Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Victoria's Favorite Jane Austen Quotes

Here are my all-time favorite Jane Austen quotes (necessarily limited to one per novel in order to conserve internet space) :)

Emma

“‘Men of sense, whatever you may choose to say, do not want silly wives.’”

Mansfield Park

“But there certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world as there are pretty women to deserve them.”

Northanger Abbey

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”

Persuasion

“Her spirits wanted the solitude and silence which only numbers could give.”

Pride and Prejudice

“‘…you could be neither happy nor respectable, unless you truly esteemed your husband; unless you looked up to him as a superior.’”

Sense and Sensibility

“...Elinor was the only one of the three, who seemed to consider the separation as anything short of eternal.”


Farewell Jane Austen, it has been a marvelous year!

-Victoria

Victoria's Favorite Jane Austen Novels, Heroines, and Heroes

In order of my preference, Jane Austen’s…

Novels

Pride and Prejudice

Emma

Mansfield Park

Northanger Abbey

Sense and Sensibility

Persuasion


Heroines

Miss Elizabeth Bennet

Miss Emma Woodhouse

Miss Elinor Dashwood

Miss Jane Bennet

Miss Anne Elliot

Miss Catherine Mooreland

Miss Fanny Price

Miss Marianne Dashwood


Heroes

Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy

Mr. George Knightly

Captain Frederick Wentworth

Mr. Henry Tilney

Mr. Edward Ferrars

Mr. Charles Bingley

Mr. Edmund Bertram

Colonel Christopher Brandon

Victoria's Final Blog Project

Throughout the year, as we were reading Jane Austen's novels, I found myself wondering about the time when Jane Austen was writing them. When did she write each book/in what order? How old was she when she wrote each one? How long did it take for them to get published?

Therefore, in order to satisfy my own curiosity and to cater to my visual brain, I created a timeline (on photoshop) that outlines the journey Jane Austen's novels took before their publication.


-Victoria

Friday, September 2, 2011

Calleigh's Pride and Prejudice Quotes

Here are some of my favourite lines from P&P, though not all. There are many funny, witty, and thoughtful lines I have not included, but these are some of the ones that stood out to me most.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment.”
"An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do."
“Those who do not complain are never pitied."
"There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me."
"For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?"
"I cannot fix on the hour, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."

~ Calleigh

Calleigh's Pride and Prejudice Blog Project.

Throughout Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice the estates and houses vary from person to person, station to station.  A house can tell a lot about its occupants, and give us hints about their personalities.
                                              
Pemberley is Mr. Darcy’s home.  Proud and stately, it echoes the man’s character.  It is well decorated, handsome beyond belief, and filled with hidden treasures.  It shows his extreme wealth, and while beautiful and extravagant in size, it is not overdone.  Much like his house, Mr. Darcy is well dressed, astonishingly good looking, and often surprises people with his true nature, rather than what he commonly shows.
                                                        
Netherfield Park is where Bingley spends most of the book.  It is a beautiful house, with wonderful grounds.  It is well furnished and grand, but still a home that allows “lesser” people to feel more comfortable than they would in a house as grand as Pemberley.  Like his house, Bingley is well dressed, and shows his wealth, but it isn’t his focal point. And then of course Mr. Bingley is at ease with everyone he meets, and at all times the perfect gentlemen.
                                               
                Longbourn is a well picked name for this house, as well as a play on words.  It has long born every ridiculous act with silence.  This trait is most personified in Mr. Bennet, the head of the house.  Through most of his family’s scandals, escapades and adventures, he remains a silent bystander, more content in the realm of his book, than in his own house.  But he is a gentlemen, and though the house is not luxurious, it is well kept and looked after, and not all together lacking in beauty.
                                               
                Rosings Park. A grand estate to be sure, and the home of Lady Catherine De’bourgh.  But although we are awed by the magnificence, we do not care about this manor as we care about Longbourn, Pemberley, or Netherfield, because we do not care about its occupants.  Lady Catherine is a proud busy-body who sticks her nose into everyone’s business, and is too controlling for her own good.  While her house is splendid, it holds no grandeur for us, as we are too focused on our dislike for its owner.
                                                     
                Last and quite possibly least, is Hunsford.  It is a tidy house with beautiful gardens, several rooms, and let us not forget, shelves in the closet.  Hunsford shows some of the eccentricities that its owners possess.   It is well kept, and pretty, offering consolation and peace to Charlotte, and happiness to Mr. Collins at it being so close to Rosings Park.  It shows Mr. Collins character in that it is very clean and well looked after, providing all the comforts he could desire.
                Well do the houses and manors fit their characters. From grand mansions to beautiful cottages, all the houses of Pride and Prejudice are perfect for the people who inhabit them.  From their character, to their sense of style, each house is thoroughly its own.
~ Calleigh