By Katerina Valouxi,
It is a truth universally acknowledged, as she states in the first line of “Pride and Prejudice”, that Jane Austen is one of the most renowned female authors in literary history. Mostly known for the powerful love stories they contain, her novels have been read by millions and are still being read to this day all over the world. However, what makes the most beloved female English writer timeless is not only her portrayal of love and romance, but also the way she navigates the female experience as well as the way she showcases her heroes and heroines as pawns in a pretentious game created by the English society.
Austen knew men, and she knew them well. She was so well aware of middle class English men that she managed to craft male characters that women would love and be intrigued by, without idolizing the male figures and turning them into the sole heroes. The gentlemen in Austen’s novels are so beloved exactly because their experiences are of secondary importance. A man’s experience in any novel of hers is only relevant in relation to a feminine experience. One could say that all that men talk about in an Austen novel is women! Moreover, they always coexist and interact with women in a physical space. In other words, in Austen’s world, men do not exist if women do not exist. Their way of life is paralleled to that of the female world, the reader rarely ever has an insight into male business.
Of course, women will also have conversations with and about men, but not in a way that idolizes them. Austen does not hesitate to showcase the battle between men and women of the time, in a way that does not victimize the female characters. The men’s defects and problematic ideas caused by society’s norms are not concealed but instead unapologetically shown and condemned. Sometimes they are even pitied, when they end up marginalized because they act foolishly. On the other hand, Austen’s male characters are so beloved because, despite their initial attitude, most of them learn and grow from their experiences and interactions with the women that surround them.
A widely known pattern of Austen’s stories is the fact that every novel of hers ends with the marriage of the main couple. Surely, marriage and fortune were the most significant topics that occupied a lady’s mind at the time, and that was only rational, in a society where women could not own or inherit property or land if there were other male heirs in the family. Thus, women were always preoccupied with finding a wealthy and respectable husband, not because they were not capable of thinking about so called serious matters, but because of the need to simply survive. And yet, while Austen is entirely and completely aware of the societal norms regarding the institution of marriage, she seems to defy them. Every single one of her heroines marries because of love and not because of the need for social prestige.
Of course, the gentlemen they end up getting married to are all rich, middle class men, but that is only because Austen’s literary world revolves around the English middle class and its people. Despite that, she is clearly aware of the English society’s class structure. However, her female characters do not desire to marry in order to climb the social ladder, but instead what matters most to them is authentic companionship and true human connection. In a so called Austen marriage, both the man and the woman have the opportunity to freely express themselves and grow as individuals.
Jane Austen overturns the tables when it comes to consent. In “Pride and Prejudice”, Elizabeth refuses to marry Mr. Collins and condemns his way of approaching her by completely ignoring her right to actually consent to their marriage. The same scene exists in “Emma”, when Mr. Elton proposes to Emma, and even when she refuses him, he does not take “no” for an answer because, supposedly, that is the tactic that women use in order to create suspense when a man confesses his feelings. Moreover, Austen also defies societal norms regarding the way that women are supposed to act and present themselves. In other words, she perceives female emotion and intellect as a result of social and not biological conditioning. Her ideas seem to correlate with feminist Mary Wollstonecraft’s writings in “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (1792), who also challenges such concepts. At the time, the women of high society were considered to be modest, tender and delicate, nothing less and nothing more.
In “Persuasion”, Captain Harville states; “I believe in a true analogy between our bodily frames and our mental; and that as our bodies are the strongest, so are our feelings“. When, as a response, Anne claims that a woman’s feelings are “most tender”, she only ironically refers to the social influences that result in women having certain characteristics. In the famous “Pride and Prejudice” scene in Netherfield Hall, the topic of discussion is the model of the ideal, intellectual woman, and what elements her character should consist of. Bingley’s sister claims that this ideal woman should be knowledgeable of dancing, singing, painting, and speaking various modern languages, while Darcy adds that, on top of all of that, she must also “improve her mind by extensive reading”. Elizabeth, however, claims that she hardly knows any woman that possesses all of these qualities, thus highlighting the unrealistic, superficial expectations that were put on women in order for them to be considered valuable.
Whether she discusses men, marriage, class, or sisterhood, Jane Austen will always be a timeless literary figure. Her novels are reminiscent of a time period where people met in balls and fell in love while dancing, confessed their feelings in the pouring rain, and declared their intentions with the utmost sincerity. On the other hand, her novels are also pivotal to the feminist movement, a reminder of the significance of female intelligence and thought, and also of the fact that men are not supposed to be masters that we depend on, but companions that help us thrive and grow together. And that is why women love Jane Austen!
References
- Morrison, Sarah R. “Of woman borne: Male experience and feminine truth in Jane Austen’s novels.” Studies in the Novel 26.4 (1994): 337-349.
- Brown, Lloyd W. “Jane Austen and the feminist tradition.” Nineteenth-Century Fiction 28.3 (1973): 321-338.
