Hypocrisy in Jane Austen

Doris Wang
Mr. Kramer
Period 1
AP Literature
18 January 2006

Hypocrisy conveys an _expression that is not backed by real conviction. All of Jane Austen’s books are set in eighteenth century England, but to this day hold meaning for her present day readers. “They question the driving optimism of the period—that this, in the development of English society, was triumphantly the Age of Improvement” (British).Her books revolve around the societies of the middle and upper class. Jane Austen was a hypocrite to her own work in the sense that she includes herself in that middle class count. She consistently pokes fun at the lifestyles of the people who were part of that society in her generation, but still adhered to the unwritten social codes of the time.
Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 to Reverend George and Cassandra Austen (Jasa). She was born in the afternoon at their home in Steventon, Hampshire and was their second daughter in the family of eight, James, George, Edward, Henry, Cassandra, Francis, Jane, and Charles (Tomalin 4). Her closest sibling was her sister; Cassandra (Jasa).Their relationship was similar to the relationship of Elizabeth and Jane Bennett in her novel Pride and Prejudice. Her family lived a normal life in the community that they lived in, attending church regularly. Jane Austen’s father was heavily in debt when she was born. He borrowed money from everyone. All of the money that was borrowed went towards his eight children (Tomalin 7). Mr. George Austen encouraged Jane to publish her writing and was very supportive. Austen lived in Hampshire for twenty-five years and then moved with her family to Bath upon her father’s retirement (Kirojasto).
Although Bath offered more resources for her family, Austen did not like the hustle and bustle of big city life. After her father’s death in 1805, Austen moved to Southampton. Her brother Frank and his wife Mary also resided in Southampton (Jasa). In 1809, Austen, her sister Cassandra, brother Edward and their mother moved back to Hampshire (Jasa).
From a young age, Austen attended balls and dances like the ones she writes about in her novels. This was the country; the Austen daughters had been joining in country-dances at home from their earliest years (Tomalin 101). Austen’s attendance at balls and the preliminary social order experienced at such events go hand in hand with the ones in her novels. Austen greatly enjoyed these social gatherings and pens her excitement in her early letters (Pemberly).
Jane Austen’s books all contain laughter along with hypocrisy, for example in her novel Sense and Sensibility. In this piece of literature, Austen draws two sisters, characters looking for true love with a man who is not only rich in money and well on the road towards expendable wealth but also equally as rich in thoughts and emotion. The Dashwood sisters run into many different obstacles while on their search. Elinor Dashwood, the eldest sister, has relationship problems with Edward Ferrars. They come to meet each other through her half brother, John Dashwood. Going further into the story, Elinor finds out that he has been engaged to Lucy Steele for a few years, but, in the end, Lucy ends up marrying his brother Robert. Further proving the fact that she was indeed, only marring for money, as many people did in that era. Even with this love triangle in the plot, Marianne Dashwood has her own love life traumas. When she and her sister move to Barton Park after their father’s death, she meets prospective husbands named John Willoughby and Colonel Brandon. Willoughby courts Marianne from the time she arrives. They seem to be in love and people talk about how they may secretly be engaged, but out of nowhere, Willoughby up and leaves. During Willoughby’s absence, Marianne finds out that he has become engaged to someone else. Her name is Miss Grey, and the engagement was a result of Willoughby’s ill financial habits, and he too will marry for money. Saddened by this, as most women would be, Marianne goes through a phase of depression. Willoughby finally returns to justify his actions and eventually Marianne realizes that their relationship would have never worked out. While she was yearning over Willoughby, she never once noticed that Colonel Brandon was there for her all along. In the end Edward Ferrars marries Elinor and Colonel Brandon marries Marianne.
In Sense and Sensibility, one of the big parts that show hypocrisy is when Mrs. Fanny Dashwood shows her disliking towards the Dashwood sisters and their mother. She first treats them like visitors. “Mrs. John Dashwood now installed herself mistress of Norland; and her mother and sisters-in-law were degraded to the condition of visitors” (Sense 6). Mrs. John Dashwood refuses to allow the other Dashwoods to have anything but dishes from their home when they move out. She is even perturbed by the fact that the Dashwoods will receive even the dishes from their former home. Originally, though, she talks her husband out of the promise he made with his late father about taking care of the sisters and their mother. He not only allows these Dashwoods to be treated as visitors

