Jane Austen For Dummies (47 page)

Darcy:
You may wonder why Darcy doesn't fit into the category of “gentleman.” By birth and by the ownership of the vast Pemberley Estates, making him a member of the gentry, he qualifies as a “gentleman” in terms of social class. But while he dances well, converses with ease, and bows nicely, he displays some ungentlemanly characteristics as well:

Edward Ferrars:
In
Sense and Sensibility,
Ferrars isn't adept socially. He doesn't converse with ease, and this isn't just because he's awkward. He's a liar and lies with considerable
sprezzatura!
(But Castiglione, while advocating ease, didn't advocate ease in lying!) For when Marianne, in the company of Elinor, notices Ferrars wearing a ring made of human hair (a common love token) and asks whose hair it is, though he momentarily colors with embarrassment, he says the hair belongs to his sister and even adds that the setting changes its appearance (SS 1:18). The hair really belongs to Lucy Steele, to whom he's secretly engaged. Even though Edward momentarily blushes before his big fat lie, Elinor still thinks that the hair, which he somehow acquired, is hers. So Edward scores low marks in the gentleman test.

Captain Frederick Wentworth:
As
Persuasion
's naval hero, Wentworth
certainly appears to be a gentleman. He must have even handled arms with skill, given that naval battles of the day frequently led to shooting guns at close distances and engaging in sword fights on deck. He's also friendly with the Harvilles, Musgroves, and Crofts, and he converses well. But he doesn't have his emotions under control, and he's playing games with people's feelings:

Edmund Bertram:
Bertram is the hero of
Mansfield Park,
and from everything the reader can surmise, he's a polite and well-cultured young man. And he's generally considerate of others' feelings. But he doesn't really know himself. He becomes enamored of the sexually attractive Mary Crawford and — unaware of Fanny's love for him because he is too self-involved — he unloads all his emotional burdens on her, causing Fanny to feel extreme emotional pain. Castiglione today would probably send Edmund to a good shrink to be able to claim his status as gentleman.

He instructed women to be docile, meek, soft, obedient, and even submissive to neglect.

He emphasized beauty over education, noting that nature made men naturally smarter than women, and he concluded that men prefer quiet, delicate, charming women. (Interestingly, Castiglione was far more liberated because in
The Courtier,
he advocated the same education in literature, music, painting, and dancing for both males and females — though he also stressed that a woman's primary aim was to be charming. On that last matter, Fordyce echoes Castiglione.)

He encouraged ladies to avoid exercise, which he considered manly and ungraceful. (Remember that Castiglione advised women to avoid such physical activities as horseback riding and hunting!)

While Fordyce discourages young ladies from being robust and doing physical exercise, Elizabeth does her own version of a three-mile workout when she walks across the fields “at a quick pace” to visit Jane at Netherfield. “[J]umping over stiles and springing over puddles,” Elizabeth arrives at her destination “with weary ankles, dirty stockings, and a face glowing with the warmth of exercise” (PP 1:7). Elizabeth is fit for this strenuous walk, because as Austen later slips in, she is “in the habit of running” (PP 3:7).

When Elizabeth reaches Netherfield Park, the jealous Miss Bingley criticizes her appearance, saying snippily, “‘Why must
she
be scampering about the country. . . . Her hair so untidy, so blowsy?'” (PP 1:8). But the gentlemen have a very different reaction, and it is far from what Fordyce expects. Both Messieurs Bingley and Darcy admire the effects of the “Elizabeth Bennet Workout”: The former thinks she “‘look[s] remarkably well,'” and the latter admires her eyes, which “‘have been brightened by the exercise'” (PP 1:8). Elizabeth's cross-country jaunt has enhanced her physical beauty and sexual attractiveness. The Jane Austen Workout for Elizabeth Bennet preceded the “Jane Fonda Workout” by over 150 years!

What Austen thought of Fordyce is also communicated by the physical activities — albeit unladylike — that several of her female characters enjoy. In
Northanger Abbey,
the adolescent Catherine Morland loves rolling down hills, horseback riding, “running about the country,” and playing baseball and cricket (1:1). More female athleticism appears in
Sense and Sensibility:
Marianne (17) and Margaret (13) are thrilled to have the chance to ignore “propriety” by “running with all possible speed” down a hill towards home when it rains (SS 1:9).

