the novel of manners: Jane Austen

The novel of manners: Jane Austen

Main themes

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen's novels are defined as novel of manners because they all deal with the relationship among manners, social behaviour and the development of characters. The most important features of her novels are:

• faithfulness to reality with the description of the trivial events of everyday life such as dinners, dances, visits and excursions;
• countryside and middle class country society as privileged setting and social background;
• use of a conventional plot pattern which revolves around the experiences of a young heroine;
• acute characterisation and psychological study of characters who reveal themselves through dialogues;
• use of an omniscient third-person narrator, who is seldom obtrusive
• slight irony and sense of humour;
• presence of a strict moral code based on decorum , moralism, authentic faith;
• pursuit of marriageable husbands:
• class, property and money issues.

Jane Austen (1775-1817)

Sense and Sensibility

This is the most famous novel, it is about the Bennets, who live Longbourn with their five daughters. Mrs Bennet's is only interested in finding good husbands for them while Mr. Bennet seems to be interested only in Elizabeth's future, as she is his favourite and cleverest daughter. When Mr Bingley and his two sisters settle in Longbourn, he falls in love with Jane Bennet but his friend Darcy believes they are socially superior, so he advises him against his possible engagement. Meanwhile, Darcy, who is progressively attracted to Elizabeth, eventually proposes but she refuses because she dislikes his snobbishness and she thinks he has treated bad Mr Wickman, an apparently pleasant young officer. Darcy, however, writes a letter in which he explains her that Mr Wickman is an unscrupulous man and tries to defend himself. When the two meet again, Darcy, who has realized that his pride is unjustifiable. Elizabeth realizes her prejudices were wrong. Meanwhile, Bingley returns and get married to Jane, the two couple are happily united.

Austen tells the story of two sisters: Elinor and Marianne, who have two contrasting personalities. Elinor is an example of sense: she has a strong grasp of reality, good control of her feel feelings and a complete respect for conventional social behaviour. By contrast, Marianne is the example of sensibility: she believes in romantic love and is more conventional. But both sisters are disappointed in love, even though in the end they marry happily. The sensible sister marries her true love after romantic obstacles and the emotional sister finds happiness with a man who proves to be a sensible choice of a husband.

She was born in Stevenson, Hampshire, in a big, cultivated and lively family. Her father, who was the rector of the parish, educated her at home and encouraged her interest in reading and writing literature. In approximately 1787 she started to write poems, stories and plays that she used to read to her family. In Stevenson Jane wrote Elinor and Marianne, which became Sense and Sensibility (1811), in 1813 she published Pride and Prejudice, and Susan, published as Northanger Abbey. After family problems, she settled at Chawton, a small village. Here Jane produced Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1816), and Persuasion (1817). Jane Austen never married , died in 1817.

Mansfield Park

Emma

Fanny Prince is a gentle girl belonging to a large and impoverished family who grows up in the home of her rich uncle and aunt, Thomas and Lady Bertram, at their estate, Mansfield Park. The Bertrams have two beautiful, self centered, daughters and two sons, one very frivolous and the other, Edmund, who is the only one sympathetic to Fanny. Edmund realizes that he loves Fanny, who has always loved him, and they eventually get married

" Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion ".

- Jane Austen -

The novel is considered by many critics as the greatest achievement of Jane Austen. It centres around the story of the title character and her interaction with the people of her country village. Emma is a clever, handsome and rich young girl who decides to help a young innocent girl without a family, Harriet Smith. She then embarks on a series of machinations that are not well organized and backfire on Harriet and on herself. Emma becomes aware of her lack of insight into others' behaviour and realizes that she has seen only what she wanted to see. In the end the characters of the novel reconcile.