Let’s Talk about Anne de Bourgh
Diane Morris | Thursday, January 28th, 2016 | Anne de Bourgh, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Writing | 10 Comments
My new novel about Anne de Bourgh is nearly live—it’s being processed by Amazon for both its website and Kindle store as I write. Today seems like a good day to write about this fairly minor character in Jane Austen’s popular novel Pride and Prejudice.
One thing became clear to me after publishing Rosings Park, my first book about Anne’s life: I do not see Anne the way most readers see her. Anne, as you may know, is the young lady to whom the handsome, illustrious heartthrob Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy has been engaged since they were infants. Yes, that Mr. Darcy. In truth, we can’t glean much about her character from Austen’s story, but each of us takes away an impression of it. Apparently, we don’t all see her the same way.
What Austen Says about Anne
As the story unfolds Austen allows Mr. Wickham to explain Anne’s situation to Elizabeth Bennet in the days leading up to Mr. Bingley’s Netherfield ball:
“Her daughter, Miss de Bourgh, will have a very large fortune, and it is believed that she and her cousin will unite the two estates.”1
From this passage we know that Anne inherits her father’s estate and that she and Darcy are expected to marry, thus combining the family’s holdings, which include Rosings Park, the de Bourgh’s estate in Kent, and Pemberley, the Darcy family estate in Derbyshire.
What Elizabeth Bennet Says about Anne
Elizabeth is invited to Hunsford to visit her newly married friend, Mrs. Collins. On the day after her arrival she is called down to the dining room to see an amazing sight: two ladies sitting in a carriage. She believes them to be Lady Catherine de Bourgh and her daughter. Mrs. Collins’s sister Maria corrects her misimpression: it is not Lady Catherine but Anne de Bourgh herself and her companion, Mrs. Jenkinson. Here are Elizabeth’s observations about Anne:2
“Only look at her,” says Maria. “She is quite a little creature. Who would have thought that she could be so thin and small?”
[To which Elizabeth replies] “She is abominably rude to keep Charlotte out of doors in all this wind. Why does she not come in?”
“Oh, Charlotte says she hardly ever does. It is the greatest of favors when Miss de Bourgh comes in.”
“I like her appearance,” said Elizabeth, struck with other ideas. “She looks sickly and cross. Yes, she will do for him very well. She will make him a very proper wife.”
The day after spying this scene through the dining room window, Mr. and Mrs. Collins and their guests, Elizabeth and Maria, are invited to Rosings for dinner. Elizabeth readily draws a sharp picture of Lady Catherine—she spoke in authoritative tones and was full of self-importance—and then turns her eyes on the daughter, Anne. Elizabeth’s thinking goes thus:
“…she could almost have joined in Maria’s astonishment, at her [Anne] being so thin, and so small. There was neither in figure nor face, any likeness between the ladies. Miss de Bourgh was pale and sickly; her features, though not plain, were insignificant; and she spoke very little, except in a low voice, to Mrs. Jenkinson…”3
During dinner Elizabeth found herself placed between Mrs. Collins, who was steadily engaged in conversation with her ladyship, and Anne, who said not a word all through the meal. Later, playing casino with Anne, Mrs. Jenkinson and Maria, she found their table “superlatively stupid” with scarcely any talk other than that required for the game.4
There you have it! Anne de Bourgh’s character is forever fixed as sickly and cross. She has a sickly constitution, is thin and small, and can’t be bothered to converse with her guests in company. What a miserable little creature.
I March to a Different Tune
I have written about discovering Jane Austen’s novels fairly late in life, being well past prime, perhaps forty-one or forty-two. Until then, I was a Jane girl—Jane Eyre, not Jane Austen. From my very first reading of Pride and Prejudice I was struck by Anne’s situation. Why is she sickly and cross? Is her “sickly constitution”5 a recent development or has she been sickly most of her life? What sort of illness might make her sickly? Why does she appear quite rude to her guests? Wouldn’t she be thrilled to have dinner guests, given the quiet country life she lives? And how does she endure Lady Catherine’s character? What was her father like?
