ELEMENTS OF ROMANTICISM

1. Belief in the individual and common man.

2. Love of (reverence for) nature
3. Interest in the bizarre, supernatural and gothic.
4. Interest in the past.
5. Looks at the world with more than reasonable
optimism (rose-colored glasses).
6. Faith in inner experience and the power of the
imagination.

One characteristic of Romanticism is that passions (emotions) are recognized as governing human
behavior along with reason, formerly considered the highest hierarchical power. Victorianism adds moral
responsibility as a governing passion, thus writers challenge and expose social ills while striving to
motivate corrections to urban injustices. Austen's novel focuses on the feelings and exertions of the
will--the passions--of her characters, as, for example, with Lydia.
Another characteristic of Romanticism is that literature focused upon a select few characters in well
defined scenarios, whether poetic, like Wordsworth's The Ruined Cottage, or prose, like Austen's Pride
and Prejudice. In contrast, Victorian novels were peopled with many, many characters in complex
situations with multiple complications that were heavily plotted in long novels that showed urban life
realistically. Austen's novel is elegant in its choice of a select few characters who reveal the psychology
behind behavior in typical social situations. For instance, Austen's novel doesn't delve into what might
be seen as economic injustice toward the workers on Lady de Borough's estate; instead Austen shows
the psychological dynamic at work in how Lady de Borough relates to those workers.
Jane Austen's (17751817) distinctive literary style relies on a combination
of parody, burlesque, irony, free indirect speech, and a degree of realism. She uses parody and
burlesque for comic effect and to critique the portrayal of women in 18th-century sentimental and gothic
novels. Austen extends her critique by highlighting social hypocrisy through irony; she often creates an
ironic tone through free indirect speech in which the thoughts and words of the characters mix with
the voice of the narrator. The degree to which critics believe Austen's characters have psychological
depth informs their views regarding her realism. While some scholars argue that Austen falls into a
tradition of realism because of her finely executed portrayal of individual characters and her emphasis
on "the everyday", others contend that her characters lack a depth of feeling compared with earlier
works, and that this, combined with Austen's polemical tone, places her outside the realist tradition.
Austen's novels have often been characterised as "country house novels" or as " comedies of manners",
however they also include fairy tale elements. Compared to other early 19th-century novels, Austen's
have little narrative or scenic descriptionthey contain much more dialogue. Austen shapes a
distinctive and subtly-constructed voice for each character.
Austen's plots are fundamentally about education; her heroines come to see themselves and their
conduct more clearly, and become better, more moral people. While Austen steers clear of the formal
moralising which was common in early 19th-century literature, moralitycharacterised by manners, duty
to society, and religious seriousnessis a central theme of her works. Throughout her novels, serious
reading is associated with intellectual and moral development. The extent to which Austen's novels
reflect feminist themes has been extensively debated by scholars; however, most critics agree that her
novels highlight how some female characters take charge of their own worlds while others are confined,
physically and spiritually. Almost all of her works explore the precarious economic situation in which
women of the late 18th and early 19th centuries found themselves.
Austen's novels have variously been described as politically conservative and progressive. For
example, one strand of criticism claims that Austen's heroines support the existing social structure
through their dedication to duty and sacrifice of their personal desires. Another strand, however, argues
that she is sceptical of the paternalistic ruling other, evidenced by her ironic tone. Within her exploration
of the political issues surrounding the gentry, Austen addresses issues relating money and property,
particularly the arbitrariness of property inheritance and the precarious economic position of women.
Throughout Austen's work there is a tension between the claims of society and the claims of the
individual. Austen is often considered one of the originators of the modern, interiorised novel character.
Irony is one of Austen's most characteristic and most discussed literary techniques. [11] She
contrasts the plain meaning of a statement with the comic, undermining the meaning of the
original to create ironic disjunctions. In her juvenile works, she relies upon satire, parody, and
irony based on incongruity. Her mature novels employ irony to foreground social hypocrisy. [12]In
particular, Austen uses irony to critique the marriage market. [13] Perhaps the most famous example
of irony in Austen is the opening line of Pride and Prejudice: "It is a truth universally
acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." At
first glance, the sentence is straightforward and plausible, but the plot of the novel contradicts it: it
is women without fortunes who need husbands and seek them out. By the end of the novel, the
truth of the statement is acknowledged only by a single character, Mrs. Bennet, a mother seeking
husbands for her daughters, rather than the entire world. [14]
Austen's irony goes beyond the
sentence level. As Austen scholar Jan Fergus explains, "the major structural device in Pride and
Prejudice is the creation of ironies within the novel's action which, like parallels and contrasts,
challenge the reader's attention and judgment throughout, and in the end also engage his
feelings."[15] Austen's irony illuminates the foibles of individual characters and her society. In her
later novels, in particular, she turns her irony "against the errors of law, manners and customs, in
failing to recognize women as the accountable beings they are, or ought to be". [16]

Free indirect speech[edit]

Austen is most renowned for her development of free indirect speech, a technique pioneered by
18th-century novelists Henry Fielding and Frances Burney.[17] In free indirect speech, the thoughts
and speech of the characters mix with the voice of the narrator. Austen uses it to provide
summaries of conversations or to compress, dramatically or ironically, a character's speech and
thoughts.[18] In Sense and Sensibility, Austen experiments extensively for the first time with this
technique
Conversation and language

Compared to other early 19th-century novels, Austen's have little narrative or scenic description
they contain much more dialogue, whether spoken between characters, written as free indirect
speech, or represented through letters. [25] For example, in Pride and Prejudice, which began as
an epistolary novel, letters play a decisive role in the protagonist's education [26] and the opening
chapters are theatrical in tone. [27] Austen's conversations contain many short sentences, question
and answer pairs, and rapid exchanges between characters, most memorable perhaps in the
witty reparteebetween Elizabeth and Darcy.[28]