Implicit Beliefs in Austen: Enlightenment to the Heathen?
Clutching My Pearls is my ongoing blog series about my take on Jane Austen’s beliefs and ideas, as based on her novels. Folks today who love Jane Austen are eager to find ways to acquit her of being a woman of the long 18th century. Further, for some people, reinventing Jane Austen appears to be part of a larger effort to jettison and disavow the past. Click here for the first in the series.
Sylvestra Le Touzel as Fanny Price, 1983 My previous post was a bit of a digression concerning Noble Savages; the idea that aboriginal peoples were innocent and virtuous.
In long 18th century prose, however, we more typically find the terms “barbarous” and “savage” used to condemn poor behaviour, and this is how Austen uses these words.
In Sense & Sensibility, Marianne thinks a “barbarous” rival has damaged her reputation with Willoughby. Willoughby’s farewell letter to her was “barbarously insolent.” And when she learns her sister Elinor’s secret, she condemns herself. “How barbarous have I been to you!” The term is used light-heartedly in Pride & Prejudice, when the newly-engaged Bingley spends all his time with Jane Bennet “unless when some barbarous neighbour, who could not be enough detested, had given him an invitation to dinner which he thought himself obliged to accept."
Catherine Morland suspects General Tilney of murdering his wife, a “barbarous proceeding.” Henry Tilney refers specifically to the laws, manners and customs of England to criticize the wildness of her suppositions. “Remember that we are English, that we are Christians.”
The most explicit reference to barbarism occurs in Mansfield Park. When Fanny Price learns that her newly-married cousin Maria has run away with Henry Crawford, she is stupefied. She sees it as “too horrible a confusion of guilt, too gross a complication of evil, for human nature, not in a state of utter barbarism.” [emphasis added]
In long 18th century prose, however, we more typically find the terms “barbarous” and “savage” used to condemn poor behaviour, and this is how Austen uses these words.
In Sense & Sensibility, Marianne thinks a “barbarous” rival has damaged her reputation with Willoughby. Willoughby’s farewell letter to her was “barbarously insolent.” And when she learns her sister Elinor’s secret, she condemns herself. “How barbarous have I been to you!” The term is used light-heartedly in Pride & Prejudice, when the newly-engaged Bingley spends all his time with Jane Bennet “unless when some barbarous neighbour, who could not be enough detested, had given him an invitation to dinner which he thought himself obliged to accept."
Catherine Morland suspects General Tilney of murdering his wife, a “barbarous proceeding.” Henry Tilney refers specifically to the laws, manners and customs of England to criticize the wildness of her suppositions. “Remember that we are English, that we are Christians.”
The most explicit reference to barbarism occurs in Mansfield Park. When Fanny Price learns that her newly-married cousin Maria has run away with Henry Crawford, she is stupefied. She sees it as “too horrible a confusion of guilt, too gross a complication of evil, for human nature, not in a state of utter barbarism.” [emphasis added]
As mentioned in a previous post, it was a matter of Church of England doctrine that salvation, that is, eternal life in heaven, was only possible through faith in Jesus Christ. If the heathens and savages didn't hear about the gospel, they had no chance of being saved. That's why the hero in the novel A Middy of the [Anti] Slave Squadron, mentioned in my previous post, prays that God will have mercy on the poor heathen African princess who died for him.
Since no-one was proposing that colonists should vacate the premises forthwith and return the conquered territory to the original inhabitants, it began more and more to appear that the best solution for the problem of the conflict between the Old World and the New was to assimilate, civilize and Christianize the aboriginals.
William Wilberforce, the great abolitionist, also supported the cause of spreading the gospel through India and Africa. Not everyone agreed, but it was a widely popular cause and it went hand-in-hand with the abolition movement.
Since no-one was proposing that colonists should vacate the premises forthwith and return the conquered territory to the original inhabitants, it began more and more to appear that the best solution for the problem of the conflict between the Old World and the New was to assimilate, civilize and Christianize the aboriginals.
William Wilberforce, the great abolitionist, also supported the cause of spreading the gospel through India and Africa. Not everyone agreed, but it was a widely popular cause and it went hand-in-hand with the abolition movement.
 "The Young Servant," by Esther Copley, a Baptist, promotes The Bible Society. This book was published by the Religious Tract Society. | The abolition movement in the United Kingdom and later in the United States was driven by dissenting Protestants, such as the Quakers. Supporters of abolition could be found among conventional Anglicans, but it was the Evangelicals who made slavery morally indefensible, shifting public opinion in favour of ending the slave trade. I believe Austen was in favour of abolition because she greatly admired the abolitionist Thomas Clarkson. I also think she was a traditional Church of England churchwoman. She donated to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, which was sponsored by the Church of England. The SPCK's chief focus was providing religious education within the United Kingdom and later, the British Empire. It produced pamphlets to distribute to "farmers, prisoners, soldiers, seamen, servants and slave-owners." |
My brother Mark and I engaging in cultural appropriation in South Korea in the late 1950's But SPCK had a rival, the The Bible Society. In Jane Austen, the Secret Radical, Dr. Helena Kelly suggests that Mrs. Norris in Mansfield Park might be named after Rev. Henry Norris, an outspoken foe of The Bible Society which was sponsored by Evangelicals and Dissenters, not Anglicans. Kelly thinks naming her villain "Norris" might be a hint that Austen favoured the evangelical Bible Society over the Anglican SPCK. But if that is so, then it is even more likely that Austen believed the gospel should be propagated to the ends of the earth, and heathens should be converted and saved.
In defense of missionaries, I'd like to briefly add that from the beginning, missionary work was about more than saving souls. Missionaries built schools and hospitals. My parents served as Methodist missionaries for five years in Korea, after the Korean War. My father taught library science and my mother taught English and took care of war orphans.
In defense of missionaries, I'd like to briefly add that from the beginning, missionary work was about more than saving souls. Missionaries built schools and hospitals. My parents served as Methodist missionaries for five years in Korea, after the Korean War. My father taught library science and my mother taught English and took care of war orphans.
Jonny Lee Miller as Edmund Bertram, 1999 Jane Austen mentions missionaries in Mansfield Park. Edmund Bertram is shocked when Mary Crawford reacts in a very worldly manner to the news that Maria has run away with Henry. She shows no moral indignation; she scoffs at their "folly" and strategizes how to overcome the social stigma. Edmund lets her know the scales have dropped from his eyes, and she snaps back: 'A pretty good lecture, upon my word. Was it part of your last sermon? At this rate you will soon reform everybody at Mansfield and Thornton Lacey; and when I hear of you next, it may be as a celebrated preacher in some great society of Methodists, or as a missionary into foreign parts.'
Mary Crawford figures in a novel in which, as Miss Prism says, "The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily." So are we supposed to share her disdain for dissenters and missionaries?
Mary Crawford figures in a novel in which, as Miss Prism says, "The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily." So are we supposed to share her disdain for dissenters and missionaries?
The reality is that Jane Austen--yes, your Jane Austen--used the term "savages" and "barbarism" as a criticism of bad behaviour. She might even have believed that heathens would be better off with Christianity and civilization. Her heroine Fanny conceives of English society as being more civilized and more moral than people living in "utter barbarism." And when Darcy said every savage can dance, he didn't mean the Welsh.
Next post: Civilis and Civility
Next post: Civilis and Civility
In A Marriage of Attachment, the second book in my Mansfield Trilogy, William Price helps rescue Africans from slaving ships as part of the British Navy's West African Squadron. Click here for more about my books.
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