Sentimental Novels and Anti-Sentimental Heroines: Womanhood Redefined in Late Eighteenth-Century British Novels

Abstract

Protagonists in the eighteenth-century British sentimental novel persevere in the face of extreme misery to remain chaste or to uphold their moral principles as dictated by convention. These characters excessive sentiments were viewed as highly desirable even by many men. Yet at the same time, there was considerable resistance against sentimental novels as they were increasingly denounced for encouraging women to indulge in “overstretched sensibility.” Highlighting the unjust treatment of women rather than their virtues in enduring it, novels with an anti-sentimental stance present independent heroines who question traditional female gender norms or rebel against authority in the spirit of female freedom. This paper examines how the eighteenth-century British sentimental and anti-sentimental novels reflected societal views of women in an era in which women began to resist patriarchal restrictions. It demonstrates the extent to which women and attitudes towards women evolved, and how the notions of femininity were redefined during the waning years of the eighteenth century.