Sunday, December 19, 2010
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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