Jane Austen – The Fine Art of Pleasing

In Jane Austen’s social sphere, manners dominated the rules of behavior, and everyone was judged by them.  Polite society required adherence to the conventions; it was imperative to know your place in the pecking order and follow the rules assigned to preserve the social order. This required a general agreement to be pleasing, polite, and deferential based on the status of those in your immediate orb.  However, one character’s perception of agreeable behavior may not always be pleasing in the eye of another.

Jane Austen had a field day presenting people who either became caricatures of themselves in their efforts to practice the art of pleasing or revealed a conniving nature to try and gain advantage.  The behavior often betrayed pretentiousness, manipulativeness, and an obvious lack of sincerity, which Jane reveals in her polite yet cutting prose. 

Pride and Prejudice

At the top of list, we have Mr. Collins who considered himself to be a master of pleasing those of higher rank and proved repeatedly to be completely inept.  He betrays himself early on when he reveals he is “happy on every occasion to offer those little delicate compliments which are always acceptable to ladies….it is a sort of attention which I conceive myself peculiarly bound to pay.”  Mr. Bennet inquires if “these pleasing attentions proceed from the impulse of the moment, or are the result of previous study?”  Mr. Collins happily admits to “arranging such little elegant compliments as may be adapted to ordinary occasions.”  During his proposal to Elizabeth, he magnanimously elaborates on the reasons for wishing to marry her and is shocked by her rejection.  Compounding the absurdity, he immediately proposes to Charlotte Lucas demonstrating the depth of his affection for Elizabeth was fleeting and shallow.  When Elizabeth visits the newly married couple and they are invited to Rosings Park, he assures her that “Lady Catherine will not think the worse of you for being simply dressed.  She likes to have the distinction of rank preserved.”  The art of pleasing, indeed.

Caroline Bingley was less comical but more manipulative, equally transparent about her interest in capturing the attention of Mr. Darcy and jealous of anyone who might divert him with pert opinions like Elizabeth Bennet.  She was aloof, demeaning, and insincere in her overtures to befriend Jane Bennet and quick to abandon her when she saw the attachment growing between Jane and her brother.  Her efforts to engage Mr. Darcy in conversation one evening at Netherfield Park was a classic example of intrusive behavior to gain his attention.  She interrupted his effort to write a letter to his sister, remarked on the odiousness of writing business letters, expounded of the qualities of an “accomplished” woman and later pretended to enjoy reading after she heard Darcy associate extensive reading as an important quality in an accomplished woman.   She thought she was amusing, but instead she was annoying and the exact opposite of her brother who was eager to please everyone but entirely sincere in his convictions and intentions.

Emma

Harriet Smith was so eager to please Emma that she rejected an offer of marriage from Robert Martin, after being encouraged by Emma to raise her sites higher, even though it was clear Harriet had already formed an attachment to the successful farmer and his family.    Emma influenced Harriet to shift her matrimonial target to Mr. Elton not realizing his real target was Emma, who after being rejected by Emma, traveled to Bath to choose a bride. 

The new Mrs. Elton was eager to please all of Highbury when she arrived on the scene as the new bride in town.  Her efforts to establish herself as a leading social influencer and arbiter of good taste was an irritant to Emma, who considered that role to be her own.  Mrs. Elton’s smug efforts to enlist Emma in various social schemes, including forming a musical group and taking Jane Fairfax under wing, did nothing but alienate Emma, especially when they demeaned her friend, Harriet, in the process. 

When Emma discovered, to her dismay, that Harriet’s new object of ardor was Mr. Knightly, the prospect upended Emma’s carefully managed life, and she finally realized no one should marry Mr. Knightly except herself. Throughout the mismatching and manipulation by Emma, Harriet remained sincerely committed to pleasing her and always valued the friendship she had been shown. 

