Musings-on-Jane-Austen

I write about Jane Austen because I love her works, but also because I write JAFF (Jane Austen Fan Fiction). I also really enjoy Anne Brontë, especially The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, George Eliot, and Elizabeth Gaskell, specifically Wives & Daughters.

I have two self-published novels, Prideful & Persuaded: A Jane Austen Crossover Romance and Unfairly Caught: A Mansfield Park Variation. You can find my free stories and other stuff here. I also write on AHA and AO3 under this same username. If you want a comprehensive list of every named character in Jane Austen’s six novels: here. (for Regency names in real life here), Mansfield Park probably isn't about slavery and Regency-ish household budgets

My Northanger Abbey readthrough can be found here My Lady Susan readthrough can be found here Link to my AITA Jane Austen posts Link to find all my Jane Austen Charted posts Link to find all my Why You Should Read This Jane Austen Novel posts Objective (lol) hotness ratings for Jane Austen's heroes, heroines, and dubious men

Some of my favourite posts: Estimated Sexual Abilities of Austen Men First Kiss for each Austen Heroine Couple Who would each Jane Austen Heroine stab? The sluttiest thing a (Jane Austen) man can say Each Jane Austen Hero Writes a “Wentworth Letter” Fighting ability of Austen Men

If you want to learn more about my other life in science, check out this post.

My Asian drama sideblog Fake Married my Dead Fiance is here (this does not work on phones? just search fake-married-my-dead-fiance)

I don't personally like to draw parallels between the author's real life and their novels, unless something is clearly semi-autobiographical (Agnes Grey for example). But I would also say that not all Austen mothers are dead, absent, or incompetent. Mrs. Jennings is quite active, visits her daughters frequently, and seems to have a very loving relationship with at least Charlotte and her son-in-law (Lady Middleton doesn't like her mom). Mrs. Dashwood in Sense & Sensibility may not be as prudent as Elinor, but she is loving and close with her daughters, especially Marianne. Mrs. Morland is mostly not around for Northanger Abbey, but seems to be very involved with her children. The Musgroves seem very close despite boarding school and Mary Musgrove seems to be around her kids a lot, if not directly taking care of them.

Also, I think sometimes we get arrogant in our modern ideas of parenting and think children would have felt unloved in the past. However, expectations would have been different and comparison would be different as well. Children would look around and see that the way their parents expressed love for them was similar to other families, so they probably wouldn't feel deprived. I remember even reading a study that 20 minutes per day of genuine bonding with a child is all they really need. The Austens visited their wet-nursed children daily as far as I remember. And children today still have deep bonds with their parents despite 6 hours of school and after school activities. Or not, if their parents suck. But parents will suck under any model of parenting.

I think Austen was just interested in how parents can prepare their children for life or drag them down. She avoids the popular orphan trope and instead focuses on the ways parents can affect their children while alive. If her heroines are half-orphans, she always kills the more competent parent... You know I don't think the relationships are really that "distant" at all. Mrs. Bennet is right there, muddling in her daughter's lives. Fanny Price is over-parented. The Dashwood girls are close with their mother... Anne was close to her mother and is very close to a mother figure in Lady Russell. Emma has a close female mother figure as well.

In short, yes, a morning period followed the death of a parent, sibling, national figure, or distant relation.

In Jane Austen's novels, we see that in Sense & Sensibility, the Dashwoods have a six month time jump between when their father dies and the story begins. This is likely to account for the mourning period, where the family was mostly at home together and not engaging much socially. When they move to Barton Cottage, it seems that going out and dancing is now fine.

In Persuasion, Elizabeth Elliot wears ribbons of mourning for Mr. Elliot's wife, despite them only being distant cousins. Mr. Elliot himself is wearing morning when Anne meets him in Lyme and in Bath (Both master and man being in mourning)

“My dear Mrs Smith, Mr Elliot’s wife has not been dead much above half a year. He ought not to be supposed to be paying his addresses to any one.”

Here is what I think about your more specific questions, if a woman's guardian died right before her wedding, it might just go ahead so that she could be under the protection of her husband, especially if her next nearest relations were a long way off. If a man's parent died, there would be less reason to move ahead and they may wait. Honouring your mother and father is an important Biblical commandment and most people during the Regency were Christians, so this isn't just a social custom, it was also a religious one.

So I think there would be no hard and fast rule, it probably depended on the exact circumstances surrounding the death and marriage. If the marriage was something the parent wanted to see before they died for example.

Anyway, here is a good summary of mourning periods, though it doesn't fully answer your questions:

Typically historically-inspired manhwas go off the deep end in regards to plot for the sake of drama, but the author and the artist of this series both clearly seem to love the source inspiration, and as far as I can tell stay as accurate as they can to the ideas, visuals, and trials for a woman of that era. It's also just incredibly pretty. I would love to know what you think of it, if you do read it.

I have discussed webcomics/manhwas! I do read them. It's only 30 chapters so I will give it a read, but... I'm going to tear apart the historical accuracy so um, don't look below if you don't want to read that

The Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann Radcliffe, published in 1794

Emily is fleeing from a castle under threat of being married off against her will with a man who will be imprisoned if caught and she is trying to procure a hat because apparently wearing a hat outdoors is really that important or her lack of a hat will give her away as a fugitive.

“And of your infliction,” cried Elizabeth, with energy; “You have reduced him to his present state of poverty—comparative poverty. You have withheld the advantages which you must know to have been designed for him. You have deprived the best years of his life of that independence which was no less his due than his desert. You have done all this! and yet you can treat the mention of his misfortunes with contempt and ridicule.”

Why did Austen choose to make the issue between Wickham and Darcy an inheritance? I think for the same reason that character and morals are emphasized so much in her novels. A woman is putting her life in the hands of her husband, she needs to know that he will properly take care of her. She needs to know that he won't circumvent the legal documents designed to protect her. And especially in this match, where Mr. Darcy holds so much more influence and wealth than Elizabeth's father, his reputation, character, and past dealings are everything.

“Lizzy,” said her father, “I have given him my consent. He is the kind of man, indeed, to whom I should never dare refuse anything, which he condescended to ask." (Mr. Bennet is endlessly sarcastic, but he's pretty sincere in this scene so I believe him here)