instead of family in his home, but also allows himself to be talked out of giving them three thousand pounds. “Mrs. John Dashwood did not at all approve of what her husband intended to do for his sisters. To take three thousand pounds of their dear little boy” (Sense 6). As in an Austen novel, social life today contains oblique snubs and shows of politeness (OPED). “Her [Marianne] love breaks the pattern of politeness, and we progress to a yet more advanced level of complication” (Bloom 51).
Austen’s view on hypocrisy is also portrayed through Mansfield Park, which she started in 1811 and finished in 1814 (Tomalin 223). It begins explaining how Fanny Price got into the hands of the Bertram’s. The story revolves around Fanny Price. She comes from a poor family because her mother, Lady Bertram, married below her status. She moves in with Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, her aunt and uncle. “Her aunt, Lady Bertram, is virtually an imbecile; she may be a comic character, and not ill-tempered, but the effects of her extreme placidity are not comic” (Tomalin 228). When Fanny first arrives she is young and innocent. “The little visitor meanwhile was as unhappy as possible. Afraid of everybody, ashamed of herself, and longing for the home she had left” (Mansfield 12). The Bertram’s have four kids, the shallow sisters; Maria and Julia, Tom who is known to be a drunk, and Edmund, who becomes a clergyman. Fanny grows up living with the Bertram’s. Sir Thomas had to leave one day for a business trip. While he was gone, two new people show up, Henry and Mary Crawford. “The village received an addition in the brother and sister of Mrs. Grant, a Mr. and Miss Crawford, the children of her mother by a second marriage”(Mansfield 36). Henry is a big flirt who immediately begins to attempt to seduce Maria upon arrival, even though he knows she is an engaged woman. Secondly, he begins to flirt with Julia also, when he deems it to be necessary.
Mary on the other hand, places her interests first in Tom, but realizes that he is a bit dull. She becomes attracted to Edmund but loses interest in him also when she discovers that he is a clergyman. “A clergyman has nothing to do but to be slovenly and selfish-read the newspaper, watch the weather, and quarrel with his wife” (Mansfield 97). Hypocrisy of this is that Mary can not afford to marry a clergyman, because of his social standing and money reasons and also because it is an uninteresting profession (Bloom 132). “A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of. It certainly may secure all the myrtle and turkey part of it” (Mansfield 184).Among the chaos, Fanny falls for Edmund, but what she does not know is that Edmund confides in her his interest for Mary. In the end, Tom almost dies, Henry and Maria marry and break it off, Julia marries Tom’s friend and Fanny and Edmund eventually marry.
The hypocrisy in Mansfield Park happens when Mary and Henry Crawford enter the picture. Because of them, Mansfield Park is filled with adultery, betrayal, social ruin and ruptured friendships. “The indignities of stupidity, and the disappointments of selfish passion, can excite little pity” (Mansfield 403). Money is also part of it all. They look for love, but usually with love comes money.
“Her complacent belief that beauty deserves money derives from her own success as a good-looking girl who made a better marriage than was expected, and the only advice she offers Fanny in eight years is “that it is every young woman’s duty to accept such a very unexceptionable offer” as the proposal of marriage made by a man that Fanny dislikes” (Tomalin 228).
In Jane Austen’s novels, the more well read the characters are the better they are informed, but if the characters are the kind of people who read things uncritically and the wrong books, they tend to embarrass themselves in front of others. With this Mary Crawford is the kind who does not look beyond the exterior of things, like Edmund being a clergyman.
Mansfield Park is not just about ones social standings. It is about more than social status, it is about what one feels inside verses how the person was raised, which determines the character.
“There is no clearer statement un Austen’s fiction, I think, of the relationship of “principles” and “conduct,” of the ideal social function of the professions along with a recognition of the frequent actual failure of mortals to live up to those ideals, and of the inseparability of the moral and social institutions of the community”(Bloom 135).
But out of all Jane Austen’s novels, Mansfield Park is the one that points out social status the most.
Jane Austen wrote Mansfield Park when a lot of events were going on. The year she started the novel she had met Emmanuel Louis d’Antraigues. He was a spy for the English and Russian governments, who was then in trouble. That same year that she met him, he and his wife, Anna Saint-Huberty, were both murdered by their manservant. Also during that year the Prime Minister was shot dead. Other events that happened was the appointing of the Prince Regent (Tomalin 224). A lot happened that inspired Austen to write this novel. “Mansfield Park is, among other things, a novel about the condition of England, and addresses itself to the questions raised by royal behavior and the kind of society it encouraged” (Tomalin 225).
In a lighter sense between Mansfield Park and Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen wrote Emma. This piece was finished on March 1815. The story revolves around Emma

