Jane Austen

Jane Austen

What does Jane Austen mean to you?

Places that mattered to Jane Austen

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Jane Austen was the daughter of a well-off, cultivated clergyman, the Rev. George Austen. She was the sixth in a family of five boys and two girls. Encouraged in her reading by her father, her early work was probably devised as family entairtainment, some of which was later worked up into the major novels of her maturity. Jane Austen wrote about the provincial life she knew, she never went to London and there are no peasants and few noblemen among her characters. But her sense of comedy was influenced by the gothic novels of the time and her sharp mind enabled her to write amusing sketches of characters and situations. She minutely dissected snobbery, bourgeois morality and hypocrisy in an understated manner that comes as a relief from the excesses of many of her contemporaries.

Jane Austen was born in the small Hampshire village of Steventon in 1775, and lived in the Rectory there—aside from two years spent at boarding school—for 25 years until 1801. In his 1870 memoir of his aunt, James Edward Austen-Leigh describes Steventon—‘the cradle of her genius’

Bath and Southampton Jane Austen’s family arrived in the fashionable spa resort of Bath in May 1801, and moved into 4, Sydney Place, where they lived for 3 years, before moving to Green Park Buildings East in 1804. After George Austen’s death on 21 January 1805, Jane, Cassandra and their mother lived in short-term accommodation in Gay Street and Trim Street, before eventually moving to Southampton in 1806. Bath features prominently in Jane Austen’s novels, particularly Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, as a site of fashionable excess, enjoyed by the youthful and naïve Catherine Morland, but treated with wariness by the more reserved Anne Elliot.

Jane Austen had spent a brief period of her time away at school in Southampton, aged 8, but had contracted a grave illness whilst there and had to be removed along with Cassandra. She had also visited her cousin Elizabeth there at 18. Upon returning, Jane, her sister and mother and their friend Martha Lloyd moved in with Jane’s brother, naval captain Frank Austen, and his wife Mary. Together, they all moved into a rented house in Castle Square, near the old city walls. A pub now sits on the site of Jane’s former home.

During the Bath and Southampton years, the Austens spent much of their time visiting family elsewhere in the country. One of the sites of their frequent visits was Godmersham Park in Kent, where they visited Jane’s third oldest brother, Edward who had inherited this estate along with other properties

In 1809, Edward offered his mother and two sisters Chawton Cottage to live in. Although Edward was not always resident there, spending most of his time at Godmersham and letting Chawton out, Jane was often up at the ‘Great House’; in letter to her sister Cassandra in 1814, Jane wrote ‘I went up to the Great House between 3 and 4, and dawdled away an hour very comfortably…’ Jane Austen’s House Museum © University of Southampton Today, the Jane Austen’s House Museum is situated in the cottage where Jane lived. At Chawton House, you can sit at the table where Austen would have dined with her family, examine the books which she handled and read and wander the gardens she enjoyed. You can also visit the Church which Austen would have visited while living at Chawton and where her sister and mother are buried.

Female education in Austen's time

Think about these questions:

• What does the extract from Jane Austen’s novel " Pride and Prejudice" tell us about her thoughts on women’s education?
• Can you find evidence that she is a feminist, like Mary Wollstonecraft, or is she keeping in line with more restrictive contemporary ideals of femininity?
• Are there other moments in Austen’s novel which suggest Austen’s views about education?

