Victorian Morality and Conduct: Jane Austen´s Representation : Jane Austen´s Representation [1 ed.] 9783954896141, 9783954891146

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Svenja Strohmeier

Victorian Morality and Conduct

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Jane Austen´s Representation

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Strohmeier, Svenja. Victorian Morality and Conduct: Jane Austen´s Representation : Jane Austen´s Representation, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central,

Strohmeier, Svenja: Victorian Morality and Conduct: Jane Austen´s Representation. Hamburg, Anchor Academic Publishing 2014 Buch-ISBN: 978-3-95489-114-6 PDF-eBook-ISBN: 978-3-95489-614-1 Druck/Herstellung: Anchor Academic Publishing, Hamburg, 2014 Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek: Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. Bibliographical Information of the German National Library: The German National Library lists this publication in the German National Bibliography. Detailed bibliographic data can be found at: http://dnb.d-nb.de

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Das Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung außerhalb der Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlages unzulässig und strafbar. Dies gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Bearbeitung in elektronischen Systemen.

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Die Wiedergabe von Gebrauchsnamen, Handelsnamen, Warenbezeichnungen usw. in diesem Werk berechtigt auch ohne besondere Kennzeichnung nicht zu der Annahme, dass solche Namen im Sinne der Warenzeichen- und Markenschutz-Gesetzgebung als frei zu betrachten wären und daher von jedermann benutzt werden dürften. Die Informationen in diesem Werk wurden mit Sorgfalt erarbeitet. Dennoch können Fehler nicht vollständig ausgeschlossen werden und die Diplomica Verlag GmbH, die Autoren oder Übersetzer übernehmen keine juristische Verantwortung oder irgendeine Haftung für evtl. verbliebene fehlerhafte Angaben und deren Folgen. Alle Rechte vorbehalten © Anchor Academic Publishing, Imprint der Diplomica Verlag GmbH Hermannstal 119k, 22119 Hamburg http://www.diplomica-verlag.de, Hamburg 2014 Printed in Germany

Strohmeier, Svenja. Victorian Morality and Conduct: Jane Austen´s Representation : Jane Austen´s Representation, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central,

Contents

1. Introduction ...................................................................................... 7 2. Morality and Faith ............................................................................. 9 3. Morality and Conduct ........................................................................................... 13 4. Morality and Public ............................................................................................... 23 5 Morality and Love .................................................................................................. 31 6. Morality and Family .............................................................................................. 37 7. Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 44 8. Austen´s Morality and Conduct in School? ...................................................... 46

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Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 49

Strohmeier, Svenja. Victorian Morality and Conduct: Jane Austen´s Representation : Jane Austen´s Representation, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central,

Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved. Strohmeier, Svenja. Victorian Morality and Conduct: Jane Austen´s Representation : Jane Austen´s Representation, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central,

1. Introduction To be friendly is one of the first of social duties; to enjoy the pleasures of friendship is one of the first objects of society. (Beeton, 1877/2012: 47)

In his whole life, the earl of Chesterfield writes to his son in 1753 (Stanhope, 1753/2009: 107), he was never able to meet a woman possessing reason or consideration, or behaving consequently for twenty-four hours. In his view, sensible men do only dally with women, as they in truth do only possess two passions: love and vanity. (ibid.) Women are only grown-up children knowing how to chat in an entertaining, sometimes even funny way, but do not possess any reason nor sober consideration. This thesis examines Jane Austen´s representation of morality and conduct in her two novels Mansfield Park (1814) and Persuasion (1818), as these two novels reflect the notion of the named aspects during the English Regency Period and Victorian time. Morality is a term describing the inner, partly learned notions. Conduct describes the shown behaviour of a person, determinable by their actions. Thus, this thesis examines the human inner and outer values during the English Regency and the Victorian period. The heroines of said novels, Fanny Price and Anne Elliot, are Austen´s two heroines not appearing strong and autonomous from the beginning on, but developing to become so. This is the reason for these two Austen novels being chosen. By their use, the behaviour and expectations towards other people during this period are shown. A view upon the notion of women´s nature in those times is given from time to time to complete the picture. This is necessary to examine if the notion of a woman´s conduct is aimed to be understood. It was England where the middle-class was in highest rank of all European countries, due to the disempowerment of the absolutism (Brosch, 1984: 15). Furthermore, old structures fell apart through industrialisation. Nevertheless, men and women possessed conducts, standards and moralities to accept and to live after, these being examined in this thesis. Various conduct-books of that time are used to prove the novels to be exemplary for the conduct and morality during the Regency period, one of them being Sermons to Young Women by James Fordyce, the book Mr. Collins uses to read to and bore the Bennett sisters in Austen´s Pride and

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Prejudice (published 1813). Fordyce (1809/2009: 1) wrote his sermons out of “unfeigned regard for the female sex; from a fervent zeal for the best interests of society, of which he believes their dispositions and deportment will ever have a mighty influence”. Another conduct book used is An Enquiry to the Duties of the Female Sex by Thomas Gisborne (1801), a book given to Jane Austen by her (often rather conservative) sister Cassandra. A Father´s Legacy to His Daughter by Dr. Gregory (1774/2012) was so well known in Austen´s time that other authors of various conductbooks assumed the knowledge of this book for their writings. There is a good case to believe that

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this book was a part of Austen´s father´s bibliography. The Habits Of Good Society: A Handbook for Ladies And Gentlemen, written by an anonymous author (1872/2012), provides a different, because broader view on the topic: [...]which makes me happy to talk sometimes to the ploughman coming from the field, to the policeman hanging about in his beat, even to the thief I have caught in my pocket. Could I have a professional pickpocket in my grasp and not seize the rare opportunity of discovering what view a thief takes of life, of right and wrong, honor, even manners and the habits of good society? You may be sure he has something to tell me on all these points, and for a while I might profit from even his society; though, as equality is necessary, I should for the time have to let myself down to his level, which is scarcely desirable. (Anonymous 1872/2012: 21).

This man´s rather liberal way in dealing with morality and conduct provides the view of another group of people of that time and finds use out of these reasons. Eleganz und Autonomie by Renate Brosch (1984) shows Austen´s heroines and their actions in and opinions on life. It is written in German, which is the reason for it only being quoted indirectly. The different situations where morality and conduct may differ in the said novels are divided into love, family, faith, conduct and the public life to achieve lucidity in this thesis. Austen´s heroines are seen today as very independent (Brosch, 1984: 8), Anne Elliott from Persuasion represents one of these heroines while Fanny Price shows the reader the complete opposite and then develops. It is interesting to examine their different views on the said topics. The eyes through which morality is seen in the novel differ from the protagonists to the author. It will, at all times, be clear whose state of mind is reproduced. The term “morality” is used as the definitions the Oxford Dictionary (1994/2006) provides: the term describes “ethics, rights and wrongs, ethicality; virtue, goodness, good behaviour, righteousness, rectitude, uprightness;[...]morals, principles, honesty, integrity, propriety, honour, justice, decency.” Many of these terms will be found in the course of this thesis. To build a connection between the topic of this thesis and its author´s future profession as a teacher, the last part of this thesis is used to examine the difference the media reflects concerning conduct and morality of today´s time. Probable misunderstandings or situations in the novel pupils in school may not be able to capture are revealed and explained by using a modern magazine and the views it provides on the world for young people. Solutions to teach these differences in the English class would exceed the space of this thesis but may be picked up and continued in a

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dissertation.

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2. Morality and Faith It has been universally acknowledged, that the intellectual powers of women are not restricted to the arts of the housekeeper and the sempstress. Genius, taste, and learning itself, have appeared in the number of female endowments and acquisitions. […] The Power who called the human race into being has, with infinite wisdom, regarded, in the structure of the corporeal frame, the tasks which the different sexes were respectively destined to fulfil. (Gisborne, 1801/2012: 19)

Faith and Christian behaviour was an important guide to live after during the Regency Period. In Mansfield Park, Edmund Betram is the character best known for trying to act after Christian principles and also aiming to become a clergyman in his future. He does not preach the Christian principles at all times, but offers his morality in every situation when he thinks it can be of use. In Persuasion, there is not a clergyman among the protagonists. Nevertheless, there are many situations where the Christian education dominates in the characters, for example when Anne Elliot recommends the works of the best moralists to Captain Benwick for reading in order to “fortify the mind by the highest precepts and the strongest examples of moral and religious endurances” (Austen, 1818/2007: 100). The author of the above quoted Handbook Of The Good Society values religion as not being as important in education as in conduct, although he describes morality deriving from Christian education. He states that when it comes to the moral character of a person, the only case the best society is antagonistic to Christianity is when a man or a woman falls out of honour, as they do in Mansfield Park.

But, in extenuation, it must be remembered that there is no court in which are judged those who sin against it. Society itself is the court in which are judged those many offences which the law cannot reach, and this inclemency of the world, this exile for life which it pronounces, must be regarded as the only deterrent against certain sins. (Anonymous, 1872/2012: 13) Often, he adds, these judgements by society are passed without any foundation, and are able to ruin a person´s life. In Mansfield Park, Maria Bertram´s life is ruined by her elopement and the meaning this reflects on her social status. However, this can be seen as her own responsibility through her free decision to elope with a man though being married to another (out of free will, as

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she had chosen Mr. Rushworth to be her husband earlier). The conduct book that was sent to and read by Austen herself, An Enquiry Into The Duties Of The Female Sex by Thomas Gisborne (1901/2912: 7) describes its mission as follows: To such persons [...][who] have imbided opinions concerning female duties, and the standard of female excellence, at variance with those which Christianity inculcates, let me be permitted to recommend, antecedently to every study and to every pursuit, a deliberate and candid examination of the evidence of a religion, which promotes human hapiness by the holiness and wisdom of the principles and rules of conduct which it furnishes for this life[...].

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Accordingly, Gisborne has to be understood as a Christian writer when quoted in the context of this thesis. His notions will be the ones given to him by his God, the entity he believes in. He wrote this conduct book and the rules it provides (ibid.: 8) “from Christian views and dispositions; from a profound reverence and grateful love for our Supreme Benefactor, and an earnest desire to obey and please him in every action of our lives.” Men and women, in Gisborne´s notion, possess differences in their nature: “To me it appears, that He has adopted, and that He has adopted with the most conspicuous wisdom, a corresponding plan of discrimination between the mental powers and dispositions of the two sexes.” (ibid.: 20). Austen might have doubted that, but with what she certainly would disagree is what follows (ibid.: 21): The science of legislation, of jurisprudence, of political economy; the conduct of government in all its functions, the abstruse researches of erudition; the inexhaustible depths of philosophy; the acquirements subordinate to navigation; the knowledge indispensable in the wide field of commercial enterprise; the arts of defence, and of attack, by land and sea[...]; these and other studies, pursuits, and occupations, assigned chiefly or entirely to men, demand the efforts of a mind endued with powers of close and comprehensive reasoning, and of intense and continued application, in a degree in which they are not requisite for the discharge of the customary offices of female duty.

By writing this, he excludes the female sex from the possibility of possessing any skill in the above described fields. Furthermore, he describes this “fact” as god-given and god-willed. Another Christian writer, James Fordyce (1809/2009: 4), encapsulates it when saying “In fine, none but the most contracted, or the most prejudiced, will deny that women may avail themselves of every decent attraction that can lead to a state for which they are manifestly formed”, by which he means the way God as a creator has formed them. Out of this form, they are endangered to break when not being raised and educated in a proper Christian way. Whether Maria Bertram has enjoyed this Christian education is the question to be raised. Her upper class family home should have provided it for her, and, in her father´s opinion, has done so. He finds himself caught offguard with the elopement. What Maria Bertram was able to develop in her life was a character aware of what she desires for her own life. Austen does not mind wit and character in her heroines, although her Christian basic attitude made her expect the superficiality and lack of principle to derive from the end of the domestic privacy (Brosch, 1984: 95). Her heroines, by which Fanny and Anne are meant, not Maria Bertram, match the expectation that is shown towards them to act in an honest way. They show an expected lack of refinement, an artlessness, not using pretence in their Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

acting. But his openness does not reveal an expected mental vacuum and helplessness, but shows intelligent, judicious women, aiming for their goals and solving crises with their minds (ibid.: 120). The novel Mansfield Park also includes, in a Christian way, “condemned” characters such as Mrs Norris. She is described as being snobbish, evil to Fanny, selfish in the every day life and fawning towards the father, Sir Bertram, these adjectives all being terms not used in the conduct books when the wished-for character is praised. About the female character, but meaning rather the superficial and coquettish behaviour of Mary Crawford in Mansfield Park, Thomas Gisborne 10

Strohmeier, Svenja. Victorian Morality and Conduct: Jane Austen´s Representation : Jane Austen´s Representation, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central,

[1801/2912) writes when describing “incidents of good or evil; of the latter description are the effects which the influence of the female character produces”. In his conduct book he writes of his notion of the three particular effects, each of them being of extreme and never-ceasing concern to the welfare of mankind, which the female conduct has to represent (ibid.: 12): First, he expects a woman to be “daily and hourly to the comfort of husbands, of parents, of brothers and sisters, and of other relations, connections, and friends, in the intercourse of domestic life”. Secondly, every female has the duty to form and improve manners, dispositions, and conduct. The third point concerns the modelling of the human mind in the “early stages of its growth”, and to fix the principles under maternal tuition until having raised to an accomplished young woman. He then closes this topic (ibid.: 15) by saying that it is the most important duty for every woman to show felicity in following her conduct and caring for her family. In his opinion, the “Creator” has “stamped upon the female mind” (ibid.) certain characteristic impressions, which discriminate the talents and dispositions of women from those of men. But not only the women in Austen´s novels, also the men do not behave appropriately at every time. A character not meeting the expectations of a gentleman of that time is Tom Bertram, the brother of Maria Bertram, behaving careless and extravagant. More on these characters and their actions and behaviour is found in the following chapters of this thesis, this being situated here because Tom Bertram should have gained the same superior education as his sister Maria Bertram. A more subtle misbehaviour through lacking Christian principles in her education is shown by Mary Crawford. The lack of the moral and Christian principles in her upbringing generates a profitseeking thinking, aiming for an improvement of her situation through marriage. Her practising of the art of seduction creates a dangerous coquetry, which also misleads Maria Bertram to her stumbling (Brosch, 1984: 31). Not the orientation on a good match is condemned by Austen, but the consequence

of

the

exclusive

occupation

with

the

said,

followed

by

coquetry

and

unscrupulousness. If the inner Christian principles of morality are internalised, these problems do not occur. The human being is at peace with the world and with oneself. If this is not the case, the person is forced to simulate contentment and finds no possibility to be content and happy. This is mostly the case with Julia Bertram, Maria´s sister, having to bear the flirtations of her engaged

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sister with Henry Crawford, the gentleman her own eye fell upon (Austen, 1814/1966: 91): Poor Julia, the only one out of the nine not tolerably satisfied with their lot, was now in a state of pennance, and as different from the Julia of the barouche-box as could well be imagined. The politeness which she had been brought up to practice as a duty, made it impossible for her to escape; while the want of that higher species of self-command, that just consideration of others, that knowledge of her own heart, that principle of right which had not formed any essential part of her education, made her miserable under it.

