A BENEVOLENT SPIRIT TOWARD EVERY FELLOW CREATURE: CHARITY IN THE LATER NOVELS OF JANE AUSTEN

Abstract

This capstone paper explores the virtue of charity in Jane Austen's final three novels: Persuasion, Emma, and Mansfield Park. Charity is a major theme in Austen's later works, in the letters and prayers that she wrote, and in the books of the Bible that would have been familiar to her. My project takes a fresh look at the moral and religious culture in which Austen wrote. Jane Austen was a clergyman's daughter and grew up in a society that had a Christian/Bible based understanding. I argue that some of Austen's subtleties of plot and characterization can be lost on readers who aren't familiar with the mores of Regency England. In addition to closely reading the novels themselves, I focus attention on Austen's letters and prayers, as well as three passages from the Bible that correspond to themes in the novels: Colossians in Persuasion, the Epistle of James in Emma, and 1 Corinthians 13 in Mansfield Park. I conclude by addressing the rarely looked at prayers of Jane Austen, which is like glimpsing her heart and soul and finding charity as a theme there as well.