Lady Bertram’s Epistolary Style | Jane Austen MANSFIELD PARK analysis | Letter-Writing & Character

hello and welcome to close reading classic literature with me dr octavia cox today i'm going to be looking at jane austen's magnificent novel mansfield park and in particular i'm going to be looking at lady bertram's letters to fanny price when fanny price is suffering in portsmouth so i'm going to look at lady bertram's epistolary style so her letter writing style an epistle is a letter and what this reveals about her selfishness her emotional detachment and her intellectual dullness so i'm going to talk about lady bertram also in relation to the 19th century kind of polite habit of common placing so this is going to be a fun video because the passage that i'm going to be analyzing is essentially jane austen mocking bad letter writing and bad letter writers a central part of close reading and literary analysis is understanding how a text's form informs its meaning in other words how the construction of a text the way that it is formed adds to the reader's understanding of that text's meaning and this is an excellent example i think that i'm going to be looking at today readers can see this very particularly by comparing two of lady bertram's letters about tom's illness towards the end of mansfield park so in two letters the content is virtually identical that is tom is very ill and lady bircham is very worried about him but the way in which jane austen chooses to form these two letters of lady bertrams exposes something much deeper about lady bertram's character so although the content is ostensibly the same the way in which it's conveyed actually provides the reader with a great deal of kind of additional other meaning so let me turn to the chapter in question from mansfield park this is volume 3 chapter 13 if your edition is using the original designation or it's chapter 44 in consecutively numbered editions so to put everything in context fanny price has been banished to the price family home in portsmouth so she is removed from the main action happening in london and at mansfield and fanny price is receiving news via letters from the other principal characters one letter that fanny receives is from edmund bertram in which he laments not being able to stop loving mary crawford which is of course a knife in fanny price's heart but for our purposes today the relevant point is that edmund ends the letter thus it is quite settled that the grants go to bath they leave mansfield on monday i am glad of it i am not comfortable enough to be fit for anybody but your aunt lady bertram seems to feel out of luck that such an article of mansfield news should fall to my pen instead of hers yours ever my dearest fanny if edmund knew that his mother wanted to communicate such an article of mansfield news of the grants leaving mansfield to fanny herself perhaps he could have left it to her pen instead of his own is this another example of edmund bertram's quiet passive selfishness well that's a side point and not what i want to focus on today but what edward bertram does reveal here is relevant to lady bertram's epistolary style because it introduces her epistlery style her letter writing style which is to turn local news an article of mansfield news into fodder for occupying her idol hours lady bertram has barely engaged with the grants at all in the course of the novel so far and yet news of their leaving would have provided her with hours of occupation jane austen in her representation of lady bertram's epistolary style exposes the vacuity of such detached disengagement of real emotion so lady bertram does not actually care that the grants are leaving mansfield but she cares that in their leaving she has lost a use for them as a vehicle through which to communicate herself as i analyze the text uh specifically relating to lady bertram's epistolary style which i will get onto in a minute i will focus on two aspects in particular so first what jane austen criticizes in her representation of lady bertram's epistolary style and by extension of course many women like lady bircham as the text itself points out is the selfishness of those who enjoy trading in news especially in bad news as a way merely to occupy themselves detached of any real emotion second what jane austen also exposes in this section that i'm about to unpick is the conventional almost formal language of affectedness so in lady bertram's first letter to fanny particularly this is the language of affectedness contrasted with the quote language of real feeling as the narrative voice calls it in lady bertram's second letter so there's a comparison of um the language of affectedness and the language of real feeling preferring the language of real feeling aligns jane austen's narrative voice in mansfield park with her fellow literary contemporaries the romantics in his preface to the lyrical ballads from 1800 for instance william wordsworth one of the preeminent romantic period poets had argued that good writing expresses powerful feelings using the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation that's a key kind of tenet of romanticism is this idea of good art and good poetry in william wordsworth's case but good art generally in fact using the real language of feeling the idea of verisimilitude so lifelike-ness becoming important to to art to writing to literature to get to the text of mansfield park itself everybody at all addicted to letter writing without having much to say which will include a large proportion of the female world at least is this a dig at the lack of proper education of women like lady bircham who have nothing to say nothing of special value or concern or interest to communicate to the rest of the world well yes i think so but the koi at least also suggests that writing without having much to say will also apply to plenty of men too must feel with lady bertram that she was out of luck in having such a piece of such a capital piece of mansfield news as the certainty of the grants going to bath occur at a time when she could make no advantage of it so news is something for people like lady bertram to be made advantage of she does not actually care that the grants are leaving at all but she is vexed that