She is not able to act against it. There is not only the un-Christian character that is condemned by the above authors. The

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anonymous author of The Handbook of Good Society (1872/2012: 53) condemns furthermore the active spreading and the following circulation of rumours and the random spreading of untruths in the neighbourhood, possibly causing bad reputation for people or places: Oh, if the calumniator, male or female, could be hanged as high as Haman; if the ninth commandment, like the eighth, could be punished with death, many a hopeful career were not blighted at its outset, many an innocent woman were not driven from her home and thrust into the very jaws of sin, and the world would be happier, and far more Christian.

This rumouring is what takes place in Persuasion when Mrs. Smith “gains” her information on the public happenings and persons such as Mr. Elliot through her nurse, Mrs. Rooke. Her notion on this sort of news (Austen, 1818/2007: 204) is a different one: “It does not come to me in quite so direct a line as that; it takes a bend or two, but nothing of consequence. The stream is as good as at first; the little rubbish it collects in the turnings is easily moved away.” Anne does not share her notion on this, she agrees with the above quoted conduct book (ibid.) when answering: “My dear Mrs. Smith, your authority is deficient. This will not do.” Here, Anne´s Christian morals are shown. She does not want to judge a person by what is told about him or her, and furthermore does not want her friends to spread rumours so easily. James Fordyce (1809/2009: 5), the priest, speaks of the bigger concern for women than for men when it comes to morality and conduct: A concern for character is, from their constitution, education and circumstances, particularly strong in women; in all but those who, having lost their native honours, have with them lost their sense of shame; an infamy to which they would have hardly descended, had they not first sunk in their own estimation.

By this he already speaks of the topic of vulgarity of those people not possessing certain values or misbehaving in public, which are going to be topics of the following chapters of this thesis. In the following chapter of this book, Fordyce writes about girls such as Fanny from Mansfield Park. Fanny is a shy girl, not valuing herself that good compared to her superior cousins. He advises to remind themselves of their own value, and to encourage a certain esteem for themselves (ibid.). Thus, he says, the affection can be insured and the importance be preserved to which every woman was born. She, as well as Anne Elliot in Persuasion, is the character in which the Christian principles are included, which will be elaborated on later. The worst violation Anonymous

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(1872/2012: 13) can think of is to be told: The chaplain, in a frayed and dirty shirt, with holes in his boots and ill-combed hair, was sneaking up to the grandees and doing his best to gain their attentions by smiles and flattery. He had heard somewhere that no introductions were needed in Continental salons, and you can imagine our surprise when we saw him slide sideways up to the red-stockinged nuncio, tap him familiarly on the shoulder, and with a full grin exclaim, “Well my Lord, how did you leave the Pope?”

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3. Morality and Conduct Bad society, then, may be divided into three classes: 1. That in which both morals and manners are bad; 2. That in which the manners are bad, be the morals what they will; 3. That in which the manners appear to be good, but the morals are detestable. The first is low, the second vulgar, and the third dangerous society. (Anonymous, 1872/ 2012: 23)

A woman in the Regency period was expected to be the way Fanny, the heroine of Mansfield Park, is described to the reader (Austen, 1814/1966: 213): a small, shy and not very robust woman, and “almost as fearful of notice as other women are of neglect” . “It is this peculiar propriety of female manners of which I intend to give you my sentiments, without touching on those general rules of conduct, by which men and women are equally bound” is what Dr. Gregory (1774/ 2012) writes in his conduct book. This special femininity is supposed to consist of modesty, virginity, shyness and demure restraint (Brosch, 1984: 27). At the same time, the big mental weakness of a woman is ascribed to the superiority of her feelings, but this mental inferiority was seen as an advantage. Here, Austen´s revolutionary view and her modern heroines are emerged. “..it is not very wonderful that with all their promising talents and early information, they should be entirely deficient in the less common acquirements of self-knowledge, generosity, and humility. In every thing but disposition they were admirably taught” is how Austen (1814/1966: 42) describes the Bertram sisters. What she states at this point is that the art of sitting elegantly and the endless teaching of drawing is not valued by her, but she would prefer the young girls to be educated in their personality. Characters matching the notion Austen had of sensible education and character are Fanny and Susan Price in Mansfield Park as well as Anne Elliot in Persuasion. In these novels, the characters belonging to the lower classes are the ones showing the valued behaviour and characteristics: Mrs. Smith in Persuasion and Fanny and her sister Susan Price in Mansfield Park. Mrs. Smith describes her aide and nurse, Mrs. Rooke (who also belongs to a lower class), as a “shrewd, sensible woman. Hers is a line for seeing human nature; and she has a fund of good sense and observation, which, as a companion, make her infinitely superior to thousands of those, who, having only received ´the best education in the world`, know nothing worth attending to.” (Austen, 1818/2007: 152) As one of these persons, also Mrs. Smith is described by Anne Elliott.

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Her father, Sir Walter Elliot shows his contempt (ibid.: 155) when speaking of Mrs. Smith as “low company” possessing “paltry rooms with foul air” and “disgusting associations” without even knowing her personally; his opinion derives from the knowledge of her social status. Samuel Orchard Beeton (1877/2012: 76) provides a long list of the appearance women of his time were supposed to show, but he also states that not every woman could possess “a delicate skin” and stresses (ibid.: 8) that “true is that, with a good heart and a good mind, no woman can be ugly; at least they soon cease to be so considered, even if nature has been unkind to them in feature,

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figure, and complexion.” Austen´s heroines are seldom described in their outward appearance. The important features they possess are their inner values. The keywords for expected female behaviour (Brosch, 1984: 105) were “spirits, complexion, listlessness, irritability, langour, nervousness, blushing and weeping.” No difference is being made between bodily and mental indisposition. When in Persuasion Louisa Musgrove jumps down some stairs (ignoring the objections of Captain Wentworth of the jar being too great for her) she slips and falls. Everyone is horrified, Louisa herself loses her senses and consequently also her sister Henrietta faints. Captain Wentworth falls into deep self-reproaches. The cure for a woman being mentally or bodily unwell is always calmness (Louisa having to stay in bed without the excitement of her family´s visit), healthy diet, a change of air (travelling to Bath or, in Persuasion, travelling to Lyme Regis) and movement such as walks in the nature. Fanny Price, the heroine of Mansfield Park, combines two arts in her the other Bertram daughters do not possess: the art of language and literature, as the author of The Habits of Good Society (Anonymous, 1872/ 2012: 50) describes them. She is well able to express her thoughts neatly and suitably on topics such as novels, study books or famous persons or instances. She speaks in a language seen as sober and very sophisticated, which is necessary for being esteemed as a well educated woman (ibid.). If esteemed characteristics such as humour and repartee (which were thought to be to some extent natural gifts) were not innate, they could, in Beeton´s (1877/2012: 17) opinion, be improved by artificial training . There were, of course, also women who enjoyed the helplessness, undemandingness and lack of knowledge they were expected to show (Brosch, 1984: 109) and used it for coquetry. This was a dangerous game for a woman, as she had to be very careful. If a woman was exposed use as using this, she was said to be frivolous. Thus, she was forced to reveal outward naivete. The said shyness is also found in The Habits of Good Society (Anonymous 1872/2012: 27): As for shyness, which is par excellence the great obstacle to ease in English society, I, for my part, think it infinitely preferable to forwardness. It calls forth our kindest and best feelings, utterly disarms the least considerate of us, and somewhat endears us to the sufferer.

Elegance is the term that Renate Brosch uses for values searched for within women of those times such as Fanny and Anne, the heroines of the two examined novels: they combine superficial subtleties of cultivated manner in connection with real sensitivity for human values (Brosch, 1984:

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9). Austen herself (ibid.: 9) differentiates between elegance of manner, meaning the polished surface, and elegance of mind, meaning a moral attitude. The title of her book, translated Elegance and Autonomy, relates to two aspects of the female picture of personal character: the intertwined obligations toward the individual self and the community they live in. If Brosch (ibid.) had to choose two terms for describing the perfect Regency woman, “delicacy” and “sensibility” would be chosen. The nowadays often with “weak” associated terms such as emotionality, sensitivity, compassion and helplessness were the positive character traits of Austen´s time. Anne Elliot is, even though 14

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she really does not wish for any company, accompanied home by her brother-in-law Charles Musgrove after everybody found her looking unwell. They do not let her go home on her own but she needs company, although she refuses this. Refusing is another aspect of being polite: Anne´s refusing is seen as her only being polite, and is thus ignored. Speaking one´s mind was hardly found in those times. James Fordyce (1809/2009: 5) describes the perfect woman as such: “Virtuous women are the sweeteners, the charm of human life.[...] This is not flattery, it is just praise; and that every one of you may deserve such commendation, is my earnest prayer”, he addresses his female readers. Whenever women are described and praised by their outward appearance, a remark about the fine skin or something synonymous is found. Beeton (1877/2012: 76) describes the pleasing skin to be as follows: “The texture and colour of the skin, and the appearance of the nails, show how much care and culture the possessor has bestowed upon them, and, consequently, may be regarded as evidence of his or her taste.” Thus, conclusions were drawn from the outer appearance to the inner attitude and character. He furthermore provides guidance in how to dress properly and which adornment to use (ibid.), but James Fordyce (1809/2009: 4) represents another, a Christian opinion, which is nearer to the point of relinquishing any adornments at all. In Mansfield Park, Mary Crawford would not support this view, as she is wearing these adornments constantly and even tries to convince Fanny of accepting a necklace given to Fanny by Mary´s brother Henry Crawford, for her first ball in public. This may also be an intention of Austen: to show Mary Crawford as valuing her own principles more than the Christian and traditional principles. Also, the Misses Musgrove in Persuasion show a modern image of conduct and manners (Austen, 1818/2007: 39): Henrietta and Louisa, young ladies of nineteen and twenty, who had brought from a school at Exeter all the usual stock of accomplishments, and were now, like thousands of other young ladies, living to be fashionable, happy and merry. Their dress had every advantage, their faces were rather pretty, their spirits extremely good, their manners unembarrassed and pleasant; they were of consequence at home, and favourites abroad.

For Austen´s female characters (and women of her time) it was important to control their emotions. By reflecting on the emotions and thoughts, rather than living them, it could be assured that no unexpected outbursts took place and, thereby, no other persons were caused

to feel

uncomfortable in the presence of oneself. This is the reason why Anne Elliot in Persuasion finds it so difficult to be forced in one room with her earlier love, Captain Wentworth. She has every Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

difficulty in staying calm and not showing her excitement. She is expected to behave normally, not leave the room, ignore him or behave politely, talk about random topics and keep up the harmony. She suffers because of the fact that “they had no conversation together, no intercourse but what the commonest civility required. Once so much to each other! Now nothing!” (Austen, 1818/2007: 61). Interesting is that this so-called no conversation actually is a conversation. But the topics being talked of have very little meaning for Anne, so she values this as being no conversation;

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“now they were as strangers; nay, worse than strangers, for they could never become acquainted. It was a perpetual estrangement.” (ibid.: 62) Here it is important to mention that also Captain Wentworth does not feel comfortable in this situation. He deals with it by saying that he had expected the Misses Musgrove in that room, and has to go to the window to “recollect himself, and feel how he ought to behave” (ibid.: 78). The reader most probably knows that Anne and Captain Wentworth find their happy ending together, but these fears of her and her despair while not being able to show it represent the importance of dealing with emotions for females at that time. Anne Elliot later defends the circumstance of the women´s emotionalism as a result of a woman´s inactivity in the men´s world: “Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands” (ibid.: 234). When it comes to women complaining about their own status in life, Thomas Gisborne (1801/2012: 11) writes: Young women endowed with good understandings, but desirous of justifying the mental indolence which they have permitted themselves to indulge; or disappointed at not perceiving a way open by which they, like their brothers, may distinguish themselves and rise to eminence, are occasionally heard to declare their opinion, that the sphere in which women are designed to move is so humble and so limited, as neither to require nor to reward assiduity, and under this impression, either do not discern, or will not be persuaded to consider, the real and deeply interesting effects which the conduct of their sex will always have on the happiness of society.

