During Jane Austen’s era, there was a large economic gap between social classes. The families of the nineteenth century, especially those with a superfluity of children, attempted to marry their kids off to wealthy suitors. When Austen wrote Northanger Abbey, many economic events occurred, such as the Restriction Act of 1797, which limited the amount of money English subjects could withdraw from the bank and caused a panic among them. In Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, Austen’s characters portray the effect of monetary status on her society’s behaviors and attitudes.
British citizens panicked as the parliament enacted the Restriction Act of 1797. The act “had an economic impact upon everyone living in Britain at the time as it called into question the value of paper money” (Craig 144). Many members of society were worried that the economy would break down and the bank would leave them with useless paper money. The solution to this problem was to marry their plethora of children off to wealthy suitors who not only possessed copious amounts of paper money, but also held generous acres of land and metals with no value depreciation. In the event that the panic was a false alarm, which it later turned out to be, the wealth from paper money would provide protection, security and at the very least a sustainable living. Austen creates a compelling example of the type of parent who basically sells of their children for a better advancement in life in General Tilney from Northanger Abbey. General Tilney listens to John Thorpe’s exaggeration “of the [Morland] family as yet more wealthy than his vanity and avarice had made him believe” and blindly trusts in Thorpe because he wants to believe this is true (Austen 229). General Tilney then ...
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...ce and monetary status. Austen includes the foils of the society she observes and the actual characters that represent her polite society to communicate her economic theme of monetary wealth and high status in humanity negatively influencing the world of polite society.
Works Cited
Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2005. Print.
Babb, Howard S. “Northanger Abbey.” Jane Austen’s Novels: The Fabric of Dialogue. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 1962. 88-98. Print.
Craig, Sheryl. “Northanger Abbey: Money in the Bank.” Persuaions: The Jane Austen Journal 32 (2010): 144-153. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 22. Oct. 2013.
Gooneratne, Yasmine. “Northanger Abbey.” Jane Austen. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1970. 52-57. Print.
Herbert, David. “Place and Society in Jane Austen’s England.” Geography. 76.3 (1991): 193-208. JSTOR. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.
Fowler, Karen J.Introduction. Persuasion. Jane Austen: The Complete Novels. By Jane Austen. New York: Penguin, 2006. 1091-1231. Print.
Moving from the home she adored was troublesome for Jane, particularly in light of the fact that the family lived in a few better places until 1809, when Mr. Austen passed on. Amid that time of nine years, Austen did not compose. After her dad's demise, Austen and her mom and sister moved to Chawton, a nation town where Austen's sibling loaned the family a house he claimed. There Austen could seek after her work once more, and she composed Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion. Mansfield Park, which was published in 1814, narrates the story of Fanny Price, a young lady from a poor family who is raised by her rich auntie and uncle at Mansfield Park. The book concentrates on profound quality and the battle amongst heart and societal weights and is considered by a few pundits to be the "primary present day novel” (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1948).
Southam, B.C., (ed.), Jane Austen: The Critical Heritage. Landon, NY: Routledge & Kegan Paul - Barres & Nobel Inc., 1968.
McDonnell, Helen, Neil E. Nakadate, John Pfordresher, and Thomas E. Shoemate. ENGLAND in Literature. Medallion ed. N.p.: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1990. 69-80. Print.
Jane Austen completes her story with a “Cinderella ending” of Catherine and Henry marrying. However, her novel is more than a fairytale ending. Although often wrong and misguided in their judgments, she shows the supremacy of males that permeated throughout her society. Jane Austen takes us from a portrayal of men as rude, self-centered, and opinionate to uncaring, demanding, and lying to downright ruthless, hurtful, and evil. John Thorpe’s and General Tilney’s total disregard for others feelings and their villainous ways prove Austen’s point. Whether reading Northanger Abbey for the happy ending or the moral lesson, this novel has much to offer.
In Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, Austen portrays her heroine, Catherine as an innocent young girl who fails to understand the language. She is too young that she cannot understand the words may have different meaning. Catherine consistently misjudges people around her. She fails to interpret about what ...
