Jane Austen

by Andrew Norman

  As already mentioned, Eliza died in April 1813 and Mansfield Park was published the following year. The timing of the publication was probably not a coincidence in that Jane, for obvious reasons, would probably not have wished the novel to be published while Eliza was still alive.

  Eliza had married, only to become a widow when her husband the Comte was executed. She had finally married Jane’s brother Henry. When Eliza died, Jane was aged only 37. Would Jane herself find a partner, albeit belatedly? If so, unlike her cousin, she would surely marry for love.

  Notes

  1.­ Le Faye, Jane Austen’s ‘Outlandish Cousin’, pp. 129, 133.

  19

  Emma

  Emma was written between 21 January 1814 and 29 March 1815, and published in 1816 by John Murray. The heroine, Emma Woodhouse, is described as ‘handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition’. However, she is lacking in the ability to judge character, which will become apparent in due course. Emma lives at Hartfield with her father, who is described as ‘most affectionate’ and ‘indulgent’. She has an elder sister Isabella, who is married to Mr John Knightley, the brother of the hero of the story, Mr Knightley of Donwell Abbey. Isabella lives in London.

  Mr Knightley is described as ‘a sensible man about seven or eight – and – thirty’ who was ‘a very old [longstanding] and intimate friend of the family’. He was also ‘one of the few people who could see faults in Emma Woodhouse, and the only one who ever told her of them’.

  Miss Taylor, Emma and Isabella’s governess for a period of sixteen years, has recently left the household to be married to Mr Weston of nearby Randalls. Mr Weston’s first wife was Miss Churchill, ‘of a great Yorkshire family’. The couple had a son Frank, but three years after the marriage his mother died whereupon the boy was adopted by his uncle and aunt, the Churchills; since then he has not visited his father. At the age of 21, Frank adopted the surname of Churchill, rather than Weston.

  When Emma boasts to Knightley that it was she who brought Mr Weston and Miss Taylor together, he denies it, saying that this was simply due to ‘a lucky guess’ on Emma’s part. When Emma suggests that she now intends to look for a wife for Mr Elton, the vicar of Highbury, Knightley’s advice to her is, ‘Invite him to dinner, Emma, and help him to the best of the fish and the chicken, but leave him to chuse his own wife’.

  In the evenings, Emma’s father Mr Woodhouse enjoys playing cards with the Westons, Mr Knightley, Mr Elton, Mrs Bates (the widow of the former vicar of Highbury) and her daughter Miss Bates, and Mrs Goddard (mistress of a boarding school). To one of these social gatherings Mrs Goddard asks if she can bring Miss Harriet Smith, a 17-year-old who is a pupil at her school. Harriet is described as being ‘not clever’, but with ‘a sweet, docile, grateful disposition; was totally free from conceit; and only desiring to be guided by any one she looked up to’.

  Emma finds Harriet pleasing both in her manners and in her person, and is ‘quite determined to continue the acquaintance’. But she disapproves of the farming family, the Martins, with whom Harriet has been associating and whom she assumes ‘must be coarse and unpolished. The yeomanry are precisely the order of people with whom I feel I can have nothing to do.’ Instead, Emma is determined to introduce Harriet ‘into good society’, where she ‘would form her opinions and her manners’. She says to Harriet:

  The misfortune of your birth ought to make you particularly careful as to your associates. There can be no doubt of your being a gentleman’s daughter, and you must support your claim to that station by every thing within your power. [Harriet is, in fact, the daughter of a London tradesman.]

  Furthermore, it is Emma’s view that, while farmer Robert Martin is ‘remarkably plain’ and ‘very clownish’, Mr Elton, in comparison, is ‘good humoured, cheerful, obliging, and gentle’. The latter becomes, therefore, ‘the very person fixed on by Emma for driving the young farmer out of Harriet’s head’.

