Why Jane Austen

Wrote six novels Sense and Sensibility Mansfield Park Pride and Prejudice Emma Northanger Abbey Persuasion

Criticism All are formulaic Woman always ends up married and happy – unrealistic All written during the Napoleonic wars which were crippling Britain and the war is never mentioned Supported a lifestyle that was stifling – even to Austen herself

Popular Fiction The novels were widely popular – commercial but not literary

Why Read Them? Criticisms abound that there is really nothing in the novels - a story with not much depth Other critics see them as commentaries of the time

Roles of women To get married and be taken care of Women could not govern themselves

Elizabeth Bennett Strong Protagonist – even though in the end it seems she have been a little overly impressed by Darcy’s possessions and changes her mind

Protagonist Making Elizabeth the protagonist creates a bond with the reader and then a social commentary surfaces Women are not allowed to think for themselves – they must fit a pattern and a station – Elizabeth herself feels this when she describes her friend who marries Collins It is so ingrained in society – go back to that first line of the novel

Expectations Women need to marry and men need to marry

Opportunity Problem is that men have more opportunities and can take care of themselves if they do not marry It is a double-standard, many things may not have changed so much

Accomplishments An accomplished young lady could embroider, paint, sing, play an instrument, be calm and obedient, she was a child, a piece of property, not a human being that is the entire problem in the Bennett Household

Inheritance None of the Bennett sisters can inherit the estate so they must marry or they will be destitute Look at how this affects the characters – Mr. Bennett feels that his children’s independence of mind is more important – Mrs. Bennett irrationally, impulsively, almost comically worries over their welfare

It is a love story A consideration not taken in to marriages was love – Austen herself could not marry the man she loved so she would have her characters find love and happiness It is a story of what keeps people from loving

Darcy is a jerk Darcy is a man who fights his feelings He insults Elizabeth more than once – even when he is professing his love to her

Darcy – jerk continued He evaluates Elizabeth – Her appearance Her conversation Her musical ability Her dancing Her character

The point is to be married A very sad point and an outcome of the inequality experienced between the sexes. Look at the lengths the characters go to Statement in the novel is the criticism – everyone in the novel is open to it

Criticisms The characters are relentlessly satirized for their prejudice, conventionality, rigidity, fallibility, hypocrisy, arrogance, and maliciousness. Austen exposes the problematic motivation behind society She reminds her readers of the necessity of independent judment

Of note The characters are condemned for – The pleasure they take in abusing others – The way that jealousy, snobbery or the desire for self-aggrandizement motivates attacks – The unfair ways in which the characters judge each other – The way they do not apologize for their actions

Comedy Mr Collins ridiculously runs on and on but everything he does he prefaces or footnotes with explanations – but he comes off so badly in trying to come off so well – he is superfluous The Bennett family that causes Elizabeth to blush in shame

A dichotomy Elizabeth repeatedly critiques the conventions of self-effacement and self-aggrandizement while employing them