Jane Austen Character Throwdown

You are a keen observer of personality oddities and collector of outrageous statements. Which Jane Austen character would you wish to observe most through visits and one-on-one interaction? If you prefer another character, please leave a comment.

Mr. Collins - Pride and Prejudice

Lady Catherine de Bourgh - Pride and Prejudice

Mr. Palmer - Sense and Sensibility

Mrs. Elton - Emma

Jane Austen Character Throwdown
	Mr Collins
	Lady Catherine de Bourgh
	Mr Palmer
	Mrs Elton
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Jane Austen Movie Fashion Throwdown

Lady Catherine de Bourgh was an unpleasant, opinionated, imperious and grand old dame. Whose wardrobe best matches her character?

This purply puce gown with tight bodice and low neckline presents a formidable front. It is slightly old-fashioned, but elegant, and more like a court gown than a dinner dress. Judi Dench, Pride and Prejudice 2005.

This Lady Catherine wears a fashionable carriage outfit with a pelisse trimmed with fur and a hat festooned with ostrich plumes. The outfit reeks of class to anyone Lady Catherine might have encountered on her journey to Longbourn. Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Pride and Prejudice 1995.

The spencer jacket with a militaristic sash draped over one shoulder is quite fashionable. This Lady Catherine holds a walking stick and uses it to great effect. Judy Parfitt, Pride and Prejudice 1980.

The dress is all wrong, of course, for it belongs to the mid-19th century. But this Lady Catherine, swathed from head-to-toe and side-to-very-considerable-side (mutton sleeves, wide hooped skirt), presents a striking black figure. Any ordinary person would quail when confronted with so much blackness, but not our Elizabeth. Edna Mae Oliver, Pride and Prejudice 1940.

Whose Lady Catherine wardrobe most matches the character?
	Judi Dench, P and P 2005
	Barbara Leigh-Hunt, P and P 1995
	Judy Parfitt, P and P 1980
	Edna Mae Oliver, P and P 1940
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Jane Austen Movie Throwdown

The winter holidays provide time for leisurely gatherings around the dinner table. In this week's throwdown we ask you to which elegant dinner party would you have liked to receive an invitation? Lady Catherine de Bourgh's in 2005's Pride and Prejudice? Or the Weston's in A&E's Emma, 1996? Neither gathering was particularly pleasurable, but so much was learned about the characters in both:

Lady Catherine de Bourgh's table, Pride and Prejudice, 2005

Dinner at the Westons, A&E Emma, 1996

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To which elegant dinner party would you have liked to receive an invitation?

Lady Catherine de Bourgh's The Westons'

Jane Austen Movie Throwdown

This week's throwdown offers the least pleasing images we have ever chosen for this blog, but for a good reason. The three scenes represent a huge departure from Jane Austen's novels and they are quite egregious. Oh, there are more than three instances in which script writers changed Jane's plot dramatically, but these three stick particularly in my craw. For this week's throwdown you are asked to consider:

Which script deviation from Jane Austen's novels is the most egregious?

After reading his letter, Anne Elliot runs through Bath to go after Captain Wentworth in Persuasion 2007.

In the opening scene of Sense and Sensibility 2008, Willoughby seduces Eliza and presumably gets her pregnant.

In Pride and Prejudice 1940, Lady Catherine de Bourgh gives Mr. Darcy her approval to reconcile with Elizabeth Bennet.

Which changed scene is the most egregious deviation from Jane Austen's novels?
	Anne Elliot runs through Bath, Persuasion 2007
	Willoughby seduces Eliza in the opening scene of Sense and Sensibility 2008
	Lady Catherine de Bourgh encourages Mr. Darcy to propose to Elizabeth Bennet
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Jane Austen Character Throwdown

In last week's house throwdown, Norland Park won shades down over Rosings. However, we're not through yet with Lady Catherine de Bourgh, whose house was thoroughly rejected. This week pits two formidable ladies against each other. Let's see who you will cast as the

Most Formidable Woman

Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Pride and Prejudice

Proud, imperious, bossy, and insufferable. And those are among Lady Catherine De Bourgh's better qualities. In my estimation, she tosses off one of Jane's best lines: "There are few people in England, I suppose, who have more true enjoyment of music than myself, or a better natural taste. If I had ever learnt, I should have been a great proficient." We should be happy that Lady Catherine has such a high opinion of herself, for she was the means by which Darcy and Lizzy were reunited. Had she not dashed off to Longbourn to persuade Lizzy to give up all and any claims to Darcy's affections, he might never have heard of her impertinence in not promising to enter into an engagement with him. The last words Lady Catherine utters in the novel sums up her character nicely: "I take no leave of you, Miss Bennet. I send no compliments to your mother. You deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased." Lady Catherine never fails us in our opinion of her.

Mrs. Ferrars, Sense and Sensibility

Edward Ferrars' momma is not a nice lady, and that's the sweetest thing we can say about her. Proud, spiteful, and as motherly as a cuckoo bird who allows others to rear its offspring, she holds the monetary sword of Damocles over her eldest son's head, always threatening him with disinheritance if he does not obey her in all things. As soon as she learned about Edward's engagement to Lucy Steele, she rewrote her will, leaving her fortune to her second (and favorite) son, Robert. The irony of the plot was that Robert wound up marrying Lucy AND keeping the fortune, but all was not lost for Edward. He married the woman he loved and achieved his ambition to become the rector of his own parish. As for Mrs. Ferrars, her values were so askew that she preferred Lucy and Robert over Elinor and Edward. Lucy and Robert"settled in town, received very liberal assistance from Mrs. Ferrars, were on the best terms imaginable with the Dashwoods, and setting aside the jealousies and ill-will continually subsisting between Fanny and Lucy, in which their husbands of course took a part, as well as the frequent domestic disagreements between Robert and Lucy themselves, nothing could exceed the harmony in which they all lived together." Hah! Oh, how I would like to be a fly on the wall during those times of family bickering, no doubt encouraged by Mrs. Ferrars herself.

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Jane Austen Character Throwdown: Most Formidable Woman

Lady Catherine de Bourgh Mrs. Ferrars

Seen on the Blogosphere

On PBS's Remotely Connected, read a review on Lady Catherine de Bourgh by Seth Cassel, a 17-year old high school student. How refreshing to read these wise words by a young Jane fan who happens to live in my home town of Baltimore, MD.

Purchase Valentine Day gifts at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, such as letter sets, soaps, a lace bracelet and a lavender and heart hanger.

Meanwhile, Virginia Solomon of the Northern California of the Jane Austen Society of America has a few choice words to say about the pig in Pride and Prejudice 2005. Click here to read the SFGate article.