Jane Austen – first impressions?

Jane Austen – gentile romantic or whip-smart satirist? “Mrs Hall of Sherborne was brought to bed yesterday of a dead child owing to a fright. I suppose she happened to look unawares at her husband.” Jane Austen in a letter to her sister Cassandra.

Contextual Factors ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is largely concerned with the adventures of the wealthy gentry. The social etiquette of the early nineteenth century was very different from today's.

Contextual Factors: Jane Austen Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire. The daughter of a clergyman, she was the seventh of eight children. Her formal education ended when she was just 11 years old, but her father, rather like Mr Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, had a good library and Jane used it well. Even as a teenager, her writing was lively and humorous. Although Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813, she'd written an earlier version many years before - it was refused by a London publisher in 1797. While Austen wrote a great deal about marriage, she never married or had children herself, although she used to love spending time with her many nieces and nephews. She died on 18 July 1817.

Contextual Factors: Marriage The opening line of Pride and Prejudice is one of the most famous in English literature: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." This is typical Austen, who makes thought-provoking statements tinged with humour.

Contextual Factors: Class Class - your social rank - was a dominating factor for those living in Austen's world. Your class often determined how you were regarded by others - and how you might treat people yourself. It was considered unusual, even improper, to marry someone far removed from your own class. At the top of the tree were the aristocracy. Put simply, these people were royalty or relatives (sometimes distant) of royalty. Lady Catherine might very well qualify as aristocracy. If not, she's certainly 'gentry', as is her nephew Darcy.

Contextual Factors: Class They're 'old gentry' who've had wealth and property for generations. This changed in the 18th century because of the Industrial Revolution. 'New gentry' were people who hadn't inherited wealth but made a lot of money from business. Bingley is new gentry, because his father made his money in industry somewhere in northern England. Bingley's sisters don't brag about this because 'new gentry' isn't as high up the class ladder as 'old gentry'. The Bennets are much further down the social scale. They're considerably better off than many, but a world away from Darcy - not just because he's far richer, but they lack 'breeding'.

Contextual Factors: Manners and Etiquette 'Manners', or how you chose to interact with other people, were incredibly important in Austen's time. Even if people were in a state of high emotion, they had to maintain an air of dignity at all times.

Jane Austen’s Society Clear class divisions existed. Family connections and wealth were of great significance. The importance of an advantageous (good) marriage should not be underestimated. Jane Austen’s voice She criticised upper class society: she distinguished between internal merit (goodness of person) and external merit (rank and possessions). She satirized social snobs. While social advancement for young men lay in the military, church, or law, the chief method of self-improvement for women was the acquisition of wealth. Women could only accomplish this goal through successful marriage, which explains the focus of marriage in Austen’s writing.

Context: Jane Austen’s Regency Gentlewomen Jane Austen’s settings for her characters often include: the drawing room, the assembly room, the Parsonage or Rectory, the fashionable street for promenading, or the grounds of the country house. Her characters spend their time reading, writing letters, walking, riding, dancing, playing cards, listening to music and enjoying the art of conversation. Their conversation speaks of their own safe and comfortable society. They talk about fashion and taste, about acceptable manners and unacceptable behaviour. Above all else, their conversation concentrates on thoughts of love and marriage. Their mothers despair for the lack of suitable suitors. Note: It would be wrong to suggest that all people enjoyed the kind of lifestyle of Jane Austen's characters. Possibly well over half of Europe still lived in discomfort, worked hard and lived poorly.