The Literature Book

119

See also: Jane Eyre 128–31 ■ Vanity Fair 153 ■ North and South 153 ■

Middlemarch 182–83

ROMANTICISM AND THE RISE OF THE NOVEL

finds his haughty pride and his

supercilious behavior offensive.

He is contrasted with his equally

wealthy but unaffected friend,

Bingley, who takes a liking to

Elizabeth’s older sister, Jane. Yet

when the flighty younger sister,

Lydia, scandalously elopes with the

dashing officer George Wickham,

threatening to disgrace the entire

family, it is Darcy who unexpectedly

steps in to help. Elizabeth’s pride,

prejudice, and inexperience lead

her to make errors of judgement

(concerning both Wickham and

Darcy) that she must pay for, but

through these trials, she grows into

a mature adult. Darcy, similarly,

has to grow out of his own pride to

prove he is a worthy match for her,

in spite of his higher social class.

Indeed, through the use of

subtle wit and irony, Austen

makes clear that good breeding

does not necessarily equate with

good manners (although good

manners may well be indicative

of good morals). While the

landscape of Pride and Prejudice

might appear to be narrow, it

nevertheless keenly probes the

manners and morals of its day. ■

Jane Austen

The daughter of a relatively

prosperous country parson,

Jane Austen was born in

Steventon rectory, Hampshire,

England, in 1775, the seventh

of eight children. As a child

she read voraciously, having

access to her father’s library,

which was uncommon for

girls at the time. She started

writing in her early teens,

producing an embryonic

version of Pride and Prejudice,

titled First Impressions,

between 1796 and 1797. In

1800 her father decided to

retire and the family moved

to Bath; Jane was unhappy

there. In 1809 she moved to

Chawton, Hampshire, with

her mother and sister, where

she wrote daily. It was her

observations of genteel life

in Hampshire that furnished

her novels. Despite writing

a great deal about marriage,

she never married herself,

although she did receive a

proposal. She died in 1817,

at the age of 41.

Other key works

1811 Sense and Sensibility

1814 Mansfield Park

1815 Emma

1818 Northanger Abbey

1818 Persuasion

Fanny Price (Mansfield

Park) is undervalued by

the family she lives with.

Anne Elliot (Persuasion) is

thrown into confusion when

her old love reappears.

Emma Woodhouse

(Emma) is a

matchmaker who

is oblivious to

people’s feelings.

Catherine Morland

(Northanger Abbey)

believes herself to be

a gothic heroine.

Elinor Dashwood

(Sense and Sensibility)

is unable to display

her emotions.

Marianne

Dashwood (Sense

and Sensibility)

displays her emotions

too freely.

The lives of

Austen’s heroines

are influenced and often

circumscribed by their

social class and the

customs of their time.

Austen draws each

individual character in

a nuanced way.

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