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Is there artistic detachment in Jane Austen ? Write a brief note in support to your view with illustrations.

Jane Austen was an important part of English literary heritage as a great and eminent novelist. Her, the first novel Pride and Prejudice’, had been acclaimed as one of the best ten novels of the world. Her achievement and contribution to English Fictions are universally acknowledged. Despite of her limited range and vision she had exhibited remarkable excellence in handling her material. Her art of plot construction, her art of characterization her dramatic harmony and irony, her sarcastic humour is admirable and enviable. Besides these characteristics, she also displayed an impartiality and objectivity in the selection of events and delineation of characters. The great novelist and poet of her age, Sir walter Scott remarks –

“Sympathy with her characters she often has, identitiy never.” So far as sympathy with characters is concerned, it may be concluded that it is an essential condition for a realistic depiction of characters. Without this sympathy, a novelist or a dramatist or poet cannot do justice to his creations. But a literary artist should always be on his guard to keep it within reasonable limits so that it does not allow to taint the depiction. It must be said to the credit of Jane Austen that she has only the required measure of this and she does not show her own pereferences or partiality for any particular character. She does not judge and pronounce sentences. She depicts as best as she can and leaves the rest to her readers. Thus she paints Collins, Lady Catherine, Mrs. Bennet, Elizabeth, Lydia, Jane, Darcy, Wickham with equal care and sympathy. Since her view is essentially satirical, she loves to ridicule nonsense, whims, follies frivolities, prejudices, predilections, inconsistencies and incongruities, but she never ridicules or laughs at the wise and the virtuous.

But the later part of Scott’s observation about Jane Austen cannot be wholly defended. There is an objectivity and impartiality in Jane Austen but there is, although infinitestinal, identification of the author with one of the female characters of the novel. Such characters with whom Jane Austen identify herself are miss Elizabeth Bennet, who is her favourite heroine of the favourite novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’, Eleanor in ‘Sense and Sensibility’ and Anne in ‘Persuation’. Elizabeth displays her creative sense of humour, spirit and voices for her observations of the world. Eleanor upholds Jane Austen’s concern for sense and Anne exposes Jane Austen’s thoughts and feelings more than anybody else.

Jane Austen keeps her novels free from any mention of great contemporary events like Declaration of American Independence, French Revolution, Nepolean’s rise and fall and great Nepleanic wars etc. The industrial Revolution which had started taking firm roots in her time is also kept out. She keeps her self occupied and preoccupied with her two inches of irony, the material she knows thoroughly.

Similarly, she never concerns herself on her characters with any abstractions. Her characters are not made for spiritual insights of theological speculations. She confines herself to social behaviour and only that which she knows throughly and understands perfectly.

Summing up, it may be said that Jane Austen is equable and serene. She is not obsessed with any thing in particular, although she is interested in many things and she is amused with most of the things. But she does not feel any anger or frustration when things are not to her taste or liking. She does not rage or rail at those of whom she disapporves as Fielding does. She is pure and simple artist because she has an objectivity and detachment which are so rare among artists. We do not find any propaganda, preaching or philosophy but a faithful eighteen century country life of South England. It tight of the above it is appropriate to say that there is artistic detachment in Jane Austen.