Wit

Kyle Hoehne’s First Post

~ Kyle Hoehne ~ 2 Comments

Hey everyone, I’m Kyle. I’m an English major with a minor in Creative Writing. It’s difficult for me to choose just one of my favorite authors, but I’ve been reading a lot of Junot Diaz recently so I’ll go with him, although this could change by tomorrow. Honorable mention would have to go to George R. R. Martin because I don’t think I’ve ever been more anxious about a book series than his.

On to Pride and Prejudice and Sermons to Young Women. I think that Jane Austen would probably butt heads with James Fordyce, especially about his thoughts on Wit. Fordyce writes, “Men who understand the science of domestic happiness, know that its very first principle is ease… But we cannot be easy, where we are not safe. We are never safe in the company of a critic; and almost every wit is a critic by profession.” (400) In the novel, Darcy’s character is almost the exact opposite of the men that Fordyce is speaking of. Darcy seems to find Elizabeth’s wittiness an attractive quality that separates her from the likes of Caroline and Jane. Austen writes about Darcy, “Though he had detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry in her form, he was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and pleasing; and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those of the fashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness.” (61) Elizabeth is so unlike the vision of women that Fordyce has that this distinction brings her into Darcy’s attention. She acts differently towards him than most women, most notably Caroline Bingley, whose attempts at conversation and manipulation are cringe inducing in comparison to Elizabeth’s playful demeanor.

All in all, by creating a main character that eschews the social norms, Austen generates drama. Elizabeth’s placement into any scene automatically creates turmoil, especially when Darcy is around, and her defiance of etiquette produces a much more compelling narrative as a result.

Introduction & Wit

~ Autumn H ~ 1 Comment

Hi, my name is Autumn Holladay. I am an English major with minors in Creative Writing and Film & Video Studies with a concentration in production. My favorite authors are T. S. Eliot, William Faulkner, Carson McCullers and Robert Penn Warren.

Pride and Prejudice mocks James Fordyce’s Sermons for Young Women, even though the text had some value to the principles of the time. First off, as a way of introducing the text in PAP, Mr. Collins picks out the Sermons to read to the Bennet family, yet, can only read three pages before Lydia interrupts him and offends him: “I have often observed how little ladies are interested by books of a serious stamp, though written solely for their benefit…there can be nothing so advantageous to them as instruction” (Austen 103). Austen comments on this belief through Mary Bennet: the only sister who reads such conduct books and, ironically, is the sister with the least amount of suitors. Both Mary and Mr. Collins study conduct books and apply them to the real world, in which the conduct codes ultimately fail. Mary has read that a lady should be accomplished in music and the arts. She applies this code by singing and playing the piano at Bingley’s ball, yet it does not work out. She takes it too far and the audience is bored; Mr. Bennet must tell her to stop. The code does not work in a real world setting.

James Fordyce was a clergy man like Mr. Collins who tried to seek fortune in London. The Sermons include an essay meant to dissuade women from making witty remarks since men would be less likely to marry because “every wit is a critic by profession” and thus would not make a peaceful marriage (400). As an argument against this, Elizabeth’s wit is what attracts Mr. Darcy to her first, rather than her looks or her accomplishments. In fact, out of all of the Bennet sisters, Elizabeth has three marriage proposals from: Mr. Collins, Mr. Wickham and Mr. Darcy and is the wittiest of the sisters. Her wit also leads her to decline all of them before agreeing to Mr. Darcy. From this point, it seems clear Pride and Prejudice works as an argument against such Lady Conduct books.