Northanger Abbey - What are the novelistic conventions at which Austen pokes fun; how she gets her comic effects at the level of the individual sentence, and how this passage relates to the rest of the novel.
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey Close textual analysis based on volume 2, chapter 6, from 'The night was stormy ...' to the end of the chapter ('... she unknowingly fell fast asleep.'). What are the novelistic conventions at which Austen pokes fun; how she gets her comic effects at the level of the individual sentence, and how this passage relates to the rest of the novel. ***** In Northanger Abbey, Austen pokes gentle fun at the Gothic genre and its readers, who would have had their own expectations of Northanger, stemming from the Gothic. Initially, the reader doesn't know quite where to find him or herself. On the one hand we know that Catherine is a silly girl, but we are drawn in by the language of the text. The feel is at once veritably Gothic but also comic. We laugh at Catherine because not to do so would be to admit that we are like her - wanting her to find something even though we know she will not. As a heroine, Catherine is somewhat lacking in the typical physical traits and practical and mental abilities. However, she does have many of the emotional attributes of a classic Gothic heroine - she is sensitive and thoughtful and she has aspirations - but all these qualities are satirised by Austen. Catherine's interpretation of events and situations is elevated beyond normal, sensible intuition. The roll of paper at the back of the cabinet, so clearly mislaid and
Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre are two of the books included in the list of love stories that have happy endings.
"...and they lived happily ever after." Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre are two of the books included in the list of love stories that have happy endings. How these happy endings come about varies from one book to another; some rely on physical attraction, others on the willing subservience of one person to the other. In Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre, however, the early love scenes describe the development of mutual respect based on intellect and the establishment of a balance of power. Both Jane and Elizabeth spark interest in their admirers shortly after the first acquaintance. Elizabeth, who is "somewhat quicker" than her sisters, first attracts Darcy's attention through her independent nature. In chapter seven, Elizabeth walks the three miles that separate her from Jane; she finds herself "with weary ankles, dirty stockings, and a face glowing with the warmth of exercise" (33) upon reaching the house. To appear in such a condition before newly formed acquaintances is a social blunder; however, Darcy is intrigued by her "indifference to decorum." He is "divided between admiration of the brilliancy which exercise had given to her complexion, and doubt as to the occasion's justifying her coming so far alone" (33). No dialogue takes place in this scene; and though Elizabeth is unaware of Darcy's musings, she has begun to captivate him with her personality.
"Austen creates intensely personal microcosms of intensely political macrocosms." Discuss in relation to Pride and Prejudice.
' "You have a very small park here," returned Lady Catherine, after a short silence.' (Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice). "Austen creates intensely personal microcosms of intensely political macrocosms." Discuss in relation to Pride and Prejudice. Tanner, in his essay on Pride and Prejudice, wrote: "during a decade in which Napoleon was effectively engaging, if not transforming Europe, Jane Austen composed a novel in which the most important events are the fact that a man changes his manners and a young lady changes her mind." This quotation reduces one of the most enduringly popular 'classic' works of English literature, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, to an intensely personal tale of an individual relationship, utterly detached from the political context of the time. For many readers, particularly Austen's contemporaries, there is a tendency to emphasise this romantic, even mythical element to the plot. Isobel Armstrong, in her essay Politics, Pride, Prejudice and the Picturesque comments upon the "fairy-tale gratifications" of Pride and Prejudice, implying a view of Elizabeth as a Cinderella-like figure who, following a 'magical' moral transformation (in herself and Darcy) marries her very own handsome and rich 'Prince Charming' and lives happily ever after. This fantastical reading of the storyline implies a timelessness to the action, a sense in which romantic plot
Discuss the ways in which marriage is represented in Pride and Prejudice.
Discuss the ways in which marriage is represented in Pride and Prejudice. Pride and Prejudice originally titled First Impressions was first published in 1813, the second of Jane Austen's six novels. In this essay I attempt to discuss and illustrate the ways in which marriage is represented in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice with particular regard to respect. Marriage is the key theme in Pride and Prejudice, and in many other Austen novels. '...However elegantly they conceal their triumph, marriage is the aim of all Jane Austen's heroines and we do not see them again...'. (pg 45 Beer.P 1974) It was the ultimate destination and ambition of most of the middle and upper class females of Miss Austen's immediate life experience and she has perhaps used her experience and impressions in crafting her own characters reflecting the positives and the negatives of the married state. It is perhaps surprising that she never married, although there is some evidence of love affairs, there have been rumours of two, one whom died, the other deemed unsuitable and sent away. Women in the late 18th Century had little financial independence, they were unable to own or inherit property or money, they were dependant on the dominant male in their family be it their father, husband or brother. Women were the 'property' of their father until they married and often marriage was the only
One of the first letters we see in Pride and Prejudice is the letter from Mr. Collins to the Bennet family explaining of his wishing to come and stay with them. As soon as the letter is read we see Mr. Collins
24/05/05 Pride and Prejudice Set in the early 1800's, Pride and Prejudice tells the story of the upper-class society of the 5 Bennet sisters whose key aim in life is to marry into status. In the 1800's the only real ways of communication were either in person, although this could not be done alone very well and your only thoughts and feelings could not really be discussed. Or by letter, this method was a much better way of putting your character and feelings towards the subject matter across. This is shown in the 40+ letters that Pride and Prejudice contains. This was not unusual at the time, in most novels, but, Jane Austen has constructed the letters in such a way as to develop the plot and also the characters develop through the letters that we see throughout the novel. The letters are also a way for the characters to convey their thoughts and feelings and for the reader to explore their inner thoughts. Without the letters the plot would move on very slowly and the reader would not be able to understand the complicated plot line. The letters are a record of things previously said and so can be looked back upon, as such the letters are a good way for the story to be explained again or to recap on what has already happened but not been told to the reader. It is also a permanent record of who wrote the letter and as such is constructed very well to convey personality.