Catherine Morland of
Northanger Abbey:
Austen's youngest heroine at age 17 says she “‘cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible'” (NA 2:1). And she's absolutely right. Unlike those who use their facility with words to deceive and mislead, Catherine is always a straight shooter. So when she tells her brother and his friends, the Thorpes, that she can't join them for an outing because she already has a walking engagement date with her friends, the Tilneys, she's rightfully angered when the Thorpes and her brother, who's wrapped around Isabella Thorpe's finger, verbally attack her with phony reasons for canceling the Tilney walk in order to accompany them. And when John Thorpe goes after the Tilneys to say that she is pre-engaged to walk with him, his sister, and Catherine's brother — which is, of course, a boldfaced lie — Catherine breaks away from her brother and so-called friends, and “almost” runs after the Tilneys, following them breathlessly into their house to declare the truth, oblivious to the protocol of footmen and announcements (NA 1:13). No wonder Henry Tilney finds her charming!

Elinor Dashwood of
Sense and Sensibility:
She maintains stoic self-control. When she learns that Edward Ferrars, who has certainly appeared romantically interested in her, is engaged to another woman, she keeps such a stiff upper lip that even those closest to her are fooled by her appearance. By an act of sheer will, she lives her code of general civility and shows great physical and emotional courage. Marianne sincerely despises the ways of the gossipy, insensitive society in which they live, preferring a code of personal morality on the grounds that “‘we always know when we are acting wrong'” (SS 1:13). Both young ladies have strong wills.

Elizabeth Bennet in
Pride and Prejudice:
Elizabeth Bennet isn't playing games with Mr. Collins when she refuses his marriage proposal based on the fact that she wants to be considered “‘as a rational
creature,'” instead of the “‘elegant female'” he thinks she is (PP 1:19). Angered by her rejection, Collins verbally throws her meager dowry in her face, saying that her “‘portion is unhappily so small that it will in all likelihood undo the effects of [her] loveliness and amiable qualifications'” for marrying well (PP 1:19). For once, Collins is absolutely correct. But notwithstanding her dowry's negative effect on her marriage ability, she refuses to dance pirouettes of admiration around the wealthy, handsome Darcy as other women, such as Miss Bingley, do. When Elizabeth and Darcy are together at Netherfield Park and at Rosings, she wittily challenges him in conversation, making the two verbal sparring partners. And she rejects his first proposal on the grounds that he has not acted like a gentleman. So is it any surprise that when Elizabeth and Darcy finally get together and rehash the ups and downs of their relationship that Darcy tells her that his admiration and love for her are based on “‘the liveliness of [her] mind'” (PP 3:18)?

Fanny Price of
Mansfield Park:
Fanny is frequently considered Austen's weakest heroine. Physically frail, she's treated by her uncle's family, with whom she lives at Mansfield Park, as a semi-servant, as a person with no feelings, as a fool. But when pressed to act in a family play, she stands her ground, insisting that she can't and won't act. If her resolution here doesn't exemplify her moral and intellectual strength, her refusal to marry Henry Crawford certainly proves that she's neither weak nor passive. She knows her own heart. Her strength is in her quiet willingness to persist, though others in the novel wrongly see her as obstinate or weak.

Emma Woodhouse of
Emma:
Emma Woodhouse must never have read Fordyce or Gregory! She's the boss and as a result suffers from one major problem: Thinking too well of herself. This characteristic makes her a proactive doer, especially as a matchmaker. Refusing to acknowledge mistakes, she faces one humiliating experience after another. Only Mr. Knightley is willing or able to correct her. But even he can't get through to her until she recognizes that she's been her own worst enemy. Her final humiliation doesn't weaken her; instead, it strengthens her because it teaches her about herself.

Anne Elliot of
Persuasion:
As Austen's oldest heroine at age 27, Elliot has already experienced the plot of a courtship novel before the action in
Persuasion
begins. Eight years earlier she'd fallen in love with Frederick Wentworth and he with her. But she refused to marry him because she truly felt that marriage at that time in Wentworth's early naval career wouldn't be in his best interests (P 1:4). Yet as time passed, she remained so true to Frederick that she refused a proposal from a gentleman and heir to considerable property that would've at least released her from the unpleasant life she had with her selfish and vain father and older sister at home. Only Anne, “with an elegance of mind and sweetness of character,” could've displayed such constancy and emotional strength (P 1:1).