Female education in Austen's novels In this activity, you will explore Austen’s own attitude to female education through the evidence her novel Pride and Prejudice gives Task instructions Read this extract from Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice Extract from Pride and Prejudice Lady Catherine de Bourgh quizzes Elizabeth Bennet about her accomplishments: “Do you play and sing, Miss Bennet?” “A little.” “Oh! then – some time or other we shall be happy to hear you. Our instrument is a capital one, probably superior to – You shall try it some day. – Do your sisters play and sing?” “One of them does.” “Why did not you all learn? – You ought all to have learned. The Miss Webbs all play, and their father has not so good an income as yours. – Do you draw?” “No, not at all.” “What, none of you?” “Not one.” “That is very strange. But I suppose you had no opportunity. Your mother should have taken you to town every spring for the benefit of masters.” “My mother would have had no objection, but my father hates London.” “Has your governess left you?” “We never had any governess” “No governess! How was that possible? Five daughters brought up at home without a governess! – I never heard of such a thing. Your mother must have been quite a slave to your education.” Elizabeth could hardly help smiling, as she assured her that had not been the case. “Then, who taught you? who attended to you? Without a governess you must have been neglected.” “Compared with some families, I believe we were; but such of us as wished to learn, never wanted the means. We were always encouraged to read, and had all the masters that were necessary. Those who chose to be idle, certainly might.”

Think about these questions:

• What does the extract from Jane Austen’s novel tell us about her thoughts on women’s education?
• Can you find evidence that she is a feminist, like Mary Wollstonecraft, or is she keeping in line with more restrictive contemporary ideals of femininity?

Money and marriage in Austen's work

Pride and Prejudice is a novel about money and marriage. Capital influenced the outcome in the marriage market, which is evident in Austen's novels.

Measuring worth in Austen's time

Measuring worth in Austen’s time ‘Money’ has never been a synonym for ‘class’, and the tension between those who earned their money and those who inherited it has been a staple theme of the English novel since the eighteenth century. In the rigidly hierarchical society that existed at the turn of the nineteenth century, one’s ‘capital’ (i.e. what one was worth) could be calculated in a number of different ways – financial, social, personal and even physical. This mixture of metrics is one of the reasons why Elizabeth Bennet, whose sole financial expectation is a £40 share in her mother’s £2,000 fortune, can say with justification to Lady Catherine de Bourgh: ‘He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter; so far we are equal’. This audacious – even radical – statement reveals the existence of other, less tangible ‘equalities’, between Darcy and Elizabeth: that of the intellect and a recognition of their shared values, for example. However, it also underlines the fact that, in the worlds Austen creates in her novels, one’s economic value is only one way of measuring one’s worth – particularly if you are a woman.

What was the meaning of class and marriage at Austen's time?

Listen to professor Kathryn Sutherland explaining why marriage was so important at the time

Measuring worth in Austen’s time ‘Money’ has never been a synonym for ‘class’, and the tension between those who earned their money and those who inherited it has been a staple theme of the English novel since the eighteenth century. In the rigidly hierarchical society that existed at the turn of the nineteenth century, one’s ‘capital’ (i.e. what one was worth) could be calculated in a number of different ways – financial, social, personal and even physical. This mixture of metrics is one of the reasons why Elizabeth Bennet, whose sole financial expectation is a £40 share in her mother’s £2,000 fortune, can say with justification to Lady Catherine de Bourgh: ‘He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter; so far we are equal’. This audacious – even radical – statement reveals the existence of other, less tangible ‘equalities’, between Darcy and Elizabeth: that of the intellect and a recognition of their shared values, for example. However, it also underlines the fact that, in the worlds Austen creates in her novels, one’s economic value is only one way of measuring one’s worth – particularly if you are a woman.

Here's a very popular directory at Austen's time: the Widower or Bachelor directory, containing an exact alphabetical list of the rich ladies and their treasuries. Click on the link and then on the blank book https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/A_master_key_to_the_rich_ladies_treasury.html?id=pEsOAAAAQAAJ

Features of an accomplished woman in Austen's time

In Pride and Prejudice, Caroline Bingley, educated in an elegant seminary, has a set of strict criteria for truly accomplished ladies: ‘no one can be really esteemed accomplished who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half-deserved.’ From what you know of Austen’s work, what do you think Austen’s view of these ideas were?

