Points for AV1 - part 3

Romanticism: The Romantic Prose

Introduction

As you could see, the titles from Activity 1 (distributed in class) were just a few of the works written during the Romantic age. Most of the works written at the time bore the same features of the age which were already discussed: the love of nature, a departure from reason, the focus on the individual, an element of the supernatural, among others. Some of the works written at this time are still references nowadays and their stories have been gathering fans one generation after another. This is so true that some of them were made into blockbusters in the 20th century. Among the writers from this time we can include:
⦁ Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, among others.)
⦁ Mary Shelley (Frankenstein, Valperga, The Last Man, among others).
⦁ Sir Walter Scott (Waverley, Rob Boy, Ivanhoe, among others)
⦁ Charles Lamb (A Tale of Rosamund Gray, The Adventures of Ulysses, among others).
In this lesson we will focus on the works of two of these prose writers: Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott.

Jane Austen (1775-1817)

Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 in Hampshire, England. Although she was not widely known in her own time, her works became popular after 1869. During the 20th century her works became even more popular and her novels are considered literary classics. Although her novels were written during the Romantic Age they already bear some of the characteristics of the movement that was to follow Romanticism, Realism, because of the way she describes the society she was immersed in.
Jane's parents were respected members of the community in which they lived, and they raised a close-knit family where the children grew up in an environment that encouraged learning and creative thinking. While still at an early age, Jane and her siblings were encouraged to read from their father's extensive library.  Jane and one of her sisters, Cassandra, were sent to boarding schools but soon had to return home due to financial constraints.
Austen is famous principally for her refinement of the English novel. In her works, she portrayed society: manners, customs, and beliefs. Her most famous works include six well-known novels: Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma. She worked magic with the commonplace realities of life. She never got married, although she had many proposals. She died on July 18, 1817.
Jane Austen’s most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice was written before the she was 21 years of age. The original title of the novel was First Impressions because the plot of the novel was created by the appearances of the characters. The novel is also about effects of the character’s first impressions on their lives, which is nothing but their prejudice. Thus, the title Pride and Prejudice seemed to be more appropriate to the story she was about to tell.
The novel is a criticism on the social conventions of the 18th century in which it was commonsense that marriage was the only way through which one could ascend socially. Austen was not in favour of this belief and her works were a satire of what was going on at her time. Elizabeth Bennet, the main character of Pride and Prejudice is a woman who believes in marriage as long as there is love involved in the relationship. She refuses a marriage proposal because it was entirely based on the financial interest it would bring and only accepted Mr. Darcy’s proposal when she was sure their relationship was about love and not money. Elizabeth stands out as a unique individual in the society she was immersed. Considering the features of the Romantic age, she represents the power of emotions over reason (represented by the society in which Elizabeth was immersed). 
Austen’s novels are written in gentle satire and the main object in her Pride and Prejudice is the mercenary and the ignorance of the people, a common criticism of the 18th century. The characters in this novel which best carry these qualities are Mrs. Bennet, a foolish woman who talks too much and is obsessed with getting her daughters married; Lydia Bennet, Elizabeth’s youngest sister who is devoted to a life of dancing, fashions, gossips and flirting; and Mr. Williams Collins, the silly and conceited man who is so stupefied by Lady Catherine in every aspect of his life that he has forgotten his own morals and duty. The tone of the novel is light, satirical, and vivid. Elizabeth Bennet’s ability to laugh off her misfortune and to continue being optimistic, considering her situation, contributes to the tone of the novel. The story is told through Elizabeth, but not in first person. Because of that, the mood of the novel lacks dramatic emotions. The atmosphere is intellectual and cold; there are a few setting descriptions, but nature is present throughout. 
The main subject in the novel is stated in the first sentence of the novel: 

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. 

In this statement, Austen cleverly did three things: 
⦁ she declared that the main subject of the novel will be courtship and marriage; 
⦁ she established the humorous tone of the novel by taking a simple subject to elaborate and to speak intelligently of;
⦁ she prepared the reader for a chase in the novel of either a husband in search of a wife, or a woman in pursuit of a husband. 

The first line also defines Jane’s book as a piece of literature that connects itself to the 18th century period. Pride and Prejudice is 18th century because of the emphasis on man in his social environment rather than in his individual conditions. The use of satire and wit, a common form of 18th century literature, also contributes to label the book as 18th century. However, because Jane Austen had allowed personal feelings of the characters to be expressed in her work, she can also be classified as Romantic. In the figure of Elizabeth, Jane Austen shows passion attempting to find a valid mode of existence in society. Passion and reasons also comes together in the novel so as to show that they are complementary in a marriage.


Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832)

Sir Walter Scott was a Scottish writer and poet and one of the greatest historical novelists of all times. He was born in Edinburgh, the son of a solicitor, Walter Scott, and Anne, the daughter of professor of medicine. Scott got married to Margaret Charpenter and they had five children. In 1820 Scott was made a baronet and few years later he was the founder of the Bannatyne Club, which published old Scottish documents. He died in 1832, six years after his wife’s death and as buried beside his ancestors in Dryburgh Abbey.
His novels include the following titles: Waverly (1814), Guy Mannering (1815), The Antiquary (1816), The Black Dwarf (1816), Old Mortality (1816), Rob Boy (1817), Ivanhoe (1819), among many others, but he also wrote poetry, short stories and plays. The main features of Scott’s works were:
⦁ the union of tradition and romance: a combination between the novel of manners and elements of romance – he used to combine the customs of Scottish life with the history of Scotland’s recent past.  In some of his novels he chose France or England as the background to his stories and the 15th or 16th centuries as time references. These novels were much more related to romanticism because they were written at a time when there was the revival of the Middle Ages and the authors referred to the past as a source of inspiration for their works.
⦁ the union of imaginary heroes and historical events: this is the formula Scott followed in his historical novels, where his heroes are imaginary characters at a time there was a very influential historical name (for example, Ivanhoe is set in the time of Kind Richard the Lion, but the main character is Wilfred of Ivanhoe, a fictional Saxon nobleman).
⦁ The force of the past: Scott knew so much about Scottish history and legends that his works make the readers feel as if they were really in the past. His text makes the readers feel the glamour and the magic of places as he captures the spirit of the age without going deeply into the historical event itself. His best texts deal with humble, humorous and eccentric people.

Waverley is a novel written in 1814. Besides being often regarded as the first historical novel it was Scott's first venture into prose fiction. The novel became so popular that his later novels were advertised as having been written "by the author of Waverley". 
Waverly tells the story of Edward Waverley, who was brought up in the family home by his uncle, Sir Everard Waverley. Everard maintains the family Tory and Jacobite sympathies, while Edward's Whig father works for the Hanoverian government in London. Edward Waverley is given a commission in the Hanoverian army and is posted to Dundee. He then promptly takes leave to visit Baron Bradwardine, a Jacobite friend of his uncle’s, and meets the Baron's lovely daughter Rose.
Wild Highlanders visit the Baron's castle and Waverley is intrigued by their visit. Thus, he goes to the mountain lair of Clan Mac-Ivor, who turned out to be active Jacobites preparing for the 1745 Rising. Waverley stays there longer than expected and is accused of desertion and treachery and then arrested. Highlanders rescue him from his escort and take him to the Jacobite stronghold. Waverley goes over to the Jacobites and takes part in the Battle of Prestonpans, where he saves the life of a colonel who happens to be a close friend of his uncle’s. Thus he escapes retribution and marries the Baron's daughter, Rose Bradwardine.