Here are 5 Jane Austen Myths that the general public believes but her true fans would know to be not true! How many did you get right?
Austen was a quiet & boring spinster uninterested in world affairs.
Thanks to how her brother Henry described her life- “not by any means a life of event”- many people are under the illusion that Jane Austen's life was boring and monotonous.
She actually had quite a lot of colourful characters in her life! For example, her aunt was arrested for shoplifting; her brother lost his bank; and her cousin's husband was sent to the guillotine in the French Revolution. Whilst her novels barely refer to the issues of her time, such as slavery and the French Revolution, it would have been impossible for her to be unaware of "current" events.
Her brother Francis wrote, in 1807, “Slavery however much it may be modified is still slavery, and it is much to be regretted that any trace of it should be found to exist in countries dependent on England, or colonized by her subjects.”
Austen's books are only about romance.
Similar to how some people think that Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet is only a romance (the language actually has a lot of economic references), whilst romance is a key theme in her novels (here are the best Jane Austen quotes about love and her most iconic quotes (no particular theme)), it is used in a way to dissect money, inheritance, family power, social performance, moral judgment, and even gender relations. (Part of the romance of Pride & Prejudice is how the tall, dark (this was not actually specified in the novel FYI) and handsome Mr. Darcy falls in love with the penniless Elizabeth Bennet- but the reason Lizzy will be penniless is because the estate is entailed away from the females.)
Treating her as “just romance” misses why Austen's books hold and appeal across generations. (For the best Jane Austen film adaptations, click here.)
Austen wrote about the aristocracy.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
Whilst Austen's novel does have the odd aristocrat- Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Sir Walter Elliot, for example- the main characters are firmly rooted in the world of the gentry and landowners.
Austen lived in the middle of nowhere.
Whilst Jane Austen was born in a very small, very quiet country village (Steventon- even today, there are barely any shops or restaurants in Steventon- you would need to go to nearby Overton, which is where Jane did her shopping!), she actually visited London many times. I'll be sharing a list of the Austen sites in London to visit soon!
From her letters, we also know that she traveled to Guildford (and liked it.)
And, of course, she visited Lyme, lived in Bath and Southampton for a few years. (She nearly died of a fever in Southampton!)
Click here for Jane Austen's quotes about various places in England.
Austen had no personal experience about love.
Jane actually almost got married! She accepted a marriage proposal from a family friend, only to change her mind the very next day.
Personally, I've always wondered if her refusal and her life after that refusal influenced the ending of Pride & Prejudice. (She started writing before the proposal, but made many revisions to years after it.) Maybe Lizzy would never have accepted Mr Darcy?
What are some common beliefs about Jane Austen's novels that you think are false? Let me know in the comments!
