Jane Austen is Vexed

Beneath the romantic stories of love and longing surges an undercurrent of frustration and anger over the many ways in which women were dismissed and discarded by society during Jane Austen’s life.  The loss of patriarchal protection and looming poverty was a shadow hiding in the corner waiting to emerge in her own life and her vexation springs forth through the plights of her characters.  As Jane wrote in a letter to Fanny Knight, “Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor – which is one very strong argument in favour of matrimony.”

Persuasion

Jane Austen reveals three women in potential danger of falling through societal cracks due to their marriage status.  Elizabeth Elliot at age 29 is experiencing “some regrets and some apprehensions” about losing her bloom as she “felt her approach to the years of danger” and would be glad to be “properly solicited by baronet-blood”.  Considering that her father managed to squander his fortune and his designated heir rejected her twice over, time is running out.  If anything should happen to her father, her status in society could abruptly come to a halt.  (*Spoilers note:  My novel, The Matchmaker of Pemberley, addresses this issue with a surprising conclusion for Miss Elliot.)

Elizabeth’s “devoted friend”, Mrs. Clay, has recently returned home to her father, Mr. Shepherd, after an “unprosperous marriage” with two children in tow.  No doubt her father did not welcome the return of his daughter or the drain on his income so her encouraged this “clever young woman who understood the art of pleasing”, to attach herself to the good graces of Sir Walter and his eldest daughter in hopes of advancing her prospects, much to the dismay of younger daughter, Anne, and their dear friend, Lady Russell, both of whom recognized a sycophant’s efforts to ingratiate herself posed a potential threat to the family order.  What a relief it would be to Mr. Shepherd if she became a dependent on someone other than himself.

Finally we have our heroine, Anne Elliot, dismissed by her father and older sister as socially irrelevant to their enjoyments; marked by an unwanted engagement at a young age to a naval commander that Sir Walter considered “a degrading alliance”; having declined a second offer of marriage that was redirected to her younger sister, Mary; living a life where she is invisible to all but Lady Russell with few prospects and a dowry under threat by the profligate spending of her father and older sister.  She is as useful as those in her family have need of her and taken for granted by all.  She, like her sister, is dependent on the health and well-being of her father whose attentions are sought by Mrs. Clay despite her “clumsy wrist” and crooked tooth.

Enter Captain Wentworth nine years later whose resentment over their broken engagement lives on, has discarded her along with his memories of their attachment, and treats her as a stranger while he toys with the affections of the two younger sisters of Anne’s brother-in-law, Charles Musgrove.    She has become invisible and irrelevant to all yet still clings to the memories of lost love and lingering regrets. 

Sense and Sensibility

Consider the plight of Mrs. Dashwood and her three daughters who are cast off by the greedy heir to Norland Park and become dependent on the kindness of a distant relative who offers them Barton Cottage, much less commodious than their former home.  What a fall from grace to be uprooted, impoverished, and to see your daughters’ prospects crushed when the hoped for generosity of the heir was winnowed down to a barely sustainable income with no dowries available for the young ladies to make suitable marriages.  The daughters were well born young ladies deserving of a bright future; they enjoyed the comforts of a fine home, prestige in the community, prosperity, only to have it ripped away by the early death and poor planning of their trusting father.  To Mrs. Dashwood the fall from grace must have been searingly painful.

When it comes to discarded young women, how can we forget Colonel Brandon’s tale of his cousin and first love, Eliza, orphaned as a baby and put under the guardianship of his father. Instead of protecting her fortune and her future, she was forced into marriage to the colonel’s older brother at the age of 17 only to be Ill-treated and abused until she ran away. 

When Colonel Brandon eventually tracks her down a few years later, she is penniless and dying of consumption, with a three-year-old daughter whom she consigned to his care upon her death.  His ward disappeared at the age of 16 when she visited Bath with a friend and fell under the influence of John Willoughby  with whom she ran away only later to be abandoned.  “He had left the girl whose youth and innocence he had seduced, in a situation of the utmost distress, with no creditable home, no help, no friends, ignorant of his address!” 

