Anti-heroism

Critics say that Austen’s work is too restricted. But, as Julia Prewitt Brown says, if this is true, it’s hardly something that Austen would have been unaware of: “we must assume that Jane Austen was highly attuned to the unheroic implications of her subject from the beginning of her career.” After citing the opening lines of Northanger Abbey , Brown adds, “The sentimental novel is not the sole target here; Austen is challenging the Western tradition of heroism itself. The ancient hero is known to be a hero at birth; and, according to Aristotle, heroes and heroines must be nobler in appearance and mind than average, and even taller than most mortals. Catherine Morland, however, has ‘by nature nothing heroic about her.’ Her parentage, appearance, and intellect are all confirmedly average.”

Austen was challenging the Western tradition of heroism itself – perhaps the first to do so.