Aristocracy In Regency England

The Position of Aristocracy in Regency England When the word aristocracy is mentioned, certain characteristics come to mind: riches, wealth, a pampered lifestyle, a multi-million dollar house. Some may imagine the life of a well-known celebrity or musical artist. Either way, the aristocracy is usually associated with less discrimination and more access to material wealth.
Today, the term aristocracy is not used that often, but what about in Regency England? There is certainly a significant attitude shift when jumping back to the early 1800’s. The word, however, most likely did not have a different meaning. How was this era portrayed in books and other media? Jane Austen takes a look at many different social classes of the era in her work, Pride and Prejudice. “The works of Jane Austen are inextricably linked to the Regency

Elizabeth just happens to run into Darcy, and Jane happens to catch Bingley’s eye. There were little to no aristocrats in Regency England, which makes such an occurrence very unlikely (“Aristocracy in the Regency”). “If you want to put a number on it, which I always like doing, there were 200 or so families with their heads holding an aristocratic title in the Regency. That’s 200 within millions (“Aristocracy in the Regency).” The Bennet girls must have been extraordinarily lucky to run into two such aristocrats, with such a distribution.
Not all the men of the aristocracy were within the perfect marriable age range of 25-30 years of age (“Aristocracy in the Regency”). Austen uses both Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley as her young, attractive romance options. Aristocracy was not typically earned: individuals must either marry into it, or be born in the proper families(Thibault). Most men were likely much older than the Bennet sisters (Thibault). Maybe Austen needed to twist this role just to make a better, more entertaining