Jane Austens Satires in Her Literary Works - Research Paper Example

 Jane Austen’s Satires in Her Literary Works Life is a cluster of relationships. Every individual is a part of the family--a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, a husband, a wife, a friend or a romantic acquaintance etc. In every area, one desires to have perfect relationships, but it doesn’t always happen. Some individuals go into depressions when relationships do not work according to their choices. Some have the art of converting defeats into victories. If perfect discipline is not available, such individuals own the peculiar trait of carrying on joyously with the available discipline! They create happy situations for persons around them. Jane Austen was one such individual who saw fun in every facet of life. Satire is the hallmark of the literary creations of Jane Austen and it is the outcome of her interaction with family members, her un-fructified romantic relationship and her middle class status in the society. She began writing at the age of 14, and that is the indicator that she was a born writer and blessed with latent literary talents. That she treated her female characters in her many literary works, as equal to men in intelligence, was no satire!—but it was satire on the men folk who considered themselves as superior to women. She belonged to the 18th century, an era of male-dominated society. The Encyclopedia of World Biography on Jane Austen explains that she was one of the most important novelists of the 19th Century. After her father died in 1805, Austen, her mother and her sister moved to Chawton, where Austen lived the rest of her life. Genre-wise, her literary works heralded the transition in English literature from neo-classicism to romanticism. She saw life as it is, and not from the moral pedestal, how it should be! Her mastery on the subjects that she treated could be seen through her various down-to-earth characters. She was able to depict her characters precisely through the real-life situations they encountered. She enjoyed writing in its totality, be it pompous display or when some of her characters made a fool of themselves. Her characters stand the test of modern life as prevailing today, even though her writings are more than two hundred years old. Her foresight and witticisms have stood the test of time and have remained enjoyable to the reader. Her satire becomes great for she sympathized with the societal surroundings around her, rather than condemn it. She grasped the best from her family relationships and she was fortunate to grow in an affectionate family that encouraged her talents. She was born on December 16, 1775 at Steventon rectory in Hampshire, England. One of her six brothers Henry was her literary agent. Her latent literary genius was watched and recognized by her family, especially her father, when she was young. According to the Dictionary of Literary Biography’s on Jane Austen, Austen grew up in middle class. Austen had seven siblings, six brothers and one sister, all of which were readers. The dictionary of Literary Biography’s on Jane Austen also stated that Austen’s main interest was prose fiction that could have perhaps influenced her works. (1992, pp 3-35) Her immediate family members, besides being the readers of her works, must have offered critical suggestions and she was in the habit of revising her drafts more than once. The grassroots realities of interaction of different characters make her works very interesting and attention demanding as the common reader identifies the descriptions with one’s real life experiences. The writings were a great combination of detachment and involvement, added with satirical comments. Her novels proved outstanding on account of this approach. She had the best schooling, initially at Oxford and then at Southampton. Some are born great, the wise people say. Jane Austen belongs to this literary category. She utilized the large library maintained by her father to augment her literary interests. This gave her an opportunity to study the novels of the eighteenth century, and she became an expert in parodying the sentiments of the Gothic style. Stovel suggests that Austen refocused novels on women. Stovel explains that many critics view Austen as an early feminist writer because the female characters that she created in her story are of equal intelligence to men. (Stovel, 2008) This attitude may be the culmination of her interactions with her immediate family members. Her schooling must have nurtured the feelings of equality in her which she depicted through her female characters. None of her female characters suffered from inferiority complexes. No author can ever succeed in hiding one’s personal sentiments and they pour out through the various situations the characters are exposed to. This was the position as for the relationship of Jane Austen, with Tom Lefroy, a nephew of their neighbors at Steventon. She was presumed to have developed romantic feelings towards him, which latter saw expression in her two works, “Pride and Prejudice” and “First Impressions.” In her novels she takes a dig at the English society of the 18th century, and the snobbish women of the same period and her style of satire and irony sparkle to provide entertainment to the readers. Her social indictment does not offend the readers of her works. Her concern is to please the audience through her witty observations about the shortcomings in the society. Though not much popular viewed from the commercial angle during her lifetime, the twentieth century saw