Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice

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Jane AustenPride and Prejudice

• A study of voice

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Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies
do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever
I can.

• A comedy of manners money, family background,
  and personal vanity complicates the course of
  true love.

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Highlights of Janes Life

• Born 1775
• Died 1817 (age 42)
• Daughter of a country minister in Steventon
• (small Hampshire town)
• Sister Cassandra (neither married)
• Brothers James, Henry, Francis, and Charles
• Educated

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Novels

• Sense and Sensibility (published 1811)
• Pride and Prejudice (1813)
• Mansfield Park (1814)
• Emma (1816)
• Northanger Abbey (1817) posthumous
• Persuasion (1817) posthumous

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• Shorter works
• Lady Susan
• The Watsons (incomplete novel)
• Sanditon (incomplete novel)
• Juvenilia
• The Three Sisters
• Love and Freindship sic the misspelling of
  "friendship" in the title is famous
• The History of England
• Catharine, or the Bower
• The Beautifull Cassandra

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Hollywoods Fascination

• Pride and Prejudice (six film versions)
• Emma (five film versions)
• Sense and Sensibility (four film versions)
• Persuasion (three film versions)
• Mansfield Park
• Northanger Abbey
• 2007 Release of Becoming Jane
• 2007 The Jane Austen Book Club

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The Novel

• Originally published under a pseudonym
• Considered most popular of her six novels
• Original title First Impressions (1797)
• Redrafted, published under new title in 1813.

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Plot

• Emphasis on character development
• Restricted to a sphere of a few families
• Study of relationships and upper classes
• Matrimony supplies stability
• Coincidence main plot device
• Explores human weaknesses
• No outright evil

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• Comedy charged with moral purpose
• Good-natured irony
• Narrative voice amused detachment
• Highly polished, considered the product of a
  perfectionist
• Masterpiece of verbal and structural irony

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• Famous opening line sets the exigent and tone
  It is a truth universally acknowledged that a
  single man in possession of a good fortune must
  be in want of a wife.
• Exigent social pressure, not individual choice,
  determines marriages and relationships.
• Satirical tone It is not that a single man
  desires a wife, but that everyone finds he lacks
  one, his good fortune requires it.

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• Ideal Polite social behavior
• Reality Characters fall short
• Tone Politely modulated despite characters
  contrasting behavior defects.
• Result The follies, self-deception, vulgarity,
  and deceit are illuminated by the grace and
  polish of the narrative tone.

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Elizabeth Protagonist of worth

• Intelligent
• Not frozen in one position dynamic
• Sharp wit outshines narrators tone
• Contrasts as well to the flat, polite,
  self-serving euphemisms of the rest of the
  characters.
• Seeks a firmer grip on reality than the society
  that prizes facades.

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• Realistic Elizabeth can be deceived.
• Cinderella Story Convention is tilted
• - wicked step sisters - Bennet sisters
• - wicked step mother - Mrs. Bennet
• - fairy godmother - Lady Catherine
• - handsome Prince - Darcy

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Purpose

• Austen desired to satirize the traditional
  Eighteenth Century Romance Genre
• Battling Lovers The Charming Rake
• Obstacles The Injured Innocence
• Blocking Figure The Jealous Rival
• Parallel Romances
• Comic Ending

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Criticism Greatest strengths also greatest
weaknesses.

• No awareness of international upheavals
• and turmoil of her day
• Napoleonic Wars
• Industrial Revolution
• Plight of working class
• Effects of psychology (Freud)
• Effects of science (technology/Darwinism)

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• Jane wrote what she knew.
• Little insight into male characters.
• Extreme passion avoided.

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Point of View

• Austen pioneered Free Indirect Discourse
• - third-person limited narration.
• Is the heroine speaker or the narrator?
• This narration is the precursor to
  stream-of-consciousness.

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Romanticism versus Realism

• Advocates no restraint
• Shows nature as a transcendental power
• Reveals mans plight currently tragic
• Celebrates natural beauty

• Presents order and discipline
• Supports traditional values and norms
• Views human condition in comic spirit
• Sparse description of nature

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Dialogue

• Most vivid and important part of the novel
• Major turning points are verbal
• Provokes gentle laughter at times
• Makes bitter observations at times
• States moral evaluations

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Theme

• Knowledge comes through careful reasoning and
  considered experience, unclouded by pride or
  prejudice based on rank or mere appearances.

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Historical Backdrop

• Regency Period
• Industrial Revolution and Social Class Structure
• Womens Rights and Entailment due to Patriarchy
• Social Mobility Limits
• Social Decorum and Reputation

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This has been an undocumented Report NOT a
Research Project!

• This is an example of the research you should do
  as an initial way of approaching your topic.
• Now you are probably ready to create a research
  question.
• What are some possible research questions?
  Discuss with your partner!

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Here is mine -

• How does Jane Austens use of verbal and
  situational irony cause her to be categorized as
  a Realist rather than a Romantic author?

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Now I must research to find out what the
authorities say

• I would not just Google this idea.
• I need to find authority.
• I need to use literary texts and internet sites
  that are recognized as critical analysis by
  people in the field.