  With regard to the intimacy between Emma and Harriet, Mr Knightley has serious reservations. In fact, he believes that Harriet is:

  the very worst sort of companion that Emma could possibly have. She knows nothing herself, and looks upon Emma as knowing every thing. She is a flatterer in all her ways …

  Emma proceeds to use every means within her power to bring Harriet and Mr Elton together. When she makes a sketch of Harriet, and Mr Elton volunteers to take it to London to have it framed, Emma hopes this will endear the clergyman to the subject of her portrait. There is a stumbling block to Emma’s plans, however, when Harriet receives a letter from Robert Martin containing ‘a direct proposal of marriage’. Emma puts doubts in Harriet’s mind about the suitability of Robert, and tells her that if she has any reservations, ‘she certainly ought to refuse him’. Finally, she smiles sweetly and says: ‘Not for the world, would I advise you either way. You must be the best judge of your own happiness.’

  On the strength of this advice, Harriet decides to refuse Robert. Knightley takes the opposite view and describes Robert as an excellent young man. In fact, when the latter comes to ask his advice, Knightley has no hesitation in advising him to marry. Therefore, when Knightley hears that Emma has persuaded Harriet to refuse Robert, he is appalled. Despite this, Emma maintains that, even though

  Mr Martin may be the richest of the two … he is undoubtedly her [Harriet’s] inferior as to rank in society – the sphere in which she moves is much above his – It would be a degradation.

  Knightley guesses that Emma has decided on Elton as being a suitable partner for Harriet, but thinks that her efforts in this direction ‘will be all labour in vain’. He says, ‘Elton may talk sentimentally, but he will act rationally … I am convinced that he does not mean to throw himself away’. Emma becomes more and more convinced of Mr Elton’s interest in Harriet, not realising that it is she, Emma, who is the subject of his affection. Emma demonstrates that she is not totally devoid of feeling when she asks Knightley to reassure her that Robert ‘is not very bitterly disappointed’ at Harriet’s refusal of him; Knightley disappoints her by replying, ‘A man cannot be more so’.

  Emma pursues her own ambitions by turning her attentions to Mr Frank Churchill. ‘If she [Emma] were to marry, [then] he was the very person to suit her in age, character and condition’. But she is disconcerted when, on a return journey from a dinner party with the Westons at Randalls, Mr Elton seizes her hand, makes a declaration of his hopes, fears and adoration, and states that he is ready to die if she refuses him. With regard to Harriet as a potential partner Elton says scornfully: ‘I never thought of Miss Smith in the whole course of my existence’.

  Knightley expresses his disapproval of Frank Churchill, whom he considers to be negligent in that he has failed to visit his father. He feels sure that if Frank wished to see his father, then ‘he would have contrived it’. When Emma makes excuses for Frank, Knightley remains unmoved. ‘There is one thing, Emma, which a man can always do, if he chuses and that is, his duty’.

  Emma and Harriet visit Mrs and Miss Bates, where Emma is told, by the latter, that her [Miss Bates’] niece Jane Fairfax, is shortly to come and stay with her. Jane is an orphan, whose adoptive parents, the Campbells, are soon to make a visit to Ireland. When Emma is duly introduced to Jane she finds her very reserved. Meanwhile, Mr Elton marries the wealthy Augusta Hawkins of Bath.

  Frank finally arrives at Randalls to visit his father Mr Weston. Emma is introduced to Frank and forms a good opinion of him. However, this opinion is ‘a little shaken’ when she hears ‘that he was gone off to London, merely to have his hair cut’. Mr Knightley considers Frank to be a ‘trifling, silly fellow’. When Frank returns home to Yorkshire, Emma persuades herself that he has fallen in love with her.

  As time goes by, Emma values Harriet’s affection more and more. ‘There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart’, she says. ‘There is nothing to be compared to it’. And she confesses that, although her ‘dear father’ possesses it, and her sister Isabella,
and Harriet all possess it, she herself does not, even though she knows ‘how to prize and respect it’.

  Emma suspects that Mr Knightley may be in love with Jane Fairfax. He denies it saying that although Jane is a very charming young woman, ‘she has not the open temper which a man could wish for in a wife’. In other words, he finds Jane too reserved.

  A ball is held at The Crown Inn at which Harriet, who has no partner, is snubbed by Mr Elton. When Knightley comes to her rescue by asking her to dance, Emma is gratified, and even more so when he declares that Harriet ‘has some first-rate qualities which Mrs Elton is totally without’.

