Jane Austen discussion

Volume 1, chapters 12-22

SUMMARY: Marianne and Willoughby are revelling in their deepening connection, while Elinor and Marianne continue to differ about the propriety of situations. The Dashwoods join with the Middletons, Mrs. Jennings, Willoughby and Col. Brandon on a pleasure trip to Whitwell. Just before departing, however, Col. Brandon recieves an important letter which forces him to leave immediately, which puts an end to the entire outing. Just a few days later, Willoughby abruptly leaves Devonshire, saying he has no idea that he'll ever be able to return. Elinor is uncomfortable with the doubt that is left regarding the status of Willoughby's intentions toward Marianne. Edward comes to visit, pleasing all the Dashwoods, but he is in low spirits and his visit is short. Soon, however, Mrs. Jennings' daughter and her husband, the Palmers, arrive to provide fresh faces. They are clearly a couple where he married for looks and is now simply dealing with his good-natured but silly wife. They return home, but more visitors soon arrive: the Miss Steeles, cousins of Mrs. Jennings. Though they don't have much to reccommend them, but their uncle provided Edward with his education. The younger one, Lucy, latches onto Elinor, and she soon reveals a shocking secret: she and Edward have been engaged for years!

Ok, continuing with foils, Anne and Lucy Steele are foils to Elinor and Marianne in more than one way.

I think Lucy Steele clearly desires to rise in society. She may have hoped too very early on and thus attached herself to Edward when he as a pupil as her uncle's house. The Steele girls are social climbers, relatives of Mrs. Jennings, who comes from a lower class of society. We don't see it in Mrs. Jennings really, but the Steeles seem to be opportunist, acting fairly insincerely to gain favor from Lady Middleton, for example. And we'll see Lucy go to work quickly and manipulatively on her suspected rival Elinor. She's a worker.

Maybe, for Austen, the Steeles represented the "pretenders" in society, and their pretentious ways underlined by their poor grammar and disinterest in finer education. We are not told this, but due to Lucy's uncle teaching young men, her family may have had an interest in education, and Lucy may have chosen social climbing over self improvement -- we don't know.

Fanny Dashwood would have been in a different category, IMO. Born to wealth and prestige, she has had different choices. I think within the story, she represents the complication of family -- a very realistic character in life actually -- the sway of the son's wife, the preferences of the new lady of the manor. I would assume genteel women often had to deal with people of this nature within their families. We suspect or know Fanny's mother's influence on her and her role in the family's want of control over Edward and his future. I think she represents a character substantially different from Lucy, but I know we all categorize these people differently.

Tell us more on your comparisons of Lucy and Fanny.

Lucy is a great minor villain in Austen to me. She has ingnorance blended with tremendous cunning, which seems strange but completely comes across in the character. She insists her engagment to Edward stay secret, but she Elinor about it quite quickly after meeting her! It's clear Lucy sensed from the way Edward talked about Elinor that she had a rival(his low spirits during his visit to Barton are obviously due to the fact that he had a chance to compare Lucy and Elinor for the first time and realized what a situation he had put himself in), and the irony is thick as she pretends to be seeking friendly comfort and advice while she is actually trying to shove Elinor's face in it.

Rachel wrote: "Lucy is a great minor villain in Austen to me. She has ingnorance blended with tremendous cunning, which seems strange but completely comes across in the character. She insists her engagment to Edw..."

I agree, she is villianous. Some characters of Austen's who seem villianous I'm more likely to forgive though. Some are naive, some insecure, others are real villians (like Wickham and Willoughby). I think Lucy is fiercely protective and jealous, but then again, wouldn't many women act in the same way (like warning off potential rivals, trying to get your fiance to finally admit you're engaged!).

I don't see that Lucy Steele is entirely illiterate, because she does manage to keep up a correspondence with Edward, and writes to Elinor. She can't be totally illiterate, or she couldn't do that.

Larisa, I think you are responding to Desiree's message #3. I pulled the definition of illiterate from FreeDictionary.com:
"1.
a. Unable to read and write.
b. Having little or no formal education.
2.
a. Marked by inferiority to an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature.
b. Violating prescribed standards of speech or writing.
3. Ignorant of the fundamentals of a given art or branch of knowledge: musically illiterate."

Lucy probably falls into the definitions, except for 1a above.