An accomplished woman according to Caroline Bingley in "Pride and Prejudice"

Grand tours and letters to daughters

Grand tours and letters to daughters In this article, the features of 18th century middle and upper-class education are outlined. The differences between male and female education of the time are , focused on the England that Jane Austen and her family knew. Give a girl an education and introduce her properly into the world, and ten to one but she has the means of settling well, without further expense to anybody. - Mansfield Park (1814) So says Mrs. Norris in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park (1814), but what an education consisted of varied widely between social classes, and provided the subject of a great deal of debate during Austen’s lifetime, debate which Austen herself took part in. Some women in the eighteenth century received extraordinary educations—early eighteenth-century writer Lady Mary Wortley Montagu described herself as having ‘stolen’ her education in her father’s library. However, most young women had very different educations from their male counterparts. Men’s education A male educational curriculum would have included training in the classics, mathematics, philosophy and the sciences. Boys were usually educated at home by parents or a governess to begin with. Many then went on to schools, either small country schools run by clergymen—Jane Austen’s own father ran such a school—training schools—two of Jane Austen’s brothers entered the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth, aged 12—or larger public schools like Eton or Westminster. Depending on social class, young men were either apprenticed or went to university—the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge were the most prestigious English universities. There were also a number of Dissenting Academies for those who did not conform to Church of England doctrine, and who were therefore banned from attending Oxford and Cambridge. The Grand Tour Before, after, or sometimes instead of university, men of the nobility and some landed gentry embarked on a Grand Tour around Europe, lasting up to five years. Jane Austen’s brother, who was made the heir of the wealthy Knight family, was lucky enough to be sent on such a tour in 1786-88. Grand Tours would involve visits to places of cultural significance, such as Rome, Florence, Venice and Geneva, under the guidance of a knowledgeable tutor. These privileged young men saw musical performances, works of Classical and Renaissance art, and Classical architecture, gaining the experience and learning necessary to round off their education, develop their taste, and allow their entrance into polite British society. Women’s education By contrast, women’s education was generally much more limited in scope and oriented toward developing the accomplishments that would make them stand out in the competitive marriage market that forms the backdrop of Jane Austen’s fiction. For women, education was a way to produce a particular type of domestic femininity. Girls were taught by parents, governesses, masters—who helped them refine musical or artistic talents—and sometimes at boarding schools, but their education tended to be much less formal than that of their male counterparts. Alongside school, conduct books were important in instilling feminine qualities into their readers. These behavioural manuals, similar to modern etiquette guides or self-help books, aimed to teach readers from certain social groups—children, women, servants—how to act. Some of the most popular ones included George Savile, Marquis of Halifax, The Lady’s New-Year’s Gift: or, Advice to a Daughter (1688), and John Gregory, A Father’s Legacy to his Daughters (1774). The latter has chapters on religion, conduct and behaviour, amusements, friendship, love and marriage. Many of these conduct books were written by men and addressed to ‘daughters’, although women also wrote in this genre. There was considerable crossover between conduct books and educational treatises; Mary Wollstonecraft wrote both, producing her first publication, Thoughts on the Education of Daughters: with Reflections on Female Conduct, in the important Duties of Life in 1788, just four years before her famous Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Features of female education Female education would have included the following:

• Reading (although novels were a potential source of danger—see Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey for the ill effects of reading too much Gothic literature)
• Dancing
• Languages—primarily French, but also Italian
• Handwriting
• Some history and geography
• Basic arithmetic
• Music—piano, harp, and singing were favourites
• Drawing and painting
• Needlework

Many of these ‘accomplishments’ allowed young women to demonstrate desirable feminine qualities: grace, deportment, elegance, fine taste, sensibility. Values such as religious piety and chastity, modesty rather than vanity, moderation rather than excess, obedient submission, and innocence were also instilled in young women. Some practical skills were encouraged; women, particularly of the middle classes, needed to have a grasp of domestic management, but without being unattractively intelligent. Indeed, clever women were often the targets of satire. Conduct-book writer John Gregory urged his daughter to conceal her learning from potential suitors because men were generally threatened by women ‘of great parts’ – e.g. with brains. What do you think about the ideas raised in this article?