Learning From The Classics Podcast: Elizabeth Bennett

This track is a recording of my weekly LIVE PODCAST - Learning from the Classics, dated February 14th, 2025.

Happy Valentine's Day!

In this LIVE session, I will relate prompts from Classic Literature to the challenges we face every day. There is a certain sense of security in understanding some struggles are universal and not personal to ourselves. In such novels, there is also a reconciliation to be had with souls we cannot and will not ever meet, but who teach us so much.

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Transcript

So today I'm going to be talking about Elizabeth Bennet in nature.

You might have figured out that this podcast today is not a recording of a live session.

As I explained in my last live session,

Unfortunately the recording didn't work.

So what I've done is I've decided to re-record the content,

Um,

But in the studio,

So it will sound slightly different.

Um,

And we're going to talk about Elizabeth Bennet today in nature.

We're going to talk about a little bit of symbolism,

Um,

And we are going to link it to Romanticism,

The art movement of the time in which she was writing the story.

Okay,

So let's begin.

First of all,

Just recap a little bit about Jane Austen's childhood.

Jane Austen,

Obviously the author of Pride and Prejudice and Elizabeth Bennet,

The female protagonist in said book.

So Jane Austen was the seventh of eighth children and her father George was a Church of England clergyman.

She attended school with her sister Cassandra in Oxford and then when a fever broke out,

She came home and was primarily schooled at home,

But she had access to her father's extensive library,

So she was well read.

And then later on,

The family moved to Bath and we can see in Persuasion,

For example,

There are references to Bath,

Um,

Before ending up in Hampshire.

So it's important that we appreciate the historical context when we're listening or reading classic literature,

The social backdrop,

What's happening at the time,

Um,

Because this is,

You know,

This reflects largely on the prevailing mood and the schools of thought that may significantly affect or have an impact upon the artist's view of the world and society.

This is relevant.

Why?

Because if I'm writing about something,

The experiences I have every day are going to be related to that.

My life experiences,

The social backdrop,

What's happening to me at the time.

And you see this a lot in dystopian work.

This is the author's opportunity to have their voice heard.

And essentially that's what our writers,

Us writers are doing.

We are,

We've got something to say and we like to say it.

So let's have a look at the fictional settings.

Within Pride and Prejudice,

We've got all set in the south of England,

Okay?

We've got Hertfordshire,

Berkshire,

Derbyshire,

Kent,

Brighton.

Now,

If we're looking at a map of the UK,

We can see that we've got London kind of in the centre of the south,

Lower south,

Okay?

Into the south-west,

South-east of this,

I apologise,

We've got Kent,

We've got Brighton right on the south coast.

So Rosings,

Lady Catherine de Bourgh's property is set in Kent.

We've got Brighton on the south coast where Wickham,

Naughty old Wickham,

Takes Lydia.

Then we've got Pemberley,

Which is Darcy's property and this is west of London in Derby.

We've got Longbourn that's east of London in Hertfordshire and you've got Netherfield,

Which is Mr Bingley's property that he rents with his sisters and this is north of London in Berkshire.

And that was where Austen lived in real life,

So we can see that geographically speaking the locations are places that she has experienced,

That she has knowledge of,

Okay,

And has romanticised.

According to a biographical note by her brother,

Henry Austen,

In the introduction to Northanger Abbey,

Jane Austen,

His sister,

Was a warm and judicious admirer of landscape,

Quote,

Both in nature and on canvas.

So she is immersing her settings within those counties she's so enamoured with.

Longbourn,

The home of the Bennet family,

Netherfield Park,

The home of the Bingleys,

Rosings,

The home of Lady Catherine de Bourgh,

Meryton,

The village where the militia was encamped,

And Pemberley,

The home of Mr Darcy.

And then we've got Mrs Gardner,

Mr and Mrs Gardner,

Who accompany her to Pemberley to see the property,

To see Pemberley,

To see where Darcy lives.

They are key allies,

They live in Lambton and then we've got the village where Wickham was to be a clergyman,

Kimpton.

