In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's world

on "two inches of ivory”

MA ENGLISH, SEMESTER I,
INSTRUCTOR: FAISAL JAHANGEER
 "two inches of ivory”
• Jane Austen confines her creative activity to the depiction of whatever fell
within her range of personal experience.
• While her range of observation in life is not so wide her work has been
variously called as the “Two inches of ivory” and “three or four
families”. All these titles exhibit the excellence as well as the limitations of
her craft and outlook.
• Although she works on a very small canvas, yet she has widened the scope
of fiction in almost all its directions. Her stories mostly have indoor actions
where only family matters especially love and marriages are discussed.
However, her plots are perfect and characterization is superb.
 "two inches of ivory”
• All of her six novels, including “Pride and Prejudice”, have been
controversial since their publication, on account of Austen’s limited
range. The critical view is divided in two groups – detractors and
admires.
• Novels present a certain narrow physical setting.
• A period of American War of Independence, Napoleonic Wars.
Characters are unaware of all these tumultuous events.
• Story of “Pride and Prejudice” revolves around Neitherfield Park,
Longbourne, Hunsford Parsonage, Meryton and Pemberley.
 "two inches of ivory”
• Nature does not play any specific role in her novels.
• It seems to be an irony of the history of English literature
that when writers like Wordsworth, Byron, Coleridge and
others were discovering the beauties of nature / outer
world, Austen confines her characters within the four
walls of the drawing room or Hall. Edward Fitzgerald
states:
“She never goes out of the Parlour.”
 "two inches of ivory”
• Austen avoids the sense of passions described by the
romantics, because of her classical views of order and
control. Bronte condemns her:
“… the passions art completely unknown to her.”
• Critics have complained that her subject matters are very
much the same in all her novels and she writes the same
sort of story and also that she does not introduce any great
variety in her characters.
 "two inches of ivory”
• All of her six novels deal with same theme of love and
marriages.
• There are pretty girls waiting for eligible bachelors to be
married to. The opening line of “Pride and Prejudice” is the
theme of her six novels.
• She writes:
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in
possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”
 "two inches of ivory”
• Another limitation of Jane Austen is the feminization of her
novels.
• Men never appear except in the company of women. All the
information about Darcy is proved through Elizabeth’s point of
view. Hence, the reader looks at Darcy through Elizabeth’s eye.
• Even in her limited world, Austen restricts herself to the depiction
of a particular class of country gentry. She excludes the matters of
lower class and hardly touches aristocracy. For instance she has
discussed Lady Catherine only for the purpose of satire.
 "two inches of ivory”
• There is no terrible happening in her novels.
Everything happens in a civilized manner.
• The extreme severity in “Pride and Prejudice” is
elopement of Lydia with Wickham.

“Wickham may elope with Lydia.”

 "two inches of ivory”
• A famous critic, Charlotte Bronte believes that Austen has no
concern with the morals and she is an author of the surface only:
“Her business is not half so much with the human heart as with the
human eye, mouth, hands and feet.”
A. H. Wright remarks that there is very little religion in her novels.
Politics is not mentioned too.
• There are no adventures found in her books, no abstract ideas
and no discussion of spiritual or metaphysical issues.
 "two inches of ivory”
• The defence of Jane Austen’s limited range comes from the nature
of her novels, the situation of her time and her physical
surroundings.
• Austen’s novels are termed as “domestic novels”.
• She belongs to the era when neither the girls were allowed to be
admitted to universities nor to be intermingled freely with men.
So it is natural that her range is limited.
 "two inches of ivory”
• Austen was a daughter of a country clergyman. She
has very less exposure to the world except her short
visits to London and a few years study at Bath. Hence
the world she experienced was very small.
• In a letter to her niece, Austen wrote:
“There are four families in a country village is the
very thing to work on.”
 "two inches of ivory”
• Though Austen’s limitations are very self imposed yet
within her deliberately restricted field, her art is
perfect.
• Realization of one’s limitations is a positive virtue.
The restricted social setting and purely interests, lend
a sense of discipline to her art.
“Within the limits she is superb.”
 "two inches of ivory”
• She gains in depth, what she loses in broadness of canvas.
Her characters stem from a class which she knows well
and hence they are very realistic and life-like.
• Elizabeth Bennet is one of the most delightful heroines
one could come across in literature. Wordsworth remarks:

“Her novels are an admirable copy of life.”

 "two inches of ivory”
• It would be wrong to say that her novels lack passion and
profundity.
• Her themes are love, courtship and marriage and it is
impossible to keep the feelings out from such a novel.
• Besides love, there are also significant emotions, like
jealousy of Bingley’s, cunningness of Wickham, snobbery of
Lady Catherine – all are depicted by Austen with perfect
sincerity and conviction.
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• She also holds a definite moral concern in her novels.
She laughs at the shortcomings of people to correct
their behaviours.
• Beneath the theme of love and marriage, she deals
with manners to correct the conduct of the middle
class country gentry. She preaches the dictum
of “know thyself”.
 "two inches of ivory”
• Hence she aims at high morality. She also depicts the
merits and strength of a marriage based on
understanding through the wedding of Elizabeth and
Darcy. The nature of her craft is defined by Austen
herself as:

“With bit of irony on which I work with so fine brush to

produce little effect after much labour.”
 "two inches of ivory”
• Within her theme and subject matter, Jane Austen is unparalleled in her skill and plot
construction. The sub-plots of Jane-Bingley, Lydia-Wickham, Charlotte-Collins all are closely
linked to the main Elizabeth-Darcy plot and highlight the theme of good marriage. Even in
her limits, no two of her characters are repeated.
• G. H. Lewis remarks:
“Her circle may be restricted but it is complete. Her world is perfect orb and vital
sphere.”
• Thus it may be concluded that within her limited range Austen handles all the characters,
events, dialogues and the plot of her novels in a very exquisite manner. Her art is fine,
perfect and distinguishable. No doubt she is a fine flower of the expiring 18th century.
QUESTIONS
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