Joking with Jane

Jane Austen’s novels and the tone of her letters have always given me the feeling that she was a lot like Elizabeth Bennet.

I can’t help thinking that she modelled Elizabeth on herself, but it was unconsciously done. Otherwise she would have been too modest to jot down her famous description of Elizabeth in one of her letters to Cassandra:

‘I must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her at least, I do not know.’ (Chawton, 29 Jan 1813)

I came across some speculations that Jane Austen wanted to give Elizabeth the happy ending she herself never had with Tom Lefroy. Perhaps that had something to do with Elizabeth having her happily ever after. But we can easily imagine that Mr Lefroy had also inspired the Jane Bennet-Charles Bingley arc. In her letter of 9 January 1796, Jane Austen described him as ‘a very gentlemanlike, good-looking, pleasant young man.’ He danced with her and flirted – and then vanished from the neighbourhood, never to be seen again. But this post is not about Mr Lefroy, so I will just say this and move on: there is sweet irony in his relations thinking that Jane Austen was not good enough for him, yet how often would his name be mentioned now, were it not for his very brief history with her?

So – Joking with Jane. Oh, if only we could sit, chat and joke with her! Thankfully, she left us her wonderful books and the timeless characters she created.

I know I’m 100% obsessed with Pride and Prejudice, I’ve long made my peace with that 😀 . But what do you think, is it just because of my obsession that I hear Elizabeth’s laughter in Jane Austen’s letters?

‘My dear Cassandra,

Here I am once more in this scene of dissipation and vice, and I begin already to find my morals corrupted. (London, 23 Aug 1796)

‘…I fancy I could just as well dance for a week together as for half an hour.’ (Steventon, 24 Dec 1798)

‘You express so little anxiety about my being murdered under Ash Park copse by Mrs Hulbert’s servant, that I have a great mind not to tell you whether I was or not…’ (Steventon, 9 Jan 1799)

‘Besides, I cannot help thinking that it is more natural to have flowers grow out of the head than fruit.’ (London, 11 June 1799, about buying ornaments for Cassandra’s bonnet)

‘Our ball was rather more amusing than I expected. […] The melancholy part was to see so many dozen young women standing by without partners, and each of them with two ugly naked shoulders.’ (Southampton, 9 Dec 1808)

‘In another week I shall be at home and then my having been at Godmersham will seem like a dream, as my visit at Brompton seems already. The orange wine will want our care soon. But in the meantime, for elegance and ease and luxury […] I shall eat ice and drink French wine and be above vulgar economy. Luckily, the pleasures of friendship, of unreserved conversation, of similarity of taste and opinions will make good amends for orange wine.’ (Godmersham,1 Jul 1808)

‘…she is a poor honey, the sort of woman who gives me the idea of being determined never to be well and who likes her spasms and nervousness and the consequence they give her, better than anything else. This is an ill-natured sentiment to send all over the Baltic!’ (To Francis Austen, Captain of HMS Elephant from Godmersham, 25 Sept 1813)

‘You deserve a longer letter than this; but it is my unhappy fate seldom to treat people as well as they deserve. God bless you. Yours affectionately, Jane Austen’ (To Cassandra from Steventon, 24-26 Dec 1798).

My obsession runs even deeper: I’m hearing Elizabeth’s laughter and her voice in all the novels, not just P&P.

‘Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.’ (Pride and Prejudice, Chapter XI).

Isn’t this what Jane Austen does when she pokes fun at Miss Elliot, Mary Musgrove, Mrs Norris, Mr Woodhouse, Mr Elton and his Augusta, John Thorpe and his scheming sister Isabella, and all her other characters who expose themselves to ridicule?

She laughs at them but, like Elizabeth, Jane Austen is never cruel. There is humour even in the punishment meted out to the worst villains.

Elizabeth gives Mr Wickham a thorough, very clever yet very civil dressing-down when he comes to Longbourn as her brother-in-law, but then still gives him and Lydia whatever assistance she can.

Jane Austen doesn’t devise some darkly Victorian fate for them. She leaves Wickham and Lydia to be each other’s punishment. Mrs Norris and Maria are sent away to live in a remote and private establishment, ‘shut up together with little society,’ so that they might end up by being each other’s punishment too. Mary Crawford is ‘long in finding’ a suitable replacement for Edmund Bertram among the many idle gentlemen drawn to her by her beauty and her twenty thousand pounds. And what better punishment for Miss Bingley than to be forced to court Mrs Bingley’s and Mrs Darcy’s favour, after treating them both so badly throughout the entire novel?

Speaking of Miss Bingley, I’m planning to have some wicked fun with her in my next WIP.

She is busily making a nuisance of herself already, taking advantage of the fact all those at the receiving end of her scheming (her brother, Jane, Elizabeth, Mr Darcy) are too well-mannered to give her the blistering set-down she deserves.

Here’s a short conversation between Elizabeth and Jane on this subject, from Chapter 4 of my 2022 WIP (the title is still a WIP too):

“What does she hope to gain with her paltry attacks?” Elizabeth fumed in a harsh whisper. “I will tell you this, Jane: I shan’t be able to keep a civil tongue in my head for much longer. Miss Bingley needs a dose of her own medicine, and I shall be happy to supply it!”

Jane reached out and pressed her hand. “Aye, perhaps the release would please you. But only briefly, in the heat of the moment. Then you would be angry with yourself for letting her provoke you into sinking to her level. You know I speak the truth, Lizzy. Just as you know that unmannerly displays should be met with even more civility, not less.”

“Civility is wasted on the likes of her,” Elizabeth grumbled. “Such is the way of the crass and shameless: they see civility as weakness. Each time her snide remarks go unopposed, Miss Bingley flatters herself that she has won the round.”

“So?” Jane shrugged, and Elizabeth could not forbear a rueful chuckle.

“Very well. You make a good point, I grant you. There is but meagre and fleeting satisfaction in paying her back in kind, and certainly no honour in brawling like a fishwife. So I shall don the mantle of virtue and hold my tongue. Bite it, if need be. There, will that do?”

“It might, as long as you do not bite too hard,” Jane teased. “Pray have a care, Lizzy, and bear in mind that you still need your tongue.”

(Copyright © Joana Starnes)

Thanks for stopping by today. So, what sort of a comeuppance would you choose for Miss Bingley?