The other day I stumbled upon what I think is
quite an entertaining movie: Becoming Jane
It deals with a pre- Pride and Prejudice, 20
year-old Jane Austen. It tells the story of how she fell in love with Thomas
Lefroy (allegedly the inspiration for Mr. Darcy) their affair, and how it
ended, making Miss Austen a wiser woman and better novelist.
Of course I had to research and find out if
what is shown in the movie is based on actual facts. It’s not – Sadly, it’s
just speculation and a bit of imagination.
Why do I use the word “sadly”?
As you probably know, Jane Austen never
married, or had a known “companion”, nevertheless, the heroines in her novels
almost always get their “Mr. Darcy”. Even though it has been said in lessons
that Jane Austen did not write about romance (but about morality, gender,
social class, etc.) It is sad to think that she never found an intellectual equal
that made her heart flutter.
As a matter of fact, I believe the film makers
felt the same way I did, since Miss Austen is portrayed as one of the heroines
in her novels, in fact most of the dialogue between her and her love interest
is lifted from Pride and Prejudice.
"Tell Mary that I make
over Mr Heartley & all his Estate to her for her sole use and Benefit in
future, & not only him, but all my other Admirers into the bargain wherever
she can find them, even the kiss which C. Powlett wanted to give me, as I mean
to confine myself in future to Mr Tom Lefroy, for whom I donot care
sixpence."
letter
to Cassandra
January 14, 1796
January 14, 1796
"After I had written
the above, we received a visit from Mr Tom Lefroy and his cousin George.
The latter is really very well-behaved now; and as for the other, he has but one fault,
which time will, I trust, entirely remove--it is that his morning coat is a
great deal too light. He is a very great admirer of Tom Jones, and
therefore wears the same coloured clothes, I imagine, which he did
when he was wounded."
letter
to Cassandra
January 9, 1796
January 9, 1796
"He is a very
gentlemanlike, good-looking, pleasant young man, I assure you. But as to
our having ever met, except at the three last balls, I cannot say much; for he
is so excessively laughed at about me at Ashe, that he is ashamed of coming to
Steventon, and ran away when we called on Mrs Lefroy a few days ago."
letter to Cassandra
January 9, 1796
"At
length the Day is come on which I am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy, &
when you receive this it will be over--My tears flow as I write, at the
melancholy idea."
Lletter
to Cassandra
January 15, 1796
To our dismay, Cassandra had the habit of destroying Jane´s letter after
she read them, and Jane herself never spoke publicly about Lefroy. However,
Lefroy is reported to have said that he did love Jane “with a boyish love” according
to a letter send by his nephew to James Edward Austen Leight in 1870.
We can conclude that our forward-thinking (at the time) author did write
from experience. Even though she didn´t live as Elizabeth Bennet or Emma Woodhouse,
she did have her own, private, incredible story which, in one way or another
helped us acknowledge the universal truth that a single woman in possession of
a good brain, must not necessarily be in want of a husband.
References:
Jarrold, J.(Director). (2007). Becoming Jane. Uk-Ireland. UK Film Council
Walker, L.R. (2006). Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy: Stories. Persuatsions on-line. V27, N°1. Retrieved from
http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol27no1/walker.htm
I really liked the fact that you phrase your last sentence as the first one in Pride and Prejudice. Clever!
ResponderEliminarI would like to point out that Ms. Austen style has kind of mesmerized me. Although you mentioned that she never had a Darcy in her life and that she never found her match in any sense, she is very realistic in terms of relationships, even when she tries to give the reader a happy ending. The male protagonist in the case of Pride and Prejudice is in fact a conceited man. Austen does not depict him as Prince Charming, but as a man with flaws. Miss Bennet on the other hand, is not perfect either, maybe she would have never fell in love with Darcy if he weren’t the owner of Pemberley in Derbyshire. Who knows! Maybe that is why the title of the book is so relevant. Pride and Prejudice. I used to think that one of the protagonists would be the proud one and the other the one who prejudge. But now I am more likely to think that the proud ones are both protagonists and the prejudice is left to the reader. The reader is the one who should interpret the intentions of each protagonist. True love? Interest? We are the ones who judge through the scope of personal experiences maybe, or the author’s experience.