We DEFINITELY need to set time apart for discussing Mrs. Bennet. It is a fascinating character 😁

As a young girl I loved Emma and Lizzie, but as I grew older I grew to love and appreciate best the nuances of Anne’s character and Persuasion has remained my favourite novel I’ve ever read.

Fanny Price is the most misunderstood and underappreciated heroine. She's not my favorite but she has a special place in my heart because of her introverted, contemplative nature.

Always kinda a bummer so many think Jane Austen is "chick lit". Read several of her novels and Austen's understanding of the psychology of people and their social interactions still sticks with me.

Okay, northanger abbey isn't just fun to read because of the critique or literature, I do find it fun as a story. And I would describe Henry Tinley not just as a soft boy but as a funny sweet man! He's the best of the jane austen love interests, in my opinion. He's funny, sweet, he likes fashion. He's kind of iconic

Persuasion is my favorite. Anne Elliot may not be as plucky as Elizabeth Bennet, but she remains so loving and kind despite how awful her family is to her. When she reunites with Wentworth, I cry so many happy tears because Anne suffered for so long 😭

I remember being in the grips of bratty, teenage male defiance when I was assigned Pride and Prejudice in high school. I was 14 and I joked with my teacher that I was not interested in reading books about "hot tears" and "heaving bosoms". (I was always a nerd, even if a misogynist one). Then... I read Pride and Prejudice and read this remarkable novel of subtlety and subtext. To this day, I remember vividly the day I "ate crow" in class, explaining to all, especially Mrs. Morahan, that I was totally wrong and that this book was so amazing and the Parlor dialogue was so weighted with meaning and subtext and I was a fan. I have not read her other works (or enough since Grad School because of.. life... and teaching), but I do possess her collected works and hope to do so one day.. maybe if I ever get to retire. Thanks for a wonderful video. You distilled so much of what I remember feeling as a kid (my "misogyny" was an attempt to deal with bullies who called me "femme" all the time, and so was performative), but with so much more detail and nuance. You have me in the mood to pull out those collected works.. but alas the semester is beginning again so my reading will be other people's essays and "Discussion Boards" for the next 4 months.

"Low key Byronic" is the best description ever! I literally LOLed and scared my dog. 100% accurate!

Fanny deserves way more love

I love all the Austen heroines, but my favorite is Anne. Is true that at some point we all sort of want to be Lizzie, but I always felt more close to Anne because she was more melancholic I guess. There was a sadness and loneliness in her that were so familiar to my teenage self, and yet, she manages to get her happy ending in the end, so it was hopeful too.

It would be cool if you did an in depth look at Austen's "Bad Boys"; Wickham, William Elliott, Willoughby, Frank Churchill and Henry Crawford.

Mostly agree with everything but... I love Northanger Abbey! I feel like Isabella is such a compelling villain.

I think you missed the mark on Fanny Price. Especially, when she goes back home, you see how she doesn't fit in that world either. I always got that Fanny decided not to create her own world, but to find a balance, and ultimately a place, in the world she lived in the most - with her cousins. It also seemed to be protraying that Fanny, lived more appropriately than her rich cousins.

Fanny is also disabled/sickly, which I've always appreciated as well. It's not a main point in the story, but it does come up several times. I think Fanny and Anne are my favorite protagonists. Henry Tilney is probably my favorite hero. We need a Mrs. Bennett video!

Great vid as usual. Just one remark: JA created much more than 6 characters in her 6 novels. And I personally think that her universal appeal is the fact her female characters are not cardboard while her male characters are not fantasy Joe.

Reading "Sense and Sensibility" in light of Mary Wollstonecraft's "Vindication of the Rights of Women" was eye-opening. From that lens, Elinor Dashwood is a proto-feminist, living her life based on reason and sense rather than being an overemotional female. That being said, I personally identify way more with Marianne, since I am super emotional and Romantic and prone to melancholic outbursts. For extra funsies, I have an older sister just like Elinor and I think it's hilarious how accurate it all is. (When I told my older sister this, she let me know that you the point of the book is that Marianne needs to be like Elinor, which might be the most Elinor thing ever).