This means that young women, such as Anne Elliott used to be, are not supposed to complain about their lives but see the positive basic task they own: to please the society. Throughout the novel, Anne Elliot is not a young woman. She is 29, and has, according to her father, lost all her beauty. She gains it back when spending time at Lyme with its healthy air, and in the eyes of Captain Wentworth again becomes as pretty as she used to be. But when he sees her for the first time after this long period of division, after she had refused him, he talks about her as having “altered beyond his knowledge” (Austen, 1818/2007: 59) which mortifies Anne. She is concerned about his feelings and attitude towards her. A woman of this period also had to be very concerned about her reputation, as to this was the determining factor whether she would make a good match or not. Marriage was the only possibility for a woman to safeguard her existence, which consequently is tried by many of Austen´s heroines,

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for example the Misses Musgrove in Persuasion or the Bertram sisters in Mansfield Park. . For Austen, not the modern and after the principles of an elegant education (and skilled in the beautiful arts) educated women were the accomplished women. She preferred her heroes and heroines not to be focused on the outward, but on the inward competences. A man of that time aimed to be regarded as a gentleman. This term is understood in various ways. The superficial Sir Elliot shows his understanding of a gentleman in the following passage: ”You misled me by the term gentleman. I thought you were speaking of some man of property; Mr. 16

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Wentworth was nobody, I remember; quite unconnected; nothing to do with the Stafford family. One wonders how the names of many of our nobility becomes so common” (Austen, 1818/2007: 22). Other understandings of the word gentleman are, according to the anonymous author of The Habits of Good Society, the ability to adapt to other countries´ conventions and proceeding with this always to keep up the harmony and respect for other people in every situation. For a gentleman, in Samuel Orchart Beeton´s opinion (1877/2012: 15), “a ready and graceful elocution” is indispensable: Possessed by professional men, its value can scarcely be overrated; and no young man, whatever his aims in life may be, should esteem it unworthy of attention, since privates as well as public life afford constant occasion for its exercise. To read intelligibly, audibly, and agreeably, to speak with taste and elegance, to address an audience, each require careful and persevering practice, critical discrimination, and disciplined taste.

This behaviour is shown by Henry Crawford when reading out loud one of the theatricals in the presence of the Bertrams and Fanny and impressing them, even Fanny, by succeeding very well in it. Later, Beeton (1877/2012: 49) lists the following traits necessary for a gentleman to unite: “To be firm, steadfast, reliable, always to be depended upon, never vacillating, uncertain, and contradictory – these are truly respectable and excellent traits”; “Generosity is one of the noblest and most indispensable characteristics of a gentleman.” Here, one thinks at once about Captain Wentworth in Persuasion, combining all these characteristics in him. In his dealing with Louisa Musgrove, he shows his knowledge of “cautiousness [...] [which] moderates the actions and expressions of love, friendship, pugnacity, vanity, pride, and even conscience. It is a perpetual check and guard upon the behaviour” (ibid.: 51). Captain Wentworth, moreover, makes big impression on everyone becoming acquainted with him. When the Misses Musgrove meet him for the first time, they are “staying five minutes behind their father and mother, to endeavour to express how perfectly delighted they were with him, how much handsomer, how infinitely more agreeable they thought him than any individual among their male acquaintance” (Austen, 1818/2007: 52). Also, Charles Hayter shows many character traits of a gentleman. He always cares about his wife, Mary, although she often behaves selfish and inappropriately. He is the one caring for their children, although Mary remarks that a father could do nothing when it comes to caring about sick children. He extends the role that is thought for him as a father and cares about his children when Mary feels inconvenient for this role, which happens repeatedly. Louisa Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

Musgrove finds herself convinced after the visit at Captain Harville´s house in Lyme that those men who are part of the navy must be the best gentlemen alive (ibid.: 98): “their friendliness, their brotherliness, their openness, their uprightness.” She is convinced that sailors possess more worth and warmth than any other men in England, and only deserve to be respected and loved (ibid.). Furthermore, the opinion about gentleman-like behaviour can change with ageing, as Mr. Elliot describes (ibid.: 141):

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The notions of a young man of one and twenty […] as to what is necessary in manners to make him quite the thing, are more absurd, I believe, than those of any other set of beings in the world. The folly of the means they often employ is only to be equalled by the folly of what they have in view.

The opposite behaviour, for men and women, has a convincing name: vulgarity. The author of The Habits of Good Society (1872/2012: 30) describes vulgarity as being “a pretension of some kind”, mostly combined with wealth and the behaviour deriving from it. He also provides a cure for vulgarity (ibid.: 31):

So completely indeed is modesty the true spirit of good breeding, that any kind of display in poor or rich, high or low, savors of vulgarity; and the man who makes too much of his peculiar excellencies, who attempts to engross conversation with the one topic he is strong in […] is a vulgar man, be he king, kaiser or cobbler.

Furthermore, being ashamed of the own poverty is vulgarity for this author. He describes a person he knows as being ashamed of his “nutshell of cottage” (ibid.: 32) and thus calling it a “country seat” (ibid.).: “The commonest form of it, found unfortunately in all classes, is the pretension to a higher position than we occupy.” He states that not the fact that someone is poorer than the other is what counts, but the way that person deals with it in society and public. This is aptly describes Mrs. Smith in Persuasion. She is a widow whose husband left her in debts and sickness and thus finds herself in a bad (financial) situation. She does not stress this instance when being visited by Anne Elliot, but rather jokes about it. This makes her an agreeable person to spend time with, and Anne (Austen, 1818/2007: 151) values Mrs. Smith´s “good sense and agreeable manners which she had almost ventured to depend on, and a disposition to converse to be cheerful beyond her expectation. Neither the dissipations of the past […] nor the restrictions of the present, neither her sickness nor sorrow seemed to have closed her heart or ruined her spirits” . She fits the picture that Samuel Orchart Beeton (1877/2012: 52) draws of poverty: that “poverty[...] requires great excellence of character to bear with dignity. A poor man is exposed to a thousand temptations to shabby and even criminal actions which the rich can never know”. The author of The Habits of Good Society (1872/2012: 24) defines undue familiarity as the first of lowness. Had he known about the quick familiarity, with which Mr. Elliot is accepted in the family again and with which he addresses to his cousins Elizabeth and Anne, he would not have appreciated it, although the author rather speaks of women showing the said undue familiarity. In Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

his view, Mrs. Clay should not find herself a part of the inhabitants at the Elliot´s flat in London. “Familiarity arises either from an excess or a deficiency of respect. The latter is never pardonable” (ibid.: 25). Another sin to this author is a wink: “There are few actions so atrociously familiar as a wink. I would rather kiss a lady outright than wink or leer at her, for that silent movement seems to imply a secret understanding which may be interpreted in any way you like.” (ibid.: 26). In Austen´s two novels persons showing themselves off as being vulgar are Sir Elliot and his daughter Elizabeth Elliot in Persuasion when being seated in Bath through his catastrophic 18

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economic management and taking part in social life there, and John Yates in Mansfield Park, being an aristocratic and proud of his theatricals he has played beforehand with a handful of important persons at another estate. “Nothing therefore will more irretrievably stamp you as vulgar in really good society, than the repeated introduction of the names of nobility […] in reference to yourself.” (ibid.: 33). Obviously, the characters of Mansfield Park do not mind his behaviour, possibly because of feeling flattered by the thought of having an aristocratic person in their house. Also, when speaking about vulgarity, the social rank and status were very important concerning the people talking about someone. Captain Benwick in Persuasion is described to Lady Russel as a dull person, whom she will find very disagreeable: “He has walked with me, sometimes, from one end of the sands to the other, without saying a word. He is not at all a well-bred young man.” (Austen, 1818/2007). Anne soon contradicts her sister by assuring Lady Russel that she will like be pleased with his mind so much as to see no deficiency in his manner. Anne shows understanding for Captain Benwick´s situation which Mary, her sister, is not able to see. Throughout Mansfield Park, Fanny is treated inferior to her cousins Maria and Julia. The distance in status is felt already in the first meeting at Mansfield Park. The Bertrams are described as follows (Austen 1814/1966: 49-50): They were a remarkably fine family, the sons very well-looking, the daughters decidedly handsome, and all of them well-grown and forward to their age, which produced as striking a difference between the cousins in person, as education had given to their address.

Fanny, on the contrary, is in the same scene described as “small of her age, with no glow of complexion, nor any other striking beauty; exceedingly timid and shy, shrinking from notice; but her air, though awkward, was not vulgar, her voice was sweet, and when she spoke, her countenance was pretty.”

In contrast to Fanny the reader sees Mary Crawford, reflecting an image of a lively, critical and high spirited woman. Beeton´s (1877/2012: 17) opinion on wit is as follows: “Wit, however rare, should never find a place in conversation when pointed at the expenses of another, and, indeed, personalities, even when free from condemnation on this score, are usually in bad taste.” Mary Crawford is presented as the witty and cultivated woman, until, in the end, she shows the disadvantages of these characteristics: she minds marrying Edmund for his future as a clergyman, Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

and insults his father and sister in the last chapter of the novel. When Fanny reads the play Lover´s Vows that the group around her intends to play at Mansfield Park, she is shocked, as this play is full of inappropriatenesses such as elopement, begging and robbing. The leading female roles Agatha (played by Maria Bertram) and Amelia (played by Mary Crawford) are found improper by her: “the situation of one, and the language of the other, so unfit to be expressed by any woman of modesty” (Austen, 1814/1966: 161). Thus, Fanny is to be classified as the perfect character of the Regency period, although Mary Crawford´s qualities show 19

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and prove what was also admired by many men, but less by the greater society. The moment Sir Bertram, the owner of Mansfield Park and head of the family, returns unexpectedly early from his travellings, a crisis arises. The Crawfords slip home to the parsonage, recognising the nature of the crisis. Yates is the only person not comprehending the problem of this situation. On the contrary, he delivers his lines on the recently erected stage when Sir Thomas is shocked by finding his private room changed into a theatre stage. Also, Lady Bertram is not aware of any inappropriate proceedings during the absence of Sir Bertram. Only after this situation Edmund finally praises Fanny for her persistent resistance, and also Mrs. Norris gains the unfamiliar experience of having to hear remonstrations from her brother-in–law about her failure of leading the young people aright. His opinion about theatricals (ibid.: 204) reflects the opinion of a head of a house and family of that time: The young people had been very inconsiderate in forming the plan; they ought to have been capable of a better decision themselves; but they were young, and, excepting Edmund, he believed of unsteady characters; and with greater surprize therefore must he regard her acquiescence in their wrong measures, her countenance of their unsafe amusements, than that such measures and such amusements should have been suggested.

Conclusively it can be said that the theatricals mark a clear-cut division between those opposed to the theatricals, who are seen principled, and those who voted for playing them, who are seen as infected with a taste for worldly and improper pleasures. Fanny is, throughout the first part of the novel, presented as a shy girl. In the second part she becomes an adult woman and is no longer treated as a little, unimportant girl or even as a servant for the inhabitants of Mansfield Park (as she used to be for her aunt Bertram). When Maria Rushworth and her husband leave for Brighton with her sister Julia, Fanny is the only young woman left. She is invited by Mary Crawford to dine with her. Lady Bertram and Mrs. Norris seem surprised as to Fanny being asked to dine out without the family, but Sir Bertram allows her to go and even orders the carriage. Mrs. Norris is the only one trying to tell her where her “real place” in society is (ibid.: 231):

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Upon my word, Fanny, you are in high luck to meet with such attention and indulgence! You ought to be very much obliged to Mrs Grant for thinking of you, and to your aunt for letting you go, and you ought to look upon it as something extraordinary: for I hope you are aware that there is no real occasion for your going into company in this sort of way, or ever dining out at all; and it is what you must not depend upon ever being repeated. Nor must you be fancying the compliment to you; the compliment is intended to your uncle and aunt, and me. Continuing, she speaks about the social status of Fanny (ibid.: 232) in comparison to her cousins Maria and Julia: ´The nonsense and folly of people stepping out of their rank and trying to appear above themselves, makes me think it right to give you a hint, Fanny, now that you are going into company without any of us; and I do beseech and intreat you not to be putting yourself forward, and talking and giving your opinion as if you were one of your cousins[...]´.

Here, Mrs. Norris reflects the opinion of the greater part of the population in the Regency- period 20

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and the Victorian age: People had their rank, their social status, and were not to behave as “the better ranks”. The reader knows that Fanny would never do so on purpose, but Mrs. Norris uses every opportunity to tease her. A character actually crossing the borders of her own social status is the character of Mrs. Clay in Persuasion, although neither Elizabeth Elliot nor her father realize this fact because Mrs. Clay is a friend of the family. Only Mr. Elliot, the cousin, and Anne Elliot as well as Lady Russel, recognize her behaviour as inappropriate. Anne´s former teacher, Mrs. Smith, is an example for a character being of lower rank, such as Mrs. Clay is, but possessing good morality. She lives in Bath in narrow circumstances because of the death of her husband. Anne visits her frequently. Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Clay are opposed in character. Austen hereby shows that the social background does not, for her, decide about the character of a person. In this moment, she disagrees with the views reflected by the majority of the authors of the conduct books already quoted. In the beginning of this novel, the heroine Anne Elliot is presented very similarly to Fanny. Anne is a patronized young woman not being able to arrive at her own decisions. The man she is in love with is considered inappropriate for her by her family and Lady Russel, so the marriage does not take place. In chapter five (Austen, 1818/2007: 31), her family decides about her again: ´I can not possibly do without Anne´, was Mary´s reasoning; and Elizabeth´s reply was, ´Then I am sure Anne had better stay, for nobody will want her in Bath´. To be claimed as good, though in an improper style, is at least better than being rejected as no good at all; and Anne, glad to be thought of some use, glad to have anything marked out as a duty, and certainly not sorry to have the scene of it in the country,[...] readily agreed to stay.

