Jane Austen For Dummies (68 page)

Being memorable doesn't necessarily mean being good

Noting the worthy characters of Austen's fiction

Austen doesn't populate her novels with many children, and when they're on the page, they're usually annoying like the Middleton children in
Sense and Sensibility
. But she has one truly wonderful child character in her fragment
The Watsons
. Charles Blake is a 10-year-old boy who loves to dance — so much so that he accompanies his mother and the noble Osborne family to the ball. Having lined up Miss Osborne as his partner for the first dance, he awaits the opening dance with excitement and joy. But as the dance is to begin, Miss Osborne dumps Charles for Colonel Beresford, promising Charles she will dance with him after tea. Charles now stands “the picture of disappointment, with crimson'd cheeks, quivering lips, and his eyes bent on the floor.” Suddenly, Emma Watson saves the day (and evening!) and offers to dance with Charles.

Charles puts on his new dancing gloves and proceeds to the floor with Emma. When Miss Osborne sees him dancing with Emma, she says, “‘Upon my word Charles . . . you have a better partner than me'” — to which the happy Charles answered “‘Yes.'” And he's not just speaking of Emma's dancing quality.

And the award goes to . . .
Pride and Prejudice
's Elizabeth Bennet, hands down. She's clever and quick, but she shows that being clever and quick is both a strength and a weakness. On the positive side, Elizabeth is quick and snappy in conversation: When Darcy claims that country life offers little variety in people, she immediately counters, “‘But people themselves alter so much, that there is something new to be observed in them for ever'” — just like Elizabeth Bennet (PP 1:9)! Yet having been insulted by Darcy's saying she was just okay-looking, but not pretty enough to ask for a dance, she quickly forms and nurtures a prejudice against him, egging him on about Wickham. Taking everything that Wickham says at face value allows her to be duped by his lies. But Elizabeth is also honest with herself and others. When she studies Darcy's explanatory letter and reflects both on its contents and the behaviors of Jane and Wickham, she is totally frank about her errors, saying “‘Till this moment, I never knew myself'” (PP 2:13). Elizabeth is also athletic, a good dancer, and modest about her accomplishments. No wonder Darcy falls for her!

Pride and Prejudice
may be racking up some honors in this most memorable list. But, hey, it's a delicious book! Fitzwilliam Darcy is the next character from
Pride and Prejudice,
but he may be a bit misunderstood. Misunderstood? Yes. Actors play him dour, sullen, and serious. While he does look grave once in a while, he does so because he has a lot at stake in choosing a wife to become the next mistress of Pemberley, his fabulous estate. He frequently smiles at Elizabeth appreciatively and is remarkably patient when she's being pert with him. He enjoys conversation and is “clever,” as the author points out. Did I say he's tall and handsome? Most memorably, however, is the way he learns from his mistakes, which are biggies. He insults Elizabeth Bennet, meddles in the Bingley/Jane romance, and first proposes to Elizabeth outlining all the ways she's inferior to him. Even with an annual income of £10,000, he wasn't charming his way into Elizabeth's heart and mind by insulting her. But he's always in movement, trying to explain himself to Elizabeth, and he learns more about himself because Elizabeth (a strong character herself — that's why she's the most memorable leading lady) corrects him and puts him in his place. Later, Darcy admits to her how she has helped him to be a better man and a gentleman. He's an honest man who admits his faults, a wonderful hero, and for my money, the most memorable hero in Austen's novels.

It's a tie here, but each female flirt is different from the other.
Pride and Prejudice
's Miss Bingley loves to flirt with Darcy, but she goes about it in the wrong ways. She can't stop putting her foot in her mouth, and her flirting seems to gratify the reader because the flirting always boomerangs on her. For example:

Miss Bingley's nasty attempts at flirting with Darcy by demeaning Elizabeth and her family either fall flat or ricochet on her. She can't win. It's almost a pleasure to watch her fail.

Mary Crawford from
Mansfield Park
is a memorable flirt for a very different reason than Miss Bingley is. The pretty, witty Mary is a dangerous flirt because she nearly gets her man, Edmund, who finds this daring, good-looking, harp-playing city girl physically attractive. He has never seen any woman quite like her. She's flirty, athletic (soon after learning to ride the horse, she breaks into a canter, while poor Fanny can hardly make it walk!), and she has an attitude: “‘Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of cure,'” she says, apologizing for monopolizing Fanny's horse. But Mary's character is also made complex and interesting because the narrator speaks of “the really good feelings by which she was almost purely governed” (MP 1:15). Austen says this when Mary is the only person in the room to rescue and comfort Fanny when the mean Aunt Norris yells at her for being stubborn and “ungrateful” in refusing to act in the play (MP 1:15).

Austen's fiction has a good number of flirtatious males, but her cads are her most provocative flirts because cads behave irresponsibly with women. The most memorable cad is Henry Crawford, brother of one of the most memorable female flirts — what a family! Crawford has money and an estate, and so is unlike cads from other novels who flirt to win a wealthy wife. Because Crawford is actually reluctant to marry, and a wife, even a rich wife, is neither appealing nor necessary to him, he flirts for the thrill of the hunt. This behavior makes him, like his sister, a more dangerous character than his fellow cads.

This morally reprehensible behavior makes him a little scary. These traits don't bode well for his character's improvement, even under the near saintly power of Fanny Price.

In the final chapter of
Mansfield Park,
the narrator, tidily wrapping up all the loose ends, states that had Crawford “persevered . . . uprightly, Fanny must have been his reward” (3:17). This statement implies that had Crawford not “attack[ed]” Maria and led her into adultery, Edmund would've married Mary, and Fanny would've “voluntarily bestowed” herself on Crawford. Yet the reader may question this neat conclusion because of Henry Crawford's callous treatment of women. All of this makes Crawford Austen's most memorable cad.