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Essay / Hierarchy and privilege in Jane Austen
Jane Austen's novels tend to depict a certain type of life: parties, walks in the park, trips to London or Bath, posturing for a particularly advantageous wedding – in a word, privilege. Furthermore, this world is structured according to a relatively strict code of hierarchy. Of Austen's six novels, they all take place in this relatively small and elitist social microcosm of 18th-century British society, and, for the most part, all the players are insiders. Austen spends little time discussing the lower classes. Indeed, the only times those of lower rank are introduced is to counteract the landed class who are the central figure in all his works. However, Austen herself was not of this class. Irene Collins writes: “Jane Austen . . .] frequented the local nobility: but to visit is not to live. She depended largely on observation in the early stages of writing her novel” (ix). And, indeed, all of her heroines, who, in building a secure future by marrying well, end up embodying what it means to be an informed and conscious woman, are also outsiders: Emma Woodhouse, thought at the zenith of society Highbury, is not necessarily secure in his position; and Anne Elliot, although born privileged, ends up losing all her privileges. By telling her story through the mouth of a stranger, Austen is able to portray the inevitability, superficiality, and vividness of this world that has captivated so many readers. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay One of Austen's most engaging characters, Emma Woodhouse captivates the reader with her vivacity, self-awareness, and prosperity. Indeed, from the first sentence, we read that she is “beautiful, intelligent and rich” (7). Although she is at the top of Highbury society, she is obsessed with the social structure: maintaining her own, raising Harriet's, keeping an eye on the Coles, and watching out for competition from Jane Fairfax. Such a portrait seems to challenge the previously stated assumption that not all of Austen's heroines are, in some way, part of this elitist world. However, Shinobu Minma argues that "[i]t is therefore clear - as it undoubtedly was to the contemporary reader - that although [Woodlice] have been at Highbury 'for several generations' and are now admitted as being 'first consequently, there the Woodhouses are in fact in almost the same position as the Westons, the Coles, and the Sucklings of Maple Grove' (62). Thus, the Woodhouses are not members of the landed gentry; although they possess many privileges, they do not have the lands or titles of initiates. And so, because she has no special right to her place in society, Emma must play the game of maintaining her place, keeping others in theirs, and occasionally helping a friend she has chosen to move up a level or two. It is not necessarily the game itself, but the way Emma plays it that often distresses the reader. His attempts to bring Harriet and Mr. Elton together - fix his boot, take back the portrait, belittle Robert Martin - while well-intentioned, are often quite unpleasant. "As a member - or 'mistress' - of a family that is 'first in line' in Highbury, Emma is aware that she is expected to offer gracious attentions to the less fortunate, and she believes fully understand his duty” (Minma 58). Minma then goes on to assert that Emma's incomprehension of her duty, "her moral inadequacies[,] are highlighted in order to place the blame on thenon-landlord nobility” (63). However, this very conservative view of the matter seems to place too much emphasis on the rather obscure argument that the Woodhouses were part of the non-landed gentry. Rather, Emma's moral inadequacies highlight the lack of vision of the means necessary to guarantee a privileged future in a world inevitably structured according to hierarchical moral codes. While Emma follows the Austen mold and secures her privileged future by marrying into the landed gentry (and finding in Mr. Knightley a partner who completes her), Anne Elliot, in Persuasion, breaks the mold to in many ways. Unlike Fanny Price, Elizabeth Bennett or Catherine Morland, Anne was born the daughter of a baron. However, despite her placement in the hierarchy, Anne lost many things: her mother died, Kellynch Park was rented, she refused an offer of marriage, and was snubbed by another potential suitor. Consequently, Anne finds herself, despite her birth, in much the same place as Austen's other heroines. However, there is much less humor in this novel than in the others. If Mr. Collins' selfishness is funny, Mr. Elliot's is dismissive. While Marianne, muddy but otherwise unharmed, is rescued by Willoughby after falling down a hill, Louisa is seriously injured after Captain Wentworth fails to catch her jumping from the cobb. Virginia Woolf has suggested that many of these diversions from Jane Austen's formulaic novel in this book, her final work, are a consequence of her growing maturity and proximity to the world of which she writes: "[Austen] begins to discover that the "The world is bigger, more mysterious and more romantic than she had supposed" (152). She goes on to suggest that "if Austen, who died aged forty-two, had lived a few years longer [...] she would have stayed in London, dined out, lunched out, met famous people. , made new friends, read, traveled and brought back to the quiet chalet a treasure trove of observations to feast on at leisure” (152). The extent to which one can extrapolate the reasons for the changes in Persuasion from Jane Austen's biography is debatable. However, it is clear that the typical Austen heroine evolved from the early archetype characterized in this Emma essay. This development is particularly striking in the conclusion of the novel. While Emma, like all her counterparts, finds herself in a secure and mobile marriage at the end of the novel, Anne, although promised to be the wife of Captain Wentworth, has not yet been married. Additionally, there is little advantage in the match; Wentworth has no estate or significant income, and so their future together, which will likely come to pass, will pass without much security. The world of privilege and hierarchy is the world Jane Austen writes about. Although the cast is relatively small and the story is somewhat predictable, it's a joy to watch the lives of "beautiful, intelligent, rich" women unfold. There is, however, a certain nuance of criticism in the way Austen describes this community. The way Emma consciously manipulates the people around her, especially Harriet, is often detestable. However, the criticisms are not general. Emma ends up marrying well, both in terms of wealth and complementarity, and appears to live a privileged and happy life in a secure social position. Although Persuasion deals with essentially the same community and themes as the previous novels, there seems to be an evolving notion of what it means to have a privileged and secure future. No marriage takes place in the novel, and the one that probably will in the future is not the kind]