Everything is located within direct experience that she has had.

OK,

And the story is set in between 1811 and 1812.

So Jane Austen is allowing her heroines to run free.

She's allowing,

She's immersing Elizabeth Bennet in an experience that would not necessarily be true of someone,

A gentleman's daughter at that time.

So with Pride and Prejudice,

We have the ideal heroine and the hero.

They're great fans of the picturesque.

OK,

The picturesque,

The romantic mood of the time,

And we can see this reflected in art as the artists were also focused on the picturesque.

We'll talk about that in a minute.

So Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy are brought together and fit perfectly into this landscape.

A visually charming or quaint landscape as if suitable for a painting.

At this time during the 18th century,

The emergence of the landscape movement.

OK.

That was what was happening.

Originating in painting,

It spread through all aspects of life,

Including literature,

So people became enthralled by the sublime and the movement towards the picturesque,

No longer the focus on property,

The focus on the landscape surrounding it.

So whereas you would have had paintings somewhat contrived from the Renaissance,

Where we would have had specific settings that existed merely as backdrops to the property itself,

Now the focus or the biblical figures themselves,

I apologise,

Now you have the focus on the landscape and what's happening within that takes less of a priority.

So this emergence of the landscape movement was important.

It was a romantic outgrowth of older Renaissance ways of viewing art and nature.

Whereas before landscape had taken second place to and supported some central historic or mythological event,

Now it was the main focus.

And we're looking at artists like William Blake,

Constable,

Turner,

Who were and are well known for their landscapes,

For their sublime landscapes.

So character or mood of a scene becomes the extent of its importance.

The expression or the mood of a landscape is where the beauty lies rather than the action that takes place within it.

And this is the point with Pride and Prejudice.

We are talking about the setting holding relevance to the symbol and what's about to take place.

Wherever it takes place dictates what happens.

So it's spun it on its head.

And there's a notion of this picturesque in England,

Allowing the use of landscape for new sort of expression.

Wild,

Grandiose landscapes are valued because they embody the power and beauty of nature.

That's where the emphasis lies.

And that's what Austin portrayed in Pride and Prejudice.

It's a refuge.

Nature is a refuge from the tumult of the modern world.

It's an escape.

And it is portrayed as something that has the ability to evoke deep emotions in the viewer.

So when we are reading about events,

Significant events,

We can now see that the location they're depicted in is somewhat reflective of what's about to happen,

Almost foreshadowing what's about to happen.

So during this period,

If we're looking artistically speaking,

Even if the gardens or the landscape portrayed were not necessarily natural in the sense that they weren't wild,

They were made to appear wild and naturally occurring.

So where we have Pemberley's landscape,

We can see we're not talking about the rigid organization of the gardens and the lawns and the structured borders and hedges.

It appears as in a natural environment.

The focus with Pemberley is on the landscape itself.

And less time,

Less action is happening within the property itself,

Whereas before it would have been all about the property.

And we compare that or contrast that with rosings.

And of course,

In rosings,

It's all about how many rooms,

Which furniture,

Which aspect,

Where the light comes in in the morning.

And that's the contrast.

Man versus nature,

Almost.

We,

In Pride and Prejudice,

Are secondary to our environment,

Secondary to nature.

We are mere observers.

And I've tried to emulate this in Blethingwood Hall,

My novel,

Blethingwood Hall.

So the hall itself has structured,

Controlled gardens that mirror the order that's within.

The aestheticism and the strict order,

Control.

But of course,

The Darlingtons,

They know about this.

Copse at the top of Motherby Hill.

And they know,

They come to understand that at the top of that lies the new world,

Which is a haven of wild,

Untamed natural beauty.

So romanticists of the time believed in a deep connection between the natural world and the human spirit.

They viewed nature as a living entity that could evoke powerful emotions and transcendental experiences.

Imagination was considered the primary creative force in romantic thought.

So this is the backdrop.

