The Initiation
I was twelve when I got infected with Jane Austen and I have not been able to get any better since. It was a very fine evening when my parents and I watched Pride and Prejudice (2005) in our little estate situated in Subcarpathia. Soon after that I read the book and it introduced to me the delights of adult literature which I have never known before. In the next few months, I read and reread all six Austen novels, watched most of the adaptations, joined Jane Austen Fanclub on Facebook, started writing Regency letters (sadly not doing that anymore), wrote an essay about Austen and adapting her works for my Polish Literature and Language Olympiad, and talked to every unfortunate soul who happened to be near me about … well, Jane Austen, of course. Eight years later I began my English degree in Amsterdam and, starting this week I had begun my Jane Austen course. Dear Reader, if you are still in doubt that you should ardently admire and love Jane Austen, lend me a moment of your attention so I can truly convince you that Jane Austen is a glorious writer.
Jane Austen’s Subject Matter
Today Jane Austen’s (1775-1817) place in the English and world canon of literature is well established, but during her times she was hardly known. She wrote anonymously signing her first published book, Sense and Sensibility “by a Lady” and the next ones by the author of a preceding novel. Her identity as a novel writer was revealed to the broader public only after her death, and it would take another century when academia and literary criticism discovered her books again, hidden and forgotten under the “baggy monsters” of male nineteenth century realist fiction. While Austen’s name now takes up a central place in the canon, the value of her works especially in terms of their subject matter—was and still is sometimes disputed. Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), another great female writer, a leader in modernism, writes about understanding Austen: “Of all great writers she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness” (Woolf). This difficulty arises mainly because of the elements of the male writing tradition that Jane Austen deliberately omits: there are no overt political, philosophical or historical references, and there are no conversations with men only, because women are always present. She is not interested in macro worlds where big ideas are made but in micro worlds because they were the ones inhabited by women of her time.
Austen’s constrained world of fiction mirrors the constrained lives of women in her times. Her fiction could be compared to looking through a microscope, where the observation of a small sample allows us to see the minute details of human nature. Austen achieved that through creating multidimensional characters whose motivations, desires, and social background all influence their behaviour. Through that she transforms the conventions of literature of the day which had a tendency to create characters which were incarnations of pure evil or pure goodness. In her letter she criticises angelic heroines, saying: “And pictures of perfection, as you know, make me sick and wicked” (Austen). Austen seeks ways to convey a true reality of her days without idealising women or making them helpless victims. She chooses a role of a satirist to challenge the patriarchal norms, showing that men and women are equally flawed, neither superior than the other, and that women’s economic dependency on marriage leads to the suffering of many: women, their children and their families. Her views are never expressed directly but by showing the unhappy consequences of inheritance laws: primogeniture, daughters not being able to inherit, and coverture, husbands’ right to control their wives money, she builds a strong case for a change in women’s situations.
She chooses to deliver her powerful social critique through satire, because she hopes that the comedy of her writing will awaken an emotional response prompting her readers to rethink the social order they live in. Now, however, in times of women’s liberation Austen’s novels do not stop being relevant. Her sharp irony and her complex characters delight. Her novels, despite being “only” concerned with the “domestic” captivate us, showing the intricacies of such lives. Austen’s heroines had to carry out an immensely hard job, they had to discover the true nature of their potential lovers based on tiny clues they collected while spending a short time with them in public. The information is hidden, and often gradually revealed, making Austen’s heroines akin to detectives. Austen’s interest in epistemology (philosophy of knowledge) manifests itself throughout Emma. In that novel she writes: “Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised or a little mistaken” (Austen). Watch out then, Austen Reader, for unexpected twists and turns, do not omit any important detail about any of the characters, and share the delights of speculation, alongside Austen’s heroines.
Character Study: Does Mr Darcy deserve his reputation?
Austen’s hero from Pride and Prejudice Mr Darcy is believed to be one of the most beloved lovers ever created in literature. But, what is the secret of his appeal? Is he idealised through his fame? Who is the real Mr. Darcy from the book? While film adaptations perform a key role in visualising, and romanticising his character (the 1995 Colin Firth performance began the trend), the essence of his “fame” can be taken from the book alone.