Due to social considerations of politeness, Fanny in Mansfield Park is not able to refuse after having chosen a necklace from Mary Crawford (actually given by Henry Crawford) and suspecting that Mary and Henry are working together (Austen, 1814/1966: 266) to convince her of Henry´s good will. When Mary Crawford asks her if she “suspect[s] a confederacy” between them, Fanny blushes and protests against it, although that is exactly what she is suspecting. Politeness demands her not to reveal her suspicion. She carries the necklace home, feeling uncomfortable with it. But when talking to Edmund about it, he tells her that it would not be courteous to return the necklace and that she must wear it at the ball (ibid.: 269). Here, again, Fanny is obeying out of politeness. Henry Crawford is seen as the Casanova of the novel Mansfield Park. He knows how to Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

compliment the women in order to enchant them, and only has a tough time reaching Fanny with his compliments. To flatter other people in Austen´s time was a difficult thing, as the border between polite praising and flattery was very thin. Samuel Orchard Beeton´s (1877/1012: 43) advice for this situation follows:

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A bold flattery thrown in the face, when others are standing by to see how it is taken, is rather apt to disconcert a modest person. But a delicately flattering insinuation, an interest, an emotion, any nice and well-adapted expression of good feeling or good opinion, is not likely to be detested.

This “great art of pleasing” (ibid.) is what Beeton recommends for every young man to learn and practise. About this, Henry Crawford does not need to worry. He masters this field perfectly. If Crawford represents the Casanova of that time, Tom Bertram represents the bon vivant, who was generally accepted in higher society (Brosch, 1984: 12). It was believed that these persons would only have to break their horns until they would become quieter, find a woman to marry and change their whole lifestyle. Thus, Tom´s excesses are never as much condemned as the women´s of Mansfield Park. Also, the gaping difference between men and women (also of higher rank) is in the foreground. The author of The Habits of Good Society (1872/ 2012: 33) condemns the little influences that, in his opinion, taint the boys and men in his days: “There are none of the grosser vices admitted in the present day. There is no drunkenness, little or no swearing, no coarseness. But there is enough of gambling still to ruin a young man, and the “social evil” here takes its most elegant and most seductive form.” These social evils Tom faces often during his travels, and can therefore be explained as being more of a bon vivant than he in his position should be. Also the character of Sir Walter Elliott, whose vanity and pride is condemned by his sensible daughter Anne, is a bon vivant. Sir Walter “never took up any book but the Baronetage […] [where] he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one” (Austen, 1818/2007: 1). In the very beginning of his description, Austen writes that “vanity was the beginning and end of Sir Walter Elliot´s character: vanity of person and of situation. […] Few women could think more of their personal appearance than he did. […] He considered the blessing of beauty as inferior only to the blessings of a baronetcy” (ibid.: 2). The opposite to Sir Walter in Persuasion is presented through the character of Admiral Croft, the tenant of Kellynch: “With regard to the gentlemen, there was such a hearty good humour, such an open, trusting liberality on the Admiral´s side, as could not influence Sir Walter, who had besides been flattered into his very best and more polished behaviour by Mr. Shepherd´s assurances of his own being known, by report, to the Admiral´s as a model of good breeding” (ibid.: 29-30). As much as the grown-up Fanny represents the perfect woman in Mansfield Park, Lady Russel is

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the accomplished woman of Persuasion (ibid.: 9): She was of strict integrity herself, with a delicate sense of humour; but she was as desirous of saving Sir Walter´s feelings, as solicitous for the credit of the family, as aristocratic in her ideas of what was due to them, as anybody of sense and honesty could well be. She was a benevolent, charitable, good woman, and capable of strong attachments, most correct in her conduct, strict in her notions of decorum, and with manners that were held standard of good breeding. She had a cultivated mind, and was, generally speaking, rational and consistent.

The expected notions of morality and conduct, especially in women, can be filtered out very clearly from these different scenes. 22

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4. Morality and Public Society is a severe censor, pitiless and remorseless. The woman who has once fallen, the man who has once lost his honor, may repent for years; good society shuts its doors on them once and forever. (Anonymous, 1872/2012: 52)

Austen lived in a time when the zeitgeist was changing. The end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century was marked by the industrialisation, philosophical factors such as the formation of empirism and the loss of belief in a just, metaphysic regulation of things (Brosch, 1984: 16). These factors caused and accompanied a change of emphasis from the public living to the private, “from ontology to psychology” (Duckworth, 1995: 24), just as the relation between the individual and society changed. The individual stopped feeling dependant and defining itself only by its dependence to the society. It started regarding the environment as apart from itself. This process continued in the 19th and 20th century and culminated in the antagonism of the individual and its society, the exact development not being relevant for this thesis. In this process, a new image of the woman was built up – a new sense for a woman as the better, because more emotional sex. The notion of the woman experienced a revaluation. Nevertheless, Samuel Orchard Beeton (1877/2012: 34) speaks of the necessity to behave appropriately in company. Everything that happened in company happened in public. In his opinion, when a gathering takes place for a ball or a dinner in company, “no one is there to make proselytes, but every one has been invited to be agreeable and to please.” At these happenings, people were asked to avoid appearing dogmatical in their speeches and not be too positive in any assertions they made that could possibly find any contradiction (ibid.). Being in public always meant to behave carefully and always keep in mind the social expectations. Offending these rules was not accepted, as also Beeton (ibid.: 52) shows in his example: “A man who turns himself inside out, who blabs of his own business and that of others, whom no one can trust, who exposes all his conditions and relations, is a very unpleasant member of society; frankness, candour, sincerity, within the limits of good taste and justice, are fine and noble characteristics. Cunning, sly, suspicious, mysterious and equivocating are not amiable”. The first time the novel Mansfield Park speaks of the public is when the socially conscious Mary Crawford considers Fanny not to be “out” in society. Fanny is at that point eighteen years of age

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and therefore old enough to be out, but as she stays home with her aunt when her cousins visit balls in the neighbourhood, Mary Crawford concludes as mentioned. She explains it as follows (Austen, 1814/1966: 81): “A girl not out has always the same sort of dress; a close bonnet for instance, looks very demure, and never says a word.” In Jane Austen´s time, “to be out” meant to be apparent in society. Girls became women by being introduced into society. Edmund gives his opinion (Brosch, 1984: 31) on the process of girls starting to transform from a plain Jane to a babbler: “Such girls are ill brought up – they are given

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the wrong notions from the beginning, they are always acting upon motives of vanity – and there is no more real modesty in their behaviour before they appear in public than afterward” (Austen, 1814/1966: 64). At Fanny´s first ball, her aunt, Mrs Norris, tries to convince Edmund to play cards with herself and Dr Grant. But she does so in a way that upsets Edmund (ibid.: 146): “A pretty modest request upon my word! […] And to ask me in such a way too! Without ceremony, before them all, so as to leave me no possibility of refusing! That is what I dislike most particularly!” Mrs. Norris is not known to behave politely, but in this case she even upset her nephew, who possesses a balanced temper. Another character dismissing himself in moral terms from the beginning on is Mr. Yates, an aristocrat and friend of Tom Bertram. Yates arrives at Mansfield in the disappointment of a theatrical play he had been a part of at another estate. The performance of the play was impeded by a bereavement, which requires the adequate respect. Yates speaks of the instance to the Mansfield inhabitants as follows (ibid.: 148): “It is not worth complaining about, but to be sure the poor old dowager could not have died at a worse time; and it is impossible to help wishing, that the news could have been suppressed for just three days we wanted. It was but three days; and being only a grand-mother, and all happening two hundred miles off, I think there would have been no great harm[...].”

This speech is only accepted by the other characters as Yates is an aristocrat and therefore higher in social status. Consequently, nobody comments on it. The drama Lover´s Vows is a piece inadequate to play in a manor such as Mansfield Park when the head of the house, Sir Bertram, is not present. To play this drama in private is not seen as a problem, but as the endeavour continues more and more persons join the play, so that it can not be spoken of a “private play” any more. Furthermore, the head of the house finds himself in danger and it is not sure whether he will return to the house safe or not. Sir Thomas, despite the fact that he is not present, would never countenance such an unseemly enterprise as “his sense of decorum is strict” (ibid.: 151). In the knowledge of these facts the young people continue their project and ignore the lack of morality here.

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Edmund puts it straight when he talks to his brother about the play (ibid.): I think it would be very wrong. In a general light, private theatricals are open to some objections, but as we are circumstanced, I must think it would be highly injudicious, and more than injudicious, to attempt any thing of the kind. It would show great want of feeling on my father´s account, absent as he is, and in some degree of constant danger; and it would be imprudent, I think, with regard to Maria, whose situation is a very delicate one, considering everything, extremely delicate.

His brother Tom then argues (ibid.) with the “very anxious period” for his mother and the need of distracting her from the thought of her husband being in danger. However, Mrs. Bertram does not have the air of being very anxious about his fate which is to be seen in the following sentence: 24

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“Lady Bertram, sitting in one corner of the sofa, the picture of health, wealth, ease and tranquillity, was just falling into a gentle doze” (ibid.) Another problem rooting in the public is the elopement of Maria and Henry Crawford. It is very embarrassing for the Bertram´s family to see their daughter behaving so inadequately: she was a married woman before. Eloping with another man damages her public reputation. Furthermore, it reflects upon her family, the Bertrams. In those times, these news spread like a wildfire and the shown behaviour was an embarrassment for the whole family. But, again: It only reflects in a negative way onto the female part of the elopement (ibid.: 452–453): The punishment, the public punishment of disgrace should in a just measure attend his share of the offence, is, we know, not one of the barriers, which society gives to virtue. In this world the penalty is less equal than could be wished; but without presuming to look forward to a juster appointment hereafter, we may fairly consider a man of sense like Henry Crawford to be provided for himself no small portion of vexation and regret.

The woman´s role was supposed to be passive and private, but Maria failed in following this image. Austen is aware of the injustice, but this only leads to sober description of the incidents by her part. The novel Persuasion also deals with the public, even more than Mansfield Park, as a big part of the novels is set in Bath. When Anne is moved to Uppercross Cottage after her father and sister move to Bath with Mrs. Clay instead of her, Anne thinks about the new circle she is about to enter now. When she arrives there on the first day, the Mr. Musgroves are out hunting, while “the females were occupied in all other common subjects of housekeeping, neighbours, dress, dancing and music. She acknowledged it to be very fitting, that every little social commonwealth should dictate its own matters of discourse; and hoped, ere long, to become a not unworthy member of the one she was now transplanted into.” (Austen, 1818/2007: 40) When the Crofts move to Kellynch Hall, which was rented to them, they have to be visited by Anne and Mary. Sir Walter and Elizabeth already live in Bath, but Anne and Mary are still around at Uppercross, so they are expected to visit the new tenants of their former estate. Naturally, this first visit is returned, as this was the usual ritual during Austen´s time. At the time Anne follows her family to Bath, she is informed by her sister and father about the superiority of their flat (ibid.: 165). Their rooms are much bigger than every room of the neighbourhood, and they “were perpetually having cards left by people of whom they new nothing.” This was usual at that time: if the want for a visit or company occurred, one left

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their card at someone else´s place and waited for the returning card or the visit of that person or family. In Bath, another character appears: The in earlier times fallen in disgrace cousin, Mr. Elliot, who now tries to be a part of the family again. The earlier happenings were as follows: when the possible match for his daughter Elizabeth, namely this Mr. Elliot, preferred a rich woman with lower rank to take as his wife rather than his daughter, Sir Elliot resented this. He cut all connections to the man, because “as the head of the house, he felt that he ought to have been

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consulted, especially after taking the man so publicly by the hand: “For they must have been seen together”, he observed, “once at Tattersall and twice in the House of Commons”.” (ibid.: 6) Once having been seen in public, it was feared what society would think of the Elliots now that the expected marriage does not take place. This is what Sir Walter is afraid of when he says the above words. The end of this short liaison is to be expected: “His disapprobation was expressed, but apparently very little regarded. Mr. Elliot had attempted no apology, and shewn himself as unsolicitous of being longer noticed by the family, as Sir Walter considered him unworthy of it; all acquaintance between them had ceased.” (ibid.) Thus, Mr. Elliot was to be ignored in the future. This opinion is changed when the acquaintance is renewed in Bath by Elizabeth and Sir Walter by the assurances of Mr. Elliot that it had all been misunderstandings. For Sir Walter it is enough to be assured that his former wife had been very cultivated and that this had been the reason for him to marry her. When he describes Mr. Elliot (ibid.: 138) he did justice to his very gentlemanlike appearance, his air of elegance and fashion, his goodshaped face, his sensible eye; but, at the same time, `must lament his being very much underhung, a defect which time seemed to have increased´; nor could he pretend to say that the years had not altered almost every feature for the worse.

But Anne sees Mr. Elliot in a rather sober way: “large allowances, she knew, must be made for the ideas of those who spoke” (ibid.: 137) about Mr. Elliot to her. She keeps her mistrust, and is, in the end, confirmed in it. Nevertheless, in the happenings between, also Anne is being caught in Mr. Elliot´s nets. When he speaks to her himself (ibid.: 139), she thinks that “there could be no doubt of his being a sensible, discerning mind.” Mr. Elliot had shown no sense for inappropriateness when he had “spoken most disrespectfully of them all, most slightingly and contemptuously of the very blood he belonged to, and the honours which were hereafter to be his own” (ibid.: 7). On the other hand, Sir Walter also shows disrespect for other people, namely sailors and therefore an old friend of his, Admiral Baldwin, when he speaks about them (ibid.: 18): I shall not easily forget Admiral Baldwin. I never saw quite so wretched an example of what a sea- faring life can do; but to a degree, I know it is the same with them all; they are all knocked about, and exposed to every climate, and every weather, till they are not fit to be seen. It is a pity they are not knocked on the head at once, before they reach Admiral Baldwin´s age.

