Jane Austin

“That young Lady has a talent for describing the involvements of feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with,” declared Sir Walter Scott, a Scottish Novelist and Poet of Jane Austen’s time. Rather than mention historical events in her books Jane Austen writes about “everyday life” of the early Nineteenth century British society, where she grew up. The first chapter of Jane Austen’s own story starts on December 16, 1775 in Hampshire, England, as the youngest of seven children. Under the care of her father, Reverend George Austen, and her mother, Cassandra, she begins to write her first stories for her family. (“Jane Austen”) In several Jane Austen books such as Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility, a great connection between her life experiences and her books exists. First Mr. Darcy and Mr. Willoughby fit in almost direct correlation with one of Austen’s lovers. The reoccurring pattern of clergymen also plays a role in both. Finally her mouthpieces and main female characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Elinor Dashwood, resemble Austen herself.

Two Suitors, Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice and Mr. Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility, both have characteristics of Thomas Lefroy, “Jane Austen’s own Mr. Darcy came in the form of a dashing Irishman she met at Deane House, in Hampshire” (The house where Jane Fell in love) This quote refers to Tomas Lefroy, the one Austen “lost her heart to.” (Balasingham) Mr. Darcy shows the highly respectable side of Mr. Lefroy. With a high annual income Mr. Darcy resides in upper class society, “Ten thousand a year and very likely more.”(Pride and Prejudice, 255) Mr. Darcy’s income surpasses the average; ten thousand a year then equals about $330 thousand a year today. Furthermore what of Love and Marriage? Wealth and Marriage harmonize together in the first sentence of Pride and Prejudice, as usually seen in society, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” (Pride and Prejudice, 1) During the nineteenth century the only deliberation when choosing a companion: money. Mr. Darcy, like Mr. Lefroy, stood above the crowd as a proud gentleman with few faults. In a correspondence to her sister, Austen confides her belief of Mr. Lefroy’s perfections, “[Tom’s] only fault is that he wears too light a morning coat. (Buchan) This proves how highly others in society thought of him.

Work