Character Development

We started class by reading epistolary novels that told the story through letters rather than narration. These types of novels developed characters through mostly what other letters said about them as opposed to unbiased narration that most readers are used to reading. To see how Austen’s contemporaries used this style, we studied the novel Desmond by Charlotte Smith. This novel had mostly letters from Desmond to the secondary character Bethel, and it was not until the second volume that other characters were even introduced in first person, or really at all besides Geraldine on Montfluri since the first volume was mostly politics. Geraldine is continually described by Desmond in the first volume although she never speaks. He describes his forbidden love for her, but she does not so much as send a letter until volume II. When she does speak, her character does not stray from the original description, but she remains the typical pure woman with absolutely no agency. The novel even states later that she had no thoughts of Desmond until after her husband had died (407). 

            The more active part of the reader is digging into Desmond’s letters to discern his character from the biased retelling of events. Since he describes himself in the best possible way, the readers must attempt to figure out what actually happened, and find out about his character on their own instead of being told about him. For example, the reader knows that Desmond is obsessed with Geraldine, but can only see how incredible the obsession is when Desmond waits for her brother, but only a servant shows up to say the brother is not coming. He tells his friend, “I had at this moment occasion to recollect, how nearly Waverly was related to Geraldine, to prevent my feeling some degree of anger and resentment towards him” (76).  From this, the reader can see that Desmond is both very passive and unhealthily obsessed, two things he would never say about himself. 

            Desmond’s character is not only developed by his narration of events, but also by the events he includes in the letters to Bethel and the other characters. The most obvious example is the description of Josephine, another married woman in the novel that cares for him when he is sick. In his letters, Desmond discusses how he enjoys her company and that she was married against her will (153).  Not until one of Montfleuri’s last letters do the readers learn that Desmond and Josephine had an affair that resulted in an unwanted pregnancy. According to Bethel, she is sent to Italy, but does not blame Desmond and saves him from any consequence even though he marries Geraldine instead of her(411).  This shocking news shows a side of Desmond that he had been hiding in the novel. Although he had made himself seem less selfish than the others, he is unwilling to marry the mother of his illegitimate child. This shocking character development from lies of omission would only be possible in the epistolary form. 

            Jane Austen uses the epistolary form in Lady Susan to tell the story of a mother trying to get her daughter married. As Galperin says of this novel, “In a narrative where virtually every character is conniving or scheming in one way or another--thanks to their individual needs and desires--the epistolary form yields many delicious pleasures and ironies. But what the form assuredly does not yield is the transparency of an individual mind.”(47+). The characters are even more biased than those of Desmond, which makes the novel more fun to read. 

 Lady Susan is first introduced as she writes to Mrs. Johnson in Letter 2, where she says she is leaving the family she is currently living with because “the Females of the Family are united against me”. She goes on to say she has done nothing wrong, but any reader can easily see that she was flirting with the men of the house. Lady Susan, however, is introduced in the next letters by Mrs. Vernon and her brother as evil and having “bewitching powers”. Throughout the novel, Lady Susan’s character is developed by the differences in descriptions of the same events of her letters to Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Vernon’s letters to her mother. For example, when Lady Susan arrives she says how she makes an extra effort to be charming to Mrs. Vernon who is not falling for it. Mrs. Vernon says she almost does, but is too well aware of Lady Susan's character to let herself like her. (Letters 5 and 6)

            In Lady Susan, the most interesting character development is the daughter Frederica. She is originally introduced by Lady Susan as she is leaving the first house as “Frederica, who was born to be the torment of my life” (Letter 2).  Lady Susan complains to Mrs. Johnson that Sir James, a suitable match, keeps proposing to Frederica, but she refuses to marry him. Lady Susan continues to describe her as lazy and stupid throughout the novel, but Mrs. Vernon writes that she has heard rumors of Lady Susan’s detached parenting (Letter 3).  Not until Letter 17, when Mrs. Vernon describes Frederica after she is introduced, does the reader get another opinion of her. Mrs. Vernon describes Frederica as timid and quiet, but frightened of Lady Susan.  Slowly, Mrs. Vernon learns more about Frederica, but Frederica is mute for the entire novel. We only learn of her disdain for Sir James when she confesses it to Mr. De Courcy to ask for a way out of marrying him (Letter 21).  As the critic Kaplan says “If Frederica is to become an effective member of this social world, so the text suggests, she must learn to write letters to other women.  Rather than imitating the histories of novel heroines, she must compose her own history in conjunction with the female friends to whom she would write” (168). (qtd.Justice in Epistolary Matters)

            In class, we discussed the typical characteristics of the gothic novel. There is always an obvious heroine that is so pure and beautiful that every guy in the novel instantly falls in love with her and wants to help her. Anne Radcliffe “added suspense, painted evocative landscapes and moods or atmosphere, portrayed increasingly complex, fascinatingly-horrifying, evil villains, and focused on the heroine and her struggle with him.”( The Gothic Experience) This is clearly true of  Romance of the Forest where Adeline, who is introduced in a dire circumstance, but is still pure and beautiful. Throughout the novel, many characters like La Motte and Theodore are willing to put themselves into danger to help her, as they are in the picture below. There is also a clear villain, the Marquis. He starts out trying to hurt Adeline, and continues to put her in danger until he dies at the end of the novel.  These two characters are the extreme, but every character in the novel is introduced as good or evil and never changes or develops.

