In the annals of literary history, few authors have remained as perennially relevant as Jane Austen. Exposing social sanctimoniousness in the early 19th century, Austen crafted novels that continue to captivate, challenge, and charm readers more than two centuries after publishing her final novel, Emma. Her most celebrated works, including Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma, delve into themes that transcend their Georgian settings, offering insights into human nature and societal norms that are as pertinent today as they were in her time. Austen’s work deals with inauthenticity and false virtues that still plague social norms and should be required reading in all secondary school programs.
At the heart of Austen's enduring appeal is her exploration of fundamentally universal themes of love, marriage, social status, and family dynamics. These commentaries are the cornerstones of her narratives and integral parts of the human experience across time. In Pride and Prejudice, the quest for love and marital contentment extends beyond romantic pursuit by pursuing social standing and economic security through marriage. Similarly, Emma presents a rich tapestry of social class and societal expectations, some of which seem disingenuous when exposed by Austen’s clever writing. For example, Austen describes the man who will marry Emma’s governess in the following terms:
Mr. Weston, was a man of unexceptionable character, easy fortune, suitable age, and pleasant manners, and there was some satisfaction in considering what self-denying, generous friendship she had always wished and promoted the match, but it was a black morning’s work for her.
In other words, Mr. Weston was bored with money. Perhaps Austen deliberately does not disclose whether Mr. Weston loves or treats Miss Taylor well. Accordingly, marriage was less about love and more about security. As a “catch,” Mr. Weston checks boxes such as suitable age and easy fortune. Austen’s writing reveals the social pressure demanded of women by few other options. Jane Austen could not look two hundred years into the future to see women able to earn their own living. In her time and across time, women saw marriage as a means of financial security because they had few other choices.
Set in the Regency era ripe with technological and cultural flourishing against a backdrop of the early Industrial Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, Austen’s writing reflects compulsory manners during a time of dynamic change and global unrest. Nevertheless, Austen and other writers of her era resonate deeply with modern and post-modern audiences. At its fundamental level, Emma is a commentary on false manners that explores themes of kindness to delineate between authentic kindness and kindness compelled by social pressure. Readers of any era may find these levels of nuance compellingly satisfying. The example of Miss Harriet Smith, of whom very little is directly known to readers, reveals a narrow version of acceptability in social circles. Specifically,
She was not struck by anything remarkably clever in Miss Smith’s conversation, but she found her altogether very engaging—not inconveniently shy, not unwilling to talk—and yet so far from pushing, showing so proper and becoming deference, seeming so pleasantly grateful for being admitted to Hartfield, and so artlessly impressed by the appearance of everything in so superior a style to what she had been used to, that she must have good sense, and deserve encouragement.
Miss Smith had to be engaging enough and “not too shy or unwilling to speak.” She also had some family lineage to hide, implying that perhaps she was out of place, burdening her behavior with extra social pressure. Post-modern readers seeking entrance into the best colleges and universities to secure the best jobs may find Austen’s prose compelling because they explore the dichotomy between status and humility.
As Austen revealed more about Miss Smith, she may have been too good for the people of Highbury, and these connections might be doing her harm. Accordingly, Miss Smith was polite despite being either higher or lower-born than her contemporaries. She was possibly slumming it at Highbury. Nevertheless, as in modern times, Harriet and Emma are fast friends despite their differences and up to shenanigans suitable to entertain readers of all ages and eras.
Austen's novels are more than romantic tales; they serve as incisive social commentaries on the divergence between reality and behavioral norms. Through astute observations, she dissected the intricacies and inequities of her time's social hierarchy and gender roles. For example, Emma explores how gender roles force women into marriage or to take jobs in limiting roles like governess. The novel opens with Emma’s governess, Miss Taylor, getting married after several years of working as a governess. This upsets Emma’s life because Emma adores Miss Taylor. Austen crafted a profoundly expositive story using Emma’s sadness and restrained jealousy to comment on social constraints placed on women in early nineteenth-century England. Emma’s sense of loss displays the importance of relationships between women and how social pressures can obstruct those friendships. Those stories resonate today because the glass ceiling has replaced more rigid social constraints on women. Postmodern television shows like Sex and the City and films like Boys on the Side focus on the relationships between women in a possible nod to Jane Austen’s Emma.
