What did Jane Austen have in common with Anne, Emily and Charlotte Bronte? Each was a clergyman’s daughter, whose humble circumstances, and familiar interactions with the English ruling class, provided the inspiration for classic nineteenth-century novels which dramatized the misfortunes of class discrimination. Their heroines were often dependent upon, or at the mercy of, capricious and unjust social superiors.
If born into the ease and superficiality of the entitled class they so brilliantly satirized or illustrated, these women might not have reached their full emotional and intellectual potential. The privileges enjoyed by their often unworthy social superiors starkly contrasted the imposed limitations and deprivations in their own lives. Could women such as these, fail to question the status quo or ignore the sting of relative powerlessness? The very fact of their insignificance contributed to the fruition of their instinctive and cultivated talents.
From slights, hardship, and struggle came irony, wisdom, and triumphant achievement. The consequential events of their lives, and the insights which followed, were eloquently passed on to their fictional counterparts and grateful readers. — Marian K.
A Classic Perspective 