Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen Born

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen ¡ ¡ ¡ Born on 16 December 1775 in Hampshire Father : A Clergyman Happy and Lively childhood Third of the Eight Children Only sister : Cassendra Both Cassendra and Jane remained unmarried Completed most of her Education at home Her father had a good library The poems, plays and novels were enjoyed and read aloud at home The family was social able and hospitable. Died at the age of Forty one.

Jane Austen ¡ ¡ ¡ Jane knew French and Italian. Was well versed in playing piano, drawing, sewing embroidering, dancing and converse well. Early writing was probably intended to entertain her family. By sixteen wrote short novels, plays and other works. Admired and enjoyed Shakespeare, Eighteenth Century poets: Pope, Johnson Gold smith Cowper and Crabbe

Ideology ¡ ¡ ¡ Fiction should instruct while it entertained Combined her moral view point with a keen sense of Comedy Viewed her characters objectively Believed in genuine and generous emotions Chose to concentrate on domestic chores. Examined the need for balance between the head and the heart, between reason and feeling An intelligent and perceptive observer Invented characters with a truthfulness that went below the surface, that presented the realities beneath appearances a and criticized at the same time creating superb comedy. She wrote of what she knew We get a clear picture of social settings Characters are depicted through conversation

Ideology Shows the unchanging attitudes and Emotions: Vanity, ¡ Snobbery, envy, jealousy, pride hypocrisy are brilliantly illustrated ¡ Instructed: Marriage should be based upon mutual understanding and respect, upon similarity of feeling and taste. This is a plea for rationality in a romantic age.

Social Context ¡ ¡ ¡ Major character come from gentry: The class below the aristocracy and above the emerging class of doctors and lawyers and business men. Social status was less to do with money and more with breeding and education The world of gentry was governed by elaborate codes of accepted social behavior: rules of dress, visiting, dancing, courtship, even travelling

Marriage and Women ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ No outlets for employment of middleclass and upper-class women Could become governess Marriage was the only appropriate option Who did not marry remained at home under the authority of the respective males Austen remained financially dependent on her father and brothers all her life. Women regarded as inferior partners. ‘No man’ family’s estate was transferred to the nearest male relative. Engagements were difficult to break and divorce unheard of.

Marriage and Women ¡ Unenviable position of women: choice of remaining dependent at home or marrying a relative stranger with all the risks.

Style ¡ ¡ Described as a miniaturist: Novels did not cover great sweeps of time Tony Tarner on Pride and Prejudice: ¡ “…novel in which most important events are the fact that a man changes his manners and young lady changes her mind. ” ¡ Humor Irony Satire Dialogue ¡ ¡ ¡

Regency Period • Middle class gained social status; • • known as landed gentry Profits from Industrial Revolution and expanding colonial system Strived to align themselves with England’s landed aristocracy Purchased estates and country homes to rival aristocratic mansions Newly acquired wealth and possessions

Austen’s Novels • Privileged circle of England’s landed gentry and aristocracy • Upper class was old hereditary aristocracy and the new landed gentry who came into money through commercial enterprise and ascended from the middle class • Upper class did not work and frequently employed farmers to work their land • Upper class controlled England’s politics

Austen’s House Chawton • The house where Jane Austen lived and wrote most of her novels; a pleasant seventeenth century house in the pretty village of Chawton in Hampshire not far from her birthplace of Steventon.

Mr. Darcy • Darcy is representative of hereditary aristocracy • Wealthy landowner who does not have to work for a living • Employs workers to farm his land, surrounding families depend on his patronage

The Bingleys • Bingleys represent the new landed gentry • Bingley’s father acquired wealth through trade, gave up his business, and moved his family to the country • He and his sisters are now considered upper class

The Bennets • Bennets own land, but they are a middle-class family • Longbourn House in Hertfordshire – 2, 000 per year • Must work to cultivate land • Few servants and limited financial resources

Women, Patriarchy and Property Rights • Women had few legal rights • Depend on men for • • protection and survival Women could not own property (they were considered property) Depended on fathers to “give them away” to a lucrative marriage At death, property went to another male heir Finding a husband was a necessity not a social preoccupation

Women, Patriarchy and Property Rights • “Entailment” determined how property would be passed through several generations within a family; usually closest male relative • Lady Catherine De. Bourgh, patroness of Rosings Park, is a rare example of an independent woman who inherits the estate of her father.

Theme of Social Class and Lack of Mobility • Conflict that arises when members of middle class, such as Bennets, mingle socially with members of the upper classes, represented by Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley. • Austen was critical of the social barrier between middle and upper class (while remaining silent about members of lower class) • Elizabeth Bennet breaks class barrier

Theme of Marriage and Family • Future of Bennet’s • • daughters depends on successful union with suitable husbands Women often forced into marital unions purely out of financial necessity New ideal of marriage and partnership based on mutual respect and love Expectation of social network above individual desire for privacy Family’s reputation was tied to reputation of each individual member

Theme of Propriety, Social Decorum, and Reputation • Person’s value depends on respect of friends and neighbors • Woman who engaged in inappropriate behavior with a man prior to marriage was morally corrupt. No virtue = social outcast • Elizabeth values personal worth and individual character over reputation and status • Standards of proper social etiquette

First Impressions • Original title of P & P • Premature preconceptions complicate the relationships between characters • Both characters must set aside their pride and prejudice and form an opinion based on respect and cordial friendship • Error in judgment with Wickham who creates a bad image of Darcy • Must look beneath the surface of a person’s character

Satire • Humor or with in order to criticize or ridicule a particular person or group • Disguise criticism of an intended target by clothing it in humorous language, funny characterizations, and sarcasm • Austen satirizes Mrs. Bennet and her need to marry her daughters; also Mr. Collins’ high opinion of himself which often makes him the laughingstock of society

Free Indirect Discourse • Narrative style known as “free indirect discourse” • Third-person perspective to convey ideas and thoughts from point of view of a particular character usually the heroine. • Hard to determine objectivity of ideas • Precursor of “stream of consciousness”

Comedy of Manners • Uses elements of Satire to ridicule or expose behaviors, manners, flaws, and morals of members of the middle or upper classes. • Incorporate love affairs, witty and comical exchanges between characters, and the humorous revelation of societal scandals and intrigues • Witty banter between characters