Within which he was writing,

It was a dramatic shift from one end of the spectrum to the other,

From the rigidly formal to the romantic,

From the geometric to the irregular,

From an unabashedly artificial style that mirrored French,

Dutch and Italian influences to this indigenous,

Artfully artless,

Back to nature style of the landscape garden,

The wild and the free.

So this emerging new form of landscaping reflected changes in English society.

And using this,

Austen is then able to demonstrate social change throughout her novels.

OK,

So from the off,

She alerts her reader immediately to this special relationship that Elizabeth Bennet shares with the outdoors.

The traditional young English lady does not go springing about the countryside alone,

But Elizabeth does,

And it elates her.

She's comfortable on the outside.

She derives pleasure from her time alone with nature.

OK,

Austen's created a heroine who has a desire for and a bond with the outdoors,

And all that nature represents freedom,

Space and autonomy.

Elizabeth's tale is about being identified and determined by space and determining a space of her own.

So this is a critical attack on controversial opinion between nature and social space.

OK,

Austen is setting this up.

And within the book,

We see a pattern emerging when an event in Elizabeth's life appears as if it's going to imprison or confine her spirit or her wit,

Herself.

This event is set indoors.

Yet when something occurs to offer Elizabeth happiness,

Independence,

Love,

Something positive,

Austen sets it out of doors.

So this pattern is suggesting a delicate balance between what occurs inside and outside in relation to the heroine.

When she is first proposed to by Mr.

Collins,

It's inside.

When she is proposed to by Darcy,

For the first time,

It's inside.

When she.

.

.

The turning point in the book,

When she receives the letter from him and he comes to understand,

Well,

I've been rejected,

But you know,

I'm not all you say I am.

The turning point,

The letter,

Is received when she is alone,

Walking,

In the woods,

Outside.

When they come together at Pemberley,

It is in Pemberley grounds,

Outside.

When they're joined,

The antagonist,

OK,

In which they have a joint dislike,

Of which they have a joint dislike,

She is all about social expectation and the aesthetic and the inside.

So even though she has ordered,

She has,

You know,

Beautiful grounds that ordered and structured and her focus is all about the inside.

So,

Continually,

Austen is presenting her characters within a setting to represent,

To symbolise and foreshadow what is going to happen.

OK.

Unlike her sister Jane,

Elizabeth's constantly moving about.

She needs to stimulate her body as well as her mind.

When Jane's sick at Netherfield,

To the horror of her family,

She ventures out on foot.

Quote,

A face glowing with a warmth of exercise.

And Darcy was divided between admiration of the brilliancy which exercise had given to her complexion and doubt as to the occasions justifying her coming so far alone.

She's challenging expectations.

She's considering the cost of this to be credit well spent in the pursuit of her own happiness.

Her will triumphs.

Austen immediately alerts her reader to the special relationship Elizabeth shares with the outdoors.

OK.

This is the power that Elizabeth has.

The determination to embrace what she considers to be the sublime.

And outdoors represents an escape from the claustrophobic rage and suffocation of domesticity.

It's not for her.

She needs to be liberated from the house,

The domestic prison with walls of propriety,

Bars of decorum.

She needs to find an outlet away from the confinement of the indoors.

So she turns to the outside.

When with Mr.

And Mrs.

Gardner,

She visits Pemberley,

The focus,

Her adoration is on the grounds,

The walk,

The aspect.

OK.

What she can see,

How enormous the grounds are,

The fishing.

OK.

The opportunity for Mr.

Gardner to fish with Darcy,

The focus on outdoor pursuits.

And,

Of course,

Anyone that's going to propose to her in a breakfast room is never going to happen.

It's not offering her an outlet,

But a confinement.

The setting of the proposal symbolizes restriction.

Never going to happen,

Mr.

Collins.

No.

And when Darcy first condescends to ask Elizabeth to marry him,

He does it within the confines of whose home?

Mr.

Collins's home.

It was never going to work,

Darcy.

Was it?

They're too influenced at this point by their first impressions of one another.

They're not ready for marriage.

And what he's offering is not the happily ever after.