Austen’s portrayal of the limited options available to women and the importance of marriage for social and financial security reflects a deep understanding of her society and the consequences of adherence to social hierarchy. These themes are as important today as in the early nineteenth century. In Pride and Prejudice, Miss Charlotte Lucas marries Mr. Collins for a more secure income and advises others to do the same. These themes appear in the Broadway musical Hamilton when Angelica Schuyler laments that she cannot marry for love because her status demands otherwise. My exploding problems in nineteenth-century marriages, Austen’s truths reveal that the courtly love of the Middle Ages may have been primarily mythological.
Women are still expected to marry, so these issues remain relevant. Thus, limitations placed on women align Austen’s work strikingly with contemporary social discourse. For example, the psychology behind landed gentry families in Pride and Prejudice explores a rich tapestry of courtship among close social classes juxtaposed with the role of mothers in pushing their daughters into marriage. The novel opens up with the “universal truth that a son of good fortune must be in want of a wife.” Today, the poignant wit behind that statement would compel a speaker to use different terms to conceal motives. Still, a certain degree of “marry well” still permeates modern dating psychology.
The nineteenth century that followed Jane Austen’s work may have helped usher in early feminist movements in England and America. British women like Florence Nightingale served as nurses in the Crimean War. In the United States, women demanded equality at the Seneca Falls conference in 1848 and then served as nurses, doctors, and spies in the American Civil War. Those movements did not earn women’s suffrage until the twentieth century, which solidified Austen’s commentary on women’s inequality. Post-modern conversations often begin with discussing a person’s occupation, and occupations are often chosen with financial outcomes in mind. Jane Austen's writings may have predicted the false politeness and humblebrag inherent in these postmodern “polite” conversations. Accordingly, Jane Austen’s commentaries on class, manners, and gender resonate with post-modern audiences.
Many women still feel pressured to choose between career and family life unless they can hire a governess who may also marry later in life. Thus, early nineteenth-century commentary remains relevant over 200 years after Jane Austen wrote her poignant novels. Modern-day depictions of men, women, and social pressure include Broadway plays like Waitress and Mean Girls, where privilege and struggle are juxtaposed to reveal inequality. Perhaps the antithesis of Austen’s work would be the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, where older women live together free of compulsory ties to men but still navigate a male-dominated society in feminist solidarity.
Austen's characters' realism and psychological depth make them enduringly relatable. Figures like the spirited Elizabeth Bennet or the well-intentioned but overly personable Emma Woodhouse are more than protagonists; they mirror and comment upon the human condition and the consequences of social limitations. Austen develops characters whose experiences, emotions, and growth reflect the universal journey of self-discovery and personal evolution. Unfortunately, both Elizabeth and Ema are bound by social conventions and demands of politeness to behave within the confines of their status. The fact that modern readers find parts of themselves in these characters testifies to Austen's skill and insight as much as they comment on social dysfunction.
Jane Austen's novels have stood the test of time, not as relics of a bygone era but as vibrant, insightful, and engaging works that speak to us today. Her exploration of universal themes, astute social commentary, richly drawn characters, and unique narrative style collectively secure her place in the pantheon of timeless literature alongside Gustav Flaubert’s Madame Bovary and Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. Austen's literary prowess extends beyond her narrative content to her distinctive style. Her use of irony and wit, coupled with pioneering free indirect discourse, allows readers to intimately engage with her characters and their inner worlds. This narrative style, not only advanced for its time but also relevant now, contributes significantly to the enjoyment and understanding of her novels and their revelations. Austen's blend of social commentary with entertaining storytelling continues to influence authors and delight today's readers, ensuring her work's relevance and joy.
As society evolves, so does the appreciation for Austen's work, affirming that her novels are not just historical artifacts but living texts that continue to resonate, enlighten, and entertain. Austen remains a beacon of literary brilliance through her works, illuminating the paths of both personal and societal understanding. A world without Emma may be a world that fails to understand historical and contemporary pressure on women to identify as part of a marriage or live as a wallflower forever unseen.
Bibliography
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. London: Ruskin House, 1813. Project Gutenberg Internet
Archive. Updated April 14, 2023. URL
Austen, Jane. Emma. London: Ruskin House, 1816. Project Gutenberg Internet Archive.
Updated December 14, 2021. URL
Miranda, Lin-Manuel. “Hamilton: An American Musical.” In Hamilton: The Revolution.
Edited by Jeremy McCarter. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2016.
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