instead of family in his home, but also allows himself to be talked out of giving them three thousand pounds. “Mrs. John Dashwood did not at all approve of what her husband intended to do for his sisters. To take three thousand pounds of their dear little boy” (Sense 6). As in an Austen novel, social life today contains oblique snubs and shows of politeness (OPED). “Her [Marianne] love breaks the pattern of politeness, and we progress to a yet more advanced level of complication” (Bloom 51).
Austen’s view on hypocrisy is also portrayed through Mansfield Park, which she started in 1811 and finished in 1814 (Tomalin 223). It begins explaining how Fanny Price got into the hands of the Bertram’s. The story revolves around Fanny Price. She comes from a poor family because her mother, Lady Bertram, married below her status. She moves in with Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, her aunt and uncle. “Her aunt, Lady Bertram, is virtually an imbecile; she may be a comic character, and not ill-tempered, but the effects of her extreme placidity are not comic” (Tomalin 228). When Fanny first arrives she is young and innocent. “The little visitor meanwhile was as unhappy as possible. Afraid of everybody, ashamed of herself, and longing for the home she had left” (Mansfield 12). The Bertram’s have four kids, the shallow sisters; Maria and Julia, Tom who is known to be a drunk, and Edmund, who becomes a clergyman. Fanny grows up living with the Bertram’s. Sir Thomas had to leave one day for a business trip. While he was gone, two new people show up, Henry and Mary Crawford. “The village received an addition in the brother and sister of Mrs. Grant, a Mr. and Miss Crawford, the children of her mother by a second marriage”(Mansfield 36). Henry is a big flirt who immediately begins to attempt to seduce Maria upon arrival, even though he knows she is an engaged woman. Secondly, he begins to flirt with Julia also, when he deems it to be necessary.
Mary on the other hand, places her interests first in Tom, but realizes that he is a bit dull. She becomes attracted to Edmund but loses interest in him also when she discovers that he is a clergyman. “A clergyman has nothing to do but to be slovenly and selfish-read the newspaper, watch the weather, and quarrel with his wife” (Mansfield 97). Hypocrisy of this is that Mary can not afford to marry a clergyman, because of his social standing and money reasons and also because it is an uninteresting profession (Bloom 132). “A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of. It certainly may secure all the myrtle and turkey part of it” (Mansfield 184).Among the chaos, Fanny falls for Edmund, but what she does not know is that Edmund confides in her his interest for Mary. In the end, Tom almost dies, Henry and Maria marry and break it off, Julia marries Tom’s friend and Fanny and Edmund eventually marry.
The hypocrisy in Mansfield Park happens when Mary and Henry Crawford enter the picture. Because of them, Mansfield Park is filled with adultery, betrayal, social ruin and ruptured friendships. “The indignities of stupidity, and the disappointments of selfish passion, can excite little pity” (Mansfield 403). Money is also part of it all. They look for love, but usually with love comes money.
“Her complacent belief that beauty deserves money derives from her own success as a good-looking girl who made a better marriage than was expected, and the only advice she offers Fanny in eight years is “that it is every young woman’s duty to accept such a very unexceptionable offer” as the proposal of marriage made by a man that Fanny dislikes” (Tomalin 228).
In Jane Austen’s novels, the more well read the characters are the better they are informed, but if the characters are the kind of people who read things uncritically and the wrong books, they tend to embarrass themselves in front of others. With this Mary Crawford is the kind who does not look beyond the exterior of things, like Edmund being a clergyman.
Mansfield Park is not just about ones social standings. It is about more than social status, it is about what one feels inside verses how the person was raised, which determines the character.
“There is no clearer statement un Austen’s fiction, I think, of the relationship of “principles” and “conduct,” of the ideal social function of the professions along with a recognition of the frequent actual failure of mortals to live up to those ideals, and of the inseparability of the moral and social institutions of the community”(Bloom 135).
But out of all Jane Austen’s novels, Mansfield Park is the one that points out social status the most.
Jane Austen wrote Mansfield Park when a lot of events were going on. The year she started the novel she had met Emmanuel Louis d’Antraigues. He was a spy for the English and Russian governments, who was then in trouble. That same year that she met him, he and his wife, Anna Saint-Huberty, were both murdered by their manservant. Also during that year the Prime Minister was shot dead. Other events that happened was the appointing of the Prince Regent (Tomalin 224). A lot happened that inspired Austen to write this novel. “Mansfield Park is, among other things, a novel about the condition of England, and addresses itself to the questions raised by royal behavior and the kind of society it encouraged” (Tomalin 225).
In a lighter sense between Mansfield Park and Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen wrote Emma. This piece was finished on March 1815. The story revolves around Emma

