Biography of Jane Austen
Cheongna Dalton School
Grade 11
Term 1
1
• Jane Austen was born on 16th December 1775,
at Steventon in Hampshire, where her father,
the Rev. George Austen, was rector.
• Her mother was Cassandra Leigh.
• Jane Austen died on July 18th, 1817.
2
• The Austens were moderately well off. They
kept a carriage and pair and ‘enjoyed … some
of the considerations usually awarded to
landed proprietors’.
• The household was lively and bookish.
• The family also enjoyed writing and
performing plays for evening entertainment.
3
• When young she went to balls and picnics,
and paid visits like any other girl of her class.
• Once, it seems, she may have been seriously
in love, but the man died.
• She never married.
4
Great Britain in
the Regency Era
Austen
Country
Austen Rectory at Steventon
1775-1801
Steventon Church
Chawton Cottage
1809-1817
Austen’s
Will
from the UK
National
Archives:
http://www.nationalar
chives.gov.uk/museum
/item.asp?item_id=33
Jane Austen’s grave in Winchester
Cathedral
• This is a photograph of
a coat worn by Jane
Austen.
• It gives an idea of the
type of clothes worn by
young ladies of the
time.
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Austen Novels
•
•
•
•
•
•
Pride and Prejudice 1796 (Pub. 1813)
Sense and Sensibility 1797 (Pub. 1811)
Northhanger Abbey 1798 (Pub. 1818)
Mansfield Park (Pub. 1814)
Emma (Pub. 1815)
Persuasion (Pub. 1818)
11
“Novels of Manners”
• Novels dominated by the
customs, manners,
conventional behavior and
habits of a particular social
class
• Often concerned with
courtship and marriage
• Realistic and sometimes
satiric
• Focus on domestic society
rather than the larger world
• Other novelists of manners:
Anthony Trollope, Edith
Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald,
Margaret Drabble
Jane Austen Quotes
• “A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration
to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”
•
“A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard
of.”
•
“An engaged woman is always more agreeable than a
disengaged. She is satisfied with herself. Her cares are over,
and she feels that she may exert all her powers of pleasing
without suspicion. All is safe with a lady engaged; no harm can
be done.”
13
Simplicity of the
Empire line dress
Fluffy Hollywood!
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The Regency Period
Cheongna Dalton School
Grade 11
Term 1
15
The Regency Period
1795-1830
(give or take a few years)
The Regency Period
• The Regency period in the United Kingdom is the
period between 1811 and 1820, when King George III
was deemed unfit to rule and his son, later George
IV, was instated to be his proxy as Prince Regent. The
term is often expanded to apply to the years
between 1795 and 1837, a time characterised by
distinctive fashions, politics and culture. In this
sense, it can be considered to be a transitional
period between "Georgian" and "Victorian" eras. The
era was distinctive for its architecture, literature,
fashions, and politics.
17
General Definition
• The Prince Regent (later King George IV) ruled UK during the
mental incapacity of his father King George III (he is the ruler
who gave the American colonists a hard time).
• A regent is someone appointed to rule instead of the King.
• During this period, English middle class gained considerable
prestige and social status due to the success of the Industrial
Revolution.
• Newly successful middle class began to associate with the
landed aristocracy by purchasing extravagant estates. They
were called the landed gentry.
Rise of Industrialism
• People moving from towns
and farms to cities and
factories
• Shift from a primarily
agrarian economy to an
industrial economy
• London first industrialized
city in the world
19
British Power in the Regency Period
• England embroiled in
Napoleonic Wars
Battle of Trafalgar
Auguste Mayer, 1836
– 1803-1815
– 1805—Battle of
Trafalgar
– 1815—Battle of
Waterloo
• War of 1812 with U.S.
• British Empire dominated
India, the West Indies, and
the Persian Gulf
20
21
The Class System
•
•
•
•
All in Austen’s day were keenly aware of class
Very little inter-class interaction
Upper class frowned upon marrying “low”
Estates passed along the male line
– Bennet’s entail to Collins
• Late 18th century: first time for wide-ranging
upward mobility
– Nouveau riche (newly rich): Bingley
– People from middle classes start to make lots of
money because of rising industrialism
22
Expectations for Upper and
Upper-Middle Class Women
• Could not express opinions
openly
• Submit to will of patriarch
• Chaperoned when in the
company of men
• Could not own property
• Young women could not leave
the home without permission
• Entertainers for men (music,
singing, etc.)
23
Marriage in the Regency Period
 Women dependent on
men for all expenditures
 Marriage only way to
get out from under
parent’s roof
 Women who did not
marry were looked
down upon socially
 No family inheritance
and no marriage =
destitution and poverty
24
The Economics of Marriage
• “It is a truth universally
acknowledged, that a single
man in possession of a good
fortune must be in want of a
wife” (3)
• For young men, social
advancement lay in the
military, church, or law
• For women…successful
marriage
25
Women’s Work in Early 19th Century
• Did not work away from home
– Could be a governess, though, but isolated and
frowned upon
• Did not work at home either
– Mrs. Bennet takes pride in stating to Mr. Collins
“that [the Bennets] were very well able to keep a
good cook, and that her daughters had nothing to
do in the kitchen”.
• Some may have worked in the garden
• Writing was not considered an appropriate profession
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for women
Education for Women
• Expected to know how to sing
and play an instrument
• Expected to have private
tutors or a governess
• Education received at home,
though there were some
boarding schools
– Learned French, dancing,
music, and drawing
• Universities only for men
27
Regency Entertainment/Leisure
•
•
•
•
Card games
Reading
Gambling halls
Lavish balls—dances
of the era lively and
bouncy
• Dinner parties
• London Theatre
28
Social Etiquette
• Many social rules
• Politeness and gentility
– Women could not speak their minds
– Mrs. Bennet not polite or genteel (114)
• Protocols for everything
– From introductions to the way a young woman
holds her fan
– Note how Collins introduces himself to Darcy
• Social hierarchy ruled
– Everyone knew his/her place
29
Georgian Era (1714-1811) Fashion
 Period prior to Regency
 Rich colors, often ostentatious;
embroidered and raised fabrics
 Women:
-
heavy,
ornate,
restrictive corsets, fitted bodice, hoopskirt, floor-length
skirt, white makeup, beauty mark, hair or wig sometimes
worn high
 Men:
-
heavy and raised fabric coats, knee-length breeches,
buckled shoes, white wigs
30
Georgian Era (18th Century)
31
More Georgian Era
32
Georgian Era
33
Regency Fashion
 Regardless of the wearer's social class, less ornate, and simpler than
past decade
 Lighter fabrics
 Women
 waistline raised to below the chest, inspired by classical Greece
 flowing loose gowns
 long sleeved jackets cut beneath chest
 no more white makeup
 hair shorter or worn closer to the head
 Broad-brimmed bonnet worn with ribbon tied under chin
 Men:
 dark tailcoats
 white or flesh toned, full-length pants
 riding boots
 top hat and hair—short and natural
34
Regency Period
Evening gown
Day dress
Outdoor dress
35
36
Regency Period
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