Jane Austen Biography

Jane austen(1775-1817)

she was born in 1775 in stevenston, hampshire and she was the seventh of eight children. her father was the rector of the village. after a short period spent at a boarding school jane was taught at home by her father. she spent her life reading, writing, playing the piano and taking part in the social life of her neighbourhood.

when her father died in 1805 the family had financial problems and jane with her family moved from place to place and in 1809 jane with her mother and sister, cassandra settled in chawton where she wrote new novels. four novels were published anonimously between 1811 and 1816 and became popular with the reading public and gave her financial independence.

at the age of 40 she fell ill and she died in 1817. her last two novels were published in 1818.

themes  and style- love and marriage

jane austen was aware(consapevole) that  marriage  was very important  for social condition and economic security of a woman. this is reflected in her plots (trame), where young girls need to find a suitable (adatto) husband.

in the novels(romanzi) heroines have to face a conflict between their feelings and the need to conform to social conventions.

“appropriate” behaviour, respectful  of social rules, should prevail over romantic enthusiasm and judgement.the power of emotions is important but emotions should be balanced and controlled to respect the expectations of society.

so there isn’t a sentimental view of love, who popular in her time.

Female characters   usually  play the traditional  roles of daughters, sisters or wives and they are  not passive  or apathic.

The heroines are  intelligent,  active,  and  lively (vivaci)

They are: obstinate,  self-willed  (ostinate), more capable, energetic more    than   the male characters( dei personaggi maschili) they recognize their  mistakes (esse riconoscono i loro errori) and they improve themselves (esse  si migliorano)

Social class

in her novels   there is the social setting  she knew: the world of the country gentry  and the relations with the upper classes.

Jane austen describes with  accuracy and perception the    provincial  and  the  class -  conscious  society (società cosciente di classe) she uses  irony to criticize  the snobbery  (snobbismo) of aristocracy and the poor education  of the middle class.

the focus is on provincial   life  and   social   gatherings with  balls, invitations and visits in the novels we can’t find historical  insights   but the reader is aware  of the events of the time. jane austen  describes how  middle class  people    lived  in  rural  england   at  the beginning  of  the 19  th century and she also   shows  how  historical events  influenced  their  daily  life: the  army officers    remind  us  of  the napoleonic  wars   in which  england  was  engaged.

The shopping of   women   and   the  quality  and  price   of different  fabrics  remind  us  the  incipient  industrial  revolution  and the  imports  from  colonies

Genre  and  style

Her  novels  are  “ realistic  studies  of  manners”.there aren’t  sensationalistic  effectss and excesses  typical  of the  of the  gothic  novels  of her time. in her novels there is   the study of social relationship   without didactic or  moralistic  intent but with irony that  illustrates  the  contradictions  of human  behaviour.

In her  style  there are  skilfully  structured  plots  and an  omniscent  unobtrusive  third  person  narrator .  unobtrusive: he shows what happens  but he does  not interfere  with  the story.he acts  like a camera there are  witty  dialogues which  contribute  to the representation of her  characters ‘ personalities

Pride and prejudice

it  is set in  the county of hertfordshire, 50 miles  from london. in the bennet family  there is  mr   and mrs bennet  and their  five unmarried daughters : jane ,elizabeth(lizzy) ,mary, kitty  and lydia.

the news that  two wealthy gentlemen, mr. bingley  and mr.  darcy,  have settled  at the  nearby  manor, naetherfield park ,  caused great  excitement  among the bennets.

mr bennet  hopes  the two  youmg  men  will end  up  marryimg two of her five daughters.

after a number  of social gatherings jane  and  bingley   grow  close and darcy initially arrogant and distant appreciates lzzy’s wit.

On  the  contrary  elizabeth’s  negative  opinion  of darcy’s  snobbery  is  reinforced  by  her  new  acquaintance,mr  wickham. he tells  her  how  darcy  deprived  him  of an  income  he had inherited.

Suddenly bingley leaves  fpr london and jane is sad and perplexed. then darcy proposes  to elizabeth but she rejects  him and accuses him of distancing bingley from her sister and of acting unfairly toward wickam.

The bennets are reached by the shoking news of lydia’s elopement with mr.  wickam their disgrace is soon relieved by lydia’s return as wickam’s wife.

Lizzy discovers that darcy has made this marriage possible.

Bingley  and  darcy  return  to netherfield  and  their  frequent  visits to the bennes eventually lead to the long sought for marriages of jane and bingley, elizabeth and darcy

Themes

The ironical statement that opensp ride and prejudice bring  forth the central subject of the novel. 

A single man with a good fortune must be in want of a wife.  The obsession of mrs  bennet for the marriages of her  daughters reflects a typical concern of  the time of jane austen . for many families marrying a man was the only way to ensure the financial security of the daughters.

But class interferes with mrs  bennet’s  plans, she encourages  her  daughters to socialise with the upper class bingley  and  darcy, but the five  girls are inferiors and are trated as such especially by darcy who is proud of the dignity of his llineage.

Pride  and prejudice seems  to  suggest  that  love  can defy  class  boundaries  and  social  prejudices darcy  confesses  that  his  love  has  allowed  him to overcome  the obstacle  of their  economic  and  social  differences.

Elizabeth, outraged by  his  condescending attitude, rejects  his  proposal,and  declares  that  she  coulld  never  marry a man  she  does  not  love. she  accepts  his  proposal  when she  is  certain  that  her  feelings  for  him  are  sincere.the  marriages are  the  demostrations  that  true  love can  overcome  social differences