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The Real Jane Austen

Who hasn't read 'Pride and Prejudice?'

By Issy HowellPublished 6 years ago 5 min read
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So, we’ve all heard of the popular "Jane-ites"—women and men who celebrate Austen as much as the famous "Twi-Hard" fans of 2008. They dress in early nineteenth century fashions, they attend regency balls and dances, and some even know all of Jane’s books by heart. Of course, this is a pretty extreme passion for Jane Austen, but it does make a very clear statement about how truly popular our lady is. Although she hasn’t been around for just over 200 years, somehow her quirky satirical writing still resonates with us today.

On the surface, non-Jane fans would argue that her novels are merely "chick-lit," flowery books for women about sappy romances and plenty of curtseying. It’s when you look through the many layers of her writing that you realise it’s all written in jest. Austen tends to mock this society of curtseying dainty ladies! She was the queen of social commentary, I can almost imagine her on the sidelines of society watching everything closely and questioning the world and lifestyles around her. That in itself makes her no different from our observant comedians, satirical TV shows, and the "mockumentary" genre as a whole. The characters in her novels are archetypes. They represent an entire "type" of person from the time. We have Mrs Bennett, a lady eager and panicked about the futures of her daughters, or Catherine Morland, a girl so swept up in the fiction of the time that she finds herself in some pretty awkward situations. Does she want us to see these characters at face value? No! Mrs Bennett is meant to be laughed at. She is supposed to remind you of those avid social climbing women in society. Catherine is a character that we can compare with those friends who spend their lives reading books or binging on Netflix seasons.

Just to put her observant satire into perspective, let’s take a look at Pride and Prejudice (1813), perhaps one of her most popular and renowned novels of all time. This is a novel which has been reprinted, translated, and devoured by millions all over the world for 205 years, showing no sign of slowing down or going out of date. We have the classic story of a group of unmarried sisters, all wanting to find suitable marriages to avoid being penniless when their father eventually dies (because, of course, being a woman meant being unable to inherit!). Then comes the desperate battle to find rich husbands at every social event you can find—Mr. Darcy comes along and turns his nose up at Elizabeth (but what’s actually wrong with her?). He judges her for her slightly unique and exuberant family, she judges him because he judges her, the cycle continues. It’s only after many times going backwards and forwards, hours of curtseying, and one angry decline of a proposal that we eventually see Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy eventually agree to marry each other (a match made in Heaven…). It is no surprise that Elizabeth finally accepts his proposal after seeing his whopping great mansion, Pemberley. What in the world is Jane trying to say here? You can dislike somebody intensely but can fall magically in love when you see they live in the lap of luxury? In reality, she makes our heroine Elizabeth pretty superficial. She could essentially be a 200-year-old Real Housewife of Derbyshire if she tried. Of course, there is a lovely happy ending where we know that all our lovely Bennett ladies are safe. But is there any real romance in there whatsoever? Firstly, Mr and Mrs Bennett deeply irritate each other. Secondly, Jane and Mr Bingley were regularly driven apart because of their gap in the social hierarchy. Thirdly, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth only really fall in love after seeing the size of his...mansion. Fourthly (if that’s even a word), Lydia Bennett runs away with Mr. Whickham, who pretty much holds her for ransom and marries her only for money. Fifthly (this is getting silly now), Charlotte Lucas has to marry slimey Mr. Collins because she’s getting too old and has to marry up quick before she falls off the conveyor belt of love. Not much romance in those stories at all. So, Jane Austen, an out-and-out spinster with only one real hint of romance in her life, is surprisingly bitter about the whole concept of love. She’s angry with how ridiculous the system of primogeniture is. She questions the futility of the whole courting ritual, the concept of men owning their wives, and so on! As I said before, there are so many damn layers.

Jane Austen mocks society, she questions the world around her and why she has to follow specific social rules. Many of our favourite books, TV shows, and films were born out of frustration, writers who were wanting to challenge our current world. Entire albums were even created as a form of rebellion, and that is exactly what Jane does here. Do we still have people marrying for money, not caring about the whole ‘love’ part? Yes. Do we still have women being forced into marriages they didn’t want to be part of? Definitely. While Austen’s world has changed a lot in the past 200 years, the reality of a lot of her writing still remains the same, and what does that say about the world we live in today!? Have we really progressed in the past 200 years? This is why her writing has so much relevance to her readers. The situations her novels delve into are pretty similar to what we experience in 2018.

But, out of everything we could have kept from the early nineteenth century, why didn’t we hold onto curtseying?

literature
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About the Creator

Issy Howell

I'm a History and English Literature student in the UK who was been writing for fun for some years now! Reading books is probably my favourite past-time, and although I've always wanted to be a book-tuber I think writing is the best option!

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