#elizabeth feels sobetrayed by charlotte because charlotte won't deny the need to kiss asses sometimes

[volcanicmudbubbles]

Here’s the difference between Fanny and her aunt:

Mrs. Norris believes in the reality of the social hierarchy, and she accepts it. Fanny doesn’t. Fanny believes that she is everyone’s equal, and she very quietly but stubbornly -- like a slow drip of water -- insists upon it.

Fanny is like Jane Eyre, crying to all the Bertrams (silently, because: Fanny):

“Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? ... I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh;–it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God’s feet, equal,–as we are!”

In England in the early 1800s it must’ve taken a really determined person to stand against the force of society and insist on equality. Elizabeth Bennett and Fanny do it, and it’s extremely high-risk for both of them; they both nearly lose everything.

Mrs. Norris isn’t that brave, but I just don’t think it’s right for Austen to have made a caricature of her for being aware that an indigent relative takes a risk every time she refuses to bring her aunt a shawl.