Jane Austen 17751817 by Don L F Nilsen and Alleen Pace Nilsen 1 Jane Austen as drawn by her sister Cassandra 2 Austens Satirical Targets Jane Austens novels tend to be about two things ID: 360022
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The Paradoxical Stance of Jane Austen (1775-1817)
by Don L. F. Nilsenand Alleen Pace Nilsen
1Slide2
Jane Austenas drawn by her sister, Cassandra
2Slide3
Austen’s Satirical Targets Jane Austen’s novels tend to be about two things:
MarriageAnd
Money
3Slide4
Austen: A Female Writer in a Male Dominated Society
Robert Polhemus feels that Austen’s sense of the ridiculous, her sense of irony, and her sense of humor were her reactions to a male dominated, parochial moral order.
Polhemus
said that Austen had a kind of “feminine lawlessness.”
4Slide5
Austen as a FeministThe problem with Jane Austen is that both liberal and conservative critics claim that she supports their point of view.
In truth, Austen’s style is paradoxical.
Kate
Fullbrook
observes that “She speaks precisely in the voice of the culture she mocks.”
5Slide6
Irony and DisguiseRegina Barreca
says that Austen’s novels are written in disguise:“To read her works without taking the disguise into account is to misread refusal as inability
,
irony as sentiment
, consider
contempt as pleasant affection
, and
women’s comedy for men’s
.”
6Slide7
Austen’s Little MenBarreca
continues, “Austen’s men are of little consequence apart from how they function in the lives of the female characters.”“The only important things about men are their marital status
,
income
,
rank
, and
looks
.”
“Men, in Jane Austen, are at their best when they are out of the room.”
7Slide8
Sense and Sensibility (1811)
Sense and Sensibility exposes the silliness of the sentimental and Gothic novels that were so popular during Austen’s day.
It is a Comedy of Manners that uses the device of
reductio
ad absurdum
very effectively.
8Slide9
Sensibility vs. SenseMarianne Dashwood
is guided by feeling or sensibility.Marianne’s sister,
Elinor
Dashwood
, is guided by
reason and sense
.
Marianne’s ardor and passion are contrasted with
Elinor’s
coolness of judgment.
9Slide10
Elinor, the Detective
In the tradition of Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Miss
Marpole
, and
Columbo
,
Elinor
is a detective who examines all of the empirical evidence.
Elinor
uses
evesdropping
and spying to discover the true character of Edward
Ferrars
.
Elinor
is interested in Edward
Ferrars
, and she believes that this will help her
in gaining
his affections.
10Slide11
Pride and Prejudice (1813)
This novel begins with one of the best opening lines in all of literature, as Mrs. Bennett says:“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
Later in the novel, Austen further characterizes Mrs. Bennett: “She was a woman of mean understanding, little information and uncertain temper.”
11Slide12
Mrs. Bennett“When she was discontinent
she fancied herself nervous.”“The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news.”
12Slide13
In Comedies there is an Unjust LawNorthrup Frye says that one of the features of “Comedy” is that there tends to be an “unjust law” that is somehow thwarted in the comedy.
In Pride and Prejudice the unjust law is that inheritance must go from male to male, and since the
Bennets
have only daughters, their estate is to go to William Collins, a distant male relative.
13Slide14
William Collins and His Assumption
Since William Collins is to inherit the Bennet estate, he assumes that he will also inherit his choice of the Bennet girls as his wife.
Both William Collins and Mrs.
Bennet
are targets of Austen’s satire.
Austen contrasts the long-winded pomposity of Mr. Collins with the hysterical protests of Mrs.
Bennet
.
14Slide15
Mr. Bennet
In contrast, Mr. Bennet’s laconic cynicism can be seen in the following dialogue:“Come here, child,” cried her father as she appeared. “I have sent for you on an affair of importance. I understand that Mr. Collins has made you an offer of marriage. Is it true?”
Elizabeth replied that it was. “Very well—and this offer of marriage you have refused?”