she is deprived of the final use she can make of them and we'll admit that it must have been very mortifying to her to see it fall to the share of her thankless son that is edmund so he was the one who wrote about it and treated as concisely as possible at the end of a long letter instead of having it to spread over the largest part of a page of her own so unlike edmond lady bertram would be thankful to be able to communicate the news for lady bertram news then is not merely information to be conveyed as concisely as possible the bald facts you might say but a way to occupy herself as she seems to have no other more useful employment what this reveals to us perhaps about lady bertram is that that she doesn't think at all about the letter receiver she doesn't think well actually does fanny really want a whole page of my musings on the grants leaving to go to bath particularly if it can be conveyed uh kind of concisely as edmund has done it but lady bertram doesn't think at all about the letter recipient she doesn't think about what fanny might want she thinks about what use she can make of the grants leaving and the kind of [Music] occupation this will provide her with or rather that it would have provided her with if her thankless son hadn't kind of stolen it away from her for though lady bertram rather shone in the epistolary line having early in her marriage from the want of other employment um and one might have thought that superintending the education of her four children uh especially the education of her two daughters as the novel sort of proves uh later on one might have thought that superintending the education of her children might have provided occupation for her but no uh she's taken up leopard letter writing to kind of occupy her time so from the wants of other employment and the circumstance of sir thomas's being in parliament meaning that sir thomas is frequently away in london um in parliament and so he is not occupying her time either so because of this lady bertram had got into the way of making and keeping correspondence and formed for herself a very creditable commonplace amplifying style so that a very little matter was enough for her so a very creditable commonplace amplifying style what does this really mean the oxford english dictionary defines creditable as respectable decent reputable presentable now passing into sense 3 commendable but not necessarily outstanding or successful in calling lady bertram's style very creditable the narrative voice is essentially damning her with faint praise lady bertram writes moral platitudes averagely well there is a sort of pun also on the word commonplace here so on the one hand common commonplace means sort of ordinary but it also relates to an 18th century activity of common placing so common placing was recording a saying or a moral or a quotation or an aphorism some kind of nugget um interest that you wanted to record so you'd record that in a notebook called your commonplace book so commonplace books were repositories of useful apparently although no not always of course depending on what you chose to put in them repositories of information so often these were divided into sections so you might have a section on money and another section on love and another section on virtue and another section on learning or you might have something a bit more practical such as useful mothering advice or useful gardening tips or whatever and as an aside you can see why the dominant literary certainly dominant poetic form in the 18th century was the heroic couplet which is epigrammatic in style and it goes hand in hand with the 18th century fashion for common placing because these couplet long mottos are very convenient to extract and a very common example so if if you had a section on learning in your commonplace book uh a a very common example was alexander pope's lines his kind of aphoristic motto from an essay criticism from 1711 which you might still hear occasionally today a little learning is a dangerous thing drink deep or taste not the period in spring so in greek mythology the perion spring is the spring sacred to the muses on mount olympus so returning then to lady bertram's epistolary style in mansfield park here amplify means and again this is the oxford english dictionary to enlarge a storyal statement by telling it more diffusely or fully or by adding fresh details illustrations or reflections to expand to make much of so we can interpret the overall description of lady bertram's very creditable commonplace amplifying style then to mean that she offers moral platitudes or conventional pieces of wisdom that she then amplifies expounds on makes much of writes diffusely in a formulaic manner she could not do entirely without any subject matter she must have something to write about even to her niece so a very little matter was enough for her because lady bertram because she just needed the prompt of the subject matter to figuratively go to her commonplace book and pull out all her platitudes on illness or virtue or learning or whatever it is and this very creditable commonplace style is reminiscent i think of mr bennett's mockery of mr collins's pre-planned platitudinous expressions in pride and prejudice when he facetiously asks you judge very properly said mr bennett and it is happy for you that you possess the talent of flattering with delicacy may i ask whether these pleasing attentions proceed from the impulse of the moment or are the result of previous study and we might ask the same question of lady bertram's expressions about tom's illness in her letters that i'm just about to get onto do they proceed from the impulse of the moment or are they too the result of previous study is she lady bertram kind of drawing out her commonplace uh pre-planned expressions about illness and being so soon to lose all the benefit of dr grant's gouty symptoms there we go so if you have your poetic extract or whatever on illness then you would be able to apply them to dr grant's gouty symptoms and mrs grant's morning calls it was very hard upon her to be deprived of one of the last epistolary uses she could put them to this is a revealing line you say she could put them to because it exposes lady bertram's quiet selfishness she thinks