My tête-à-tête with Miss Austen*

Of the three books I picked up with my “no internet after 9pm” rule, my instincts drew me to Pride and Prejudice first. I could sense the drama and taboo locked between those covers, and I was sure I would appreciate it. With my limited knowledge of the book beforehand, I expected the entangled “love”** stories to appeal to the romantic in me, however the book surprised me when I found myself engaged on several other levels.

The first and foremost was the intense pride and feminism evoked by every one of Elizabeth’s unorthodox actions. Admittedly, the desire to prove female independence and equality were a factor in my decision to become an engineer, but aside from that, I don’t feel any strongly feminist emotions on a daily basis. As a matter of fact, I often find feminists rather irritating, mostly because I believe a proactive, doing mentality goes leagues farther than the passive, complaining route in promoting equality. However, this was all thrown aside as Elizabeth, with a strong will and love for her sickly sister, ran the five miles to Netherfield in the storm, despite the impropriety of a young woman doing such a thing. One of my favorite lines from the book is when she arrives at Netherfield, with the bottom of her dress covered in mud, and Mr. Darcy notes that she looked beautiful, despite her face being “flushed with glow of exercise,” where a footnote then explained that exercise was considered improper for upper class women, as it indicated working in the field. I felt this great surge of pride in Elizabeth, and Mr. Darcy himself gained brownie points for shunning society’s expectations and admitting (if only to himself) his attraction to such a rebel.

This leads me to my other point of surprise. There was something incredibly attractive in the defiance of taboo in such a repressive culture, where simple gestures, such as Mr. Darcy’s uninvited visits to Mr. Collins’ parish, raised eyebrows. As Mr. Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s relationship progressed, I found the conversation during their racy rendezvous as exciting as a sexual encounter, and was often nothing short of turned on. Besides a very enlightening look into my own sexual psyche, this book let me rest assured that even in the most repressed of times, people had no trouble getting their yayas.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and will probably continue down this line with Sense and Sensibility someday, if not soon.

*Upon researching, Jane Austen was the only (and hence oldest) sister, so would have gone by the name Miss Austen, according to the rules stated in her book.

**I use this word with caution, because I do not believe that any girl in this story actually loved her suitor/husband, with, of course, the exception of Jane.