Sense and Sensibility

Was there ever anyone so eager to please to get what she wanted than Lucy Steele?  A master manipulator, she spared no one her attentions or flattery to get the upper hand.  Having learned of a budding friendship between Edward Ferrars and Elinor Dashwood, before Lucy arrived in Devonshire, she forced an unwelcome intimacy on Elinor by revealing her secret engagement to Edward and swearing Elinor to secrecy.  She endeared herself to Lady Middleton by fussing over the children, wrangled an invitation to London with Mrs. Jennings, and, upon arrival, managed to so beguile Fanny Dashwood that she secured an invitation to stay as a guest with them.  After she revealed her engagement to Edward and he was disinherited for refusing to abandon her, she then entangled herself with Robert Ferrars whom she eventually manipulated into marriage despite his mother’s objections and later won over his mother as well. 

Mr. Willoughby was another artful player in the story.  He used his charm to captivate Marianne and sweep her off her feet despite knowing she had no dowry and he had no plans to marry her.  He publicly cavorted around Devonshire with her leaving everyone to believe they were engaged, until his aunt sent him back to London leaving Marianne bereft and confused.  Although his intentions were shallow as he toyed with her affections and later married a wealthy woman, Willoughby came to regret the loss of Marianne.   

Persuasion

Mrs. Clay was an artful exploiter of the relationship with Elizabeth Elliot and her father, Sir Walter, considering her rank in society was distinctly beneath their own and was considered inappropriate by both Anne Elliot and long-term friend, Lady Russell.  Considering how supremely vain the father and daughter were, the success of her fawning behavior was not surprising, especially after they moved to Bath.  Mrs. Clay’s efforts were matched by the heir to Sir Walter’s estate, William Elliot, who decided to ingratiate himself after a long breach with the family, because he considered Mrs. Clay to be a threat to his inheritance.  After he failed to win the hand of Anne, he arranged for Mrs. Clay to abandon the Elliot’s and brought her “under his protection” in London.  Jane infers these two artful pleasers deserve each other.  “…it is now a doubtful point whether his cunning, or hers, may finally carry the day; whether, after preventing her from being the wife of Sir Walter, he may not be wheedled and caressed at last into making her the wife of Sir William.”  Happy pairing, indeed.  (I invite you to read The Matchmaker of Pemberley to see the outcome I imagined for these two sycophants as well as the fate of Sir Walter and his vain eldest daughter.)

Mansfield Park

When Henry Crawford arrived at Mansfield Park and encountered the Bertram sisters, “he did not mean to be in any danger, the Miss Bertrams were worth pleasing and were ready to be pleased; and he began with no object but of making them like him”; “he was, in fact, the most agreeable young man the sisters had ever known .”  After this artful pleaser lost interest in the Bertram sisters and set about trying to win over a reluctant Fanny Price, he found his charms and powers of persuasion could not overcome her mistrust of his character.  When his overtures failed with Fanny, he found an easier mark in newly married Maria Rushworth, who was so enamored that she abandoned her husband and ran off with Henry.  While it ruined her reputation and scandalized the Bertram family, he moved on unscathed to continue his artful ways pleasing other women. 

Northanger Abbey

Who could be more pleasing than Mr. Henry Tilney?  In Catherine Moreland’s eyes none could compare, and he proved himself worthy of her admiration.   Fortunately, he was not the artful cad that his older brother was when he chose to toy with Catherine’s friend, Isabella Thorpe, who was newly engaged to Catherine’s brother, James.  While Lieutenant Tilney paid no price when he flirted with and then abandoned Isabella, she paid a great price, the rupture of her engagement to James.   His calculated behavior with Isabella mirrored that of his narcissistic father who promoted a friendship between Catherine, and his children, Henry and Eleanor, because he mistook her for an heiress.  He rudely cast her out of Northanger Abbey in the middle of the night when he discovered she wasn’t.  The artful pleasing demonstrated by the general and his eldest son, was manipulative, devious, and selfish.  Thankfully, Henry and Eleanor did not take after their father, and both were happily matched in the end.

We are grateful to Jane Austen for introducing these iconic pleasers.  Love them or hate them, some provide comic relief while others are intentionally hurtful or manipulative, but they are an essential ingredient to her stories by adding color and conflict that keeps us engaged as we root for happy endings for our favorite heroines.