The Wandering Jew in Novels of Jane Austen: The Pursuit of an Organic Whole in Romanticism

Austen’s fictions may or may not set out to express the framework of imagery that projects the division of beings into four levels as enumerated by Northrop Frye in his Essay “The drunken boat: the revolutionary element in Romanticism”, her works, like the Romanticism poets are greatly influenced by this framework. This framework is found in the imagery of pre- Romanticism poetry and is the basis for the conflict between the Romanticism and the pre- Romanticism one despite their affiliation and similarities. Frye expounds the influence of this framework in the poetic garden of imagery in Romanticism, this work attempts to expand the influence in the prose garden of Austen’s symbolic expressions. Austen uses symbolism to interpret the structure of beings and their station, the concept of alienation, the journey, and the quest and finally the formation of an organic whole; the superb inter-change of the masculine and feminine domain in metaphoric representation excels Austen’s works within Romanticism expressions.