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Sir Elliot continues his rudeness (ibid.: 20) by expecting the face of Admiral Croft, the later tenant of his estate, to be “about as orange as the cuffs and capes of my livery.” He insists on him being from an excellent background, showing excellent manners and being very discreet about this necessity of Sir Elliot having to rent his home out of debts. All of the above is spoken to his lawyer, Mr. Shepherd. The author of The Habits of Good Society (1872/2012: 19) describes this sort of relationship as follows:

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It seems to be a rule in the intercourse of men, that the employer should rank above the employed, and the transaction of business suspends equality for a time. There is no society between a gentleman and his solicitor or physician, in an official visit, and though both hold the same rank, the professional man would never, unless further advances were made, presume on the official acquaintance to consider himself a member of his patient´s or client´s circle.

By this knowledge also the concerns of Anne Elliot and Lady Russel concerning the appropriateness of the friendship with Shepherd´s daughter, Mrs. Clay, to Elizabeth and Sir Elliot are explained and understandable. Interestingly enough, the author of The Habits of Society (1872/2012: 12) shows the change of society during the 19th century England, stating that everyone would be able to become part of the upper class through his behaviour and also justifying conduct books such as his: The polished affect to despise the book of etiquette as unnecessary, forgetting that, in the present day, the circles of good society are growing wider and wider, admitting repeatedly, and more than ever, men who have risen from cottage or the workshop, and have had neither their training nor their experience. What if railway kings and mushroom millionaires had studied their grammars and manner-books in the respites from business, would the noble lords, who, with their wives and daughters, condescended, nay were proud, to dine with the middle classes for a worship of gold, which could educe them to put up with gross vulgarity, and for a respect for success which could allow the greatest sticklers for etiquette to endure its repeated neglect? Surely it is in the interest of future premiers and noble members of council, that John Smith should know how to behave before they visit him; and how can he possibly learn it without either a tutor, a book, or experience in society?

Thus, it can be stated that in Jane Austen´s earlier novels the social status of a person was clear (such as Fanny Price´s inferior status is accepted and known by everyone), whereas in her last novel, Persuasion, a change of society can already be marked in Elizabeth´s and Sir Walter Elliot´s friend Mrs. Clay, although she is not accepted as such by Lady Russel still using her traditional social understanding. In the opinion of the same author (ibid.), manners shown in public decide whether one succeeds or fails in being socially accepted: How can you obtain the entree into good society, when, on the very threshold, you are found deficient in its first rules? How, if you succeed in pushing your way into sets which you believe to constitute good society, can you be sure that they will tolerate you there till you have learned your lesson, which is not one to be known in a day? Your failure, indeed, may be painful, and end in your rejectment forever from the circles you have taken so much trouble to press into.

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During the Regency Period, it was necessary to be aware of the social considerations when it came to visiting each other. When Anne Elliot visits her sister Mary Musgrove, they talk about going for a walk. Anne suggests to visit the family of her sister´s husband, the Musgroves. Mary answers: “I suppose you will not like to call at the Great House before they have been to see you?” (Austen, 1818/2007: 37) Here, Mary means that the Musgroves, as a little social inferior family, are due to visit Anne as Mary´s sister first. “I have not the smallest objection on that account.[...] I should never think of standing on such ceremony with people I know so well as Mrs. and the Miss

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Musgroves” (ibid.: 38) answers Anne. This shows that these expected ceremonies were only to be .

held up with families and people one were not well acquainted to. Another important issue to hold is to keep the harmony in any upcoming situation, first of all during visits and balls. The people during the Regency period are at all times considerate not to be rude to anyone and to make everyone feel comfortable to the utmost in every situation. Being ill-tempered endangered harmony: “in society a display of ill-temper is fatal to harmony, and thus destroys the first principle of social meetings.” (ibid.: 54). “Temper has a great deal to answer for, and it would take a volume to discuss its effect on the affairs of the world” the author continues his description of the necessity of a good temper for human beings. Politeness comes along with good temper: the author (1872/2012: 28) opposes the need to be polite to the need of not taking any liberty when he gives the following example: When Brommel was asked by a young lady he scarcely knew, to come and “take tea” with her, the Beau replied, “Madame, you take a walk, and you take a liberty, but you drink tea.” It was only one of the many speeches of the Beau´s, which prove that a man may devote his whole life to the study of manner and appearance, and, without good feeling to back them up, not be a gentleman. The lady undoubtedly did take a liberty, but the would-be gentleman took a greater in correcting her idiom. The lady erred from a silly admiration of the ex-model of fashion; the broken Beau erred from excessive conceit, and an utter want of heart. […] If the object of politeness is to insure harmony to society, and set everyone at his ease, it is as necessary to good manners to receive a well-meant familiarity in a like spirit, as it is to check one which arises from coarseness.

To take a liberty, in those times, meant “to do some very improper thing” (Beeton, 1877/2012: 48). The above quoted author shows the reader what he thinks is worse: behaving familiar without he privilege to do so, or drawing attention to the mistakes one commits. The behaviour of this “Beau” is not the behaviour of a gentleman, although he knows the rules of conduct. This is the real violation of behaviour in this situation. Familiarity, in his understanding, is “a freedom of manners” (ibid.), deriving from the continent, “where diffidence is unknown”. Throughout his conduct book he describes the continent to be unformed in morality and conduct, behaving vulgar and easy in any situation, not concerning about rules or social ranks. He tells the story of a foreigner of a lower rank talking to him at the station, being totally unaware of the fact that in England, it is a “gross impertinence […] to put curious questions to a person whom you know little, while it is reserved for the closest intimacy to inquire as to private means and personal motives, it is equally ridiculous in an Englishman abroad to take offence at such questions, and Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

consider an impertinence what is only meant as a friendly advance to nearer acquaintance.” (ibid.) He thus shows understanding and the need to adjust to other countries´ conventions, but also asks to respect the English ones. Balls were a difficult thing to give in a proper and appreciated way. Samuel Orchard Beeton (1877/2012: 2) even recommends to employ a public waiter and “consult him with the newest style of “doing these things”. This public waiter would then come on the morning of the ball and assist 28

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with the final preparations, will “attend to silver, china and glass; and see that the lamps are all in order, and that the fires are in proper trim for the evening” (ibid.). In these two Austen novels, the balls are held privately with only the characters of the novels as guests, and thus this public waiter is unnecessary. He was consulted in those times when the balls were held public, and it was not sure that the guest would already be acquainted with each other. In this case, the ball would be bigger and the perfect preparations necessary to make a proper impression on the guests and provide no reason for the guests to find anything to complain about later on. These complaints were well found in public and social life, and, as the author of The Habits of Good Society is already quoted, could not be traced back to the originator. Thus, failings in preparations had to be prevented. Another aspect of public balls was the need for the lady of the house to be dressed “rather plainly, showing no desire to eclipse any of her guests on this her own night” (ibid.: 3). Although she should, he adds (ibid.: 3–4), “be handsome, becoming, and in good taste, without any bustle or apparent officiousness, quietly and almost imperceptibly to try and to render the evening as pleasant as possible to all her guests”. This shows the absolute need of Austen´s time to keep oneself in the background, not push oneself in the fore and thus acting vulgarly, and to be polite and keep up the harmony for every guest at the ball: “The favourites of society are usually those who wound no one´s love, either by imposing upon others a painful sense of inferiority, or by rudeness, impertinence, or assumption.” (ibid.: 17). For keeping the harmony, Beeton (1877/2012: 35) offers the following advice: “A sure way to please in conversation is to hunt up as many of each other´s excellences as possible, and be as blind as possible to each other´s imperfections. There is no compromise of principles in this, for you are to consider that a social party is not intended as a school for reform, or a pulpit to denounce sin.” At the balls in Persuasion, Anne sings and accompanies herself on the piano. This was a common entertainment of balls, private or public, during the 18th and 19th century (ibid.: 5-6): After a little time allotted to conversation, music is generally introduced by one of the ladies of the family, if she plays well; otherwise, she invites a competent friend to commence. A lady who can do nothing “without her notes,” or who cannot read music or play at sight, is scarcely enough of a musician to perform in a large company, for this incapacity is an evidence that she has not a good ear, or rather a good memory, for melody, or that her musical talent wants more cultivation. A large party is no time or place for practising or for risking attempts at new things, or for vainly trying to remember old ones.

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In Austen´s novels, luckily there are always one or two women being able to play the piano or the harp (in Mary Crawford´s case) and please with it. When a lady is playing an instrument at a ball, it is very important, in the eyes of Samuel Orchard Beeton (ibid.: 6), that she is not accompanied by a gentleman unfamiliar “with the air”: “Let him not volunteer to turn over the leaves for a lady who is playing. He will certainly turn them over too soon or too late, and therefore annoy and confuse her. Still worse, let him not attempt to accompany her with his voice unless he is an excellent musician or accustomed to singing with her.” Furthermore, she should be careful not to play her instrument

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too often, so that it will not “disturb [the] symmetry” (ibid.: 76) of the hands: “The harp makes the fingers crooked and renders their tips hard and thick.” In Mansfield Park, Henry Crawford is the only character being able to accompany the women on the piano. He succeeds in this, does not fail as Beeton fears, and therefore impresses the ladies. The young girls or women were expected to be excellent dancers at the balls given: “Dancing should be early learned, not only because, like musical knowledge, it is a source of social and domestic enjoyment, but as materially assisting in the acquirement of an easy and graceful carriage and manner” (ibid.: 15). At balls, it was furthermore important not to “dine so heartily as to be unfitted for the subsequent enjoyment of society or of the lighter pursuits of literature” (ibid.: 46) which were to follow the dinner. These balls can be seen as a constant checking of the appropriate behaviour of those persons taking part in public life. Thus, it was very important to stick to the

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expected behaviour if one wanted to be an appreciated part of the public life.

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5 Morality and Love There are certainly not so many men of large fortune in the world, as there are pretty women to deserve them. (Austen, 1966: 41)

The morality of marriage is found compressed in the beginning of Mansfield Park by the three Ward sisters marrying very differently. Maria Ward, mother of Maria and Julia Bertram, finds a successful match in the marriage with Sir Thomas Bertram of Mansfield Park, a prosperous and principled man sitting in Parliament and holding interests in the states beyond his Northampton Estates, in Antigua. Maria´s elder sister married a clergyman, the Rev. Mr Norris. The two of them live near Mansfield Park in the Parsonage, their marriage remaining childless. Soon after the story of Mansfield Park began, Mrs. Norris is left a widow. The youngest sister, Frances Ward, marries Lieutnant Price of the Marines out of love. Having brought up a large family she lives with her husband in Portsmouth, almost approaching poverty and estranged from her sisters. Here, the probable consequences Jane Austen sees in the different sorts of marriage are shown: Marry rich (and without love), and your life is likely to be pleasant and without big sorrow. Her daughters both fall for Henry Crawford´s charms, although the older, Maria, is informally engaged to Mr. Rushworth. Being twenty years old, she finds matrimony to be her duty, and Mr. Rushworth, a “heavy young man, with no more than common sense” (Austen, 1966/1818: 72) finds himself struck with love for Maria Bertram. Soon, Maria is bored with the repeated details of “his day´s sport, good or bad, his boast of his dogs, his jealousy of his neighbours, his doubts of their qualifications, and his zeal poachers” (ibid.: 142). After the theatricals had taken place, Maria had enough opportunity to fall in love with Mr Crawford. When Sir Bertram returns (ibid.: 207), her situation is clear: “Sir Thomas soon appeared, and Maria saw with delight and agitation the introduction of the man she loved to her father.” But when he leaves, she accepts the loss of him and tells her father that Mr. Rushworth is all she desires (ibid.: 215):

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She thanked him for his great attention, his paternal kindness, but he was quite mistaken in supposing she had the smallest desire of breaking through her engagement, or was sensible of any change of opinion or inclination since her forming it. She had the highest esteem for Mr Rushworth´s character and disposition, and could not have a doubt of her happiness with him.

Here, Maria´s situation has to be kept in mind: her prospect of wealth in connection with love has left for Bath, but one possibility still remains: wealth without love. Before losing the whole of it, she takes what she can get and marries Mr. Rushworth. They soon leave for Brighton, accompanied by her sister Julia. Edmund finds himself torn between himself being impressed by Mary Crawford and her vivacious and sophisticated conversations while at the same time being concerned by the things she says.

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She uses her knowledge about the fact that a woman´s charm traditionally lies in her contradiction to logic and plays with it. Edmund does not always agree with her views on life and love. When the play is in full swing and Edmund has joined it, he finds himself torn between love and consistency as his feelings for Mary intensify. His blindness towards Mary is condemned by the author of The Habits of Good Society (1872/2012: 34) when he writes that “No rank, no wealth, no distinction, even if gained by merit, should close our eyes to actual unworthiness in its holder.” Also, Beeton (1877/2012: 35) would advice Mary as follows: “If you are really a wit, remember that in conversation its true office consists more in finding it in others than in showing off a great deal of it yourself. He who goes out of your company pleased with himself is sure to be pleased with you.” Mary Crawford would not agree to his sort of opinion, as she never acts after it. In conversation, her style is witty and full of innuendo. Fanny, on the contrary, is, in the beginning of the novel, rather shy in conversation. Beeton (ibid.: 36) also provides advice for this type of character: “Even if you are not a good talker try to sustain some share of the conversation; for you as easily insult a company by maintaining a contemptuous silence as by engrossing the talk.” Fanny´s shyness is excused through her lower rank, and is rather seen as appropriate for her background. Also, the fact that she is not “out” in society yet, as Mary Crawford notices, is seen as a reason for her reluctance. When the theatricals are decided to be held, she is the only person not being engaged in the play. The consequences for her feelings are clear when Austen (1814/1966: 180) writes that Every body around her was gay and busy, prosperous and important, each had their object of interest, their part, their dress, their favourite scene, their friends and confederates, all were finding employment in consultations and comparisons, or diversion in the playful conceits they suggested. She alone was sad and insignificant; she had no share in anything; she might go or stay […] without being seen or missed. She could almost think anything would have been preferable to this.

