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Category: Jane Austen
Who told Lady Catherine??
Who sent Lady Catherine on her wild ride to Longbourn? I always say that Jane Austen never plants a question in our heads without giving us the answer, and she continues to prove me right.
“Is this,” thought Elizabeth, “meant for me?” – Rereading the Turning Point Conversation between Elizabeth Bennet and Colonel Fitzwilliam
Elizabeth’s blush when she says that distance isn’t a problem if money is no object. Even her feigned coolness when she tells Col Fitzwilliam that she’s surprised Darcy doesn’t marry for the convenience of a built-in travel buddy, all take on new shape.
Mrs Weston is pretty. Don’t add that into Frank’s lies (audio with rough transcript)
I’ve now read two people casting shade on what I will admit is Frank’s somewhat greasy way of saying “I didn’t expect to see a young pretty woman” about Mrs. Weston to Emma at first. But I get a little offended at that. I– She’s not that old, and I bet she is pretty. Like, are you telling me you don’t think Mrs. Weston’s pretty?
Emma: “she sends back the arrowroot” (audio with rough transcript)
“If Emma doesn’t know, then her flirting with Frank isn’t something to get that mad about, even with what she said to Miss Bates. Because by the time Emma starts, like, trying to be nice to her and invite her along in the carriage and just– I mean, she sends back the arrowroot. She sends it back. She’s sending a message. She could have just– she could have just been like, even– I mean, sending it back? It’s arrowroot.”
Emma: in on the secret
“But is it possible that you had no suspicion? — I mean of late. Early, I know, you had none.”
“I never had the smallest, I assure you.”
“That appears quite wonderful.”
Jane Austen: Mockingbird
Austen took the skills of an expert impersonator and moved them to the written page.
“My dear Fanny”
Mary is all, “I’m so glad we’re going to be sisters!” and Fanny writes back, “Thank you for the honour of your note. Here is an icicle.’
Virginia Woolf on Jane Austen
“…even if the pangs of outraged vanity, or the heat of moral wrath, urged us to improve away a world so full of spite, pettiness, and folly, the task is beyond our powers. … No touch of pettiness, no hint of spite, rouse us from our contemplation. Delight strangely mingles with our amusement. Beauty illumines these fools.”
CALL IT “CONSPIRACY”: the plot against Georgiana Darcy (Pride and Prejudice)
Mrs. Younge was able to buy “a large house” in a nice part of London immediately after her plot with Wickham was foiled. And since we know that she didn’t take advantage of a low-interest rate deal at her local lender, that means that she had the money to buy it while she was working as Georgiana’s governess.
Exact Words 