I often thought persuasion was a bit autobiographical, and speaks to Austen's regret of being persuaded and persuading others to seek "good matches" rather than pursue the relationships that were meaningful to them.

I've recently read for the first time Mansfield Park. I had read all of Austen's other novels, but I had a copy of Mansfield Park in English and I had to wait until I was confident enough with my english skills to read it (my native language is Spanish). I was a little disappointed at first because Fanny isn't as engaging as Elizabeth Bennet or Emma. As said in the video, she doesn't really feel like the main character in her own story. She even comes across as a bit too... moralist? Not that it's a bad thing per se or even unexpected from Austen, whom we know had very strong beliefs. What I think upsets me more is the love interest. I am sure that if Fanny would have had the opportunity to a broader social life, she wouldn't have settled for literally the only man who is nice to her. Edmund pushes her to marry the other man (whose name I don't remember right now, but, you know, the bad boy of this story) and, though he doesn't know about the real nature of this man and eventually stops, his attitude turned me off a bit. But, on further consideration, Fanny's principles are remarkable. She never bends and sticks true to what she believes is right. In that sense, she is incredible strong against all odds. And I also have a soft spot for suffering unrequited love.

Hot take!!! Mr. Darcy is a Tsundere Mr. Bingley is a himbo

The fact that there are so many Austen scholars makes my heart happy. We love to see it 👏🏽

Emma will always be my favourite. I adore Fanny, Anne, and Elinor too, but Emma's character arc has always been the most meaningful-- and she gets scolded by Mr Knightley. 10/10. Though we're focusing on the heroines here, I would like to point out Miss Bates, one of the greatest female characters every put to the page. And just remember, kids: Lizzy doesn't remember how much she loves Mr Darcy until she sees how big his house is ;)

I absolutely adore Austen, her humor just hits me. The characters are often so foolish and vain and so much fun is had at their expense.

OMG you're 100% right that Colonel Brandon is "secretly low-key byronic" and I have no idea how I completely missed that before!!!

I definitely admire Elizabeth Bennet but my favourite heroine is Elinor Dashwood. She is kind, sensible and has a lot of inner strength. Plus as older sister to a “Marianne “ type I strongly identified with her!

Yes, hello. I'm here to fight for Henry Tilney and Catherine Moreland's honor. (Loved the video btw!).

How come I never knew there's an adaptation of Persuasion starring my queen Sally Hawkins?! A great video as usual. A shame how JA created so many colorful female protagonist back then, while complex female characters are still lacking today. That last remark about her passing away at 41 hit hard.

I think we can love and appreciate Austen at different points in our lives. Like most people I wanted to be Lizzie Bennet (I am definitely Mary at this point), but I have gained the perspective to be able to appreciate Mrs. Bennet. She had anxiety because until her daughters married and she hoped that at least one of them would marry well she had nowhere to live if/when her husband died. Her home, the house where she came as a young bride, where she built her marriage (I think she and Mr. Bennet have one of those contentious marriages and that is how they are happy), had her children, would be completely lost to her. She would have to find somewhere to go and until she had her daughters safely married and hopefully married well she worried about being homeless or living on the charity of others. She says just that several times in the novel. Lizzie and Jane’s marriages would lift a great burden off her mind because she would have the mother in law suite at either house if Mr. Bennet pre-deceased her. I even can find the empathy for Lydia because she is married to a man that wants a return to the wealthy lifestyle that he was raised along side and wanted to emulate without the funding to do so. The money that he got because he had to marry Lydia wouldn’t be enough to fund the lifestyle of the idle rich that he so very much wanted. Lydia was raised to try to find a husband but she never put much thought into the marriage aspect where the day to day living parts of the marriage. When Mr. Bennet asks Lizzie if she thinks Mr. Darcy will make her happy she knows that he’s addressing the day to day, everyday, mundane life parts of her upcoming marriage not just her wedding day.