Adeline

In the gothic novel we studied, Romance of the Forest, there was very little character development in the novel. Right away every character is cast as either a hero or villain and for the most part stays in that role. The biggest character development in the novel is that of La Motte. He begins as doing exactly what the Marquis tells him no matter how awful so that the Marquis will keep him safe from debtors’ prison. As the plot develops, La Motte helps Adeline escape the danger the Marquis asked La Motte to bring her to (110). The other characters of the novel are controlled by circumstance and plot rather than character development.  

            Jane Austen makes fun of these gothic characters in her mock gothic novel, Northanger Abbey. The novel begins with the narrator describing Catherine Morland as the a-typical heroine that has no particular talent and prefers more masculine things such as sports than the arts or vanity (39). Compared to the image of Adeline above, Catherine in the image below is not exceptionally fair or beautiful. She is simply an average looking girl with average talent. When she leaves home to stay with Mrs. Allen in bath, Catherine is very naïve and has very little knowledge of the workings of the world. Therefore, she assumes everyone else’s opinion and has none of her own. 

            Some scholars argue Catherine’s novel reading transforms her into a heroine by giving her a sense of agency not possessed by the other women in the novel (Zlotnik, 6).  Whatever the reason, Catherine develops into a more experienced and independent person.  When Catherine first meets Isabella’s brother, John Thorpe, she is suspicious of him but never acts on or voices her opinions because “…he was Isabella’s brother and she had been assured by James, that his manners would recommend him to all her sex”(87).  Similarly, Catherine is instantly devoted to Isabella as the best of friends, as shown below in the image only a few days after they met (57). They are always together and share everything. Isabella becomes engaged to Catherine’s brother James, but still flirts with Captain Tilney.  Catherine, however, only voices her concern to Henry (156), but at least she is now voicing her concern at all. By the end of the novel, Catherine has enough experience and sense to see Isabella’s letter asking about James for the manipulation and deceit that hides under a mask of friendliness (212). Even with all this character growth, Austen continues to make fun of Catherine. 

Catherine and Isabella

            Although Catherine is the heroine, reading about Isabella’s character development is more fun. She starts out as a good friend to Catherine, but is developed thorough the novel as selfish and manipulative. When Catherine has promised to go on a walk with Eleanor and Isabella wants her to cancel, Isabella tries calling her “dearest, sweetest Catherine” and then switching to being offended that Catherine is choosing Eleanor over her. At this moment, “Isabella appeared ungenerous and selfish, regarding everything but her own gratification” (113).  As the novel progresses, Isabella begins to flirt with both James and Captain Tilney to try and secure the richest husband. She later writes to Catherine in a thinly veiled attempt to persuade her to talk to James. Isabella’s development of a selfish character enables Catherine character development out of her own naivety.

 

Works Cited

Coyne, Connor. "Gothic Heroines and Natural Selection." Gothic Heroines and Natural Selection «. WordPress, 2009. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. <http://www.connorcoyne.com/blog/2010/07/gothic-heroines-and-natural-selection/>. (Adeline Illustration) 

Galperin, William. "Lady Susan, individualism, and the (dys)functional family." Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal 31 (2009): 47+. Academic OneFile. Web. 27 Apr. 2012. <http://go.galegroup.com.proxy.library.vanderbilt.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA227364146&v=2.1&u=tel_a_vanderbilt&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w>

"Illustrations for Jane Austen's Other Novels, by Charles E. Brock and Others." Jane Austen: 1907-1908 Charles E. Brock Illustrations for the Other Novel, and Other Austen Illustrations. The Republic of Pemberley, 2004. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. <http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/jabrokil.html>. (Catherine and Isabella Illustration)

Melani, Lilia. "The First Wave of Gothic Novels: 1765-1820." The Gothic Experience. Brooklyn College, 26 Aug. 2008. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. <http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/gothic/history.html>. (The Gothic Experience link)

Tontiplaphol, Betsy W. "Justice in Epistolary Matters: Revised Rights and Deconstructed Duties in Austen's Lady Susan." The Jane Austen Society of North America. PERSUASIONS ON-LINE, Jan. 2006. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. <http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol27no1/tontiplaphol.htm>. (second link)

Zlotnick, Susan. “From involuntary object to voluntary spy: female agency, novels and the marketplace in Northanger Abbey”. Studies in the Novel. 41.3. (Fall 2009). 277+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 Apr 2012.