Pride and Prejudice: characterisation

How does Austen create character in Chapter 11?
- Through the merging of the narrator's voice with characters'. This is done most often with Elizabeth, who, as the main figure the story follows, is the centre of consciousness and thought in the novel; what the reader sees and thinks is often Elizabeth's interpretation. An example: "Elizabeth had never seen them so agreeable...their powers of conversation were considerable."

- By comparing and contrasting characters, for example of Elizabeth and Miss Bingley's opposing approaches to what to do about Darcy (" 'our surest way of disappointing him is to ask nothing about it' " vs "incapable of disappointing Mr Darcy in anything"

- Through actions, for example when Miss Bingley walked by Mr Darcy, he remained "inflexibly studious" showing that he has no interest in her, whereas when Elizabeth walked past, he "unconsciously closed his book" showing that he has a real attraction to her.

- Through the structure and sequencing of the events, for example, "Darcy took up a book; Miss Bennet did the same" which shows how Miss Bennet is mimicking Darcy in attempt to impress, instead of both characters just reading independently of one another.

- Through the presentation of dialogue, for example in Darcy's conversation with Elizabeth, no attributions are used, which shows the intimacy between the two.

Maude Clare characterisation

Important aspects of characterisation in Maude Clare:

1. Women definitely have more of a focus in the poem than men do. This is expressed partly through speech; when the women talk, their speech is eloquent and articulate, whereas when the groom speaks he is said to "falter" and he only manages to stutter, "Lady, Maude Clare" - the name of a woman.

2. Although there are no direct accusations, the reader gets the sense that the man in the poem is the one at fault because of how he "hid his face" when confronted, possibly because of shame. This seems a cowardly act and, like how the words of women dominate the poem, makes women seem dominant and males weak in comparison.

3. The poem's title and last words are both "Maude Clare" which, in addition to creating the sense of great importance of the character, means that the poem begins and closes on the same idea. This is effective in encouraging the reader to reflect on the message of the poem because it links to the start, highlighting to the reader the difference in their position in terms of knowledge of the story and so presenting them with the perfect position to think about what has happened.

Pride and Prejudice plot timeline

- Charles Bingley rents Netherfield manor
- Mr Bennet pays a social visit to Bingley
- The Bennets are invited to attend a ball
- Bingley is taken with Jane and so dances with her a lot
- Darcy insults Elizabeth and refuses to dance with her
- Jane and Bingley's relationship blooms
- Jane visits the Bingley mansion and becomes ill after being caught in the rain
- Elizabeth hikes to see Jane and is looked down upon by snobbish Miss Bingley
- Darcy pays increasing attention to Elizabeth as he is increasingly attracted to her
- Elizabeth and Jane return home to find Mr Collins visiting
- He proposes to Elizabeth, who declines
- The Bennet girls become friendly with nearby militia officers and meet Wickham
- At the start of winter, the Bingleys and Darcy leave and return to London
- Collins proposes to Charlotte Lucas, who accepts for financial and security reasons
- Jane goes to see friends (and Bingley she hopes) but Miss Bingley is rude to her
- In spring, Elizabeth visits Charlotte
- Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, who declines
- He then writes a letter to Elizabeth about Bingely and Jane and about Wickham's evils
- Elizabeth then evaluates her feelings and opinions and returns home, being cold to Wickham
- The militia leave town and Lydia gets permission to spend the summer in Brighton with a colonel
- In June Elizabeth visits the Gardiners, who are her aunt and uncle
- They visit Pemberley and see the servants praise Darcy highly as a master
- Darcy arrives back earlier than expected and behaves cordially and extremely politely to Elizabeth, entertains the Gardiners and invites Elizabeth ot meet his sister
- A letter arrives from home for Elizabeth saying Lydia has eloped with Wickham
- Gardiner and Bennet try to find Lydia but Bennet does not succeed and returns home
- A letter comes from Gardiner saying the pair have been found and will marry in exchange for an annual income for Wickham
- Bennets think the Gardiner paid off Wickham but after writing to her aunt, Elizabeth learns that Darcy was the saviour
- Married, Lydia and Wickham return to Longbourn, are treated coldly, then leave for the North
- Bingley returns, resumes his courtship with Jane, when shortly proposes successfully
- Lady Catherine visits, saying she has heard rumour that Darcy plans to propose to Elizabeth, but that the must not marry as they are an unsuitable match
- Elizabeth refuses her, saying she won't compromise her happiness
- Darcy returns and walks with Elizabeth, telling her that his feelings have not changed
- He proposes and Elizabeth accepts
-

The Convent Threshold

After the first reading of this poem I had no idea what is was about; I found it harder to grasp than the other poems we've done so far. I still don't really get it, but I have a better understanding of it than I did at first. Slightly.