Here, Fanny´s character (and the worthiness of it) are shown. She would like to enjoy her days as much as the others do, but her conduct forbids it. So does Edmund´s, but he is not able to withstand the temptation to act in a play at Mary Crawford´s side. Mary Crawford´s notion on the topic of marrying becomes clear when she calls it “the one [transaction] in which people expect most from others, and are least honest to themselves” (ibid.: 79).

A problem similar to Edmund´s occurs on her side: she starts being fond of Edmund

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perpetually, but is shocked when she hears of his plans to become a clergyman without much possess.

She continuously expresses her feelings about the wretchedness of a clergyman´s

position in society. Mary shows no understanding of his wishes for his future. She even tries to subliminally talk him out of it every now and again, for his character, combined with his probable income as Sir Bertram´s son, she finds very agreeable, not least because he takes over the role of the head of the house when Sir Bertram had been to Antigua and Tom had left Mansfield Park for some time. 32

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In her finding the absence of the eldest Bertram sons for his pleasures inadequate, Mary proves that she is not without any morality, although to her opinion the fact could have been supporting that Tom Bertram “did not care about her” (ibid.: 141). Considering the topics of love and marriage it is essential to always keep morality, convention and conduct in mind. The grounds of Mr. Rushworth, called Sotherton, are the possibility for the young protagonists of Mansfield Park to escape convention. This episode is full of crossing boundaries, real ones as well as moral ones. In this chapter the reader sees the events through the eyes of Fanny, condemning the romantic wanderings and the inappropriate behaviour of Maria leaving her fiancé to his own to have a nice walk with Mr. Crawford. Jane Austen (ibid.: 141-142) condemns Henry Crawford when she describes him and his motives very clearly: [...] and a fortnight of sufficient leisure in the intervals of shooting and sleeping, to have convinced the gentleman that he ought to keep longer away, had he been more in the habit of examining his own motives, and of reflecting to what indulgence of his idle vanity was tending; but, thoughtless and selfish from prosperity and bad example, he would not look beyond the present moment. The sisters, handsome, clever and encouraging were an amusement to his sated mind; and finding nothing in Norfolk to equal the social pleasures of Mansfield, he gladly returned to it […] and was welcomed thither quite as gladly by those whom he came to trifle with farther.

Henry Crawford´s lacking morality when it comes to the topic of love and marriage becomes clear very early when his sister tells him that Maria Bertram is already promised to Mr. Rushworth (ibid.: 78): “I like her the better for it. An engaged woman is always more agreeable than a disengaged. […]

All

is

safe

with

a

lady

engaged;

no

harm

can

be

done.”

This sentence proves itself to be wrong in the end: Crawford tries to elope with the married Maria, leaving her husband to his own. This is an intolerable behaviour, ending in the consequence of Maria having to spend the rest of her life in the company of her aunt, Mrs Norris. When it comes to social rank, Mary Crawford and Edmund´s problematical situation has already been described. In Persuasion, this topic appears when Anne fears that Mrs. Clay, being socially inferior, plans to marry Sir Walter. This connection is not found appropriate by Anne. Another view on this is found when Henrietta Musgrove plans to marry Charles Hayter (Austen 1818/2007: 73), her socially inferior cousin: “´It would not be a great match for her; but if Henrietta liked him´, - and she did seem to like him” is how Henrietta´s parents describe the plans. Here, it can again be seen that the Musgrove family does not value rank too much. Soon, the opposite view is shown by Mary Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

Musgrove (ibid.: 74-75): `I cannot think him at all a fit match for Henrietta; and considering the alliances which the Musgroves have made, she has no right to throw herself away. I do not think any young woman has a right to make a choice that may be disagreeable and inconvenient to the principal part of her family, and be giving bad connexions to those who have not been used to them. And, pray, who is Charles Hayter? Nothing but a country curate. A most improper match for Miss Musgrove of Uppercross.´

During the novel, the protagonists expect Henrietta and Louisa Musgrove to reach for the love of 33

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Captain Frederick Wentworth, who would by now be an excellent match for each of them. Both women do flirt with him a lot, and the families already bet who of the two sisters Captain Wentworth will ask to marry him. This is found a big torture by Anne, of course, still being in love with him. She only takes part in this guessing by hoping that Wentworth would soon decide for one of the sisters in order to not endanger the happiness of the other (ibid.: 76), which again shows her mental superiority over her sisters and father. Her sister Mary speaks about the possible match between Henrietta and Wentworth as follows (ibid.: 74): If he should ever be made a baronet! `Lady Wentworth´ sounds very well. That would be a noble thing, indeed, for Henrietta! She would take place of me, then, and Henrietta would not dislike that. Sir Frederick and Lady Wentworth! It would be but a new creation, however, and I never think much of your new creations.

This shows Mary´s character: She fears the momentarily socially inferior Henrietta Musgrove to gain a higher rank than she herself possesses. Consequently, she suspects Henrietta to follow exactly this goal, because she herself would do so. The attention Wentworth shows for the Musgroves is, as he later explains, not one out of love. But when he realizes that he has woken the impression of wanting to marry Louisa Musgrove by caring about her after her accident, he bears the consequences and is willing to marry her if this is expected from him. Luckily, Captain Benwick falls in love with Louisa and both of them become a couple. Henrietta Musgrove is described as a young woman enjoying her life, her family and friends. Of course she also follows the rules for women of that time: they faced the task to appear attractive to men and to provoke their feelings. This is what Elizabeth Elliot tries in Persuasion, and is also Mary Crawford´s goal in Mansfield Park. The consequences of their actions were to either repel the men then, or to wait until the man decided to marry the woman. Not in every case did that succeed, as already mentioned. Thus, Fanny´s rejection of Henry Crawford is not taken seriously by him. He tries again, being sure of her only behaving as morality tells her. The only safe future for a woman of Austen´s time, marriage, must in his opinion be compelling to Fanny. Another catastrophe of elopement takes place in Mansfield Park: After her sister, Maria Bertram, has eloped with Henry Crawford, Julia Bertram elopes with Mr. Yates, the friend her brother had

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brought to Mansfield Park. In contrast to her sister and Henry Crawford, this couple achieves respectability in the last moment because they marry. In Anne Elliot´s case, the problems of rank and money prevent her from marrying the man she loves. Frederick Wentworth is, in the eyes of her father and Lady Russel (ibid.: 24) “ thought […] a very degrading alliance; and Lady Russel, though with more tempered and pardonable pride, receive it as a most unfortunate one.” Their objections are the following (ibid.: 24–25):

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Anne Elliot, with all her claims of birth, beauty, and mind, to throw herself away at nineteen; involve herself, at nineteen, in an engagement with a young man who had nothing but himself to recommend him, and no hopes of attaining affluence, but in the chances of a most uncertain profession, would be, indeed, a throwing away, which she grieved to think of! Anne Elliot, so young; known to so few, to be snatched off by a stranger without alliance or fortune; or rather sunk by him into a state of most wearing, anxious, youth-killing dependence! It must not be.

Whereas in Mansfield Park Sir Bertram interferes with the marrying plans of his niece Fanny Price, who decides not to marry the social higher-standing Mr. Crawford because of the lacking love, in Persuasion Sir Walter and Lady Russel interfere into a match made out of love. This match finds no approval because of the lacking social rank of one of the parties. Both cases were common in those times. Another character interested in the character of Anne Elliot is Captain Benwick, a friend of Captain Wentworth. They both share the interest for prose and poems, but this possible connection is not seen as serious by Mary Musgrove, as Captain Benwick´s wife had only died half a year ago. It is not expected from him to fall in love so early again. But when he does so, he announces his love to Louisa Musgrove, which is received with surprise, as Louisa is valued as a very buoyant person and Benwick is the opposite: melancholic. But Louisa accepts the offer for marriage, and Anne´s thoughts about this connection are the following (Austen 1818/2007: 165–166): “Louisa had fine naval fervour to begin with, and they would soon grow more alike. He would gain cheerfulness, and she would learn to be an enthusiast for Scott and Lord Byron.” Here, it can be seen that love marriages were seldom well considered. The instance that Captain Benwick and Louisa Musgrove do not match in character very well does not prevent them from marrying. But, for their different characters, it is expected for both to change to become happy. Anne Elliot does not doubt his change taking place. But there is also an instance with Sir Walter´s plans. Mrs. Clay, already described with her social rank above, spends much time at the family´s estate Kellynch (and later their flat in Bath). Her presence is preferred to the presence of Anne, when Mrs. Clay is asked to accompany Elizabeth and Sir Walter to Bath as “a most important and valuable assistant [...]in all the business before her” (ibid.: 31), and Anne is supposed to stay at Uppercross Cottage with her sister Mary, and “the affront it contained to Anne, in Mrs. Clay´s being so much of a use, while Anne could be of none, was very sore aggravation” (ibid.: 32). This offence is seen critically by Lady Russel and Anne.

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They value it as being very foolish: With a great deal of quiet observation, and a knowledge, which she often wished less, of her father´s character, she was sensible that results the most serious to his family from the intimacy were more than possible. She did not imagine that her father had at present an idea of the kind. Mrs. Clay had freckles, and a projecting tooth, and a clumsy wrist, which he was continually making severe remarks upon in her absence; but she was young, and certainly altogether welllooking, and possessed, in an acute mind and assiduous pleasing manners, infinitely more dangerous attractions than any merely personal might have been. Anne was so impressed by the degree of their danger, that she could not excuse herself from trying to make it perceptible for her sister.

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This quote shows all the fears of Anne and Lady Russel. The danger lies in the possibility of Sir Walter falling in love with Mrs. Clay solely for her being handsome, which is the only quality he values, and then marrying her. This marriage would under no circumstances find any approval in society as Mrs. Clay is much lower in social rank than Sir Walter is. This is, furthermore, the plan Mrs. Clay pursues in companionship with Mr. Elliot, which is to be revealed later on. Thanks to the heroine and her friend (of lower rank, Mrs. Smith) this catastrophe does not take place. The inequality of female and male also in the topic of love is perceived even by the characters themselves. When Anne directly talks to Captain Harville, but actually addresses Captain Wentworth who shares the room with them, and with whom she finally finds her marriage in the happy ending of Persuasion, she emphasizes this inequality (ibid.: 233–234) by saying We certainly do not forget you so soon as you forget us. It is, perhaps, our fate rather than our merit. We cannot help ourselves. We live at home, quiet, confined, and our feelings prey upon us. You are forced on exertion. You have always a profession, pursuits, business of some sort or other, to take you back into the world immediately, and continual occupation and change soon weakens impressions.

This is Anne´s notion on the difference between men and women when it comes to unhappy love. The end proves her wrong: Wentworth still loves her and asks her to marry him again,

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and she agrees overjoyed.

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6. Morality and Family To possess good morality concerning the family is essential. To betray or damage the reputation of one´s family by behaving inappropriately in society is a behaviour not tolerated by the society of Austen´s time. To dedicate the own life to the family is what was expected from a mother during the Regency period. The life of Anne Elliot´s mother is described as a typical and respected life (Austen, 1818/2007: 2–3).: Lady Elliot had been an excellent woman, sensible and amiable, whose judgement and conduct […] had never required indulgence afterwards. She had humoured, or softened, or concealed his failings, and promoted his real respectability for seventeen years; and though not the very happiest being in the world herself, had found enough duties, her friends, and her children, to attach her to life and make it no matter of indifference to her when she was called on to quit them.

That in a family children as favourites occur is often found in Austen´s novels, such as Emma Woodhouse in Emma or Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice. However, in Persuasion Elizabeth Elliot is preferred by her father before her two younger sisters Anne and Mary, through sharing his vanity and lifestyle. When her mother died, Elizabeth felt responsible for the family and replaced Lady Elliot by overtaking her reputation and her rights in the household, but not her duties. The difference between the three sisters of the Elliot´s family is described by Austen as follows (ibid.: 4): Elizabeth had succeeded at sixteen to all that was possible of her mother´s rights and consequence; and being very handsome, and very like himself, her influence had always been great, and they had gone on together most happily. His other two children were of very inferior value. Mary had acquired a little artificial importance by becoming Charles Musgrove; but Anne, with an elegance of mind and sweetness of character, which must have placed her high with any people of real understanding, was nobody with either father or sister; her word had no weight, her convenience was always to give way – she was only Anne.

