"I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!"
-Jane Austen- Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen is one of England's most well-renowned novelists and is widely known throughout the entire world. She was born on December 16th, 1775 in Stevenson Hampshire, and died July 18th, 1817 at the age of forty-one in Winchester Hampshire. Being a clergyman's daughter influenced many of the characters, attitudes, and phrasings in her writings.
Life Of Jane Austen
Austen was born into a family who had a love for writing. Her family valued education greatly; even though it was not compulsory for her to go to school her parents sent her and her sister to a girls' boarding school. She completed formal schooling at twelve years then started writing to amuse herself and her family, as they loved reading aloud to each other. She also thought of her writings as her children. In a letter to her sister, she described Pride and Prejudice as her 'darling child'. In regards to another one of her works, she wrote, "I am never too busy to think of Sense and Sensibility. I can no more forget it than a mother can forget her sucking child." Originally Sense and Sensibility was named 'Elinor and Marianne' and was signed "By a Lady", Pride and Prejudice was titled 'First Impressions
and "By the author of Sense and Sensibility" was the signature.
Pride and Prejudice
It wasn't until the Victorian era that Jane Austen was acknowledged as a great author. All of her works her published anonymously. The novel 'Pride and Prejudice' is known to be her most famous. Its first draft was finished in October 1796 and was published in 1813, January. The story introduces a man named Charles Bingley, who is wealthy and single. The neighbors of the Netherfield estate especially Ms. Bennet, who wishes that he would marry one of her five daughters.
The daughters were all impressed by his outgoing personality when they meet at the local ball, however, they are less impressed by prideful Fitzwilliam Darcy who is Bingley's friend. Bingley and Jane the oldest Bennet daughter soon form a connection that is opposed by the other daughters and Darcy. During this while, Darcy began to be attracted to Elizabeth Bennet. The more he grew interested in her the more Elizabeth despised him and is instead interested in George Wickham, a militia officer. Wickham makes claims to her that Darcy disobeyed his father's bequest of a clergyman's revenue to Wickham out of bitterness. Elizabeth believes him without a second thought, coming to dislike Darcy even more.
After a while, Elizabeth is stunned to find out that Bingley and the Netherfield party have suddenly left for London. Her friend Caroline writes to Jane saying that she predicts a match between Bingley and Georgiana, Darcy's sister, and they had no plans of returning. Jane then resigns herself to a quiet life without Bingley, however, Elizabeth gets angry for her sister and suspects that Bingley's sisters and Darcy are keeping him from Jane. Elizabeth visits Caroline in her new home and meets Darcy there too. Darcy seeks out her company but never says much, which leaves her confused. One day he proposes to her but Elizabeth refuses disgusted by his prideful nature and thinking somehow he had a hand in Bingley's separation from Jane. The next day Darcy writes her a letter explaining how he had no hand in the situation. Elizabeth realizes that Darcy may be prideful but is innocent of wrongdoing, leaving her mortified at her prejudice against Darcy.
She returns home for a month then goes on a trip with her aunt and uncle and visits the Darcy's estate where they run into Darcy. Darcy treats them graciously and introduces her to his sisters. He is still in love with Elizabeth and she starts to feel the same way toward him.
Bingley returns to Netherfield and asks Jane to marry him which she happily agrees to and after some time Darcy proposed to Elizabeth again and this time she gladly accepted. The story teaches a valuable lesson that one shouldn't judge my first impressions.
Austen's Writing Style
Jane Austen's writing style includes the use of irony, figurative language, rhythm, free indirect speech, and romance literature. She comes to the top of the list for the greatest romance author of all time. she is known for six of her novels, these are: "Pride and Prejudice"(1813), "Sense and Sensibility"(1811), "Emma"(1815), Mansfield Park (1814), Persuasion(1817), and Northanger Abbey (1817).
This famous author has a lot of beneficial life lessons in her novels. Read them to find them out, it'll be a reading experience you will not regret.
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