Jane Austen

Life (1775-1817)

educated by her father at home

spent with her family, never married

interest in reading, literature and writing

Works

Sense and Sensibility

Northanger Abbey

Mansfield Park

Emma

Persuasion

Pride and Prejudice

romantic comedy

Themes

Style

position of woman

relationship between love and marriage

relationship between individual and society

ordinary events of life

balls

tea parties

walks

psychological insight of characters

microcosm

irony

happy ending

dialogues

omniscient narrator

set in Longbourn

characters

Mr Darcy

self-centred, haughty, unsociable

Elizabeth

Indipendent, proud of her values, intelligent

minor characters

caricatures, flat or ridiculous

journey towards self-awareness and self-knowledge, marriage, wealth, decorum

vividness of characters, dialogues, third-person narrator, epistolary technique, irony