Austen does not value Sir Elliot and his daughter Elizabeth as “people of real understanding” (ibid.) but writes this description from their point of view to show the reader the sort of way Mary and Anne are treated throughout the novel. Sir Elliot brings himself, his family and his estate into debts he is no longer able to pay. When his daughter Anne and their friend Lady Russel think about solutions, the only solution is to rent out

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the property to someone else. This is hardly possible with a vain and proud mind such as Sir Elliot´s. The women try to design a plan how to convince him of the necessity of this loss of reputation Elliot fears. Lady Russel explains to Anne (ibid.: 11): “We must be serious and decided; for after all, the person who has contracted debts must pay them; and though a great deal is due to the feelings of a gentleman,[...] there is still more due to the character of an honest man.” This honest man, namely Sir Elliot, is not that meticulous when it comes to the rank of his daughter´s friend, Mrs. Clay. She is a daughter of the Elliot´s lawyer, having, after a failed

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marriage, come back to her father´s house with her two children. “She was a clever young woman, who understood the art of pleasing – the art of pleasing, at least, at Kellynch Hall; and who had made herself so acceptable to Miss Elliot, as to have been staying there more than once, in spite of all that Lady Russel, who thought it a friendship quite out of place, could hint of caution and reserve” (ibid.: 14). Mr. Shepherd is the Elliot´s laywer, furthermore responsible for renting their house. Thus, Mrs. Clay does not possess the same social rank as Miss Elliot and is thought an inadequate friend by Lady Russel and Anne. At this point, Lady Russel is concerned about the reputation of the family (ibid.: 15): “From situation, Mrs Clay was […] a very unequal, and in her character, she believed, a very dangerous companion; and a removal that would leave Mrs. Clay behind, and bring a choice of more suitable intimates within Miss Elliot´s reach, was therefore an object of first-rate importance.” Mrs. Clay shows the necessary formalities when meeting persons of higher rank. When Anne arrives at Camden Place, the flat of the Elliot´s in Bath, Mrs. Clay is “very pleasant and very smiling, but her courtesies and smiles were more a matter of course” (ibid.: 134). This adds to Anne´s wary impression of her. Furthermore, there is a scene in the novel where Austen caricatures the need of people to show their politeness and also includes the ranks. In chapter 19 of Persuasion it is raining, and there is only one place left in the carriage, either for Anne Elliot or for Mrs. Clay. Both try to outbid the other by showing selflessness and insisting on the other one taking the place. Anne argues with the already existing cold of Mrs. Clay, and Mrs. Clay argues that the soles of her shoes are much thicker than the ones of Anne. Nevertheless, the fact is outlined that Mrs. Clay only behaves in this way because she is obliged to do so due to her lower rank in comparison to Anne. In the end, Anne insists on going by foot, and Mrs. Clay uses the seat in the carriage to travel home. When speaking of rank, Mary Musgrove is to be mentioned again. She is married to Mr. Charles Musgrove, the eldest son of a family in the neighbourhood of the Elliots. When Mary visits the Musgroves, she is not at all satisfied with the treatment that is shown to her. She thinks that Mrs. Musgrove is obligated to treat her as superior at the dinner-table (ibid.: 43). When Anne is going for a walk with only the Misses Musgrove, “one of them, after talking of rank, people of rank, and jealousy of rank, said, ´I have no scruple of observing to you, how nonsensical some persons are about their place, because all the worlds knows how easy and indifferent you are about it; but I wish anybody would give Mary a hint that it would be a great deal better if she were not so very Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

tenacious, especially if she would not be always putting herself forward to take place of mamma.” (ibid.: 43–44). This shows that, even in those times, some people took the question of rank very seriously, others did not care too much about it. Sir Walter and Elizabeth hold tight to their consideration of appropriateness with social status, while the Musgroves are not too serious about it. They are lower in rank than the Elliot´s, but higher in rank than the Hayters. The relationship between the latter families is harmonic (ibid.:73), because of “there being no pride on one side, and no envy on the other, and only such a consciousness of superiority in the Miss Musgroves, as 38

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made them pleased to improve their cousins.” In the end, Louisa marries Charles Hayter, as she does not care too much for the consequent future of a lower social rank. Mary is not liked too much for her opinion on rank and family, and thus is not welcome to join the walk Anne and the Misses Musgrove want to go for one day. Mary insists on accompanying them. Anne tries to persuade her not to come, in a very polite way of course, when she sees the looks the Miss Musgroves exchange. The persuasion does not succeed; Mary follows them. Anne feels “admired again the sort of necessity which the family habits seem to produce, of everything being to be communicated, and everything being to be done together, however undesired and inconvenient” (ibid.: 81). There is another situation where Mary refuses something out of this conviction: When being on a walk with the Misses Musgrove, her husband Charles, her sister Anne and Captain Wentworth, they arrive at Winthrop, the house of the Hayters. Mary refuses to go there and visit the Hayters, she tells Captain Wentworth how ashamed she is of these relatives. Frederick Wentworth only spares an artificial, assenting smile for her, followed by a contemptuous glance as he turns away. The Musgrove family is the most visited family in the neighbourhood, giving more dinner-parties than the other families and receiving more uninvited visitors. At their own estate, the Miss Musgroves often host unplanned balls where Anne plays the piano and the Hayters, relatives of the Musgroves but in poorer circumstances, take part in dancing. Also, Anne´s age is shown through her part during these balls – she plays the piano, which was mostly the part of the older women while the young ones were dancing and finding amusement. Anne is not a young woman any more, but is regarded in public as the child of Sir Walter, because she is still unmarried. The children, James Fordyce (1809/2009: 6) says, are obliged to pay the parents back “most acceptably a part (because you never can repay the whole) of that immense debt you owe for all the pains and fears formerly suffered”. The fulfilling of this duty is not found in the Bertram sisters in Mansfield Park, but it is expected from Fanny when Sir Bertram urges her to marry Henry Crawford by expecting her gratitude for the upbringing in his house. There is another character in Persuasion that is in the first place not liked by everyone because of his shown behaviour in the past. Mr. Elliot, the cousin of the Misses Elliot, showed ignorance towards his family in the past. Through flatteries and many explanations he regains his prestige by the family again. Only Anne stays warily and finds awkward coldness in his behaviour. The other Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

person not aiming for acquaintance with Mr. Elliot again is Lady Russel (Austen 1818/2007: 130): “He is a man […] whom I have no wish to see. His declining to be on cordial terms with the head of his family has left a very strong impression in his disfavour with me.” With the head of the family, Sir Walter is meant. Lady Russel is not willing to forgive the actions of Mr. Elliot. This notion changes when Lady Russel becomes acquainted with him. The following is her corrected opinion about him (ibid.: 144):

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Everything united in him; good understanding, correct opinions, knowledge of the world, and a warm heart. He had strong feelings for family attachment and family honour, without pride or weakness; he lived with the liberality of a man of fortune, without display; he judged for himself in everything essential, without defying public opinion in any point of worldly decorum. He was steady, observant, moderate, candid; never run away with by spirits or by selfishness, which fancied itself strong feeling; and yet, with a sensibility to what was amiable and lovely, and a value for all the felicities of domestic life, which characters of fancied enthusiasm and violent agitation seldom really possesses.

Returning to the children of Mary Musgrove, the second-youngest Elliot-sister, the lack of her skills in education is obvious. Her children only behave appropriately when their aunt Anne Elliot is with them and keeps them under control: “they are so unmanageable that they do me more harm than good. Little Charles does not mind a word I say, and Walter is growing quite as bad” (ibid.: 35-36), Mary says about her own two boys. Beeton (1877/2012: 98) describes in his Family Etiquette the perfect behaviour for children. They should, for example, not be brought to the table “until they are able to feed themselves, first with a spoon and next with a fork; and not then, unless they can be depended on to keep quiet and not talk.” He continues providing the reason for this rule (ibid.): “The chattering of children at dinner-time is a great annoyance to grown people. The shrill voice of a child can be distinguished annoyingly amit those of a whole company.” Mary´s children are not at all able to behave themselves, not in private nor in public. She continuously complains about them being so very hard to raise. Beeton (ibid.: 99) writes the opposite on education: It is very easy to accustom children to these observances. Also, they may be taught very easily how to behave to visitors. For instance, not to pass between them and the fire, not to hang on the back of a lady´s chair, or to squeeze close to her, or to get in her lap, or to finger her dress, or to search her reticule or her pocket, or to ask a stranger for pennies or sixpences, or to tell her that she is not pretty, or to inquire ´Why she wears such an ugly bonnet?`

Beeton shows, in this case, very little understanding of children and the difference of their characters, although this does not mean that Mary Musgrove should feel herself to be completely innocent in this case. It certainly had been her responsibility to raise her children properly, which she failed in. He also gives some advice (ibid.: 101) which she could have needed: “ ´Anything for the sake of peace´ is a very foolish maxim where juveniles are concerned. By being firm once or twice, and dismissing them from the room when they deserve it, you may have peace ever after.” Another, rather curious incident concerning the family in Persuasion is the incident of Richard Musgrove. He used to be the son of Mrs. Musgrove, thus the brother of Henrietta and Louisa

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Musgrove, and died two years before the novel takes place. Richard, named Dick, had been under the command of Captain Wentworth at sea and had died in an accident. During a visit from Anne, Mrs. Musgrove praises him as her poor Dick, having been such a good boy, when in fact, “he had been nothing better than a thick-headed, unfeeling, unprofitable Dick Musgrove, who had never done anything to entitle himself to more than the abbreviation of his name, living or dead” (Austen, 1818/2007: 49). Austen´s judgement seems to be harsh, but Richard is furthermore described as having been very selfish, only writing two letters during these years at sea (and several more 40

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demanding only for money). It is typical that two years later his family does only remember him to be a good boy and speak of him in public as being that, and praise him for these traits he never possessed. But this hypocrisy is not only shown by the family itself, but also by Captain Wentworth. He is aware of the sort of person Richard Musgrove had been, but when visiting the Musgroves, he “took place by the latter [Mrs. Musgrove] and entered into conversation with her, in a low voice, about her son, doing it with so much sympathy and natural grace, as shewed the kindest consideration of all that was real and unabsurd in the parent´s feelings” (ibid.: 66). Today one would call Captain Wentworth´s behaviour hypocrisy, but at that time it was keeping up the harmony. If he had, in this situation where Mrs. Musgrove grieves about her son, revealed his true opinion about him he would have hurt many feelings. So he keeps up to the expected polite behaviour that suits everyone in that round. In Sir Thomas´ view, Fanny is obliged to gratitude towards his family. He has raised her and offered her the possibility to lead a life in an intact family with many benefits. Conversely he has no comprehension of the reason for which Fanny refuses to marry Mr. Crawford, who is, in his eyes, a very agreeable young man (Sir Thomas is not aware of the events Fanny was able to witness). Thus, he considers Fanny´s reaction as stubborn and ungrateful and sends her home to her poorer family to let her feel the consequences of her decision and believing the discomfort of life there enough to bring Fanny to a new appreciation of Crawford´s offer. Fanny, being all obedient and sorry for disappointing her uncle leaves Mansfield Park readily. She remembers her home to be a warmer home, a place where she can be equal to the other inhabitants: her mother, father, brothers and sisters. Her hopes are disappointed presently: her mother is a distracted and incompetent housewife, the servants show themselves to be poorly controlled, the manner of her father is coarse and the noise and disorder of her brothers and sisters hard to bear. Here, the difference in the family´s morality between the two shown classes become very clear. At Portsmouth, Fanny´s mother is not even able to control the servants, which is her duty, and in the choice of whom she has already committed mistakes: “In engaging servants the judgement of the mistress must be keenly exercised”, writes Beeton (ibid.: 93). Mrs. Price´s servants behave rudely and lazy, not obeying the wishes of the family. This is all very shocking for Fanny, being used to Mansfield Park with its very wisely chosen servants.

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Beeton (ibid.: 95) continues on servants as follows: The treatment of servants is of the highest possible movement, as well to the mistress as to the domestics themselves. On the head of the house the latter fix their attentions; and if they perceive that the mistress´s conduct is regulated by high and correct principles, they will not fail to respect her.

This is not the case at the Price´s house. Mrs Price is not able to fulfil the expectations towards the mistress of a house (ibid.: 106): “The generous duties which enter into the position of the mistress of a house, are, happily with a slight but continued attention, of by no means difficult performance.”

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Thus, the mistress of the Portsmouth house is not to be seen as a mistress of the house, as Mrs. Bertram of Mansfield Park is. She ought always to remember that she is the first and the last, the alpha and the omega, in the government of her establishment; and that it is by her conduct that its whole internal policy is governed. […] On her pattern her daughters model themselves; by her counsels they are directed; through her virtues all are honoured[...]. Therefore, let each mistress always remember her responsible position, never approving a mean action nor uttering a unrefined word. Let her conduct be such that her inferiors may respect her, and such as an honourable and rightminded man may look for in his wife and the mother of his children. (Beeton 1877/2012: 64)

These are the expectations Beeton holds towards a mistress of the house. Here, the most important difference between the two sisters Mrs. Price and Mrs. Bertram is revealed: While the conduct of both in their education is expected to have been similar, through their marriage their lifestyles change. While Mrs. Bertram fulfils Beeton´s expectations towards the mistress of the house, Mrs. Price fails them. It is significant to see that what Beeton writes is untrue in these cases: The Price daughters develop to well raised children with high morals, while the “better raised children” become socially unaccepted. At Mansfield Park, Fanny “serves” Lady Bertram, who sees her as a necessary helper of her own. Mrs Bertram treats Fanny kindly, but is selfish, lazy and little interested in her children. Austen (1814/1966: 42). describes her as “a woman of very tranquil feelings, and a temper remarkably easy and indolent” When Fanny is treated maliciously by her aunt Mrs Norris, nobody intervenes. It is only natural to the inhabitants of Mansfield Park that Fanny is to be treated inferior. Although, when Sir Thomas actually finds out how Fanny lived the past years (in the old governess´ chamber without any conveniences such as a fire or much space) he lets her change the room and live more luxurious. Only Edmund Bertram shows himself to be a friend for Fanny and, furthermore, also to be a brother concerned about the well-being and esteem of his sisters. Furthermore, he is the only one to doubt Mr. Rushworth´s suitability as a husband for Maria. When Sir Bertram has left for Antigua, Fanny tries to persuade her cousins and their friends that Lover´s Vows is not an appropriate play in such a situation. The young people try to persuade her and Edmund to fill in the remaining roles, but both express their resolution against acting, being convinced that the head of the house would not approve. When she rejects to take over the part, she is called an “obstinate, ungrateful girl” (ibid.: 169) by her aunt Norris: “I am quite ashamed of

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you, Fanny, to make such a difficulty of obliging your cousins in a trifle of this sort, so kind as they are to you.” Here, Mrs Norris proves her selfish preference for her own gaiety again (and that of her nieces and nephews) and her lack of understanding for the play´s is inappropriateness. The morality between the self and the family varies between the characters in Mansfield Park: Fanny always tries to obey and would never say anything bad about her own family or the family at Mansfield Park. Mary Crawford on the other side is not able to see anything bad in speaking disrespectfully about her uncle by making a coarse joke and causing Edmund to feel grave about 42

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it. Her own brother-in-law, Mr. Grant, who is a clergyman as well, she calls “an indolent selfish bon vivant” (ibid.: 137). Fanny and Edmund therefore agree on the impropriety of some of Mary Craword´s comments at dinner the next day. Later on, Mary Crawford shows her view on different events when the return of Sir Bertram is announced: in her view, Maria is forced into marriage and Edmund will be a victim of the church. No proving her wrong during the following discussion influences her to change her views. She does not value other conceptions of life and shows little respect for the others and their family; as in the end it is not even her family being involved in these instances. The families of Mansfield Park and Persuasion do reflect prototypical families of the Regency Period, as there are families presented of lower as well as of higher status. As described, the notions on the morality in the family differ from character to character, but certain obligations and rules are to be followed in any

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way.

