The Theme of Disappointment in Jane Austen
Painful Emotion is Explored in a Popular Novel
Sep 20, 2009
Defined scientifically as “Defeat or failure of expectation, hope, desire, or intention,” disappointment’s chilling fingers can reach far into the recesses of one’s soul, and Jane Austen explored this emotion in her writings, Pride and Prejudice being a strong example.
Depending on the character or situation, sometimes disappointment was shallower than at other times, but no matter what the cause or who the character or how they were comforted, Jane Austen made the emotion seem real to both her characters and her readers.
Jane Bennet
Jane Bennet, a sub-heroine in the novel, is crushed when Mr. Bingley, a wealthy, handsome young man who had danced with her multiple times at a community gathering, suddenly left the house he had rented near the Bennet family estate with only a note from his sister saying farewell.
- Mr. Bennet tries to put it in perspective: “So Lizzy…your sister is crossed in love, I find. I congratulate her. Next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed in love a little now and then. It is something to think of, and gives her a sort of distinction among her companions.”
Jane feels the disappointment of losing Mr. Bingley quite keenly, and engages in various visits and activities to try to put him and his haughty sisters out of her mind. But her feelings for him never wane, and in the end, her loyalty is rewarded.
Elizabeth Bennet
Elizabeth Bennet is also “crossed in love” when a young man she fancied, Mr. Wickham, turns out to be not so trustworthy.
- He does not show up at a dance where he promised to meet her, and then, in a wild turn of events, elopes with her younger sister. Disappointment, indeed! But Elizabeth bears up well under the strain, and lets her low feelings fade pretty quickly.
- “Is not general incivility the very essence of love?” Elizabeth says. “That would be the greatest misfortune of all! – to find a man agreeable whom one is determined to hate!”
Elizabeth Bennet, though disappointed in Mr. Wickham’s character, gets over him fairly quickly. She does not pine away for him, especially after she changes her opinion about Mr. Darcy and begins to think about him.
Mr. Bennet
The third example of disappointment in Pride and Prejudice is more subtle, but perhaps the deepest one of all, for it has lasted the longest. It is that of Mr. Bennet himself, and his feeling toward his own marriage.
- Mr. Bennet sees a beautiful young woman and marries her, perhaps on a whim, perhaps out of ignorance of what marriage was, and two decades later finds himself with somewhat of a witless, thoughtless partner, certainly not his match intellectually or emotionally.
- “Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three-and-twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character. Her mind was less difficult to develop. She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper.”
Mr. Bennet’s was to be a lifelong disappointment, and so he retreated often into his study for the solitary contemplation he is so known for in the book.
These examples explore different levels of disappointment, an emotion that is so painful because it raises questions such as “If only…” and “What if…”, questions that can never be answered, because they live in the past, and only by leaving them there and moving forward can the spectre of disappointment be defeated.
Jane Austen knew disappointment, perhaps not in her writing, as she saw four books published in her lifetime, but she knew it in life, as all humans do. Her gift was being able to capture its essence with ink and paper and give her readers a chance to ponder, and perhaps defeat, this strong, hopeless emotion.
Sources:
The Wicked Wit of Jane Austen, compiled by Dominique Enright, Michael O’Mara Books Limited, 2002.
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1945.
New Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, College Edition, Delair Publishing Company, Inc., 1975, 1981.
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