Jane Austen and LeisureJane Austen's novels portray a leisured society of gentlemen and ladies who do not need to work. Even the minority of clergymen, soldiers and sailors - men with professions - are almost never seen working. Jane Austen herself, despite responsibility for some domestic tasks, wrote as a woman of leisure. Yet leisure, the distinguishing mark of a gentleman, was not meant to be an excuse for idleness. The proper use of leisure to fulfil duties, to read and to think, and above all to pursue social relations in a world where family and marriage for the propertied was of central importance, was a vital test of character. |
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Page 11
... tells her that it is ' so pleasant at her time of life to be able to consign her single daughters to the care of their sister , that she might not be obliged to go into company more than she liked ' ; 28 but the remark is followed by ...
... tells her that it is ' so pleasant at her time of life to be able to consign her single daughters to the care of their sister , that she might not be obliged to go into company more than she liked ' ; 28 but the remark is followed by ...
Page 14
... tells them in the Crescent that she wishes to put off her walk with them again in order to go out with him and Isabella . Catherine will not be tricked a second time into doing what she thinks wrong : she runs after them and ...
... tells them in the Crescent that she wishes to put off her walk with them again in order to go out with him and Isabella . Catherine will not be tricked a second time into doing what she thinks wrong : she runs after them and ...
Page 15
... tells Elinor and Marianne when she is trying to persuade them to go to town.41 Jane Austen herself had a number of married friends and relations with whom she and Cassandra could stay when they were not travelling with their parents ...
... tells Elinor and Marianne when she is trying to persuade them to go to town.41 Jane Austen herself had a number of married friends and relations with whom she and Cassandra could stay when they were not travelling with their parents ...
Page 18
... Tell Martha , she too shall be my Daughter , she does me honor in the request — and Mr. W. shall be my Son if he pleases — don't be alarmed my dear Martha , I have kept & will keep your secret as close as if I had been entrusted with it ...
... Tell Martha , she too shall be my Daughter , she does me honor in the request — and Mr. W. shall be my Son if he pleases — don't be alarmed my dear Martha , I have kept & will keep your secret as close as if I had been entrusted with it ...
Page 20
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amusement assemblies aunt Austen-Leigh ball Bath Bennet brother Captain Wentworth cards Cassandra characters charade Charles Chawton Country Dancing course daughter delightful Donwell Edmund eighteenth century Elton Emma Emma Watson Emma's Fanny Burney feel Frank Churchill gardens give Godmersham Harriet Henry heroine Highbury hunting Ibid James Edward Jane Austen Jane Austen Society Jane Fairfax John kind Knightley Knightley's Lady Bertram later Lefroy leisure letter lived London look Lord Lybbe Powys Lyme Mansfield Park Marianne marry Martha Lloyd Mary Crawford Mary Lloyd Miss Bates moral needlework never niece night Northanger Abbey novel party perhaps pianoforte play pleasure poem popular Pride and Prejudice resort Sanditon scene seaside Sense and Sensibility sister social Steventon taste theatre theatricals thing Thomas Tilney Tom Bertram verse Weston wife woman Woodhouse writing young ladies