  When Harriet goes for a walk and finds herself surrounded and threatened by some gypsy children, it is Frank Churchill who comes to her rescue. On an outing to Box Hill, Frank declares that he is too hot. Emma, who interprets this as a feebleness of character, says to herself, scornfully:

  I am glad I have done being in love with him. I should not like a man who is so soon discomposed by a hot morning.

  Nonetheless, Frank indulges in a little flirting with Emma, who in turn insults Miss Bates, implying that her conversation is limited to saying only ‘dull things’. At this, Knightley is not amused:

  How could you be so unfeeling to Miss Bates? How could you be so insolent in your wit to a woman of her character, age, and situation? She is poor; she has sunk from the comfort she was born to; and, if she lives to old age, must probably sink more. Her situation should secure your compassion, it was badly done indeed!

  At this, Emma is filled with remorse. She resolves to pay a visit to Miss Bates in order to apologise for her behaviour.

  When Frank asks Emma if she will choose a wife for him, it is Harriet who immediately springs to Emma’s mind as being a suitable partner. And when Frank’s aunt Mrs Churchill dies, Emma believes that this has removed an impediment to Frank and Harriet becoming attached to one another. However, Emma is horror-struck when Mrs Weston tells her that Frank has announced that he is already engaged to Jane Fairfax, and has been for some time. Emma is now concerned for Harriet, whom she had tacitly encouraged to love Frank. But she need not have worried, for Harriet declares that she does not care for Frank at all. ‘Dear Miss Woodhouse, how could you so mistake me?’ she asks, and then confesses that she is in love with someone who is ‘infinitely superior’. Emma, to her consternation, deduces that she is speaking of Knightley:

  Mr Knightley and Harriet Smith! – such an elevation on her side! Such a debasement on his!

  Knightley is under the impression that Emma is attached to Frank, but she denies it. However, she does admit that she was ‘tempted by his attentions’ and allowed herself ‘to appear pleased. He has imposed on me but he has not injured me,’ she says. Knightley then proposes to Emma, and she accepts him.

  Frank then writes a long letter to Mrs Weston, explaining that he was obliged to keep his engagement to Jane Fairfax secret because he knew that his aunt, Mrs Churchill, would disapprove of the marriage. Jane apologises to Emma, explaining the reason why her manner had been so cold and artificial. Knightley is magnanimous about Frank, believing that his character will improve and, acquire from Jane’s ‘the steadiness and delicacy of principle that it wants’. Emma forgives Frank, and wishes him joy when he finally marries Jane.

  Knightley complains that Emma always calls him ‘Mr Knightley’. At this, she promises to call him George, but only once, and that will be on their wedding day. All ends well for Harriet too, when, with Knightley’s contrivance, she marries Robert Martin – her first love.

  The lesson to be learned from Emma is obvious: Do not behave as Emma did and meddle in other peoples love affairs!

  Whatever plans Jane and Tom Lefroy may have had for their future lives, these plans were thwarted, allegedly, by people meddling in their affairs. Inter-marriage did take place between the Lefroys and the Austens when, on 8 November 1814, Benjamin (later the Revd) Lefroy, the late Mrs Lefroy’s youngest son, married Anna, eldest daughter of the Revd James Austen, at Steventon Church. To Jane, this event must have seemed to be something of an irony.

  On 18–20 November 1814, Jane found herself counselling her niece Fanny Knight, who consulted her about an affair of the heart. In advising Fanny, Jane revealed the qualities which she herself regarded as prerequisite in a husband, while at the same time pointing out to Fanny how rare it was to encounter the ideal candidate. Jane said, referring to the gentleman in question, Mr John Plumptre:

  His situation in life, family, friends, & above all his Character – his uncommonly amiable mind, strict principals, just notions, good habits – all that you know so well how to value, All that really is of the first importance – everything of this nature pleads his cause most strongly.

  She went on to say:

  There are such beings in the World perhaps, one in a Thousand, as the Creature You & I should think perfection, where Grace & Spirit are united to Worth, where the Manners are equal to the Heart & Understanding, but such a person may not come in your way…1

  How poignant these words seem, bearing in mind Jane’s own disappointments in her quest for a suitable partner.