And so began twenty years of speculation about Anne de Bourgh. It surprises me really, for I am always reading and carrying around books. I’ve probably read thousands of novels since I first discovered Jane Eyre. In fact, my log indicates that I’ve read nine since January 1st and will likely finish two more by Sunday. If I read at this pace every year—say, 100 novels/year—then, I’ve read 5,000+ novels since the age of fourteen. (Good grief. If I’ve read 5,000 novels I ought to be a better writer! I ought to be a bestselling author! When pigs fly…)
So, why this character? What is it about Anne de Bourgh that wouldn’t let go of me? I don’t know. All I can tell you is that she pestered me off and on for twenty years. She’d surface at odd times and for no obvious reason. She would set me to wondering about her life and asking questions about her future.
One question I grappled with for years: Was Anne like her mother in temper and character? Or did she take after her father? I could imagine it going either way.
Finally in 2009 I sat down to write her story. I developed a storyboard. I laid out timelines and events. I introduced characters and situations. I believed myself to be in control. What a fantasy. She was in charge from the beginning. She wouldn’t marry the man I had picked out for her, which forced me to write by the seat of my pants. (I had thought myself a plotter when I started, but became a pantser in the end.) For a while there I didn’t think she would marry any of the men I introduced her to. She surprised me nearly every day.
In short, if your view of Anne’s character differs from mine, don’t blame me. Blame her. Now that I think about it, she reminds me of Florence Nightingale. I was merely the instrument through whom she worked.
Sources:
- Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. London: Penguin Books, p. 82 (chapter 16).
- Ibid., p. 156 (chapter 28).
- Ibid., p. 159 (chapter 29).
- Ibid., pp. 160-163 (chapter 29).
- Ibid., p. 66 (chapter 14).
I always feel sorry for her (I’m watching the 1995 series this moment). She doesn’t strike me as cross, but more likely thoroughly downtrodden by her dreadful mother.
Hope your book is doing well!
Your thoughts match my own: it can’t have been easy to live with Lady Catherine! I always wondered whether Jane Austen, in fact, met an heiress and took an instant dislike to her. If so, perhaps Austen’s “first impressions” made their way into Anne’s character, so that Anne is forever known as sickly and cross (except to a few of us who take a different view). Thanks for supporting Rosings Park. I earn a little money from it (and Cousin Anne) every month. I’m never going to get rich on my book sales, but that’s not why I’m writing. I’ve got stories to tell, and researching and writing about the Regency era keeps my little gray cells stimulated–so important when I have Alzheimer’s disease on both sides of my family. Mostly I write for the joy of it. Best wishes to you.
I like to imagine that she blossoms after Lady Catherine dies and this new freedom ” cures” her of her apparent sickness.
Me too! But I can’t help thinking Lady Catherine might live to be 90. She’s spiteful enough to do it, for a surprising number of people lived into their 90’s in Jane Austen’s day. Well, we shall see how things turn out when I get around to writing the sequel. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It’s always nice to hear from readers.
Why isn’t Anne a Lady Anne as her mother is Lady Catherine and her father is Sir Lewis?
A good question, Ann. Anne de Bourgh’s father is a baronet, addressed as Sir Lewis. A baronet is not a peer like a duke or earl or viscount; rather, a baronet is a member of the titled gentry. Lady Catherine, however, is the daughter of an earl. According to Laura Chinet’s website on the English aristocracy (http://laura.chinet.com/html/titles12.html), when the daughter of an earl marries a baronet (like Sir Lewis), a commoner, or the heir to a viscount or baron, she may choose to retain the courtesy title “Lady,” which is what Lady Catherine has done. Sir Lewis and Lady Catherine’s daughter, Anne, however, is called simply Miss de Bourgh because the children of baronets are not entitled to use courtesy titles like Lord or Lady (http://bit.ly/2i4ts8C). Anne might become a Lady one day if she marries a man with a title. One could get a headache keeping the many forms of address straight, which is why I rely on Chinet’s website — it’s free and has great tables! Thanks for visiting my blog. Best wishes in the new year.