This detailed narrative reflects the moral outrage Jane Austen must have felt for the many young victims of unscrupulous males the gossip mills of her time discussed. In a patriarchal society, women were reliant on the generosity of the men in their lives.  They could be treated as meanly if they had no connections (Willoughby) as they could by those designated to care for them (Brandon’s family), or singled out by unscrupulous individuals after their fortunes (Wickham). 

Who can blame the avaricious Lucy Steele for climbing the ladder to a prosperous marriage on the backs of her new acquaintances?  Like Mrs. Clay, Lucy understood the art of pleasing and aspired to raise her prospects in a world that would so readily discard women in society.  Elenor and Marianne prosper in the end but not without pain and suffering when marginalized in society.

Mansfield Park

Fanny Price paid the price for non-compliance to the dictates of Sir Thomas Bertram who sent her home to her impoverished family for the audacity of refusing the accept the proposal of a prosperous young man whose character she did not trust.  She neither sought his attentions nor was she flattered by Henry Crawford’s efforts to woo her having observed his flirtation with her cousin, Maria, firsthand.  She worried as well about Edmund’s infatuation with Mary Crawford whom she considered to be unworthy and unsuitable.  She was finally vindicated when Henry ran off with the newly married Maria and the association with the Crawfords ended.  Fanny maintains her integrity and achieves her heart’s desire, but had she not been lifted out of poverty by wealthy relatives, her fate may have taken her down an entirely different path.

The far less likeable Mrs. Norris deserves our attention as a cast-off woman.  She was married to the Rev. Mr. Norris, a man who lacked fortune but was a friend of her brother-in-law, Sir. Thomas. With the death of her husband, Mrs. Norris was forced to quit the parsonage and take a small house in the village while maintaining her integral role helping to manage the affairs of the four Bertram children and her niece, Fanny.  Mean spirited and pecuniary in her ways, she managed to survive because of her association with wealthy relatives.  Here again, Jane tells us of the tenuousness of the life of a widow although Mrs. Norris continued to make the most of her connection to the Bertrams until finally being trapped living with Maria after her divorce from Mr. Rushworth.

Emma

Mrs. and Miss Bates are another example of women who fall into poverty after the death of their husband, and father.  When a clergyman dies or retires, his family is cast off with little or no income.  While still considered respectable in the community, the Bates’s nevertheless struggle and rely on the generosity of neighbors like Emma and Mr. Knightly for sides of pork and apples from the harvest. 

Were it not for a sizeable inheritance, Emma would not be so boastful about her position when she says, “Fortune I do not want, employment I do not want, consequence I do not want.”  Jane Fairfax enjoys no such advantage alongside her grandmother and aunt.  Despite her secret engagement to Frank Churchill who lives under the thumb of his adoptive mother, she faces the prospect of hiring out as a governess now that she has come of age and is no longer under the benevolent protection of the Campbells whose own daughter has married.  Life is tenuous indeed until Frank’s mother dies and he is free to marry Jane which will have a positive economic ripple effect on Mrs. and Miss Bates.

Northanger Abbey

Let’s review the arrogant men who create vexation in Catherine Moreland’s young, inexperienced life.  First there is the egotistical John Thorpe who is so presumptuous as to assume that because his sister, Isabelle, becomes engaged to James Moreland, that he can automatically assume James’ sister is his to claim.  So inflated is his ego and to enhance his own standing, he tells General Tilney she is a wealthy heiress.  After a shocked and dismayed Catherine rejects his assumption that an engagement occurred during a vague conversation about visiting her home, he in turn informs General Tilney that she is merely the eldest daughter of clergyman with multiple children and no financial prospects. 

Based on the initial misinformation from Thorpe, General Tilney encourages his son and daughter to cultivate Catherine and invites her to visit Northanger Abbey in hopes of creating an attachment between his son, Henry, and innocent, impressionable Catherine.  Upon learning from recently spurned Thorpe that she has no money she is banished from the Abbey in the middle of the night to find her own way home to her family.  Clearly Catherine was very ill-used by both men but to her great satisfaction, Henry Tilney sets things right by later marrying her.

Another ill-used young lady is Isabelle Thorpe even though she brought her fate upon herself. Disappointed to find out that she would have to endure a lengthy engagement to James Moreland due to his financial circumstances, she begins a flirtation with Captain Tilney, eldest son of the general.  He knows she is engaged but for his own amusement pursues her anyway.  She in turn hopes for an upgrade in fiancés with the prospect of a wealthier match only to be castoff by Captain Tilney which results in a broken engagement with James Moreland that she is desperate to repair.  Why so desperate?  In Regency times a broken engagement besmirched the reputation of the woman far more than the man.  She became much less eligible for succumbing to a flirtation while engaged to another man and being spurned by both.

Pride and Prejudice

The arrogance of wealth and position is the vexatious theme in Pride and Prejudice where we meet five unmarried daughters whose father’s estate is entailed to a male heir and whose spending habits left little room to save for their dowries.  Fortunately, the two charming eldest daughters are comely and intelligent with pleasing manners, but despite those admirable attributes, they were deemed unlikely to “marry men of consideration in the world” due to their financial circumstances and the low connections of their relatives, as observed by recent, wealthy arrivals to the local community. 

Their mother is obsessed with finding eligible suitors to such a degree that when the heir to the estate makes an appearance to court one of his five cousins, despite his unctuous personality and insipid proposal, she insists that Lizzy marry him “or I will never see her again.”  Any suitor will do for Mrs. Bennet, even Mr. Wickham who scandalously runs off with her youngest daughter yet is embraced once they are married after he receives a financial inducement from Mr. Darcy.  We can hardly blame her for her obsession since she and her daughters could be turned out of their home should Mr. Bennet die, much like the Dashwood’s.   

Lizzy, the most perceptive of the five daughters, is aware of the superior attitude of the new arrivals, Mr. Bingley’s sisters, and especially Mr. Darcy, and it becomes a filter for all her observations.  Yet, she is taken in by the superficially charming Mr. Wickham and immediately succumbs to his lies about Mr. Darcy for whom she forged a dislike the first time they met.  Enamored with Mr. Wickham, she is warned by her aunt to be cautious with her affections, and she takes a sensible step back.  Fortunate indeed since only later does she learn about his attempted seduction of Mr. Darcy’s young sister, Georgiana. 

Clear headed Lizzy understands the rules of Regency society.  It was incumbent on young women to marry, and eligible men must have the means to do so.  When she meets Colonel Fitzwilliam with whom there was an immediate mutual attraction, they discuss the fact that he is not free to marry as he pleases because he is a second son and must marry for money.  Were it not for that, he and Lizzy might have been a fine match, much to Darcy’s dismay.

All ends well in this novel, but the underlying theme is one of women at risk.  The mother worries about losing her home and position should her husband pre-decease her.  The oldest daughters worry about their reputations being damaged by the impetuous decision of their youngest sister.  Their father lives with regret that he was not a better planner and provider for his family.  Georgiana Darcy barely escapes the clutches of gold-digger Wickham who aims to claim her inheritance and embarrass Darcy at the same time.  No wonder Jane Austen was vexed.  This is the world in which she lives where patriarchy and wealth rule, women are entirely dependent on the men in their lives or destined to become cast offs without male protection and largesse. 

Her novels resonate with her own frustrations as one of two daughters of a clergyman who must secure the futures of her six brothers above all.  He retired early to ensure his “living” was passed on to his married son, James, much to Jane’s dismay, and moved the family to Bath.  He no doubt hoped to find matches for his daughters in the bustling new location where they could be seen in a larger society.  Once he passed away five years later, they moved from one rental to another, visited relatives and friends for extended stays, and even shared accommodations with another married brother.  At last, they found a permanent home due to benevolence of Edward Austen Knight, their brother who was adopted at a young age by the wealthy Knight family.  Jane fully understood the insecurities that beset women in her day.

We take so much for granted in the modern era; the right to vote, to have a career, to live independently if we wish, but those rights are recently won from voting in 1920 in the US to the right to open a bank account without it being cosigned by a male relative in 1973.  If we divorce, we can claim partial or full custody of children instead of having that right automatically go to the husband as in Jane’s time.  Birth control freed women from the risk of multiple pregnancies that cost the lives of Jane’s own family members and friends.  Patriarchy still reigns supreme.  This ageless, timeless observer of human nature and social dynamics reveals universal truths that still ring true in contemporary times.  Many of those truths vexed her exceedingly and continue to vex us to this day.