#Austen

[boltlightning]

persuasion (1995) dir. roger michell

[haridraws]

Fanart of the really good tree from Pride and Prejudice (2005)

[preraphaelitepear]

Perhaps this question has been posed before, but it’s been on my mind since the TV adaptation of bridgerton came out: one of the central conflicts of that show centers around the idea that gentry women can’t be around men unchaperoned. The show/source material are partially inspired by Jane Austen and regency aesthetics, but when i think about Pride and Prejudice there are many pivotal scenes where Elizabeth is alone with men and it’s not treated as scandalous. From my reading, the scandal usually stems from actual implications of seduction, ie; the way wickham absconds with much younger girls.

This isn’t to say the period didn’t have strict social rules, but the social rules in bridgerton have always seemed more Victorian/Edwardian to me than regency. I don’t know if those vibes are accurate or just my assumptions. When Elizabeth is alone with Darcy at the Collins’ or at the inn in Lambton, as far as I can remember there’s no real comment on the propriety of the situation. I don’t know if this is an actual reflection of what was appropriate during the time or if Austen is bending the rules for her narrative.

[mysunfreckle]

I was rereading the correspondence included in Pride and Prejudice, and I'm always amused by the "Yours, etc." used at the end of several of the letters simply because it was too much work to write it out the sign off in full. But what really gets me is that Mr. Collins letter to Mr. Bennet at Lydia's elopement is the only one to end with:

"I am, dear sir," etc., etc.

Like Austen is physically tapping you on the shoulder, going: "look, I'm not going to write out any of these commonplace civilities, but I do need you to know that Mr. Collins uses much much more of them"

[wronghands1]

[laurasimonsdaughter]

When Mr. Charles Bingley rode into Hertfordshire to acquaint himself with Netherfield Park it was on a purely accidental recommendation. The solicitor who took it upon himself to advocate for Netherfield could certainly not be blamed for seeing a very desirable tenant in him. Bingley was at that time not yet two years of age, and unmarried, but he had the sort of good-humoured and generous character that must recommend him to almost anybody. The same could not be said for his closest friend…

Conceit and Conciliation is a full, canon compliant retelling of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”, told from the perspectives of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Charles Bingley.

It was written with a lot of love and a lot of help from my sister, and you can download it right now for free (ePub, Mobi or PDF) on my website laurasimons.com!

[shifa-kazi]

The fact that captain Wentworth's letter, you know, THE letter captures exactly what Anne has been feeling throughout the book... He's kinda flirting with the Miss. Musgroves- agony but he notices she's in pain - hope; he is taking a pre breakfast walk with Louisa but a few moments later looks at her as if remembering the old her; he seems heartbroken over Louisa's fall but praises Anne as the most suitable one to nurse her; Louisa is marrying someone else but is he okay or does he feel betrayed... Ahh, the poetry of it alll

[m-a-salter]

Period Drama Appreciation Week 2023 | Day 1: Favorite adaptation | Sense and Sensibility (1995), directed by Ang Lee, screenplay by Emma Thompson

[thatgirlonstage]

Henry Tilney, excellent at reading social interactions to the point of being almost jaded and frequently sarcastic about people, meets a girl without a manipulative bone in her body and a near-dangerous obliviousness to dishonesty and is so fucking soft for her immediately. The absolute wonder of finding someone who for once isn’t trying to get a leg up on you or use you for a social prop while you can see straight through them, but just actually and genuinely enjoys your company, and she’s funny and she likes the same novels you do and she actually cares about being your friend. This is Northanger Abbey propaganda everyone go read my favorite Austen novel.

[vronskies]

emma (2020)

[dimsilver]

btw I’m obsessed with the way the 1995 persuasion handles Anne and Wentworth’s proposal scene because the whole circus randomly goes by and yet it’s like they’re the only two people in the world. they create for each other an oasis of peace and quiet and understanding. they are each other’s safe harbor.

[damemaladroite]

Mood Board: Louisa Musgrove

Janeuary Day 2: Harp

My first thought when I heard harp was of Louisa Musgrove who plays-- so here's to our adventures thrill seeker!!

[mysunfreckle]

When it comes to adaptations of Pride & Prejudice, especially modernised versions, it's always quite clear that Jane Austen is a lot harsher towards Lydia Bennet than we are generally comfortable with nowadays. She's barely sixteen and yet is held fully responsible for all of her actions and thereby deserving of how she ends up (with Wickham).

But there's something else that I think is integral to Lydia's character and her treatment in the narrative: she is not sorry and she is not miserable. And while her gleeful "Lydia was Lydia still" attitude just after she got married could be just another piece of evidence that she's simply too unprincipled to feel any sort of shame, all the information we get about her future implies that she pretty much stays that way:

Whenever [Lydia and Wickham] changed their quarters, either Jane or [Elizabeth] were sure of being applied to for some little assistance towards discharging their bills. Their manner of living, even when the restoration of peace dismissed them to a home, was unsettled in the extreme. They were always moving from place to place in quest of a cheap situation, and always spending more than they ought. His affection for her soon sunk into indifference: hers lasted a little longer; and, in spite of her youth and her manners, she retained all the claims to reputation which her marriage had given her. Though Darcy could never receive him at Pemberley, yet, for Elizabeth’s sake, he assisted him further in his profession. Lydia was occasionally a visitor there, when her husband was gone to enjoy himself in London or Bath; and with the Bingleys they both of them frequently stayed so long, that even Bingley’s good-humour was overcome, and he proceeded so far as to talk of giving them a hint to be gone.

It is very likely Lydia does not enjoy being poor, but she has no qualms about asking her sisters for money. And while I presume Wickham isn't faithful to her (especially not when "enjoying himself" in London or Bath), it says in the text that her affection for him only lasts "a little longer" than his for her.

It is remarked upon that Wickham and Lydia's characters "suffered no revolution from the marriage of her sisters" and, although she is always refused, she keeps trying to get Kitty to visit her with the promise of balls and young men.

Compare this to how Maria Betram's future is sketched at the end of Mansfield Park:

It ended in Mrs. Norris’s resolving to quit Mansfield and devote herself to her unfortunate Maria, and in an establishment being formed for them in another country, remote and private, where, shut up together with little society, on one side no affection, on the other no judgment, it may be reasonably supposed that their tempers became their mutual punishment.

No such promise of punishment for Lydia! If she really stays "Lydia still; untamed, unabashed, wild, noisy, and fearless", perhaps she is allowed to skip through her unsatisfactory marriage with the same energy she skipped into it: flirting left and right, spending all her money, and thinking only of her own enjoyment.

Which is probably the kindest ending the story can give her, considering she insisted on marrying Wickham.

[lunaoblonsky]

Anya Taylor-Joy in a deleted scene of Emma. (2020)

[bat0nchick]