more than 200 literary adaptations of her works. Numerous film versions were also produced. She lived a tough middle class life after her father’s death, and her literary earnings were not enough to place her in a position of self-supporting individuals. Her works, initially written to entertain the family members, turned out to be the classics and she attained international fame, posthumously. The Wilson Quarterly explains that Jane Austen passed away at the age of 41, in 1817. Her father was always extremely proud of her and acted as her daughter’s agent, sending her early works to publishers in London. Although Austen didn’t receive much praise until after her death, Sir Walter Scott had always been a huge fan of her work. (Allen, 2010) The lifestyles and the personalities of each member of the family and her own reactions found expression through her characters. No one was spared, including her own self. Baker explains Jane Austen as independent, pensive, and always joking in her literary works. Baker feels that it’s important to understand Austen’s background in order to understand her works. The important social developments that were responsible to introduce total changes in the social and political structure found expression in some of her works. Baker states that the French Revolution is said to have been shown in Mansfield Park, and the Napoleonic wars and war of 1812 are shown in Persuasion in connection with her brothers serving in war. (Vandersluis, 2009) While being satirical, Jane Austen shows awareness about the immense potentialities of the human spirit, through her fictional characters. She never married, notwithstanding the fact that she received one important proposal at the latter stage of her life. But her life amongst her six brothers and one sister was the happy one. The satirical aspects of some of her novels are: Sense and Sensibility: It relates to the temperament of the two sisters. One loves logic and other the hearty feelings and emotions. Mismatched marriages, appointments with the future resulting in disappointments, the complex human affairs and how they affect women in particular are poignantly depicted. Jackson chooses Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility novel for examples of trust and betrayal. Jackson explains three examples in Sense and Sensibility where trust is shown. Jackson also notes the importance of trust in our society and how we must be aware of the disappointments betrayal can be. (2000, 13.2) Ray states that Colonel Brandon, a character in Sense and Sensibility appears “silent and grave” throughout the novel, but there is a lot to be learnt from this character. Ray explains that Brandon not only had sensibility, but also moral conduct according to Lawrence Kohlberg. Ray says that Jane Austen created Brandon, a very romantic “conquest” for Marianna Dashwood.(2001, 60.1) Pride and Prejudice: In this dialectical novel, Jane treads the difficult path of showing opposition to ethical principles. Considering the time to which she belonged, this is a tough option. Mansfield Park: This novel is an exercise in moral analysis. How an individual with low social rank will find it difficult to assimilate with others. The story descrfibes how the children of the Bertram family, though brought up with strict discipline, go astray and indulge in martial and extramarital affairs. The life in a society/family with conservative view of religion, politics and ethics is highlighted. Conclusion Satire in literature is no ordinary weapon. Through her literary creations Jane Austen has proved why ‘pen is mightier than the sword.’ Her works are still popular all over the world even after the lapse of more than two centuries, when they first saw the light of the day. Works Cited Allen, Brooke. "Celebrity Jane" The Wilson Quarterly 34.2 (2010): 89+. Academic OneFile. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 116: British Romantic Novelists, 1789-1832. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Bradford K. Mudge, University of Colorado at Denver. Gale Research, 1992. pp. 3-35. Jackson, Rodger L. “The Sense and Sensibility of Betrayal: Discovering the Meaning of Treachery through Jane Austen.” Humanitas 13.2 (2000): Academic OneFile. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. "Jane Austen." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 22 Mar. 2011 . Ray, Joan Klingel. “Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.” The Explicator 60.1 (2001): 15+. Academic OneFile. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. Stovel, Nora Foster. “’Moral Seriousness with Comic Drama’: Austen’s Legacy of Life, Love, and Laughter to Carol Shields.” Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal 30 (2008): 88-100. Rpt. In Contemporary Literacy Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 298. Detroit:Gale, 2011. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. Vandersluis, Melora G. “William Baker. Jane Austen: A Literary Reference to Her Life and Work.” Style Summer 2009: 254+. Academic OneFile. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. Allen, Brooke. "Celebrity Jane." The Wilson Quarterly 34.2 (2010): 89+. Academic OneFile. Web. 11 Mar. 2011. The Wilson Quarterly explains that Jane Austen passed away at the age of 41, in 1817. Her father was always extremely proud of her and acted as her daughter’s agent, sending her early works to publishers in London. Although Austen didn’t receive much praise until after her death, Sir Walter Scott had always been a huge fan of her work. Read More