Hambledon and London, 2002.
This recent critical text explores the relationships between Jane Austen’s novels and their inclusion of theatrical references. She divides her study into two sections: “The Novelist and the Theatre” and “The Theatre and the Novels.” In part two, her chapter on Mansfield Park stresses a more significant relationship between the novel and the theatre than previous criticism has indicated (177-209). Byrne argues that Austen is “thoroughly…indebted to the theatrical ‘set-piece’ or scene, how many of the most memorable moments in her works may be perceived in terms of their dramatic impact” (177). Moreover, Byrne argues that “Austen’s novels were dramatic in the sense that her scenes were often conceived and conducted in stage terms” (177). Austen engages these dramatic and theatrical references through character development, for she “delights in the sheer egomania of the would-be actors [her characters], who find it so hard to make a decision, chiefly because they all want the ‘best characters’” (187). While I cannot yet garner much from Byrne’s close textual readings as I have not yet read the novel, the depth of her inquiry impresses me. I found Byrne’s claim that Mansfield Park subtly utilizes the realm of theatre as one in which “illicit misconduct goes unwarranted and unchecked” to be particularly interesting (177). In lieu of many of our discussions so far this term, however, I especially support Byrne’s theory that Austen’s representation of theatre illustrates “its dissolution of the distinction between acting on a stage and in social situations” (209). Moreover, the context provided in section one of this text provides an overview of Austen's authorial relationship to the theatre in her texts.
---. “`We Must Descend a Little’: Mansfield Park and the Comic Theatre.” Women’s Writing: The
Elizabethan to Victorian Period 5.1 (1998): 91-102.
Canfield, Douglas and Deborah Payne, eds. Cultural Readings of Restoration Eighteenth-Century English Theater. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1995.
Darby, Barbara. Frances Burney, Dramatist: Gender, Performance, and the Late-Eighteenth-Century Stage. Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 1997.
Darby illustrates the indelible connection between Frances Burney’s works and the stage. A playwright herself, Burney displays a sustained interest in the theatrical realm and it should come as no surprise to us that she utilizes this genre within her novelistic texts as well. Darby analyzes Burney’s drama from a “feminist performance theory,” stating that Burney’s works explore the restrictions and shortcomings of the institution of marriage. Darby argues that Burney’s criticisms of marital choices for women emerge largely though her use of humor and satire. Darby pays close attention to family relations and finance as they play out in Burney’s works.
Fisher, Judith. “`Don’t Put your Daughter on the Stage, Lady B’: Talking about Theatre in Jane
Austen’s Mansfield Park”. Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal 22 (2000): 70-87.
The article was written by Judith Fisher, who writes from the perspective of a professional actress who “deplores the slurs cast on my profession by those who deem acting to be immoral” (70). She gives a historical background of the negative reputation of actresses to whom the “stigma of prostitution” (71) was attached. Fisher notes that although Jane Austen was not against amateur theatricals, (her family had performed in their own private theatricals (70), Austen was aware of the negative connotations involved and careful in her presentation of acting in Mansfield Park. Fisher notes that Austen is clear that there is definite danger involved for Maria, the oldest of the Bertram daughters. Maria has the most to lose since she is engaged and acting throws her into reputation into question. The question Fisher addresses is the extent to which Austen presents Maria (and all who act) as being in moral danger. This article is useful because it gives historical information and ties it to Austen’s novel. In addition, it treats the work critically, and with a bias toward the harmlessness of acting.
Gill, Pat. Interpreting Ladies. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1994.
Kowaleski-Wallace, Beth. “A Night at the Opera: The Body, Class, and Art in Evelina and Frances Burney's Early Diaries." History, Gender and Eighteenth-Century Literature. Ed. Beth Fowkes Tobin. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1994. 141-58.
Litvak, Joseph. “The Infection of Acting: Theatricals and Theatricality in Mansfield Park.” ELH 53.2
(1986): 331-355.
In this article, Litvak dissects the episode in Mansfield Park in which the Bertrams and Crawfords engage in amateur theatricals. He argues that Jane Austen “is neither unequivocally conservative nor unequivocally progressive” (331) in her treatment of play-acting. Theatricals are put to use in the novel to illustrate key differences in the natures of the main characters in the novel. The ability of the play Lover’s Vows to blur the line between what is said and what is meant is discussed. Litvak asserts that Austen portrays acting in a negative light insofar as it infects and spreads from the city to the country, the billiard room to the study (332), and decries it to the extent that it seduces those involved. It is the infection that is dangerous, both in terms of its ability to spread and its ability to poison the minds of the unguarded. This article is useful because it recognizes the intricacies of Austen’s treatment of amateur theatricals. Instead of trying for the easy answer, Litvak realizes that the portrayal of the play is “ineluctably ambiguous” (332).
Marshall, David. “Daniel Deronda and the Wisest Beholder.” The Figure of Theater. New York:
Columbia UP, 1986. 193-241.
Swedenberg, H.T., ed. England in the Restoration and Early Eighteenth Century: Essays on Culture and Society. Berkeley: U of California P, 1972.