New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 1979. Le Faye, Deirdre, ed. Jane Austen's letters, 3rd. ed. Oxford University Press, 1995.
Abbey are crucial for developing and maturing Catherine’s character. Bibliography Austen, Jane. [1818] 1990 Northanger Abbey, ed. by John Davie, with an introduction by Terry Castle, Oxford World’s Classics, Oxford: Oxford University Press Regan, Stephen. Ed. 2001.
... But in fact her powers and beauty cannot change the foundation of her society. Emma’s circumscription within the boundaries of her class kept her world under control. This prevents her from considering another society beyond her existence. The confusion from her failed attempts with Harriet due to her guidance, allows her to embrace reality. Jane Austen uses Emma’s character to reveal the quality in the structures of the nineteenth century society. Based on the conclusion of the novel, when Emma is forced to look beyond the limited power and beauty she has and acknowledge the existing order and structure of the early nineteenth century English society.
In her first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen brought to life the struggles and instability of the English hierarchy in the early 19th century. Through the heartaches and happiness shared by Elinor Dashwood, who represented sense and her sister Marianne, who stood for sensibility, Austen tells a story of sisters who plummet from the upper class to the lower crust of society and the characters that surround them. Austen juxtaposes the upper and lower classes in English society to give the reader a full understanding of the motivation to be a part of the upper class and the sacrifices one will give up to achieve such status. Austen exposes the corruptness of society, the significance of class and the fundamental building blocks both are to the decision-making surrounding her protagonists, Marianne and Elinor.
Austen was raised in an unusually liberal family where her father was a part of the middle-landowning class. They had a moderate amount of luxuries, but were not considered well off. Unlike many girls of her time Austen received a fairly comprehensive education. She received this mainly through the undivided support of her family. Austen and her sisters, like most girls of their time, were homeschooled. Austen’s zealous parents encouraged the girls to play piano, read and write. Her parent’s encouragement led to her interest in writing. Austen’s father housed an extensive library filled with books which kept Austen occupied for years (“Sense and Sensibility” 119). Through her observant nature and passion to read and write, Austen was able to eloquently write of the many “hidden truths” of social and class distinction during her time. They included daily societal changes some of which foreshadowed future societal leniency. Familial support also extended societal norm of marriage. Her parents attempt...
“Biography of Jane Austen.” Critical insight: Pride and Prejudice (2011): 18-31. Literary Reference Center. Web. 24 Nov 2013.
In the novel Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen, the Dashwood family is left with much less money after their father dies. When their cousin takes them in, they move to a new home and start their new life. In this time period money and social rank were the most important things. For most marriage has nothing to do with love, it is about gaining property, money or rank. This is why Elinor and Marianne’s, two of the Dashwood sisters, answers to the question: “what have wealth or grandeur to do with happiness?” (122) are so important. Elinor, the eldest Dashwood sister has all the characteristics of sense and responds, “grandeur has but little . . . but wealth has much to do with it” (122). She is implying that to be happy in life one must have money. Marianne seems to be the opposite of Elinor and embodies sensibility; she disagrees and claims that money “gives no real satisfaction” (122). This theme is seen throughout the novels with many characters specifically with the characters of the two Dashwood sisters, Edward, Mr. Willoughby and Colonel Brandon. These ideas influence the characters’ decisions and have many consequences.
In Sense and Sensibility the characters are very well-off, but having plenty of money doesn’t seem to stop them from being selfish and greedy and concerned about inheritances. They are generally very concerned with money, to the point of greed. The novel opens with the issue of the inheritance of Norland and questions of money, as Fanny persuades her husband John not to give any money to the Dashwood sisters, even though he can easily afford to. John wants to think of himself as generous to his family, but is easily manipulated by Fanny to keep his fortune to himself and not help the Dashwood sisters. The novel’s wealthy characters have distorted standards for what qualifies as
Fergus, Jan. “Biography.” The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen. Ed. Janet Todd.