In the poem, the persona (assumably a woman) is trying to persuade her lover to repent his sins and to join her in heaven so that they can be together. They have both sinned and although there are no concrete details of what they did, it is insinuated that they had premartaial sex: the quote "the gifts we took and gave" suggests that they gave each others their viginity but it was 'taken' because it wasn't officially theirs to have as the couple aren't married. Also, the persona's "lily feet are soiled with mud" which again suggests loss of virginity as lilies are white, the colour associated with purity and virtue, and her feet are now dirty which is how she would have been perceived by society afterwards.

There is a lot of imagery of heaven and earth and the two are deliberately contrasted to reflect the character's views: the persona wants to be in heaven and her lover is content with being on earth; "your eyes look earthward, mine look up." The idea of heaven is very attractive to the persona - it is portrayed as being grand and peaceful, being a place with "a gleaming strand of mansions" where people "sleeep at ease amoung their trees." Also, in heaven they would have forever together whereas on earth "the time is short" and "tomorrow nigh" which suggests that she thinks that a lfetime is not long enough for her to spend with him. However, to her, heaven is "far-off" as she has not yet persuaded her lover to go with her and she doesn't want to go without him beacuse heaven doesn't compare to the love they have, shown by how she asks "how should I rest in Paradise or sit on steps of heaven alone?" and how she would feel "pitiful pangs" if he were not there with her.


I don't really get the whole dream thing either. The message in the first seems to be that knowledge is nothing compared to love and again is quite possibly a ploy to persuade the man, but the second...no idea.

The persona seems to be in conflict throughout the poem, pulled possibly by religion as well as her lover. Perhaps she has decided to follow religion and repent her sins for now, but hopes be with her lover once again in heaven some day. Either way there's a lot of biblical language in the poem and religion seems to be a fairly big thing.

Cousin Kate: Character

Some of the stuff about characters overlaps from the "voices and pov" entry but I haven't repeated it here.

The narrator
She is portrayed as being an innocent young virgin girl as she is described as a "cottage maiden" which shows that she isn't from the city and that she isn't married. She didn't know her own beauty - " I wasn't mindful I was fair" - which could be interpreted as her being virtuous because she isn't vain or self-centred because of her looks, however I think it makes her seem naive especially because she later admits to being "fooled" by the lord and seems to have been blinded by love whilst she was in a relationship with him as she sees their relationship as being "shameless" despite the cultural stigma of it and the rest of society seeing it as "shameful".

The narrator knows she has been used as she is described as "his plaything" which he "changed like a glove" meaning that she was easily discarded by him, suggesting that he had little regard for her. She seems to regret what she did as she "moans" and wonders that she "might have been a dove" - here she is dreaming about what she could have made of herself. The image of the dove is significant as doves are white, the colour associated with purity, and doves fly and so have complete freedom.

I think she feels somewhat bitter about Kate because if "he had fooled me and not you...would not have taken his hand" - she would have acted completely differently and would not have betrayed her family like Kate betrayed her. Also, her bitterness could be because she feels that Kate's love is temporary, describling it as being "writ in sand" as if it were soon to be washed away, and so accuses Kate of only wanting the material things: the "gold" and "clothes and wedding ring". However, the narrator overcomes this biterness by showing admirable resilience in making the most of and being grateful for what she does have: a "fair-haired son" who she views as a "gift". Her gratefulness for the child could be interpreted as smugness because she says she "has a gift you have not and seem not like to get" which is almost like she is gloating to her cousin, although arguably considering her cousin's betrayal and immoral behaviour, she may be thought to deserve to.

The lord
The lord victimised the narrator, using her merely as a "plaything" before discarding her seemingly without looking back. As a male, he carries no blame nor social scars for having sex with a woman without being married to her which shows the power of the position that men had at the time. This idea is furthered by the god-like image of the lord "lifting you from mean estate to sit with him on high" (can you quote like that even though the pronouny things are completely wrong?). Also, the fact that the lord would supposedly "give lands for one to weat his coronet" shows the importance of having a son at that point in time.

Cousin Kate: Voice and point of view

Today we ditched Goblin Market and started on Cousin Kate, paying particular attention to the voice, point of view and character in the poem.

The main voice of the poem is that of the narrator, Kate's cousin, as she writes to Cousin Kate in restrospect, looking back over and retelling some events of their lives with some reflections throw in here and there.

The majoirty of the poem is written from the narrator's point of view, however we get an insight into society's perspective as the "neighbours" think Kate "good and pure" but the narrator "an outcast thing" with the use of the word "thing" suggesting that she was not even worthy of a name. This shows the injustice of society on the topics of women, their virtue, the glorification of their virginity and of the importance of marriage; Kate and the narrator had lived the exact same experience with the "luring" "lord" however the narrator is viewed as being a whore (can you say that in an exam? :S) and was rejected by society whereas Kate was perceived as being virtuous, solely because the latter was married to the man and the former was not. In addition, the narrator's relationship is described as "shameful" which again shows the cultural importance of marriage.

Other interpretations of Goblin Market

Another interpretation of Goblin Market is one of redemption. The prevalence of this concept and of other Christian ideas is likely because Rossetti was a devout Christian, even rejecting marriage proposals on religious grounds.