of others in terms of what uses she can put them to there was a rich amend however preparing for her lady bertram's hour of good luck came and there's a dark irony here from the narrative voice lady bertram's good luck is to have the rich amends of lots of material to fill her upcoming letters because she is now about to have something to write about and austin i think then has great fun showing readers lady bertram's very creditable uh commonplace amplifying style in action in the first letter from lady bertram about tom's illness to fanny price now in portsmouth the letter is a parody of the epistolary style that was conventional in dull unthinking people in the regency period and it's it is a style uh something which the romantics the romantic period poets were also rebelling against that is formal superficial formulaic and so stilted as to be virtually without a sense of real feeling and jane austen like the romantics is rebelling against uh what the romantics called poetic diction that is the language of kind of affectation within a few days from the receipt of edmond's letter fanny had one from her aunt beginning thus and this is the first letter my dear fanny i take up my pen to communicate some very alarming intelligence which i make no doubt will give you much concern this was a great deal better than to have to take up the pen to acquaint her with all the particulars of the grant's intended journey for the present intelligence was of a nature to promise occupation for the pen for many days to come being no less than the dangerous illness of her eldest son of which they had received notice by express a few hours before so this was a great deal better than to have to take up the pen to acquaint her fanny with all the particulars of the grant's intended journey the narrative voice here implies that lady bertram rather enjoys being at the center of having some alarming intelligence to convey tom's illness is a great deal better as subject matter for letters than the departure of the grants as the details are more juicy and it allows lady bertram to rehearse an entirely new selection of commonplaces this distressing intelligence as you may suppose observed her ladyship and notice the diction that jane austen has chosen here for the narrative voice and what it implies observed her ladyship when things are really dire one does not have time for reflection or observation this distressing intelligence as you may suppose observed her ladyship after giving the substance of it has agitated us exceedingly and we cannot prevent ourselves from being greatly alarmed and apprehensive for the poor invalid whose state's atomis fears may be very critical and edmund kindly proposes attending his brother immediately but i am happy to add that sir thomas will not leave me on this distressing occasion as it would be too trying for me we shall greatly miss edmund in our small circle but i trust and hope he will find the poor invalid in a less alarming state that might be apprehended and that he will be able to bring him to mansfield shortly which sir thomas promises should be which sir thomas proposes should be done and thinks best on every account and i flatter myself the poor sufferer will soon be able to bear the removal without material inconvenience or injury as i have little doubt of your feeling for us my dear fanny under these distressing circumstances i will write again very soon so in this first letter as a whole there are lots of words of agitation and distress indeed the word distressing is used three times in one short letter it is distressing intelligence a distressing occasion with distressing circumstances but the tone rather suggests otherwise lady bertram describes the occasion using diction such as very alarming intelligence much concern agitated us exceedingly greatly alarmed and apprehensive fears may be very critical too trying alarming state but she also includes unnecessary phrases which suggest that she is not quite as alarmed or distressed as the content of the letter announces lady bertram includes phrases for example such as i take up my pen to communicate i make no doubt will give you much concern as you may suppose we cannot prevent ourselves but i'm happy to add that i flatter myself these lines are extraneous additions amplifications which do not add anything substantive to the letter they are padding which undermine any sense of real urgency or fear if you were really that worried you would get to the kind of heart of the matter you wouldn't kind of pad it out with all this unnecessary politeness we might also observe that lady bertram instead of using her son's name tom refers to the poor invalid twice and subsequently to the poor sufferer this is affected oddly formal and disengaged language instead of lady bertram's expression we cannot prevent ourselves from being greatly alarmed and apprehensive for the poor invalid it would sound much less contrived if she had written something less conventionally amplified compare that compare what lady bertrand wrote with something instead like we are greatly alarmed and apprehensive for tom fannie's feelings on the occasion were indeed considerably more warm and genuine than her aunt's style of writing she truly felt she felt truly for them all so this implies of course that lady bertram's epistolary style is conversely cold and inauthentic affected on genuine and the text is very clear about being critical of lady bertram's style of writing considerate so fanny's feelings were considerably more warm and genuine than her art style of writing so her art style of writing conversely is cold and ungenuine she fanny felt truly for them all so what does that imply about lady bertram that she does not truly feel for them all i think that's kind of implied here in the way that this is constructed the way that boston has constructed this section her aunt did not neglect her she wrote again and again they were receiving frequent accounts from edmond so edmund is sending letters about tom to sir thomas and lady bertram and these accounts were as regularly transmitted to fanny in portsmouth in the same diffuse style and the same medley of trusts hopes and fears all following and producing each other at haphazard lady bertram's