#jane austen characters

[firawren]

My recent find of the delightful @can-they-assemble-ikea-furniture blog inspired me to make another Jane Austen crack poll.

Reblog and share in the tags which piece they're assembling, and if they get the meatballs, hotdog, or soft serve before they leave the store.

Edit: I made a poll for who is the worst at it too.

[ardentlyinlovedarcy]

Colin or Matthew ? 😀

[pemberly1813]

[janefrigginausten]

[melslemonade2]

This meme draws a parallel between the character of Marianne from Sense and Sensibility and Elle Woods from Legally Blonde. The meme showcases Elle Woods in bed after being dumped by her long-term boyfriend, seemingly throwing something at a portrait of Willoughby.

This meme draws a perfect comparison between the reactions of both girls to their lovers, and being ignored/dumped. Having such a strong attachment to their former lovers, Marianne and Elle see their lives come crashing down after they are rejected. It showcases much about the characters specifically, along with social constructs at the time. They specifically share the character traits of sensibility, attachment, and a general a lack of self-love (initially, at least for Elle Woods). It causes them to both be smitten by lackluster men, that end up breaking their hearts and betraying them in various ways. It’s interesting that the role of women in relationships seems similar in this case. Austen is a traditionalist and writes about women in the 1700s. Legally Blonde is a movie from the 21st century, featuring modern constructs that represent progress and history. It’s interesting that such a stark and obvious parallel can be drawn with a modern, 21st century breakup scene. Although men and women both have equal reactions to relationships, this meme specifically showcases the role of women in this case and is interesting to see in the context of both, very different works.  

[infjpaladin]

[bewitchingomen]

emma woodhouse is the funniest jane austen heroine solely because she spends 95% of her precious free time shipping her friends and trying to set them up and being convinced she is the world's greatest matchmaker and talking about how great it will be once her bestie has her perfect true love and then when she's asked if she's considering getting married anytime soon she's like pfffft GOD no why the FUCK would i do that

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

pride and prejudice enjoyers when the main characters make choices based on both their pride and their prejudice

[firawren]

I think I'm going to start doing a series of silly Jane Austen character polls, treating them as if they were real people living today.

Keep in mind that I can only put 12 options per poll, and there are WAY more characters than that, so please don't yell at me if your character isn't there, just choose "other."

For this first one, it would also be fun if you would reblog and put in the tags what you think your chosen character's Tumblr blog would be focused on.

[ardentlyinlovedarcy]

[jomiddlemarch]

My own takes, with more choices that aren't traditionally feminine jobs (ie, teaching, working with kids in medicine):

Catherine Morland: very young and seeking direction. Starbucks (or the equivalent) barista.

Elinor Dashwood: practical and critical thinker. Civil engineer, urban planner.

Marianne Dashwood: caught up by the romance of things-- starts a bookstore, struggles to keep it afloat, adds a small coffee counter, needs Elinor to help with all the regulatory stuff. Hires Wickham and he embezzles from her.

Elizabeth Bennet: I actually do think she'd make a good divorce lawyer, but for the sake of argument, I think she'd also make a good head of a non-profit and get angry at Charlotte Lucas for selling out and joining a big corporate entity, maybe VC or pharma.

Anne Elliot: I see Anne in academia and her falling out with Wentworth was when she wouldn't leave her PhD program to follow him to his. She's on track to be the department chair and is already doing 80% of the admin work for the current chair, who should retire already.

Fanny Price: I think she went into the military to pay for school, stays in for the security. Does administrative work. Wishes she could have become a pilot.

Jane Bennet: most likely to have become a preschool teacher after doing some nannying. Later in life, she might become a social worker.

Harriet Smith: Enjoys photography. Emma encourages her to try and start an art gallery, which fails almost immediately. Joins a local newspaper and does photojournalism. Gets together with John Martin, who covers local sports.

Jane Fairfax: extremely accomplished, good at keeping secrets, she goes into the NSA, does cryptanalyst work.

Margaret Dashwood: professional sailor, competes in big regattas.

If the Austen heroines lived today (and had to work outside of the home), what jobs do you think they would have?

If we look at the heroine's relative incomes, it's likely that Catherine Morland, Fanny Price, and the Dashwoods would require professions, as clergyman and naval marine don't pay that well today and the Dashwoods lost their inheritance. Elizabeth Bennet, Emma Woodhouse, and Anne Elliot are all trust fund babies, though Elizabeth and Anne would likely get jobs since their families are blowing all their money and they're not idiots. Emma is the only one who genuinely would not need to work, even in a modern context. I am not going to assign her a profession, I suspect if she existed in a similar context today she would manage her father's affairs, run the family company, and a charity, much like she does in the novel.

Catherine Morland - in university, is in a very general program and has no idea what to do with her life. Ends up in some sort of childcare career because she knows she's good at it but still scrolls through job pages imagining what else she could do. Writes very bad novels on the side.

Elinor Dashwood - public school art teacher, secure career path with a solid pay cheque, never even considered becoming an artist

Marianne Dashwood - concert pianist/piano instructor reluctantly, because piano playing doesn't pay well, failed lyricist. Has a very popular YouTube channel

Elizabeth Bennet - I see lawyer SO OFTEN in fan fiction, but I disagree. This observer of human nature is getting sucked into psychology and becoming a researcher. She'll realize how bad of a judge of character she can be pre-Darcy because now she has evidence. May become a therapist as well.

Anne Elliot - Anne is so intelligent, she can be whatever she wants. She's so good with kids too, maybe a pediatrician? She threw herself into education after the Wentworth thing.

Fanny Price - the Bertrams paid for her university education and she chose the most guaranteed source of income: accounting. Companies will always need accountants and she can help support her family.

Jane Bennet - I can see her also choosing a very practical career but then dropping out of the workforce to be a stay-at-home mom. Charles has enough money to make that work.

[laurenillustrated]

“She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me.”

Pride and Prejudice illustration based on the book.

[janefrigginausten]

👀 https://austen.unl.edu/frequencies

[melslemonade2]

This graphic features Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Bennet, Lydia Bennet, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley, and Mr. Wickam in a slightly humorous and sassy account of each of their character types and personalities. The character descriptions expose the most prominent aspects of their characters, and although it primarily focuses on the characters from Pride and Prejudice, these characters translate across many works of Jane Austen and the countless adaptations of her works. These are not limited to Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey. This exposes much about Austen and her writing style, in the way the plot and characters often remain the same while incorporating slight adjustments to provide diversity in writing. 

This meme showcases several prominent character tropes that Jane Austen incorporates and features in her novels, that also show up repeatedly in adaptations of Jane Austen’s work – each of these character types show up in her novels with slight adjustments, however, the basic character model remains the same. This remains in adaptations like Longbourn, where similar characters exist but are modified to best fit the adaptation and adjusted plotline. We see similar character traits and physical similarities between characters; however, adaptations provide alternate plot structures and some differences in character. Regardless, this incorporation showcases the strength of these character tropes that Jane Austen has created and masterfully implemented in each of her novels. 

[hexgirllovesyou]

Mr Darcy is my delusional husband and is gonna remain like that... sorry

I love you. Most ardently.

[sibylsleaves]

This is genuinely apropos of nothing but I am thinking about how annoying I find it when people insinuate that shipping is like, somehow diametrically at odds with being invested in a narrative for its own sake because like……I have rarely ever been interested in a ship that was not itself an expression of the narrative themes and character arcs. Investment in the narrative IS the very reason I care about a ship.

I feel like it makes no sense to pretend like these are entirely separate activities (although I understand for some people they are/can be) when to me MOST of the time, for most of the things I seriously ship, they are inextricable.