Jane Austen(1775-1817)

• She was born in Steventon, Hampshire.

• She was mostly educated at home.

• When her father retired, the family settled in Bath for some years.

• The family then moved to Chawton, near Steventon.

• She died in Winchester.

A Quiet Life

• Sense and Sensibility (1811)

• Pride and Prejudice (1813)

• Mansfield Park (1814)

• Emma (1816)

• Persuasion (1817)

• Northanger Abbey (1817)

Her Works

Limited setting and characters:

Three or four families in a country village.

•A provincial world.

•Her characters are precisely described and belong to:

the rural middle class;

the landed gentry;

the country clergy;

•They are round characters.

•They show Austen’s fine, psychological insight.

The Setting and Characters in her Novels

Austen’s characters lead a quiet life in which they:

•read and write letters;

•engage in long conversations over breakfast tea;

•make afternoon visits;

•go for outings in a coach or walks in the garden.

The only disturbing, exciting element is LOVE.

Austen’s novels centre around a young woman.

The Plots in her Novels

Dialogues

•are clear, witty and precise;

•render commonplace things and characters interesting.

Jane Austen's irony is at times gentle, at others biting and severe, but

always well-balanced.

Austen’s narrator acts as an omniscient third person.

Dialogue and Irony

The qualities found in Jane Austen's novels differ from the majority of

Romantic works:

•she insists on morality, society and its values.

•her novels are considered didactic.

Unromantic Novels

• It is set in the countryside of southern England.

• It is centred on love and marriage.

• It satirises the search for a husband.

Pride and Prejudice

• Elizabeth Bennet is a witty, intelligent, young woman. She lives in

Hertfordshire, where she meets two young men of fortune: Mr

Bingley and Mr Darcy.

• The former courts Elizabeth’s sister, Jane, whereas the latter

considers the sisters socially inferior to them. Thus, he advises his

friend against Jane.

• This makes Elizabeth angry with Darcy, who is gradually attracted

to her. He proposes to her, but she refuses him.

• They finally realise they realie their pride and prejudice was

misguided. The novel concludes with the union of the two couples.

The Story

The passage centres on Mrs Bennet’s interest in the arrival of Mr

Bingley:

[…] Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it that he agreed with Mr Morris immediately; that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week.

He is an excellent, prospective husband for one of her daughters.

Hunting for a Husband

Mr Bennetwas so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three and twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character.

Mrs Bennetwas a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented, she fancied herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news.

Mr and Mrs Bennet

• It is often used in Jane Austen’s novels.

• It leads to reflection on human weaknesses.

• It doesn’t condition the author’s mind: Jane Austen is

impartial.

Jane Austen’s Irony