Jane Austen Research Paper

Literature is a mirror of social evolution. It gives a brief living record of the progressive emergence of individuality in history. It portrays the advancement of political rights, social equality and psychological individuality in the common evolutionary movement. The well-known English novelist, Jane Austen (1775 – 1817) was an English novelist who is known as one of the most admired and wide read writers in English literature because of her remarkable works of romantic fiction which deal with the aristocracy. She is well known for her commendable realism, irony and the portrayal of the society during that time. Thus there was a pinch of realism in the works of her romantic fiction which also served as a bitter attack on the follies and

She wrote six great and remarkable novels in her lifetime; ‘Sense and Sensibility’, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘Northanger Abbey’, ‘Mansfield Park’, ‘Emma’ and ‘Persuasion.’ She was the daughter of Reverend George Austen who was the rector at Steventon. Jane Austen’s mother, Cassandra Leigh Austen belonged to a patrician family. She had one sister and six brothers and was the youngest of them. Jane shared a very deep bond of love with her sister, Cassandra, and Henry, her brother. Jane was sent to Oxford and Southampton along with her sister Cassandra to be educated at the age of 8 years. However, Jane and Cassandra had to return back to their home to continue their education due to the outburst of typhus at their boarding school. Then they started attending the Reading Ladies Boarding School where they developed creatively as they learned the French language and also showed interest in music, dance and obtained the skills required for needlework. However due to the economic hardships faced by the family Jane and her sister, Cassandra once again were forced to return back to their home. The library of their father became the source of Jane and her sister’s education as it served as a great help in the development of their literary talent. Jane Austen began writing stories and poems in her early teen age but they were read only be her family. Her great piece of work is there in the three bound notebooks which are now referred as ‘Austen’s Juvenalia.’ by the scholars. Like the other children of the family, Jane also had a great interest in the field of drama. The children indulged in great theatrical productions and often staged them at home. Austen became well versed in the sentimental and Gothic style of the novels during that period of time and continued her experiments in the field of writing. Her early works include a comic novel ‘Love and Friendship’ which is a satire dealing with the