The basic plot of the poem is debatably similar to the story of Christ; Lizzie undergoes a huge act of self-sacrifice as she "stood in deadly peril to do her good" and in turn Laura is afterwards restored - she "laughed in the innocent way" which shows that she is her old self once more, and her hair "showed not one thread of gray" which proves that she has overcome her premature ageing that was was caused by her sin of succumbing to temptation, suggesting that she had been forgiven and redeemed. This is much like Christ's self-sacrifice which lead to the redemption of humanity and forgiveness of their sins.

Furthermore, within the poem there is a strong allusion of baptism as Laura came from "life out of death" as an "innocent" girl again which suggests that past her sins had been cleansed and she was redeemed and reborn; she seems full of life as the "light danced in her eyes". Another point is that the fruit juice Lizzie was covered in could symbolise the wine drunk at the Eucharist; Jesus was supposed to have stated that unless his disciples drank his wine they would have no life in them, which draws a parallel with how Laura "awoke" and was reborn after she drank the juices from Lizzie.

Goblin Market: feminist interpretation

Last lesson we were spilt up into groups to explore five possible interpretations of Goblin Market: erotic, feminism, marxism, redemption, or moralistic. It was quite interesting because it really hit home that a poem is just what you make of it and that there's no definitive answer to anything, only opinion derived from objectivity.

My group covered feminism, which I think is a pretty strong interpretation because it is a bold underlying theme that runs throughout the poem and because there are several aspects to it which further firm its validity.

Firstly, men are portrayed as the antagonists in the poem. In their physical description they are seen as animalistic and inhuman - "one had a cat's face...one crawled like a snail" - and are even linked with connotations associated with the devil; Rossetti writes "their looks were evil, lashing their tails." Furthermore, the men are vicious, very aggressive and violent as they were "grunting and snarling" at Lizzie's refusal before they "clawed her with their nails" and "tore her gown...stamped upon her tender feet". There are no other male characters in the poem which means that the goblin men are symbolic and arguably could represent all men. This gives a strongly negative image of men and links to the feministic idea that men are the root of all evil. The negativity is added to because of the major contrast to the females in the poem who are portrayed as being innocent, angelic and quintessentially good; the detriment of the men exaggerates the goodness of the women.

Secondly, female-female relationships are very much praised throughout the poem, for example the women are described as being "like two blossoms on one stem, like two flakes of new-fallen snow" which conjours up images of beauty and togerness. Also, nature approves of and looks out over the women; "the wind sang them a lullabye, the moon and stars gazed over them...round their rest" which creates an image of untouchable perfection around the women and suggests that their relationship is purely natural and is what nature intended. This supports the feminist idea that pure love can only be experienced between females, especially because of the juxtaposition between the intimate sisterly love and the destructive relationship of the sisters with the men.
Another point is that women are portrayed so positively. Physically, they have "golden hair" which draws parallels with the golden glow of an angel's halo, and "glossy heads" which infers youth and health, but more significantly the heroine of the poem is female and she triumphs over men, who were "worn out by her resistance." This shows how women have the strength and resilience to withstand evils and to succeed over men and the idea of their strength is enhanced by the fact that it was Lizzie on her own rivalling numerous men but she still succeeded.

Furthermore, in the last stanza there is the line "for there is no friend like a sister" which projects sisterhood to be above even friendship. The positioning of this line is important: it suggests that feminism is the message of the poem because it is the final idea that the poet leaves the reader with for reflection and it rounds up the poem by reinforcing the previous underlying feminist themes.

Christina Rossetti

Some interesting facts:
- Christina Rossetti lived during the nineteenth century, and so was part of the pre-Raphaelite literary movement.
- She was a devout Anglican Christian; she would only read certain literature after she stuck paper over what she deemed the anti-religious parts and she broke off relationships from men on two occasions because of differences in religion..
- She was also a feminist; she objected to nudity in paintings, especially if the artist was a woman.
- She had a self-professed passionate temper, and confessed to once harming herself with scissors after falling out with her mother.
- She did some social work with prostitutes at a penitentiary
- Based on a change in her temperament, is believed that she may have been sexually molested, possibly by her father.

Destination in P&P

The destination of a novel is what ends up happening. In Pride and Prejudice, the destination can be pretty much inferred from the first chapter, even from the first sentence; "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." Rerasons for this are that this sentence stands isolated in its own paragraph, which signifies it's importance and makes it stands out, and that it is the first thing the author included in the novel, again highlighting it's significance.
Furthermore, there is no description of either character or setting right until the end of the chapter, which means that the focus is shifted to the topic of the dialogue: again, marriage.

First English Lit lesson

"Mr Francis entered the room. There was a piece of paper on the floor."

Why is the inclusion of the detail of the paper on the floor important?

We were presented with the idea that everything an author includes in a book is in some way significant and important, otherwise it wouldn't be there. So, here the paper could be an object important to the plot, like a suicide note which the character stumbles across or a birth certificate of a unwanted baby kept secret, or it could just infer something about a character or a scene, for example that the character is a messy person or that the room isn't as it was before so something could be wrong.