I have, sir.”
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“Very well. We now come to the point. Your mother insists upon your accepting it,. Is it not so, Mrs. Bennet?”
“Yes, or I will never see her again.”“An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents.
Your mother will never see you again if you do
not
marry Mr. Collins.
And I will never see you again if you
do
.”
16Slide17
Elizabeth and Mr. DarcyElizabeth is sharp witted and a bit uncontrolled or wild. She disagrees with Mr. Darcy when he says that there are certain things not to be laughed at.
Mr. Darcy is so proud a man that even at the moment of declaring his love to Elizabeth, he doesn’t allow humility or modesty into his speech. He is proud and arrogant in not understanding why Elizabeth has rejected his proposal.
Thus, Darcy is accusing Elizabeth of being uncivil, while he himself is acting like a pompous ass.
But Darrel
Mansell
thinks that even in Elizabeth, there is something bordering on conceit and
impertinance
.
17Slide18
Emma (1816)If marriage is so important to Jane Austen, then why did Austen never marry?
Robert Polhemus suggests that Austen did marry, as she tells us, “Emma, the striving, kinetic, lucky, ironic, ridiculous subjective comic heroine weds Knightly.”
Just as Queen Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen, became wedded to England, Jane Austen became wedded to her characters.
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Emma as Comedy of Humors
The “humours” characters see everything in the extreme of their ruling passion:Mr. Weston, the sanguine, can scarcely think ill of anyone.
The hypochondriac Mr. Woodhouse, likes his germs and gruel.
Mrs. John Knightly can not understand anything not related to the welfare of her children.
Mrs. Elton can’t look beyond the Maple Grove and the barouche-landau.
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Harriet SmithHarriet Smith was a very pretty girl, and her beauty happened to be of a sort which Emma particularly admired.
She was short, plump and fair, with a fine bloom, blue eyes, light hair, regular features, and a look of great sweetness.Since Emma herself is tall and elegant, and has hazel eyes, Harriet provides a perfect foil for Emma’s charms.
20Slide21
The Three Threads of Emma
Bruce Stovel believes that there are three threads being developed in Emma:
First is the hidden love that Emma and Mr. Knightley have for each other.
Second is the counterpoint of the secret love and secret engagement of Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax.
And third is the use of other characters in the novel to compare and contrast with the various aspects of Emma herself.
21Slide22
Northanger Abbey (1818)
Northanger Abby targets the sentimentalism that was so much part of a girl’s education during Austen’s time.It also targets the Gothic Novel in general, and Ann Radcliffe’s
The Romance of the Forest
(1791) in particular.
In
Northanger Abbey
, Catherine
Morland
discovers a laundry bill that confirms her dire suspicions that General
Tilney
is somehow involved with his wife’s death.
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Austen’s parodic and mocking tone can be seen in the following passage:
“Catherine had reached the age of seventeen without having seen one amiable youth who could call forth her sensibility.There was not one lord in the neighbourhood
; no—not even a baronet…not one young man whose origin was unknown.
Her father had no ward, and the squire of the parish no children.
Catherine reasons, “When a young lady is to be a heroine, the perverseness of forty surrounding families cannot prevent her. Something must and will happen to throw a hero in her way.”
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At midnight, Catherine explores Northanger Abbey, and finds a manuscript which she takes to be a cryptic record of secret crimes committed and suffered in the Abbey,But on closer examination, this manuscript turns out to be an inventory of linen needing to be washed.
Northanger Abbey is in fact a Gothic Novel.
But at the same time it is also a parody of a Gothic novel. The Gothic novel genre is always over the top and exaggerated. But
Northanger Abbey
is even more over the top than are other Gothic novels.
And therein lies the irony and the paradox of Jane Austen’s style.
24Slide25
Jane Austen’s Birthday:Hamilton Library in Chandler, AZ
25Slide26
Jane Austen and Paradox”Jane Austen and Paradox:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Austen
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