Much admired

ADMIRED 

“Here come my dear girls,” cried Mrs. Thorpe, pointing at three smart-looking females who, arm in arm, were then moving towards her. “My dear Mrs. Allen, I long to introduce them; they will be so delighted to see you: the tallest is Isabella, my eldest; is not she a fine young woman? The others are very much admired too, but I believe Isabella is the handsomest.” Mrs. Thorpe, Northanger Abbey, Chapter 4

By Mrs. Thorpe’s boastful remarks, Jane Austen illustrates an important aspect of Regency society; – – the promotion of eligible daughters. If one looks at the energy that some of the Austen matrons like Mrs. Bennet from Pride & Prejudice, Mrs. Jennings from Sense & Sensibility, or Mrs. Allen from Northanger Abbey put into the furtherance of their ‘charge’s’ social position, one feels the fearful sense of urgency to find an appropriate match for them.

Once a young lady was formally introduced into society, she basically had three social seasons to attract and secure a husband before she was pushed aside by the next wave of new faces. The pressure to be admired and desired by eligible bachelors was intense. If a suitable husband was not engaged, she could be dismissed by society; – –  an embarrassment and financial burden to her family.

Today, women feel the pressure of their ticking biological clocks. In the Regency era, it was the press of younger women eager to take their place at the ball. 

Learn why author and Austen scholar Deirdre le Faye believes that modern readers need a thorough explanation of Austen’s milieu-Georgian and Regency Britain-in order to fully understand and enjoy her fiction, in her texturally enlightening  Jane Austen: The Real World of the Novels  available at barnesandnoble.com