Jane Austen: A Neoclassical Romantic

Think of a novelist whose almost all books have turned out to made into countless TV, film, theatre adaptations. That is Jane Austen, a rebel of her era.

Jane Austen was a famous English novelist, born into this world on 16th December 1775. She was known for six major novels:

• Pride and Prejudice

• Mansfield Park

• Emma

• Northanger Abbey

• Persuasion

For the time they were written her novels are considered bold. Her stories are known for interrogating and critiquing the British landed gentry at a time when those of nobility prospered and the underprivileged suffered. Her plots focus on the lives of women and how at that time they relied heavily on marriage to secure themselves a respectable social position as well as financial stability.

Who is Jane Austin?

She was a very clever child who loved to read and write. She began writing stories when she was just 12 years old. Later in life she named these early works her “Juvenilia.” When she was 16 years old, she went on to write a collection of textbook parodies titled “The History of England…by a partial, prejudiced and ignorant historian”. This was the first insight into her comedic talent.

During Jane’s era, society didn’t approve of women being comedic, and any humorous women would be considered controversial. Nevertheless, Jane used understated humour in her work to subtly criticise and mock people from her own social class.

For example, in Pride and Prejudice, the most cleverly written comedic scene is when Mr Collin’s proposes to Elizabeth. In the scene Mr Collin’s treats his proposal as if it were a business transaction, one he expects will be accepted without question. When Elizabeth rejects him, he believes she is just being coy and cringingly responds with ‘it is usual with young ladies to reject the address of the man whom they secretly mean to accept’. The hilarity in this scene all comes at the expense of Mr Collins.

Her novels were also largely concerned with love. Although unfortunately she wasn’t very lucky in love herself. Her first romantic encounter was with an Irish guy called Tom Lefroy (the nephew of the wealthy Anne Lefroy). Soon after Jane and Tom met, they began to fall madly in love. But when Anne Lefroy heard of their romance, she told Tom that if he married someone from a lower social circle, he wouldn’t receive any of his inheritance. After that Anne and Tom moved swiftly back to Ireland.

During the summer of 1801 Jane had another romantic dalliance, this time with a clergyman in Devon. They fell in love, and he promised he would visit her in Bath as soon as possible so he could meet her family. She was thrilled and took this as a sure sign he was going to propose. Unfortunately, he died before he ever managed to visit the family.

Her final romance came about with a young man named Harris Bigg-Wither. Harris (who was six years her junior) proposed and Jane accepted. The next day, Jane panicked because she wasn’t in love with Harris, and quickly backed out of the marriage. Years later she would explain the dangers of marrying without love in a letter to her niece – “anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without affection”.

Jane’s parents were George Austen and Cassandra Austen. George was a rector and Cassandra was a member of the aristocratic Leigh family who belonged to the landed gentry.

Jane’s mother breastfed Jane and her seven siblings up until they were three months old. After that they were then sent into the village to be looked after by "the good women". They stayed with these women until they were approximately two years old, and during that time learned how to walk, talk, and use the bathroom. After that they were returned to their family home.

When Jane grew older, she attended school even though many of her contemporaries didn’t. In the late 18th century education was not compulsory for girls or boys, and women in general were rarely educated as they were just expected to get married and take care of the home. However, both Jane and her sister attended a boarding school in Reading for approximately 18 months. During this time however, they both contracted typhoid fever and almost died.

But one of the biggest tragedies in the story of Jane’s life is that she didn’t become a household name until after she died. She died on 18th July 1817 at just 41 years of age (this might seem quite young, but in the UK during the 19th century the average life expectancy was between 30 and 40 years of age).

During her lifetime only four of her novels were published – Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma. It wasn’t until the Victorian era that her began to receive and she was finally recognized as the incredible novelist we know her as today.

Why is Jane Austin an inspirational icon?

Jane Austen was a feminist, a pioneer, and a total maverick! Although she was not the first female writer to be published in England (Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Women was published 20 years before Jane’s first novel) she was instrumental in paving the way for those female writers who came after her.

Not only was she writing novels at a time when women weren’t supposed to write novels, but her stories centred on women, which was rare at that time. And she never published her work under her own name or even a man’s name (like many female writers of that time did), she always published her work under the pseudonym “A Lady”.

Jane used her novels to challenge gender bias and to unearth the reality of women’s lives during a time of strict moral and social codes of behaviour. She was particularly concerned with portraying women as strong, liberal, and self-confident.

Some have argued that Jane (and the characters in her novels) do not fit the view of feminism we have today. But feminism has been around for many years and is a dynamic movement that changes with the times.

In her time, the fact that she was unmarried as well as a published writer, would have made her the ultimate radical feminist. Now that is something special to be remembered for.

In fact, she is remembered so fondly that a portrait of her features on every single £10 note that has been printed in the UK since 14th September 2017.