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Originally Posted by TheBob

instead of family in his home, but also allows himself to be talked out of giving them three thousand pounds. “Mrs. John Dashwood did not at all approve of what her husband intended to do for his sisters. To take three thousand pounds of their dear little boy” (Sense 6). As in an Austen novel, social life today contains oblique snubs and shows of politeness (OPED). “Her [Marianne] love breaks the pattern of politeness, and we progress to a yet more advanced level of complication” (Bloom 51).
Austen’s view on hypocrisy is also portrayed through Mansfield Park, which she started in 1811 and finished in 1814 (Tomalin 223). It begins explaining how Fanny Price got into the hands of the Bertram’s. The story revolves around Fanny Price. She comes from a poor family because her mother, Lady Bertram, married below her status. She moves in with Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, her aunt and uncle. “Her aunt, Lady Bertram, is virtually an imbecile; she may be a comic character, and not ill-tempered, but the effects of her extreme placidity are not comic” (Tomalin 228). When Fanny first arrives she is young and innocent. “The little visitor meanwhile was as unhappy as possible. Afraid of everybody, ashamed of herself, and longing for the home she had left” (Mansfield 12). The Bertram’s have four kids, the shallow sisters; Maria and Julia, Tom who is known to be a drunk, and Edmund, who becomes a clergyman. Fanny grows up living with the Bertram’s. Sir Thomas had to leave one day for a business trip. While he was gone, two new people show up, Henry and Mary Crawford. “The village received an addition in the brother and sister of Mrs. Grant, a Mr. and Miss Crawford, the children of her mother by a second marriage”(Mansfield 36). Henry is a big flirt who immediately begins to attempt to seduce Maria upon arrival, even though he knows she is an engaged woman. Secondly, he begins to flirt with Julia also, when he deems it to be necessary.
Mary on the other hand, places her interests first in Tom, but realizes that he is a bit dull. She becomes attracted to Edmund but loses interest in him also when she discovers that he is a clergyman. “A clergyman has nothing to do but to be slovenly and selfish-read the newspaper, watch the weather, and quarrel with his wife” (Mansfield 97). Hypocrisy of this is that Mary can not afford to marry a clergyman, because of his social standing and money reasons and also because it is an uninteresting profession (Bloom 132). “A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of. It certainly may secure all the myrtle and turkey part of it” (Mansfield 184).Among the chaos, Fanny falls for Edmund, but what she does not know is that Edmund confides in her his interest for Mary. In the end, Tom almost dies, Henry and Maria marry and break it off, Julia marries Tom’s friend and Fanny and Edmund eventually marry.
The hypocrisy in Mansfield Park happens when Mary and Henry Crawford enter the picture. Because of them, Mansfield Park is filled with adultery, betrayal, social ruin and ruptured friendships. “The indignities of stupidity, and the disappointments of selfish passion, can excite little pity” (Mansfield 403). Money is also part of it all. They look for love, but usually with love comes money.
“Her complacent belief that beauty deserves money derives from her own success as a good-looking girl who made a better marriage than was expected, and the only advice she offers Fanny in eight years is “that it is every young woman’s duty to accept such a very unexceptionable offer” as the proposal of marriage made by a man that Fanny dislikes” (Tomalin 228).
In Jane Austen’s novels, the more well read the characters are the better they are informed, but if the characters are the kind of people who read things uncritically and the wrong books, they tend to embarrass themselves in front of others. With this Mary Crawford is the kind who does not look beyond the exterior of things, like Edmund being a clergyman.
Mansfield Park is not just about ones social standings. It is about more than social status, it is about what one feels inside verses how the person was raised, which determines the character.
“There is no clearer statement un Austen’s fiction, I think, of the relationship of “principles” and “conduct,” of the ideal social function of the professions along with a recognition of the frequent actual failure of mortals to live up to those ideals, and of the inseparability of the moral and social institutions of the community”(Bloom 135).
But out of all Jane Austen’s novels, Mansfield Park is the one that points out social status the most.
Jane Austen wrote Mansfield Park when a lot of events were going on. The year she started the novel she had met Emmanuel Louis d’Antraigues. He was a spy for the English and Russian governments, who was then in trouble. That same year that she met him, he and his wife, Anna Saint-Huberty, were both murdered by their manservant. Also during that year the Prime Minister was shot dead. Other events that happened was the appointing of the Prince Regent (Tomalin 224). A lot happened that inspired Austen to write this novel. “Mansfield Park is, among other things, a novel about the condition of England, and addresses itself to the questions raised by royal behavior and the kind of society it encouraged” (Tomalin 225).
In a lighter sense between Mansfield Park and Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen wrote Emma. This piece was finished on March 1815. The story revolves around Emma

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I have read all your posts save one and I deeply enjoyed your writing and the way you saw the characters and the plotlines and hypocrisy and were able to put your thoughts into words.
Whenever I read Jane I merely saw life, just life as it was back then. I grew up in a social setting very like hers in many ways and so it was merely life. I did not delve into the why's and wherefores and see the many layers and underlying reasons people who crave fine society do what they do for I didn't and I was either too stupid or naive to understand the fact that others do. fortunately for me I rather renounced al that and turned my back on superfilous living and went the way of Mother Theresa.
Your insights were wonderful