Jane Austens Art of Characterization
Jane Austens Art of Characterization
Jane Austens Art of Characterization
of the highest of them. She is realistic and draws her material form the real society.
Her stories are (all of her six completed novels) complete and definite. There is
nothing fancy or farfetched in them. she has depicted the social life of her times.
The main theme of her novels are courtship and marriage which are evident in
almost all her works. The main protagonist of her work is almost a heroine who
whom she gets married. Marriages, dinners, dance parties, expedition, and
adventure are the most familiar ingredients of her stories. humour and irony are
the two main tools by which she exposes the absurdities of her characters. Even
though some people have gone so far to say about her humour to be as similar to
portrayal of her characters, exclusively the protagonists of her novels. She not only
discusses the external features of her characters but also portrays the psychological
motives of her characters. She doesn’t interrupt the story with her own personal
comments but gives us the actual and real account of the events or persons. As her
stories are based on her own personal experiences and observations, so her
characters, especially heroines, are limited form the British province. Her novels
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contain a super delineation of female characters. Her female characters are more
vivid and life – like than those of male characters. Her power of perception towards
her characters is keen and perfect. Austen lived in a society where women were
states “but not well educated”. So Austen has given more emphasis on the
Jane Austin is a female and productive writer and female figures seem to be the
core of her novels like Emma, Pride and Prejudice and sense and sensibility. To
important to know about the society in which she was living. Women of her time
couldn’t get education in the higher institutions like oxford and Cambridge, as
Austen got most of her education at home by her father who was a rector and a
scholar as well. If a woman, in her times, got educated or trained than it was mostly
religious or domestic practice. A woman’s social and economic status was very
important and yet there was little she could do to improve to her status or position
in the society. As we see in Emma, Emma is trying to raise Harriet to the society of
higher –middle class. Women of such social standing couldn’t go out for a job and
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to support their family. That is why Austen’s main focus are the women of her
society.
Austin uses the technique of comparison to detail the character of her heroines.
For example, in Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth Bennet is more beautiful, intelligent,
One of the superb example of her female characterization is that of Emma. About
Emma, Austen herself said that she had created "a heroine whom no one but
myself will much like”. In novel at some places Emma seems to be a dubious
character. Emma’s main problem throughout the novel is the lack of her self –
realization. And this flaw leads her sometimes to make incorrect rather dangerous
assumptions about others especially in relation to the matter of the love and
marriage. But here Austin has keen desire in creating such image of Emma. She
wanted her to travel form delusion to self – recognition and from illusion to reality-
As Craik states that the action of the novel illustrates the Emma’s gradual
enlightenment and she moves towards the state of moral, mental and emotional
maturity.
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In one of her earlier novels is Persuasion where father of Anne, the heroine of the
story, is selfish and a heartless man. He is comic exaggeration of the upper class
appearances, he is seen in public and with wealthy people only. He dislikes the
sailors only on the grounds of their orange tan and lack of breeding.
In pride and prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet is the heroine and a modern girl. She has
no concerns with wealth and status. Her ability to laugh at herself and at others is
the best trait of her personality. She is intelligent and is given some of the best one
liners in all of Austen. “I expected at least that the pigs were got into the garden,
In sense and sensibility, Elinor is one of the most misunderstood heroines of Jane
Austen. She is seen through the lens of modern sensibilities. She is, in fact, more
sensitive than her sister and selfless in her desires. She keeps her sorrow and
heartbreak to herself. She is a complete example of endurance. She gets her lover
in the end of the novel but we wonder if he is enough intelligent and interesting to
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In pride and prejudice, Darcy is the most attractive hero in all Austen’s works.
Darcy’s aloofness and sensitive conduct towards women make him the hero, but
his willingness to become humbler and to be changed for the woman he loves is a
superb example of mastery. He loves Elizabeth and crosses all he barriers of rigid
Lastly George Knightly in Emma is the hero Jane Austen most wanted to marry. He
is like miss Bates, and steps in dance with lowly Harriet when he sees that she has
been disregarded by the awful Mr. and Mrs. Elton. He refuses to play the
conventional hero and talks in the language of love, “I cannot make speeches,
But the heroine of the story, of Emma, is more unique due to her seeming immunity
to romantic sensibility. She travels a journey for her self – realization and is
described transforming from clever girl to modest and mature woman. Emma, like
Jane Austen's other novels, deals with the subject of young ladies finding proper
husbands. Emma gets her love at the end but the description of her travelling
towards maturity is more appealing. So, all her female characters are woven
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