  Notes

  1.­ Letter from Jane Austen to Fanny Knight, 18/20 November 1814.

  20

  Persuasion

  The novel was begun in 1815 and completed in August 1816. Jane provisionally entitled it The Elliots but it was published as Persuasion by John Murray in December 1818, after Jane’s death.

  Persuasion is, undoubtedly, Jane Austen’s most profound work and has much to say about the nature of love – as expressed by a man for a woman and vice versa. The heroine is Anne Elliot whose ‘elegance of mind and sweetness of character … placed her high with any people of real understanding’. However, in the eyes of both her father and her sister, she is nobody. ‘Her word had no weight; her convenience was always to give way; – she was only Anne’. As regards to her appearance, Anne’s ‘bloom had vanished early’ and she is described as ‘faded’, thin’, and ‘haggard’, to the extent that her father was doubtful whether anybody would consider her as a potential marital partner.

  Anne is one of three daughters: Elizabeth being the eldest and Mary, who is married to Charles Musgrove and lives at nearby Uppercross, the youngest. Their father Sir Walter Elliot, a widower of Kellynch Hall in Somersetshire, is a person to whom vanity is ‘the beginning and the end’ of his character, both in regard to his person and to his situation. For this reason, the only book he ever bothers to read is The Baronetage of England, in which all the titled people of the country are listed.

  Lady Russell lives in the nearby village of Kellynch. Described as ‘a sensible, deserving woman’ she had been the late Lady Elliot’s great friend, and after her ladyship’s death, she became, for Anne in particular, a replacement mother. The heir to the Kellynch Estate is the Elliot sisters’ estranged cousin William Elliot Esq., who has married ‘a rich woman of inferior birth’.

  For years, Sir Walter has lived beyond his means and he is now persuaded, both by his lawyer Mr Shepherd and by Lady Russell, that the only way open to him, if he is to discharge the claims of his creditors, is to quit Kellynch Hall – which will be let. The family, in consequence, move to Bath, a place which Anne dislikes. However, Lady Russell – who does like Bath – will join them there for a part of every winter.

  The new tenant of Kellynch Hall is Admiral Croft (who fought at the Battle of Trafalgar) and his wife. The Crofts have local connections in that Mrs Croft has a brother, Mr Wentworth, who had once been curate of nearby Monkford. When Anne learns of the connection between the Crofts and Mr Wentworth, she is disturbed. This is because the latter is the brother of Captain Frederick Wentworth, a commander in the Royal Navy.

  Described as ‘a remarkably fine young man, with a great deal of intelligence, spirit and brilliancy’, Captain Wentworth had come to Somersetshire in the summer of 1806 to stay for a while with his brother at Monkford. He and Anne had met at a time when he ‘had nothing to do, a
nd she had hardly any body to love…’ They fell deeply in love and became engaged. However, Sir Walter had not looked favourably on the association of his daughter with a person who had ‘no connexions’ and no fortune. Lady Russell was of the same mind, believing that the engagement was ‘indiscreet, improper and hardly capable of success’. The outcome was that the couple had parted and Captain Wentworth left the country.

  Although Anne had been acquainted with Captain Wentworth for only a few months, her regret at parting from him persisted and had, for her, ‘clouded every enjoyment of youth’. As a result, ‘an early loss of bloom and spirits had been their lasting effect’. That was seven years ago and in the intervening period, no one ‘had ever come within the Kellynch circle, who could bare a comparison with Frederick Wentworth’, even though, on one occasion, Anne had received a proposal of marriage from Charles Musgrove, who subsequently married her younger sister Mary.

  Whereas Anne does not blame Lady Russell in any way, for guiding her away from Captain Wentworth, she feels certain that had she maintained her attachment to him, she would now be a happier woman in consequence. Meanwhile, she learns that the Captain has gained promotion and become a wealthy man.

  After the Crofts take possession of Kellynch Hall and the Elliot family relocate to Bath, it is decided that Anne will not, at first, accompany them. Instead, she will stay for a while with her sister Mary at Uppercross, as the latter, ‘who was always thinking a great deal of her own complaints’, declares that she cannot possibly do without her (Anne). Anne misses Kellynch greatly: