Jane Austen’s Distinction of Rank

Social status in Jane Austen’s time was defined by rank as measured by inherited wealth, property holdings, and the distinction of a title.  Social hierarchy was never to be questioned and those entitled individuals expected to be revered and presented as a positive influence.  Jane broke the rules.  She bursts the bubble and holds a mirror up to society reflecting an entirely different set of values.  Rather than elevating characters based on entitlement, Jane deftly discounts social position and populates her novels with individuals who have backgrounds in trade but demonstrate far more honorable behavior than their betters.  Upstanding character was not restricted to the rich; quite the opposite.  Jane’s aspirations for her heroines and heroes were for them to marry for love and retain their integrity based on their fundamental values, with little tolerance for mindless snobbery. 

Pride and Prejudice

In this remarkable novel, Jane displays no more respect for the upper ranks than she does reverence for the clergy.  Social position and wealth counted for little when Elizabeth Bennet was first introduced to proud, arrogant Mr. Darcy. After insulting her on their first meeting, he found himself inexorably attracted to her and was shocked when she later declined his marriage proposal.  His transformation from arrogance to penitence for his early behavior is central to the novel. 

Lizzy also undergoes a transformation.  Her initial attraction to a rogue named Wickham, is tempered by valuable advice from her Aunt Gardiner, “an amiable, intelligent, elegant woman” who cautioned Lizzy against her developing feelings; the advice was accepted without resentment.  Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner are exemplary characters despite the fact they come from trade, especially when compared to those of elevated social status such as Darcy and Lady Catherine De Bourgh.

A vexed Lady Catherine considered it her right to admonish any of the cottagers “disposed to be quarrelsome, discontented, or too poor” and “settle their differences, silence their complaints, and scold them into harmony and plenty.”  Everyone was expected to stay within the sphere of their social position. Lady Catherine was an arrogant, conceited woman who, despite her title, demonstrated ill-bred behavior with her exceedingly impolite interrogation of Elizabeth Bennet on first meeting her young guest. 

Her personally selected parish clergyman, Mr. Collins, knew and understood his place in her society.  He was so excessively attached to his benefactress that he admonished Elizabeth prior to their introduction that “Lady Catherine will not think the worse of you for being simply dressed.  She likes to have the distinction of rank preserved.”  Jane holds a mirror up to social conventions and reflects a real-world view of the merits of people outside the boundaries of class distinction.

Mr. Bingley, newly arrived at Netherfield Park, whose own fortune came from trade, was an amiable, gregarious gentleman, in comparison to his friend, Darcy.  However, Jane does not spare the sisters of Mr. Bingley, who were so enamored with their own wealth and privilege that they were dismissive of the Bennet family’s connections to trade, while they selectively ignored their own family history, even though they could not claim to be the daughters of a gentleman.  For Jane Austen, behavior defined good breeding rather than lineage or wealth.

Emma

Mr. Knightly promoted class distinction and was dismissive of Emma’s relationship with Harriet Smith, disapproving of her project to groom her new friend and raise Harriet’s chances to marry above her status.  He preferred that people know their place and didn’t try to better themselves although his motivations were not based on pride; he was kindly disposed towards one of his renters of farmland, Robert Martin, and supported his courtship of Harriet.  He was considerate of the impoverished Bates women and Jane Fairfax because they came from respectable backgrounds, and he scolded Emma for her behavior towards them. 

Emma’s perspective was aligned with Mr. Knightly.  She informed Harriet they could not remain friends if she married Robert Martin because of the difference in their rank, they would no longer be able to socialize. She despised newly married Mrs. Elton for her pert opinions and putting on airs because of her connection to a wealthy brother-in-law in Bath.  Life in Highbury was as it was intended to be, with noblesse oblige serving as the trickle-down economy from the wealthy to the less fortunate.

Persuasion

We learn in the first paragraphs of Persuasion that Sir Walter Elliot’s values were defined by his favorite amusement and greatest consolation, reading his family history in the book, Baronetage.  He considered himself to be superior to every one of his acquaintances except the Dowager Viscountess Dalrymple, with whom he became reacquainted in Bath.  He judged everyone harshly and distained flaws in those he encountered based on their lowly backgrounds, the appearance of freckles, or even a “clumsy wrist”.  He frowned on the upward mobility allowed by the Navy with promotions based on merit rather than the purchasing of rank. 

His vanity was matched by that of his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, and fostered by the attentions of their friend, Lady Russell, who solidly embraced the importance of rank. He had no patience for his middle daughter, Anne, and found it incomprehensible that she would decline an invitation to socialize with Lady Dalrymple to visit a former schoolmate, Miss Smith, who fell on hard times after the death of her husband and visited Bath for her health. 

Miss Smith and her nurse, despite their low connections, were pivotal characters in revealing the flaws and foibles of the man designated to inherit Sir Walter’s estate, William Elliot. The youngest daughter, Mary, was married to Charles Musgrove, a respectable family also portrayed as admirable in comparison to the Elliot’s.  When Anne made the acquaintance of Captain Wentworth’s friends on a trip to Lyme Regis, she discovered people worthy of her admiration even as she coped with the lost affection of Captain Wentworth.  The least admirable people in this novel are those who venerated rank and those who meant to manipulate their way to a higher social position.

Mansfield Park

Dear Fanny Price was lifted out of a life of poverty by her wealthy uncle but ranked below everyone in her social circle and they meant for her to know that. Whether intentionally ill-mannered or not, those in her immediate circle reveled in their rank and privileges while dismissing her value and, in doing so, revealed their own limitations of character.  In this novel, no one of rank is portrayed admirably save Edmund who at least was kind and thoughtful towards Fanny. 

Even her family in Portsmouth, whose lives were defined by poverty, are not elevated by it in this novel.  When she returned home for a visit, she was shocked by how ill-mannered and uncouth they were, save for her brother William, as he embarked on a naval career. Fanny was moral center of the novel compared to both the family that raised her and the family that birthed her. 

From the entitled oldest Bertram son, Tom, an unremorseful and prolificate spender, to the self-involved Bertram sisters, to kind-hearted but misguided Edmund, in love with a woman who despised his future career as a clergyman, there was not a lot to admire about the family, especially considering their fortune was based on the slave trade.  Even Mr. Rushworth, to whom Maria is betrothed, has no redeeming characteristics besides inherited wealth.  Jane takes aim at the powers that be in the Church of England for their support of the slave trade and those who benefit from it.  Fannie provided the lenses though which we view this social hierarchy and it is a less than flattering view despite the happy ending.

Northanger Abbey

Perhaps this novel is the closest to Jane’s own family life.  We encounter the struggle of the family of a clergyman with ten children to raise; loving parents with real challenges and modest income.    The Allens, wealthy neighbors who take Catherine Morland on a trip to Bath, have no prestigious rank.  They were kindly, well-intentioned and provided good advice to Catherine regarding proper behavior of the young people with whom she socialized including her older brother, James.  On arrival in Bath, Catherine became enamored with a young man, Henry Tilney, whom she met at a ball on her first visit to the Assembly Room. 

She was befriended by Isabella Thorpe, a young woman who was soon betrothed to her brother, James, and disappointed when she discovered they would have a prolonged engagement. The Morland’s couldn’t provide the income necessary for them to marry right away with so many younger children to raise on the income of a clergyman.  Mrs. Thorpe was a widow and could provide no money for her eldest daughter to marry either.  Pressured by James, Isabella, and her brother, John Thorpe, Catherine was dragged into social engagements that prevented her from enjoying the attentions of Henry Tilney and improving her acquaintance with his sister, Eleanor.

Although we don’t encounter abject poverty, or class struggles in this novel, we still find avarice in the form of General Tilney.  He was acquisitive and grasping when he targeted Catherine, whom he believed to be an heiress.  He encouraged his children to further the relationship by inviting Catherine to Northanger Abbey.  Middleclass financial struggles played a larger role than rank in this novel, but all ends well except for Isabella.  Her eagerness to upgrade her engagement by winning the heart of General Tilney’s oldest son after he began a flirtation with her, ended up costing her a broken engagement to James, something far more damaging to the reputation of a young woman at the time. 

Sense and Sensibility

Avarice defines this novel in which the distinction of rank is defined by wealth. The worst behavior was exhibited by John Dashwood, and his wife when they inherited the estate of his late father.  The level of their own greed was revealed immediately as they actively sought to diminish the fortunes of their bereaved relatives whom they pushed off the estate as soon as they possibly could. 

The Dashwood ladies found a new home in a small cottage thanks to the generosity of a distant relative, Sir John Middleton.  He and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings, were presented as generous of heart but without good sense and good manners.  Colonel Brandon, smitten with Marianne Dashwood, was the most sensible and caring of the established landowners and later was generous to Edward Ferrars who, while hiding a secret engagement, developed feelings for Elinor Dashwood that were reciprocated.   Although destined to inherit an estate tightly controlled by his mother, he defied his mother’s wishes by choosing to behave honorably and was disinherited.    The Dashwood sisters visited London with Marianne hoping to reestablish her friendship with John Willoughby, who had courted and then abandoned her. 

After abdicating any responsibility for his sisters’ fortunes, John Dashwood complained that Marianne has grown thin and would be unable to attract a wealthy man, while encouraging Elinor to pursue Colonel Brandon.  Referring to the Middleton’s, he said “they are people of large fortune, they are related to you, and every civility and accommodation that can serve to make your situation pleasant might be reasonably expected,” even though he was far more closely connected to them. 

However, John Dashwood was such a snob that he waited to discover whether Mrs. Jennings and Lady Middleton were genteel enough to be introduced to his wife, because “Mrs. Jennings was the widow of a man who had got all his money in a low way.” 

Jane doesn’t tolerate mindless snobbery or consider wealth to include the endowment of good sense or good judgement.  She fully takes aim at inherited wealth and skewers patrimony not just for the harm it did to women but also to second sons like Colonel Fitzwilliam and Colonel Brandon.  Even though trade was frowned on, sufficient wealth often allowed the source of the wealth to be overlooked and the “new money” to elevate their social status. 

In many cases, the people from trade like Mr. and Mrs. Gardner or veterans of the Navy who earned their wealth and rank, are the most respectable people we meet in her novels.  The folly of noblesse oblige based on wealthy landowners providing a living to their handpicked clergymen with whom they share in the profits of tithing while dolling out scraps to the poor in their community, is front and center in Jane’s world.  Jane portrays a dysfunctional system that drives class resentment and the only ones who ignore it are those at the top who consider it their right and their destiny to be entitled and judgmental.