A Part of Mr Darcy’s appeal can be best summed up in Austen’s satirical words about Emma: “handsome, clever, and rich”; a standard triad of a love interest appearing on our screens and pages of our novels. However, they alone do not build a Darcy phenomenon. Mr Bingley, Jane Bennet’s lover, for example, does not inspire such feelings in the readers. There is an extra ingredient to Mr Darcy’s reputation: his mysterious character. Elizabeth, Meryton society, and the reader struggle to understand him, and his true character and capacities are revealed only at the end of the book. He never says much and is not a socially adept person, which leads to many interpretations of the reasons behind his behaviour. Is it his pride? Is it his awkwardness? Is it his introversion? Is it his restrained desire for Elizabeth? Or more recent interpretation: Is he autistic? And when he engages with playful conversations with Elizabeth he can catch on her humour, and skilfully flirt with her, without her perceiving him doing so. The contradictions of Darcy’s behaviour make it very easy to get him wrong, and that is what makes him fascinating: the endless speculations which can never be resolved. He and his love story in Pride and Prejudice agree with Oscar Wilde’s idea of romance: “The very essence of love is uncertainty” (Wilde). We do love him for never truly understanding him, because part of his charm is the inexplicability of his character.
Another reason for Darcy’s popularity is his character transformation through love, another very successful romantic trope. For who would not like to change or inspire change for the better in their romantic partner? Mr Darcy from the beginning of Pride and Prejudice and its end appears a changed person. It is in part a credit to a reader and Elizabeth’s gained understanding of him but also his genuine change of attitude from egoism to altruism. He enters the scene as a proud person convinced of his superiority of intellect, looking down on the improper behaviour of the Bennet family in public, but, with time, learns to understand them and helps them in a moment of crisis. Moreover, his positive self-evaluation suffers as Elizabeth attributes his actions to selfishness, believing that his treatment of Wickham was inspired by jealousy and hate, and the separation of Bingley from Jane by the wish to retain his friend for his sister. Elizabeth’s accusations were not entirely right about Darcy but also not entirely wrong. He is neither an anti-hero nor a prince charming, he is just a faulted person like everyone else. His acknowledgement of Elizabeth’s criticism, shows his deep love of her which is based in respect and enables his growth as a person: he sees outside of himself, and directs his sight towards Elizabeth’s needs and the needs of her family. Through the journey of mistakes, and negotiation he and Elizabeth learn how to establish a happy marriage based on compromise and mutual growth. And that is what truly makes Mr Darcy and Pride and Prejudice withstand the test of time.
Last, but not least Mr. Darcy’s income, which is £10,000 a year, in modern times would translate to $986,276 to $12,862,256 to $16,436,891 depending on the method of calculation (Toran). Is that not that impressive? And when we add to that his glorious estate Pemberley, which contains a massive library, art galleries, beautiful gardens, lakes, woods; we can only sigh at our misfortune of not being able to marry Mr Darcy.
Epilogue
I have reached the end, dear Reader, however, I have not managed to convey even half of my thoughts and convictions on so vast a subject. There is so much detail to every sentence Austen writes and every character she invents that I could spend thousands of pages analysing her genius. Let me then humbly finish with one of my favourite Austen quotes: “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid. (Austen)”
Written by Aleksandra Szcześniak
Image source: Aleksandra Szcześniak
Works Cited
Austen, Jane. Emma. Project Gutenberg, 25 June 2008, http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/158. Accessed 8 Apr. 2025.
Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey. Project Gutenberg, 1 Jan. 1994, http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/121. Accessed 8 Apr. 2025.
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Project Gutenberg, 26 June 2008, http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1342. Accessed 8 Apr. 2025.
Toran, Janine Barchas. “The Real Bluebeard of Bath: A Historical Model for Northanger Abbey’s General Tilney.” Persuasions On-Line, vol. 36, no. 1, Winter 2015, http://www.jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/vol36no1/toran/. Accessed 8 Apr. 2025.
Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. Project Gutenberg, 29 Nov. 1997, http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/844. Accessed 8 Apr. 2025.
Woolf, Virginia. The Common Reader: First Series. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1925.
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