epistolary character then is a diffuse style both in the sense of scattered but also verbose long-winded and in the word haphazard we are back to the idea of common placing lady bertram's mind is like a commonplace book in that it is merely a collection a medley of trite bromides jane austen's choice of diction in using the word medley is further revealing too so here is samuel johnson's 18th century definition of medley from his dictionary of the english language from 1755. so he describes medley as a mixture a miscellany a mingled mass it is commonly used with some degree of contempt so the diction then reveals the narrative voices contempt for lady bertram's epistolary style and what that style reveals about what lady bertram values it was a sort of playing at being frightened the sufferings which lady bertram did not see had little power over her fancy and she wrote very comfortably about agitation and anxiety and poor invalids it's beautiful line here there is a kind of biting satire in austin's use of antithesis in the juxtaposition of comfortably and agitation and anxiety she can write very comfortably about it because she doesn't really feel agitated or anxious because she cannot actually see tom ill in front of her she is not actually upset and the text tells readers that she does not have the imaginative capacity to perceive or feel suffering at a distance and the narrative voice picks up too on lady bertram referring to the poor invalid rather than using her own son's name and by pluralizing it so she wrote very comfortably about poor invalids the narrative voice further depersonalizes lady bertram's observations she writes of lee bertram writes of generalized poor invalids rather than tom specifically she is commonplacing rather than actually feeling and while tom is away and she is not actually confronted face to face with his illness his illness is merely a vehicle through which lady bertram can repeat her comfortable polite conventional phrases about her trusts hopes fears etc that such people always trot out when somebody anybody is ill lady bertram wrote very comfortably about agitation and anxiety and poor invalids till tom was actually conveyed to mansfield and with her own eyes her beheld his altered appearance then a letter which she had been previously preparing for fanny was finished in a different style in the language of real feeling and alarm then she wrote as she might have spoken she wrote as she might have spoken the narrative voice sees this as an endorsement of the second upcoming letter and this ties in with what i was talking about in a recent previous lecture on phonocentrism in jane austen's writing especially in captain wentworth's letter to an elliot at the end of persuasion and i won't go into detail as i defined and explained the term in in that video and you know at the end of this video do go back and watch that one if you're interested but to outline uh phonocentrism phonocentrism is a philosophical linguistic term meaning the tendency to value speech above writing in linguistic analysis especially the view that spoken language is the immediate realization of meaning in other words phonocentrism is the tendency to regard the spoken word as primary organic authentic because less mediated by the constructions and conventions of language and so closer to kind of real genuine meaning and the written word as secondary because it is apparently more consciously constructed so more artificial and therefore at a remove from meaning in the construction here in mansfield park of lady bertram's letters the narrative voice champions phonocentrism and phonocentric language lady bertram wrote in the second letter we are told in the language of real feeling and alarm when she wrote as she might have spoken the implication being that before as evidenced in the first letter she had written affectedly and artificially so she only writes real feelings when she writes as she might have spoken this is the second letter he has just come my dear fanny and is taken upstairs and i am so shocked to see him that i do not know what to do i am sure he has been very ill poor tom i am quite grieved for him and very much frightened and so is sir thomas and how glad i should be if you were here to comfort me but sir thomas hopes that he will be better tomorrow and says we must consider his journey the real solicitude so care concern now awakened in the maternal bosom was not soon over this second letter unlike the first one comprises short direct clauses without padding before she had written that tom's illness has agitated us exceedingly and we cannot prevent ourselves from being greatly alarmed and apprehensive but now she writes directly i am very much frightened and so is sir thomas and rather than the generic label the poor invalid he is now specifically poor tom and we note that this is a whole sentence a single exclamation she is writing down the thoughts as they cross her mind rather than her usual letter writing practice of filtering observations through her polite amplifying common placing process and very cleverly jane austen constructs lady bertram's two letters to be structurally identical lady bertram first having addressed my dear fanny she starts the main body of the letter in both by discussing there so hers and sir thomas's agitation and shock their fears and fright she then moves on in both to discuss what she wants for herself and she then describes what sir thomas proposes and thinks best hopes and says and by putting them side by side we can see how much more direct and to the point her second letter is lady bertram's use of the language of real feeling in her second letter reflects the real solicitude now awakened in her so jane austen has that word real repeated twice these kind of crucial moments and this serves through counterpoint to expose the artificiality of her previous epistolary style thank you very much indeed for watching remember if you like what i do here on my channel where i analyze classic literature then do subscribe and if you have liked the video then do please press the like button it helps me out in youtube's algorithm and what do you think we can take from lady bertram's epistolary style do leave your thoughts in the comments below