Jane Austen heroines exist on a sliding scale of "You are always right, and no one ever listens to you" (Fanny Price) to "You are never right, and everyone always listens to you" (Emma Woodhouse.)
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Genteel Poverty Vs. Actual Poverty in Austen's Novels
Genteel poverty, which is being experienced by the Bates (Emma), the Dashwoods (Sense & Sensibility) to an extent, and possibly the Prices (Mansfield Park, though I don't know if they qualify as gentry), is different than actual poverty. The reason they struggle is because they have to keep buying things that keep them in their class, such as proper clothing and food to feed visitors. For example, the Dashwoods host the Middletons for dinner every time they dine at the park. That makes them participating members of the gentry, but it's probably eating up a lot of their budget. It's probably also why Mrs. Dashwood refuses to visit anyone outside of walking distance, they can't afford to host anyone else! Mrs. Grant also does this by the way (in Mansfield Park), she hasn't chosen to visit with the Rushworths and start this endless back and forth, so she doesn't accompany the others to Sotherton.
The Bates would have to do this too. They don't ever host Mr. Woodhouse because of his eccentricities, but if they are invited to dinner they would be expected to host back. That pork that Emma sent them likely was shared with Mrs. Elton or Mrs. Cole or whomever they needed to invite back to dinner. Or their neighbours might come up with clever excuses and then just come for tea.
The only Austen character at risk of real, actual poverty, is Mrs. Smith in Persuasion. She is unable to keep even a servant and is selling handmaid goods to support herself.
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell is all about this: a small town mostly inhabited by spinsters and widows who mostly have incomes similar to the Bates's, and how they all collectively pretend that they can afford to be gentry. Like baking the treats for your friends yourself but pretending that your maid did it. Or pretending you have candles burning at night but actually rushing to light them when someone knocks on the door. They all find ways to save in other areas of their lives so they can maintain the trappings of gentry.
But the point is: they can afford to eat and clothe themselves and have a maid of all work, an income of 100ish pounds a year is something you can live on and they don't have to work. They are poor in comparison, not actually poor. The majority of the population of England at that time had incomes similar to or lower than the Bates and worked 12-14 hours per day for it.
Note: I have no problem with Austen not including the lower classes in her novels, that's not what she wanted to write about and that's fine. There are small pieces about the poor, like the case of Old Abdy in Emma, and there is certainly concern expressed for the poor and examinations of the best ways to address relieving poverty (compare Lady Catherine's method with Emma's!). Not every book has to be about everything, and Austen made serious points about the place of women in English society even if she "only" wrote about the upper class.
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A Ranking of Jane Austen Heroines, in Ascending Order of Culpability
Fanny (Mansfield Park): Has done nothing wrong ever in her life (but would never say this as she is far too humble).
Elinor (S&S): Must have scoliosis from carrying the whole weight of the Dashwood family at the ripe old age of 19. Should probably have asked for help by now, but who's she going to ask? Her mother? Unlikely.
Anne (Persuasion): Pros: is the only functioning member of her family. Cons: took some really bad advice when she was 17.
Elizabeth (P&P): So dead-set on hating Mr. Darcy that she falls hook-line-and-sinker for the lies Wickham tells her with no questions asked. Otherwise has good sense.
Marianne (S&S): Throws herself headlong into the Romantic Experience™️ and gets her heart broken by a playboy when Colonel Brandon is literally RIGHT THERE.
Catherine (Northanger Abbey): Good-hearted, but easily led astray. So obsessed with Gothic novels that she kind of accuses Mr. Tilney's father of murdering his wife and burying her in the basement.
Emma (Emma): Tells Harriet to refuse the nice guy she likes, too prideful to see that Mr. Elton is pursuing her instead of Harriet, gossips about Jane Fairfax, feels like the rules don't apply to her, won't listen to Mr. Knightly. Is a menace.
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fanny price DOES get a great happy ending, fight me
like okay
no, fanny does not successfully tame the Rake and reform him into a sexy sexy faithful husband. yes, we could argue all day about whether edmund bertram is underrated or a soggy biscuit of a man, but that fact is ultimately IRRELEVANT. HE is irrelevant except as like. a piece of the broader picture
the ending of mansfield park only sucks if you're viewing it from the extremely narrow and shallow lens of like: the modern capital R romance, where the woman's happily-ever-after is defined by her attaining the Ideal/Most Desirable Man™.
but that's not what the novel is about!
fanny price's happy ending is BEING PROVEN RIGHT AND HER WORTH ACKNOWLEDGED after putting up with YEARS of fucking bullshit despite CONSTANTLY being a better judge of character, of morals, of good sense, than literally ANYONE ELSE AROUND HER.
fanny price's happy ending is her spending months going 'HMM I"M GETTING BAD VIBES' and everyone saying 'stfu fanny you don't know shit'
and at the end of the novel she gets to watch everyone else either blows up their entire life as a result of ignoring The Vibes, or fall over her trying to apologize because HOLY SHIT FANNY WHY DID WE NOT LISTEN TO YOU ABOUT THOSE VIBES
and people being like WE TOOK YOU SO FUCKING FOR GRANTED WE FUCKED UP'
and she is like: yes, I know this, and finally everyone else does too, and that is literally all i have ever wanted in life
fanny price's happy ending is people apologizing and acknowledging her worth
fanny price's happy ending is basically the equivalent of her sitting there smiling with genteel energy while her inner self is performing this dance
and honestly: i love that for her
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The @hotjaneaustenmenpoll tournament has inspired me to finally write this post, this more than a post, this bit of FUNDAMENTAL Austen adaptation research.
It is well known that there was a Mansfield Park adaptation in 2007, for which the reception went from "eh?" to "huh?", but what most people around here probably don't know, is that this was the cover for the DVD release in Spain:
And you'll naturally ask, who is that handsome blonde man on the right? He definitely isn't Michelle Ryan, we know what she looks like.
He's Baddeley. The butler. The butler at Mansfield Park. Emma's 2020 class commentary this, and Emma 1996 (ITV) social commentary that, but has any of them put a servant on the cover? Thought so. And people have the gall of calling this a bad, unfaithful adaptation :P
So, in honor of Baddeley and his being the only servant I can think of in the Austen canon of whom we have some pov writing, and what is better, that pov is inner snarky thoughts about Mrs Norris, let's have every time Baddeley shows up in MP 2007, witnesses iconic events, and wins his spot on the DVD cover.
Here we have Baddeley serving some refreshments during Henry and Mary's first visit to Mansfield:
Here we have him also serving some wine to sir Thomas during the very awkward dinner that followed his return from Antigua:
Here we have Baddeley making sure Fanny's special picnic goes perfect:
That includes making sure nobody is dying of thirst (dancing is a very taxing activity!):
Here we have him at the zenith moment of his telling Mrs Norris that she's not wanted:
Evil never rests, and neither does Baddeley's commitment to keeping people hydrated, in this case, during a mouth-drying reading of Shakespeare by Henry:
Sometimes Baddeley's work involves improvising, and taking on jobs others would have considered beneath their title, such as carrying Edmund's bags:
Or helping sir Thomas get out of his traveling coat:
But this also has its rewards, as door watch duty allows him to witness the moment sir Thomas yeets Mrs Norris out of Mansfield:
Alas, in a clear commentary on the class issues of the regency era, despite his relevance to the plot and constant presence at life turning moments of the family, he was not invited and nowhere to be seen at Edmund and Fanny's wedding, while absolute strangers got to witness the momentous occasion instead.
Baddeley, friend, don't be sad. You were there, in our hearts.
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