Jane Austen Essay

MAHA DOSTMOHAMED Maha Dostmohamed Ms. Jalaluddin ENG3U1 September 16th, 2011 Behind the Success of Jane Austen â€Å"In my stars I am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em. † (William Shakespeare). In this quote, William Shakespeare is talking about the different ways that one becomes great. To be born great, for example, is comparable to someone born into a royal family, one who did not have to do anything to become great. To achieve greatness, one must do something great, such as winning a Nobel Prize. For one to have greatness thrust upon oneself occurs when one does not pursue greatness; however, it is greatness that comes to find them. Some of the greatest people in the world did not take or receive credit or achieve fame for their greatness. Jane Austen is an example of this. Although Jane Austen’s books are widely known and loved, they initially failed to make her name world renown since they were originally published anonymously. Jane Austen’s most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice was the biggest contributing factor in Jane’s journey to success since the book has enjoyed endless amounts of adoration from fans and is what gave Jane Austen the recognition she receives today as an established author. Jane Austen was a literary phenomenon due to her interesting portrayals of families of various classes, her comical renditions of the mercenary of people in the 18th century, and her original and refreshing take on romance. MAHA DOSTMOHAMED It is arguable that a large percentage of Jane Austen’s success comes from her relatable, entertaining, and insightful portrayals of families of various classes. Firstly, Jane’s portrayals of families in Pride and Prejudice are relatable because they put emphasis on family aspects that occur in many different kinds of families and cultures. In her the book, Mrs. Bennet, the mother of the five Bennet sisters, is eager to have all of her daughters marry wealthy, suitable men. In modern day, this is comparable to an arranged marriage, a tradition that takes place in many families of different cultures and classes. Furthermore, Jane Austen’s portrayal of families also keeps her novels entertaining. The character of Mr. Bennet, for example, from Pride and Prejudice, adds comic relief to the novel because of the entertaining way he reacts to the actions of his wife and daughters. When the news of Mr. Bingley’s arrival to town comes, for instance, Mrs. Bennet is over-excited with the high hopes of marrying off one of her daughters, while Mr. Bennet finds that his wife is being silly, but agrees to meet with Mr. Bingley for the sake of his daughters anyway. Moreover, Jane Austen’s creations are insightful because she doesn’t take the usual, too-familiar path of writing, but instead takes readers for a walk down a brand new, unfamiliar, yet interesting road. This is seen through the character Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, and the way that this character fits into her family. Elizabeth is a charming, witty girl whose character in most stories would be the most loved in her family; but in Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen shows the upsetting but realistic truth of how many a time in families, the more attractive child is loved over the child with the better personality. In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth’s sister Jane is loved by the family more than Elizabeth, and it is arguable that this strong adoration for Jane comes from the fact that Jane is the most beautiful of all the sisters. Finally, it is for MAHA DOSTMOHAMED all of these reasons that Jane Austen’s portrayals of families in Pride and Prejudice brought her success. Secondly, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice brought her success because her comical renditions of the mercenary and ignorance of people in the 18th century were exhibited thoroughly in the book. One of the comical aspects of Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen’s audacity with exhibiting the greed and mercenary of people in the 18th century, which was clearly seen through the characters of Mrs. Bennet and her neighbor, Lady Lucas. The way Mrs. Bennet and Lady Lucas are obsessed with the idea of having their daughters marry into wealthy families clearly shows the mercenary of people in the 18th century. Jane Austen exposed the morals of people in the 18th century as she displayed their ability to make important decisions such as finding a suitor for their daughters. She showed how they make marriage decisions based on how much money a possible suitor has to his name versus more personal and redeeming qualities. Furthermore, this money-based life in the 18th century is further exhibited through the character of Mr. Darcy, who along with his sister, is known to be very proud of his wealth. Furthermore, their pride revolving around their money made the book more popular because it was relatable since everyone knows of someone whose arrogance about their material items or money overpowers their more appealing qualities. In addition to that, the role money played in the lives of the characters also had an effect on their ignorance, another relatable subject. Mrs. Bennet is ignorant of the fact that instead of allowing her daughters to fall in love, she is only interested in finding husbands for her girls who have a lot of money, which can not only be related to the idea of an arranged MAHA DOSTMOHAMED marriage, but also how parents pressure their children when making career choices. Parents want their kids to pursue careers in which they will make a lot of money, rather than doing something with their life that they enjoy. This can be related to the way Mrs. Bennet wants her daughters to marry into wealthy families, although she believes she is doing what is in best interest of her girls, the girls may or may not see it the same way. Finally, Jane Austen’s renditions of 18th century people made Pride and Prejudice successful. Thirdly, Pride and Prejudice brought success to Jane Austen because of the original, refreshing perspective she had on romance, which was shown through the relationship between the novel’s two main characters, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. Firstly, the originality of this romance can be seen from the start of their relationship, from their first impressions. The first impressions these two characters develop of each other are so important to the themes of this novel that Jane Austen’s original title for the book was â€Å"First Impressions†. What is original about their first impressions is the fact that the romantic story that Jane Austen is telling is not the usual, too-familiar story of â€Å"love at first sight†, but rather the story of how two people who at first loathed each other, could fall in love. This brought popularity to the novel and to Jane Austen because readers loved the way that Elizabeth and Darcy went from hating to loving each other. In addition to that, the fact that a man like Mr. Darcy, a wealthy man with a vast amount of pride had the ability to fall in love with a girl like Elizabeth, rather than a girl more like her sister, Jane Bennet made readers fall in love with the story. In the novel, Elizabeth, although witty and lovable, is not the most beautiful of girls. In fact, when Mr. Darcy initially sees MAHA DOSTMOHAMED Elizabeth, he says that her appearance is nothing but â€Å"tolerable†, making it obvious that he sees her beauty miniscule when compared to that of her sister, Jane. The fact that Mr. Darcy acknowledges that Elizabeth is not the most beautiful of her sisters, knowing that if he had her he would not have the â€Å"best†, yet falls in love with her, is what readers fell in love with. Finally, Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice was a big factor regarding Jane Austen’s success because it highlighted Jane’s unique, original, and refreshing take on romance, which is a big part of what made readers love her. In conclusion, Jane Austen was a phenomenon and her success in writing is owed to her novel Pride and Prejudice which made readers fall in love with her interesting portrayals of families of various classes, her comical renditions of the mercenary and ignorance of people in the 18th century, and her original and refreshing take on romance. Jane Austen’s writings were comic, relatable, realistic, tasteful, refreshing, and original, all things that contributed to the rise in her success. Last of all, Jane Austen was a worldrenowned author whose creations have always been, and always will be, treasured and loved by many and most parts of the world for their excellence.