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7. Conclusion Exclusive society, whether the passport for admittance be of rank, birth, wealth, fashion, or even more meritorious distinctions, is not often agreeable society, and not necessarily good. (Anonymous, 1872/2012: 18)

In Jane Austen´s novels, the heroines are described through the author´s realistic view upon them. They appear not to be weak or idealised: “Jane Austen herself and where her heroines resemble herself, reveals such a clear and reasonable quality, that measured by its light and unreasonable woman instantly ceases to be charming” (Kaye-Smith 1943: 15). Fanny Price and Anne Elliott learn to find their real self and stay true to it. Anne Elliot finds herself to have been weaker in character (when refusing the man she loved out of persuasion) than she is now. Fanny Price develops to be a self-sure young woman able to act in her own good-thinking and after her own gusto. This is what combines these two novels: the changes in the character of the two heroines and the gaining of autonomy through that. This is what Austen values most in her novels: heroines who are able to make their own decisions, to follow their path through life and find their luck in doing so. Of course, this is not always representative for the time and the real happenings, which is why conduct books were used to see different views and opinions in this thesis. Furthermore, time changes; the opinion of practising the elegant manners and accomplishments being a waste of time gained increasing acceptance. By the time of Austen´s death the education of elegance was seen as so frivolous that her brother almost does not mention Jane´s accomplishments in his obituary for her at his Biographical Notes of the Author in Northanger Abbey: “In the present age it is hazardous to mention accomplishments. Our authoress would, probably, have been inferior to few in such acquirements, had she not been so superior to most higher things.” (Brosch 1984: 35). Young women were then supposed to be educated for matrimony, not for marrying (ibid.: 36). In her novels, Austen uses the traditional opinion on this education common among the population. When in the beginning of Mansfield Park the elegant education of the Bertram daughters is compared to the simplemindedness of Fanny, Austen

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(1814/1966: 18f) uses the situation to imply her own opinion on the matter: ´...only think, my cousin cannot put the map of Europe together or my cousin cannot tell the principle rivers of Russia – or she never heard of Asia Minor – or she does not know the difference between water colours and crayons! How strange – did you ever hear anything so stupid? […] How long ago is it, aunt, since we used to repeat the chronological order of the kings of England, with the date of their accession, and, most of the principle events of their reigns! “Yes”, added the other; “and of the Roman emperors as low as Severus; besides a great deal of the Heathen Mythology, and all the Metals, Semi- Metals, Planets, and distinguished philosophers.`

Although the two girls are educated this way, they both finish their story in a catastrophe. Here, Austen shows how much worth lies in superficial education. Had their minds been educated in 44

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ethics and morality, the elopements would not have taken place, as the character of the ideal Regency woman included her to be endowed at the outset with intelligence, balance, poise, humour, sensitiveness, imagination, sympathy, health, healthy mindedness, bravery, modesty and endurance. Three of the four Bertram´s offspring turn out to be unprincipled and wilful. Sir Thomas´ heir is presented as a dissipated spendthrift, his elder daughter´s adultery forbids her to be accepted in polite society and his younger daughter barely escapes the same fate. After the incidents revealed his daughter´s weaknesses of character, Sir Thomas blames himself: “..the anguish arising from the conviction of his own errors in the education of his daughters, was never to be entirely done away” (ibid.: 463). For him, it is not understandable how his daughters could develop such character traits when being educated by an expensive governess, spending their life in the best society and always receiving appreciation and approval. In this case, also the Crawfords can be seen as a corrupt influence bringing some sort of “infection” from the sophisticated London. Plays may be appropriate in this city, but they are not in the described situation in a manor such as Mansfield Park with the head of the house in great danger. Mary Crawford is, in the end, shown as the character combining wit and charm, but also possessing cold- bloodedness and strategy, thus failing through the inability of differentiating between a sin and a faux-pas (Brosch, 1984: 95). In her, the feeling for decency and the virtuous are lacking. On the opposite, Fanny Price and Edmund Bertram are the “preserver of manners” (ibid.: 8). Demanding the same realistic and unsentimental dealing with affairs of the heart that Austen uses herself as a writer, she tries to provide the possibility for her heroines to arrive at a greater autonomy in decisions (ibid.: 10). In the novels employed for this thesis, Fanny Price and Anne Elliot both accomplish this goal. Jane Austen succeeds in what her colleagues often fail: to create intelligent female characters, beginning with a flawed heroine, sending her through a plausible process and leaving her having gained autonomy, uniting reason and attraction in herself - the

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perfect life Austen might probably have imagined for her own life and every woman of her time.

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8. Austen´s Morality and Conduct in School? Teaching morality and conduct of those times in school these days is a delicate endeavour. Not only is it difficult to let the pupils read novels such as Mansfield Park and Persuasion, where said conduct and morality is to be found, but the main difficulty is that the pupils of today´s Real- and Hauptschulen are lacking the understanding of the beliefs during the 18th and early 19th century. For them, it is not an inappropriate idea to have a play acted in their homes (if they found time for and pleasure in doing it) and it is thus very difficult to sensitize them for the views and problems appearing in the novels. Also, for teenagers of today it is very likely to be able to choose whom to love, whom to marry and with whom to spend their lives. That this was not always possible, and numerous things had to be kept in mind (such as income, status, reputation) today is hard to understand. Nevertheless, this is a topic that should not be neglected in the English class, and Jane Austen provides the materials for this. It is not necessary to have the class read the whole novel (or a graded reader), but abstracts can be chosen (as they were in this thesis) to provide examples for the situations. It can furthermore be interesting for pupils to find the delicate subject in the abstract themselves, so they think about the content and the possible no-go´s of those times. For this thesis, the author used a magazine for female teenagers, called Girl, to compare today´s opinion on these topics by using the release 21/12 with the above examined views and opinions. This magazine starts off with showing four pages of “What is in and what is out”, thus giving advice on what to wear and what not to wear to be fashionable or not. This provides a guideline for the younger girls how to dress. Following, six pages of new kinds of dressing the hair are shown; the examples are given by the Fashion Weeks in New York and Milan. The magazine shows pictures of the models wearing the hairstyles and explains step by step how to imitate them. Coming to hairstyles, it is then explained how to imitate them and thus make a good impression on others. When compared to what Samuel Orchard Beeton (1877/2012: 89) writes on hairstyles, the problem becomes clear:

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A moderate profusion of hair, gracefully arranged, is a characteristic adornment of women, and its appearance and condition will be found to convey conclusive evidence of the habits and taste of the wearer. In the disposition of the hair attention should always be paid to the style of the features and the formation of the face[...].

The opinion of the need of the hair looking accurate to survive in society matches with the opinion of teenage girls today, as the magazine shows. But today, it is also possible to not jump onto the fashion train without being excluded by society. Teenage girls in school then search for other peer groups closer to their own style and attitudes. This was hardly possible in Austen´s time; and this problem is hard to understand for today´s youth. They are used to shower at least every second day; the opinion, that washing the hair could induce catarrh, headaches or injure the hair is long 46

Strohmeier, Svenja. Victorian Morality and Conduct: Jane Austen´s Representation : Jane Austen´s Representation, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central,

proven wrong, but used to be a wide-spread opinion of the Regency period (ibid.: 88). Additionally, smelling right is not to be forgotten: different celebrities and their new fragrances are presented. There are seven pages of the new trend for the summer: knitted dresses, hats and accessories. Of course it is not explained how to knit them yourself, but the places where they can be bought and the prices are given. Four pages are taken by the presentation of four different sorts of mascara and how to get “wow-eyelashes”. Page 16 is reserved for a crass story: A reader of the magazines tells her story every week, which can be disgusting, shocking, embarrassing, sad etc. This shows young people´s emotions and is also a hint for tolerated behaviour and its opposite. This edition´s story is about a girl losing her big toe´s nail while running through the streets wearing flip-flops. She recommends not to do that and to wear sneakers instead. On the following page, a first resemblance with conduct books appears: A boy answers questions about actions boys like when “groping” (this term is used) with girls. He explains what is liked and what he does not like and thus provides some sort of stereotypical guideline for insecure girls. On the following pages boys explain which so-called “blemishes” they actually like on girls (such as freckles, dimples, blushing etc.). This is supposed to help the readers to feel more comfortable with themselves. Another conduct-topic is how to treat the ex-best friend when “the BFF” (the so-called Best Friend Forever) becomes “an enemy” (Bravo Girl 21/2012: 33). How to deal with the break-up of this friendship is explained, and how to react when she tells all your secrets to other persons. This could be related to chapter seven of this thesis, morality and friendship. Obviously, girls of these days need advice in this section, too. Furthermore, there are four pages of presenting different sorts of underwear and which type of girl they fit. There are also personality tests in every edition, in this edition the test is meant to find out the inner strength by ticking multiple choice questions and then evaluating them and reading the advice for one´s sort of type. For this examination, the most important section is the consultations section. In this section, the readers can ask questions such as “I got caught stealing, what will happen now” (ibid.: 36), “How can I become more sportive” or “Was it just a party flirt or does he love me?” and receive answers to their questions from the magazine´s authors. Examining the terms used, the biggest problem in reading and understanding issues in Jane Austen´s novels becomes clear: Today´s youth is used to use these terms. In Austen´s novels, many feelings, notions or events are described implicitly. It is hard for the pupils to understand the problem in the impudence of Henry Crawford not being able Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

to decide between a few women. In Mansfield Park it is not explicitly said that it is not common to flirt with any woman you meet, whereas today you are able to choose whomever you like and to go as far as both parties are willing. The conditions were, in those times, dependent on social status, money, reputation and conduct. Today, this is hardly the case. This furthermore explains the insecurity of young people: There are no strict guidelines how to behave and what to do in which situations, as there were in the Regency Period (see bibliography). Magazines such as Girl try to provide guidelines to young people and teach them the conduct of today, which mostly is conduct

Strohmeier, Svenja. Victorian Morality and Conduct: Jane Austen´s Representation : Jane Austen´s Representation, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central,

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and moral in love, not in society. Thus, young girls know how to react when they get flirted at by a boy, but, for example, often do not show much respect for older people, their teachers, parents or family. The consequences of this are broad and able to fill another master´s thesis. Consequently, they are not examined in this thesis. The mentioned examples explain why it can be hard for pupils to read Austen in school. Too many things have to be compared and explained, and in the end the novel might be absorbed as a boring book just listing occurrences in a village which are not understood by the readers. This shows on the one hand how young people think about topics such as love, marriage and wealth today and can also indicate which parts of the moral views and the conduct pupils of today could not be able to understand in Austen´s novels. Thus, the teacher can prepare him/herself for

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possible misunderstandings or problems during the class when covering this topic in school.

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Strohmeier, Svenja. Victorian Morality and Conduct: Jane Austen´s Representation : Jane Austen´s Representation, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central,

Bibliography Anonymous (1872/2012). The Habits of Good Society: A Handbook for Ladies and Gentlemen. New York, Forgotten Books Austen, J. (1814/1966). Mansfield Park. Great Britain, Penguin English Library Austen, J.( 1818/2007). Persuasion. England, Penguin Books Beeton, S. O. (1877/2012) Family Etiquette. New York, Nabu Press Bloom, H. (1987). Jane Austen´s Mansfield Park. New York, Chelsea House Publishers Brosch, R. (1984). Eleganz und Autonomie. Heidelberg, Universitätsverlag Duckworth, A. (1995). The Improvement of the Estate: A Study of Jane Austen´s Novels. Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press Dr. Gregory (1774/2012). A Father´s Legacy to His Daughter. Tennessee, Lightning Source Limited Fordyce, J. (1809/2009): Sermons To Young Women. London, Lightning Source UK Gisborne, T. (1797/2012). An Enquiry in the Duties of the Female Sex. Forgotton Books (online publisher) Haveley, C.P. (1982). Mansfield Park. Portsmouth, The Open University Press Haveley, C.P. (1982). A Study Guide to Mansfield Park. Portsmouth, The Open University Press Kaye-Smith, S. (1943). Talking of Jane Austen. London, Cassel and Company Sennett, R. (1976). The Fall Of Public Man. England, Penguin Books Simons, J. (1997). Mansfield Park and Persuasion. New York, St. Martin´s Press Inc Stanhope, P.D. Earl of Chesterfield (2009). The Letters of Philip Dormer Stanhope Earl of Chesterfield. On The Fine Art Of Becoming a Man Of The World And A Gentleman. Bibliobazaar (online publisher)

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Waite, M. (1994/2006). Oxford Thesaurus. Oxford, Oxford University Press

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