ENG308Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Mr. Darcy, Jane Austen, Unreliable Narrator
ENG308 November 16, 2017
Pride and Prejudice
-created a genre
-seeking your other half: powerful mythic
-austen’s novels are structured by the marriage plot
-usually end with a marriage
-a lot of characters get married for economic reasons
-austen is not talking about marriage as an end goal, she is talking about the process
that leads to it
-the process of self discovery, realizing what you want from life
-for austen, realizing what you want involved another happy
-this is half the battle: the other half is finding someone who fulfills these needs
-it is about self discovery and understanding others
-her characters are very observant
-in most of austens novels, she presents many marriages that aren’t working too
well
-in the novel, the classic example of a bad dysfunctional marriage is Mr. and Mrs.
Bennet
-mr Bennett spends all his time in his library to avoid hanging around 6 women
-elements of misogyny
-he pays no attention to his daughters
-the end result is that Lydia elopes: he has failed her
-the biggest obstacle to Elizabeth getting married is the family: Mr Darcy doesn’t like
either Mr. or Mrs. Bennet
-Mr. Bennet married Mrs. Bennet because she was pretty and flirty, and he didn’t
care about anything else
-Lydia is the next generation version of Mrs. Bennet
-the sheer number of unsuccessful marriages shows that most people don’t have the
brains to figure our what they need to be happy
-intensely social novels, about social life
-society at it’s every day level
-relationships between people structure the novels
-brings us very close to other people, the sense that you’re in the room with them
-interpretation is a central component of her novels
-every character is being watched by everybody else
-everybody sees themselves as being judged in some way
-most of these relationships occur on a really face to face basis
-we’re in a world of transportation and mobility, while her characters are not very
mobile
-the characters are stuck together in one place for long periods of time
-one might say that because all the relationships are all close up, there is a lack of
farsightedness
-lizzie is gifted at drawing conclusions from things close by, but she’s not very good
at seeing things in a distance
-hyper locality, localness is taken to a high level
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Austen"s novels are structured by the marriage plot. A lot of characters get married for economic reasons. Austen is not talking about marriage as an end goal, she is talking about the process that leads to it. The process of self discovery, realizing what you want from life. For austen, realizing what you want involved another happy. This is half the battle: the other half is finding someone who fulfills these needs. It is about self discovery and understanding others. In most of austens novels, she presents many marriages that aren"t working too well. In the novel, the classic example of a bad dysfunctional marriage is mr. and mrs. Mr bennett spends all his time in his library to avoid hanging around 6 women. The end result is that lydia elopes: he has failed her brains to figure our what they need to be happy. The biggest obstacle to elizabeth getting married is the family: mr darcy doesn"t like.
