How many times have you heard something along the lines of “Jane Austen’s books are girly”, or met people that believe Austen’s books are only geared towards female readers? If you haven’t heard such a thing, then consider yourself lucky, because I’ve heard it too many times. The problem with making such a sweeping generalization is that it gives a completely false and reductive summarization Austen’s works, as well as fostering toxic sexist notions (eg. that it would be emasculating for a male to read Austen).
In actuality, Jane Austen has written some of the most feminist-fuelled, challenging, satirical, and historically telling works of all time. One thing I learned while in school is that it’s extremely important to look at the historical context of a work or text, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction. In Austen’s case, there were a lot of things going on during her time; she was born 1775 in England, and lived until 1817. Therefore, she existed in a context ripe with major transformations taking place – the French Revolution, which caused tons of upheaval and change throughout Europe, as well as the turn of the century transitioning from the 18th to the 19th century. Class systems were very much in place during this era, and in the U.K. there were as many as fourteen official feudal titles and status names depending on your economic and social situation. (I won’t go too much into the history of Europe, but it’s vastly interesting to look into it, and I highly suggest you do so!)
Thus, Austen’s works were much more of a sociopolitical commentary than people might initially assume. Sure, romance and marriage were a huge part of her plotlines, but those plots are heavily nuanced with the social implications of what those romances and marriages really meant. Primarily focusing on the British gentry, Austen makes it clear in each of her works that status had an enormously huge and complicated part to play in each of her character’s lives.
Austen’s literary works take on a secular tone, focusing on the artificiality, materialism, economics, and status-obsessed aspects of British society. Stability, reputation, marriage and its inherent link with financial wealth take up a predominant presence as the source of introspection and satire in her texts. Ultimately, marriage was considered more of a business deal than it was about love, which is quite different and opposite to the way marriage is generally regarded in modern day society. It was in Austen’s time that she, who was regarded as a feminist and forward-thinking writer, portrayed characters who aimed to marry for love, which might have been considered more avant-garde or even reprehensible at the time. However, despite her romanticist ideals, Austen remained rather realistic in her novels since they focus on the economic, reputational and familial importance of marriage between two people, in conjunction to being focused on the romance.
While Austen’s heroines are often driven by their own romantic ideals and end up with the men that they truly love and respect, the majority of surrounding and secondary characters reflect the very real ideals around marrying within social rank, enforcing a society that heavily regarded monetary needs before matters of the heart.
Austen also explores what it means to be a woman at this time, and the showmanship of being female; women were trained in accomplishments rather than being educated, where dancing, singing, playing music, embroidery, and the displaying of one’s beauty at social occasions were taught, in the aims to attract an eligible suitor.
Marriage was essentially equal to survival for a woman at this time, while it was not necessarily the same for men. For a woman to end up a governess or spinster (unmarried) was the equivalent of being in social limbo. Unfortunately, this is a concept that isn’t entirely foreign to us even according to today’s social standards. To be “marriageable” was the most important factor in a woman, and this extended to a person’s familial status as well. In 19th century Britain, anything and everything regarding social status was out in the open for everyone to know – and this goes to show just how important status divisions were at the time. For example, the knowledge of the income of neighbors was extremely common, as well as property and inheritance. However, it is also important to keep in mind the significance and controversy in marrying outside ones own social class, as can be seen in every one of Austen’s novels, particularly Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. The respectable thing was to marry within your status, and anything else was considered scandalous. Yet, the hopes for “marrying into a rich family” is a concept employed by essentially everyone in Austen’s novels, a realistic concept that creates a foundation of nail-biting drama. Basically, social divisions come in the way of everything. Pride is not only found in upper classes, but also in those of the lower classes.
Austen works very carefully to outline the injustices of this harsh social divide, and writes incredibly layered female characters that both adhere to the societal standards created for women as well as rejecting them. She subtly satirizes the obsession with marriage, especially within families, and straddles the line between realism and romanticism. Of course, this is a vague way of emphasizing that Austen’s novels are much more complex, fascinating, and intelligently written than one may think. Her works are full of drama, romance, and scandal, as well as being funny, witty, clever, heartbreaking, and uplifting. When one finishes an Austen novel, whether it be Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Emma, Mansfield Park, or any of her unfinished writings, one leaves feeling enriched in the history and immersed in the knowledge of 19th century British society. Most importantly, her work continues to be timeless in its essence. Austen will always be one of my all-time favourite authors, and I highly suggest you give her the chance she deserves, too, if you have not already.
~ Z ~