The lifestyle of the free.

OK.

And the witty heroine that she wants,

That she's driven for.

What he's offering is a compromise.

Well,

She's not going to compromise.

If she'd have agreed with his proposal at that point,

She would have found Pemberley and life with Darcy a prison.

They would not have come together as equals.

She would have lived with a sense her husband thought he'd married beneath himself,

That she somehow was his possession.

And that was never going to be the case.

That was never going to be acceptable for Elizabeth Bennet.

So it's a double irony,

Of course,

Because the Collins's drawing room in which he proposed originally might have been Elizabeth's ultimate prison.

So it was a double whammy.

No,

It's never going to work.

Darcy,

What are you doing,

You fool?

OK.

And then we see the pattern again reinforced in the next chapter when Darcy gives Elizabeth a letter.

That's the turning point.

A plot-resolving device is delivered within the gardens of Rosings,

Where Elizabeth's walking and thinking alone.

So you've got this duality there.

I'm outside.

But again,

This is something uncomfortable for me.

You've given me a letter and I'm ultimately going to feel upset about that because now I have to question everything I knew about myself and about you.

What's going on?

The letter enables Elizabeth to further understand Darcy,

But deeply know herself.

And it's a difficult exchange.

And it's a difficult thing to accept.

It ultimately causes her pain.

In between the time of his first proposal and their future meeting,

It is significant that Elizabeth then spends the time traveling.

She's not only out of doors,

But she's going to the countryside,

She's exploring nature,

And she's getting to know herself within a natural setting.

With a bit of novelistic fate,

Darcy and Elizabeth meet again.

Significantly,

They don't meet within the walls of Pemberley,

But outside among the trees,

The ponds,

And the fields.

And here they come together as equals.

And we,

The readers,

Begin to feel Pemberley will not be the domestic prison that she was concerned it would be.

The interior is less important than the exterior.

OK,

Outdoor pursuits unite them.

And Elizabeth will ultimately become mistress where she can challenge and indulge her desire to transcend those boundaries that were traditionally ascribed to her.

She will be free to ramble about alone or with Darcy at her leisure.

This scene leads the reader to believe they will spend the remainder of their years together walking about the English countryside,

Happy.

And ironically,

It was Lady Catherine's tirade which led Darcy to believe Elizabeth's feelings had changed towards him.

So they're triumphing at this point over Lady Catherine as they walk the grounds of Longbourn.

So just to close,

This classic novel,

Pride and Prejudice,

Is more than just a story of love,

Marriage and romance.

It's a generational shift,

OK?

It's contrasting the symmetrical and the picturesque.

And that is reflected in the art movements of the time.

And once we come to see that and realise the protagonists are both admirers of the picturesque,

We understand the bigger picture,

The bigger societal commentary that's going on here.

This is the embrace of the new landscape,

Nature rather than fashion or improvement.

So there are many layers of meaning within this novel.

There are many symbols appearing and reappearing,

This consistency which the reader yearns for.

We as humans want to know what to expect and when this is reinforced,

It makes us feel good.

And that's why this novel is so powerful because Austen does that satirically and with wit and consistently.

And as someone who embraces the wild myself,

This of course speaks to me,

OK?

And if we look at the paintings of the time,

We've got soft palettes,

Loose brushwork,

The harmonious interplay of light,

OK?

A sense of poetic realism,

Distinguishing them from these factual landscapes of the predecessors.

This focus,

OK,

On biblical scenes,

OK,

Still lives,

Interiors.

It's a freedom of expression,

A movement away from what came before,

Which of course is par for the course in history.

I'm going to stop there.

I'd say thanks for listening.

I hope you got something from this,

Especially if you didn't manage to attend the live at the time.

And with any luck,

I shall see you next week when we will talk about Jekyll and Hyde and Christianity in the Victorian Gothic.

See you next time.

Reviews

A good revisit, remembering your live version. Thank you for the comparisons, and changing minds of this era. Somehow feels liike today. Truly. 👻😘🙏💞