Princess Weekes + Austen = JOY! It's so interesting how people rank her books and protagonists. I for one put S&S a lot lower on my list than most others do (P&P is no 1 of course) and I find Marianne Dashwood 100 times more aggravating than Emma. She does not deserve the Colonel and my fan fiction has him and Ellinor getting hitched instead (we barely even get to know Edward, he is a non-entity in the book). I really love Northanger Abbey, Catherine is imaginative, funny and she stands up for herself too. I always felt it deserved a higher ranking. I liked Emma a lot more on the second reading, when it is clear she is caring at heart, and quite insecure as well. She spent her entire life trying to be the perfect daughter, having to handle her father's and sister's nervous dispositions. She gets some very harsh (and deserved) lessons, but she handles them with far more grace than most people would. I love all ofAusten's books, butin order of preference I'd go 1) P&P, 2) Persuasion, 3) Northanger Abbey, 4) Emma, 5) Mansfield Park, 6) S&S

elinor to me has always served eldest daughter i will take up the least emotional space realness, respect to her!

There is no "Gilmore girls poor" they were forever safe under the watch of Emily and Richard. Lorelei had a trust fund revealed to her even.

Lindsay and Princess are my dreamteam.

What a wonderful presentation of these six very different and very compelling characters. Thanks! I will toss in a couple of cents: Sacrilege: I did not like "Pride and Prejudice" when I first read it. It was my first Austen novel, and I thought she was mean-spirited and especially nasty to Mary. I did not become interested in Austen until the televised broadcasts of the 1995 "Persuasion" closely followed by the 1997 production of "Mansfield Park" (both with Amanda Root (I didn't like the movie that came out soon afterward). It was only then that my mother and I embarked on a complete reading of Austen's six novels, and I ended up loving all of them ... some more than Lizzie, sorry. Catherine is a sweet and engaging character. There is a clarity to her, and an innocent honesty that won me over, and which is a great deal of what wins over Henry. She is presented in a perfect showcase of a novel, going through her paces despite the satiric tone of her narrator. I therefore give a gentle argument against your summation of Catherine of not having much substance. Not, certainly, compared to the others, but she is her own person, with her own voice and her own lesson to learn. I also will take a stand against the slotting of Emma as a mean girl. Emma has her mean girl moments, but they are mostly the result of the influence under which she was born and raised; it is not her core. As she goes through her story, slowly, painfully, with some backsliding, she broadens her views. Even before this, she truly thinks that she is doing Harriet Smith a good turn. She loves and cares for her father. Most important, she exhibits what the best Austen heroines do: the ability to learn from her mistakes, which is why she is a better person at the end than she was at the start. Thanks again for this great discussion!

A lot of people seem frustrated with Mansfield Park, and there's good reason too, especially since it's a story ABOUT frustration, but I also think that they see it for something it's not. I think they expect it to be a romance, when it's mostly social commentary about how the Elite thinks itself as the gatekeeper of virtue when even the genuinely well-intentioned ones like Edmund can be self-absorbed jackasses with poor judgement. If you're disappointed that Fanny's happy ending is marrying her cousin in the last page even though the text says she's too good for him, guess what? That's literally the best she could aspire to, be mad at her society for being THAT shitty, not at her for not saying sassy comebacks out loud to her shitty family or pulling herself by her own bootstraps, especially when she has so much to loose if she risks that. If she's content, then I'm content, it's regency era England, I'm not gonna judge her- *except* for the slavery, of course.

So weird seeing Keira Knightley’s Pride and Prejudice in this video since I’m so used to the Colin Firth mini-series

I'm not a fan of Austen like that (dodges rocks), but I love how Princess discusses novels and stories. And y'know, you might get me to re-read P&P (maybe).

What are the chances? I just started reading Northanger Abbey today! have to say I rep for Catherine Morland, the slightly naive bookworm with an over-active imagination is really relatable to me.

The only issue I take with this breakdown of Austen’s female protagonists is your use of the Joe Wright version of the characters instead of the far superior BBC mini-series adaptation. The Keira Knightly movie is The Last Air Bender of Jane Austen movies lol.

Thank you so much! I've only read P & P, and now have a strong sense of each book, esp as each relates to the others. I especially appreciated your apt and edifying interjections from the various critics you chose. Please continue to make more videos. You absolutely rock.

