Shanxi mentioned laughing aloud in many places. I thought Letter 5, the door conversation, was seriously awesome — as a portrait of how people who are used to having servants become completely flummoxed when faced with a simple task like opening a door. It's so witty and delivers that JA specialty: making merciless fun of people while also finding real pleasure in their very human antics.
She's such a lovely observer of human nature. She must have deeply empathized with every single character she wrote about to be able to make her portraits so convincing.
So this isn't a question, except maybe to ask what scenes made you guys laugh.
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I also thought the door scene was the funniest.
ReplyDelete"Certainly, (added my Father) by all means." "Shall we go now?" (said my Mother). "The sooner the better," (answered he). "Oh! let no time be lost" (cried I).
I also snickered every time the girls started fainting or running mad at the slightest provocation.
My Father started--"What noise is that," (said he.) "It sounds like a loud rapping at the door"--(replied my Mother.) "it does indeed." (cried I.) "I am of your opinion; (said my Father) it certainly does appear to proceed from some uncommon violence exerted against our unoffending door." "Yes (exclaimed I) I cannot help thinking it must be somebody who knocks for admittance."
ReplyDeleteHehe. 180 years before Monty Python.
The fainting was marvelous!
And the snoring guy:
His Behaviour however was entirely of a peice with his general Character; for what could be expected from a man who possessed not the smallest atom of Sensibility, who scarcely knew the meaning of simpathy, and who actually snored.
This throwaway note on Sophia and Laura's landlord and her 17-year-old daughter was delightful: "She ... had only one daughter who was then just 17 ... one of the best of ages, but alas! She was very plain and her name was Bridget ... Nothing therefore could be expected from her -- she could not be supposed to possess either exalted ideas, delicate feelings or refined sensibilities. She was nothing more than a mere good-tempered, civil and obliging young woman; as such we could scarcely dislike her -- she was only an object of contempt."
ReplyDeleteLove it! Aren't young women still disdained by society when they are plain, civil and good-tempered!
Oh, and this was like the punchline to the entire tale: Laura accepts her generous annuity from her father-in-law but observes, "the unsympathetic baronet offered it more on account of my being the widow of Edward than in being the refined and amiable Laura."
ReplyDeleteHehe. I'm with you on the fainting scenes, Kim - and I love Laura's little asides, Christy, where she sounds so lofty and yet is so ridiculously funny! Reminds me of Cher in "Clueless" - which, by the way, is I think one of the best modern adaptations of an Austen work.
ReplyDeleteThe door scene is also one of my favorites, but my most laugh-out-loud moment was the scene when Edward expires and Laura has her fit about legs of mutton and cucumbers.
""Oh! tell me Edward (said I) tell me, I beseech you, before you die, what has befallen you since that unhappy Day in which Augustus was arrested and we were separated --"
"I will" (said he) and instantly fetching a deep sigh, Expired."
cl, yes, the Bridget interlude was hilarious ("Nothing therefore could be expected from her." Hehe)
ReplyDeleteWhy do you suppose in JA's later works that she often made a point of having an ATTRACTIVE and SMART heroine?
(Shanxi, I love "Clueless"! I also think Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility" is lovely and well cast, but I don't know if anything tops the BBC's mini-series of "Pride and Prejudice.")
KC, I think the title character in "Emma" had to be attractive -- and wealthy -- just for the point of the story that those qualities are why she supposed herself qualified to engage in bouts of matchmaking. (Since her best quality was benevolence, I think she was lovable anyway.)
ReplyDeleteTrying to remember the Bennett sisters in P&P. I think one of Darcy's initial insults was that Jane was OK but not especially striking goods. She was beautiful but more so in character than flash?
But I guess it would have been a valiant and probably futile effort for any writer of that era -- or now, for that matter -- to sketch a Jane or Emma with a really big nose!
Yes, true about Emma. She had to be beautiful, because part of her great charm was that she wasn't vain about her looks, even though she had every "right" to be.
ReplyDeleteAnd Eliza wasn't the prettiest Bennet girl. And Anne Elliot wasn't as pretty as her elder sister and was getting on in years.
I need to reread "Mansfield Park" because I think Fanny was supposed to be plain and poor, although she didn't have a really big nose, cl! Who but Jane Austen could have created a female Cyrano, though?!
I also adore how JA's heroes always appreciated the outward beauty of their love interests but were swept away far more by their character and inner charms than their pretty faces.
Yes! Like Colonel Brandon in "Sense and Sensability," whom Marianne initially doesn't find attractive at all. But she is eventually won over by his kindness and character.
ReplyDelete