Introduction: Jane Austen’s real talent is revealed much
through her wonderful capacity for characterization. Like Shakespeare, she presents
her characters truthfully and realistically. She is sensitive to every
small nuance of manner and behavior and any deviation from the standard. The
range of her characters is narrow and she confines herself to the landed gentry
in the country-side. Servants, laborers and yeomanry rarely appear
and even aristocracy is hardly touched upon. When she deals with aristocracy,
she satirizes them such as Lady Catherine in P&P.
Her Characters are never repeated: despite such a narrow
range. Not a single character has been repeated in any of her six books. The
snobbishness of the Vicar, Mr. Collins in P&P is unlike that of Mr. Elton,
the Vicar in Emma. Similarly, there is a great difference between the vulgarity
of Mrs. Bennet and that of Mrs. Jennings. Macaulay declares that her characters
are commonplace, ‘Yet they are all as perfectly discriminated from
each other as if they were the most eccentric of human beings.’
State different psychological habits and emotions of Darcy,
Elizabeth, Jane, Mrs. Bennet.
Her characters - individualized yet universal: Jane
Austen has so comprehensive and searching a view of human nature that she
invests them with a universal character. Her characters are universal types.
Thus, when Mr. Darcy says, ‘I have been selfish all my life in practice but not
in principle’ he confesses the weakness of high minded dominating males in
every age and climate. Wickham represents all pleasant-looking but selfish,
unprincipled and hypocritical flirts. Mr. Bennet is a typical cynical father.
These qualities of Austen’s characters make them universal and individualized.
Realistic portrayal of her characters: Her characters
impress us as real men and women since they are drawn to perfection.
They are never idealized. Even her most virtuous characters have faults. Jane
Bennet, being a virtuous and sweet-nature girl, never thinks ill of others.
This makes her lack proper judgment. Elizabeth, herself is a conventional
heroine. She has faults of vanity and prejudice. Her mother, at a such a high
level of responsibility as a mother, exhibits vulgarity and indecorous manners.
Darcy and Lady Catherine’s manners reflect aristocracy so realistically. The
impartiality with which Jane Austen depicts her characters imparts a
touch of realism and volume to them.
Her characters are three-dimensional: Her world of reality
is never disturbed for all its romances, elopements and dejection because of
the convincing reality of her characters. Her characters are three-dimensional
portraying various human traits. Collins doesn’t commit suicide when her
proposal is rejected by Elizabeth, but settles down with Charlotte.
Darcy shows his unexpected trait after his proposal is rejected. The
psychological and realistic portrayal of her characters is what makes them
according to David Ceil, ‘Three-dimensional’. The characters come alive in
flesh and blood as it were because of their realistic portrayal. Jane
Austen reveals her characters dramatically through their conversations,
their actions, and their letters or gradually through a variety of point of
view and this adds to their three-dimensional effects.
Characters revealed through conversations: She makes very
careful use of conversations. Thus, the dialogue between Elizabeth not
only reveals effectively the antagonism between the two of them, but also the
intelligence of the both. Collins and Lydia are revealed through
their letters. And we learn of Elizabeth Bennet, the most striking of Jane
Austen’s heroines through her speech and actions and the remarks of such people
as Mr. Darcy, her father and Miss Bingley. Thus, in the first chapter of
P&P the vulgarity and stupidity of Mrs. Bennet and the sarcastic humour of
Mr. Bennet have already been revealed in their dialogues. The characters of
Austen frequently gossip with one another about other characters. This makes
the plot even more gripping, realistic and touching.
Revealed through comparison and contrast: Lady Catharine
balances with Mrs. Bennet. Wickham serves a contrast while Bingley a foil to
Darcy. Elizabeth with Jane. In P&P, Elizabethechoes Austen’s
own sense of humor and ironic wit and the ability to laugh at whims
and inconsistencies, but it is preposterous to assume that Jane Austen herself
suffered from such prides and prejudices. The sympathy and partial
identification help Jane Austen in delineating the character
faithfully.
Elizabeth: Jane Austen said of her heroine, “I
must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in
print”. To create a charming heroine is one of the rarest achievements in
fiction. Jane Austen’s liking is borne out by the countless other readers who
have fallen in love with her for more than a hundred and thirty years. A.C.
Bradley wrote, “I am meant to fall in love with her and I do”. Her charm arises
to a great extent from her intricacy, her intellectual complexity. She is
profound and perceptive with the ability to discern people and situations
extraordinarily well. She comprehends the merits and demerits of the Bingleys
almost at once; she knows Mr. Collins to be an affected fool and judges Lady
Catherine at the first meeting. She understands her family is conscious
of the vulgarity of her mother. She has the ready gift of repartee and a
perfect command of epigrammatic expression. She is not intimidated by Lady
Catherine to her enquiry whether Darcy had made a proposal to Elizabethand
she answers, “Your ladyship has declared it to be impossible”. Despite all
these characteristics, Elizabeth is not an idealized or perfect
heroine of a romantic novel. She is prone to errors and mistakes of every
day life. However, she learns from her mistakes and tends to correct them. It
is true that Elizabeth blinds herself absurdly because of prejudice.
Thus, her intelligence, high spirit and courage, wit and readiness,
her artistic temperament and her ability to laugh good-humouredly at herself is
the specialty of Elizabeth. Indeed, the popularity of the novel
rests on the brilliant portrayal of its charming and captivating heroine.
Darcy: to many readers and critics, the great blot on
the book is the author’s portrayal of Darcy. To all appearances, there are two
Darcys that we meet in P&P, the Darcy in the first half of the play –
proud, cold, haughty and unfriendly and the Darcy of the second half – warm,
loving and considerate, kind, hospitable and eager to please. These seeming
incorrigible aspects of Darcy’s character are taken to be a failure on part of
Jane Austen’s art of characterization. Jane Austen was in her early twenties
when she wrote P&P, so this failure is as a result of her immaturity.
However, critics believe that Darcy is a credible character and has these
incorrigible aspects as a result of our misread Darcy’s character along with Elizabeth.
Darcy is proud in the beginning. He acknowledges his own. At Netherfield, he
tells Elizabeth, “My opinion once lost is lost forever”. And finally his
proposal to Elizabeth at Hunsford parsonage is more eloquent on the
subject of pride than of tenderness, but he is sensitive, intelligent and
complex. He is not morally blind either and recognizes the vulgarity of
ill-manners of the Bingley sisters and is as much embarrassed by Lady
Catherine’s behavior as he had been by Mrs. Bennet’s vulgarity.
Jane & Bingley: At first glance, it is Bingley and
Jane that capture our attention as the main characters and become the center of
attraction for every one. Elizabeth says of Jane, “You are too good.
Your sweetness and disinterestedness are really angelic.” Jane is a foil to Elizabeth.
She, however, enjoys the admiration of both Elizabeth and Darcy and highlights
their pride and prejudice. Similarly, Bingley is only a foil to the more
forceful personality of Darcy despite all his cheerfulness. The Jane-Bingley
romance also presents a contrast to the turbulent relationship of Darcy and
Elizabeth. Their relationship is based upon harmony arising out of a similarity
of natures. Jane and Bingley are both characters, not intricate or
complex.
Conclusion: Jane Austen’s major characters are intricate;
however, there are some failings. Darcy is real and convincing, but appears
only in scenes with Elizabeth. The minor characters are usually flat but
they also develop when we meet them. Thus each of these wide range of
characters are multi-dimensional with a mix of the good and bad qualities,
exhibiting strong individual idiosyncrasies and traits, at the same time
typical of universal human nature.
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