Justice for Fanny. Like, shes so underrated

Thank you for your video, but oh no no no no no, Northanger Abbey is *wonderful* ♡ The humor and satire is excellent and Tilney is the most emotionally intelligent Austen hero imo. It's my favourite Austen novel and it made me read Udolpho which was an experience that I'm really glad I had (even though I won't repeat it). I also want to add that while some people prefer Marianne, other people find her incredibly frustrating - from my experience in fan groups it's around 50-50 - so I was a little surprised by the text you included in the video that seemed quite biased in favour of Marianne and against Elinor. Last I want to add that her novels weren't published in the same order as she wrote them - and what happened to Lady Susan? The novel where the protagonist is the villain of the story!

Yaay! Princess! Such a nice video to drink coffee to ☕ I find these videos to be so calming and insightful

Love this analysis. Well put and fun. :)

Thanks for sharing the analysis of the books.

What a great video and analysis! Good job.

I love your mode of scholarship and I am rereading P&P because of you! THANK YOU!!!

I wonder why people want to redeem Willoughby but few people want to redeem Wickham from PandP.. Another suggestion for a future video, I would love a comparison between Austen's heroines and Bronte's heroines.

what a wonderful video! i will say, i recently read persuasion for the first time and i really, REALLY love anne elliot. something about her story just resonated with me-- maybe it's because we're similar in age, maybe it's bc i have a thing for exes getting back together. she did feel more insular than other austen protags did, i think that's another way i relate to her though. again, thanks for the video!!

Great video, great to see Princess again 🥰

This is amazing. Love this content

"This is Austen's Ladies Night" and I am so glad to be here for it!!!! Also THANK YOU for doing Fanny 1st, she does not get enough love, and also thank you for drawing attention to her emotional abuse and how that colors the view of the story. Not every protagonist has to be able to defy reality/overcome everything by the end mark in order to be compelling. ❤

Love your insights and your style.

Sense and Sensibility is so good!

Awesome energy :) Thank you for the good time.

This is an Anne Elliot Stan account 💪🏻

I'd love to see Princess take apart High Guardian Spice.

kudos young lady! I loved it and chuckled quite a bit.

I frigging Love Emma. Because shes a Snob. She is a Girl who thinks she knows best for everyone and needs to have her head Set straight. And i frigging Love it. When people complain about her being unlikable i have to chuckle because thats exactly why i Like her character. We all know a Girl Like Emma. Or we have been a Girl Like Emma. Either way i cant wait to see her rebuked and come to Term with Not being the genius that she thought she was. I seem to Love that stuff in general considering that thats also a facet of lizzie bennett's character that i appreciated. The ability o realize that she Made a premature judgement. And manages to move past it. Again. Relatable.

Great video!!!

I know most of this about Austen, but I am totally here for Weekes presentation. It's everything👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾🤩

The hot take that the adaptation of Emma is not Emma is fascinating

Wow. The slander against Northanger Abbey, my favorite Austen novel... 😭😆

I think you're being a bit mean about northhanger Abby! It's a fun read and I think while it is making fun of and being smart about gothic lit it's also a really sweet love letter to the genre! I think its also interesting that, while a lot of Austen's other novels have a misdoing of a man as the central conflict, this one is centered on a betrayal of friendship between women. I love northhanger Abby it's such a sweet and fun book a real comfort read

Going to respectfully disagree about the analysis of Northanger Abbey and characters, but I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this video. I've been waiting for Jane Austen themed video for ages. And yay, shout out to Fanny Burney! Can I pretty-please you into making a Fanny Burney video, or one devoted to Anne Bronte? Or Elizabeth Gaskell? Or Louisa May Alcott?

this was fun!

Damn. I’ve already taken the survey. Someone, please give Lindsey a hug for this fan.

This video is such a lovely primer on Jane Austen and her works. 👏🏽

Love to watch you explain these books...books that I would probably never have read. You make them so entertaining. Plus, I loved the way you pronounced En ga land...lol.

Ooo i'm pumped. When i first started reading Jane Austen, a lot of people told me about the romance. But it was never the romance which drew me to her books. I was intrigued by how england was like "back then" and how her heroines fit into that world. But yes the romances were pretty well written too. Edit: finished watching the video. Northanger Abbey was my favourite Jane Austen novel. Because i was 13 and i too had a wild imagination, so Catherine was super relatable.

Emma is my favourite protagionist. I love Anne and Fanny and I adore Northanger Abby. And of course Elizabeth, I still need to read Sense and Sensibility

I just enjoy princess's insightful and entertaining commentary please more of you and less quotes from academics. You are awesome!

“Rest in power !” 🙌🏽

You got Catherine Morland completely wrong. She's always right, and she is literally almost kicked out of a wealthy house without the means to get home (and is indeed kicked out, but Eleanor Tilney gives her money so she can get home) because she is not as wealthy as General Tilney was lead to believe.

Killed me with the sk8er boi

I like the classic fiddle playing as the soundtrack to this video

Even after two hundred years Mr Darcy is the god of all romance novels lol

Thank you for your work in this channel and your video essays. I've recently discovered Samuel R. Delany and have begun reading some of his books. Would you cover a video topic on this author in a future video please? I've enjoyed what interviews I've been able to find of him on KZfaq and can't believe I hadn't discovered him sooner. He's such an interesting person.

Last time I was this early, Shakespeare hadn’t started writing yet

you are a phenom. keep it up

I finally listened to the audio books of Pride and Prejudice afterwards Persuasion in 2020. Both were great, different flavors of Austin's style; had a lovely time. I meant to listen to Norhanger Abbey but got busy.. now I plan to get back to it!

I love this episode princess

Please read Devoney Looser's The Making of Jane Austen, it just adds SO MUCH to any and every Austen discussion.

Thanx 💕

I'd love to see a video on the novels of Fanny Burney!

Princess I live you but will defend to the end that the 1995 miniseries is better than the 2005 movie

I think it's funny you used Jawbreaker as a teen movie metaphor for Emma when Clueless was actually the teen movie loosely based on Emma. Also to be fair to Emma (I didn't like her all that much out of the heroines), Augusta was way meaner. She's classist and snobby like Emma can get, but you get the impression that Emma means well versus Augusta who goes out of her way to be rude to poor Harriet. But Emma is hardly perfect either.

I have most often been compared to Elinor, but Anne resonates with me most closely. But oh the gentle satire of the social mores!

I know not the subject of the video but at 0:50 i saw lindsay and am wondering if she is still gonna do free lance work for PBS

A lot of people try to fool themselves into thinking they are a Lizzy, but some of us just out here living comfortable in our Elinor-ness. We support you though, while you figuring it out. :)

Quite awesome, as Spanish, to hear an american say "Murcia". It's quite a meme region here, like the Kansas or Texas of USA. (And it's MUR-cee-a, the "a" pronounced as in "America" ^^)

Can you please do a video about the author of The Princess and the Goblin! 💝😻💝

Not that I don't normally like Princess work but this is probably the BEST of her on camera, an absolute delight! on the other hand I'm wondering if Emma (my personal favorite) would be more popular with general audiences had Miss Austen given her a cool scar that covers half her face and been very explicit on her having black hair

I could watch Princess read the phone book on camera ❤️

As the MsMojo video on Jane Austen put it: “It’s a truth universally acknowledged that Jane is the BOMB.”

Okay, now I'm going to ask some of my seniors doing independent reading the Sk8ter Boi question 😂 Edit: I will fight you on that Northanger Abbey critique 😏

Princess and Angelina nailed this one.

"Or at least an avenger" had me dying 🤣

The first time I taught Jane Austen, the boys were outraged as these girl characters were only gold-diggers. (I was young & didn't realize how little historical knowledge these students had.) After I explained the laws and societal norms, the boys came around so much that they argued for the dismantling of patriarchy, understood that gold-digger is weaponized word for a pressure women feel (my own grandma asked if my ex was financially wealthy enough to keep me in the style I had grown accustomed to; I just graduated college and ramen was my usual dinner.), and had long "discussions" over the best character. Jane Austen is amazing.

14:08 why you gotta picture of the Biltmore house?🤨 Asheville, NC baby!!

Love Lindsay and Princess 💜

And can you please also make a video of Kenneth Oppel who wrote SilverWing! 💝🦇💝