I was just writing about this very thing, since the character of Anne de Bough has obsessed me every since I first read P&P as a teenager. She turns up only a couple of times in the story, we never hear her speak and is described as pale, sickly and peevish looking. If her health is truly as bad as everyone says, she’s unlikely to live long enough to even inherit Rosings Park, much less have a few years of independence from her over-bearing mother.
Such a sad life, however privileged, and we’re allowed no glimpse into her mind tho Austen lets us have at least a little peek into the mind of every other character. Even the absurd Mr. Collins is allowed an inner life, but Anne is used purely as a two dimensional figure of fun.
I realize the reader is meant only to laugh at Anne, and feel superior to her despite her advantages, but it makes me feel sympathetic to her. What does she like to do, how does she spend her endless days? We’re told she often goes out riding with her paid companion in a pony cart but does she enjoy this or is it only because her mother has prescribed fresh air for a little while? Would she stay out longer if she could? Would she like to go out some times alone? If her health is truly bad, would she prefer to stay inside? Does she like to read? embroider? paint watercolor scenes?
Does she have any friends at all? Is she friendly with some of the servants behind her mother’s back? Is there a servant she’s developed a “special” friendship with that she’s timorously pursuing? How does she feel about her cousin Darcy? Is she hopeful about the idea of marrying him? Resigned? Horrified? Since, according to Elizabeth Bennett, he treats Anne as contemptuously as he does everyone else my money is on horrified. It was probably the happiest day of her short, wheezing life when she heard he was in love with Lizzie.
I really wish Austen had treated Anne with more respect, maybe arranged a friendship for her with Mary Bennett leading to Mary becoming her lifelong companion and a resident at Rosings Park. Mary Bennett is a character with spinster written all over her, and developing a cozy life with a rich woman friend she’d met thru the Lucas family seems to me far more fitting than the couple of sentences Austen gives her at the end of the book, marrying her off to some anonymous vicar.
Sandra, I was delighted to read your comments and questions about Anne de Bourgh. Like you, she pestered me for years until I wrote two novels about her. Like you, I had dozens of questions about her, although you asked a question I did not: Might she have developed a crush on a Rosings Park footman or the stable master? It would be just like her to do something like that, for I always thought her very naive in matters of the heart. I have suspected that Anne’s character was based on a real person Jane Austen met, perhaps at Godmersham Park in Kent (which her brother Edward inherited from the Knights). Austen might be forgiven for envying a real heiress who never had to worry about her income or having a place to call home or receiving handsome offers of marriage. And I think Anne and Darcy were like oil and vinegar — they just don’t mix well. Oh, if only we had answers to our questions!
Now, I have a question for you. Are you writing a novel about Anne? I do hope you’ll let me know if you are and when you expect it to be published. I would be happy to buy a copy, for I’m always interested in how other people view Anne. What I’ve learned since publishing my two novels about her is that my view differs from nearly everybody’s, for I’ve always felt Anne had a life, a life Elizabeth Bennet did not trouble herself to discover. (My argument goes like this: Lizzie was quite wrong about the characters of both Darcy and Wickham, so it’s likely she was wrong about Anne as well.) I hope you’ll stay in touch. It’s a pleasure to meet someone who enjoys thinking about Anne de Bourgh. Kind regards.
Well, this is embarrassing! I thought I’d just discovered this blog only to start reading thru old posts about Anne and find a comment I’d left a good while back. I apologize for not keeping up — I blame poor memory and not being in the least technologically savvy.
In the meantime, and how I managed to rediscover your site, I’ve read both your books on Anne de Bourgh and enjoyed them, esp. for all the details of life in Regency England. Had no idea gossips were women who sat with friends during childbirth! It really fleshed out the world Anne was living in, as well as giving her a full and interesting backstory.
Have you considered writing about Anne’s life in India? That’s something I’d love to read (wouldn’t mind finding out more about how Amelia’s faring either).
I’ve sometimes thought of scribbling down my ideas about Anne and her family, and pulling them together into at least a short story, but I seem by nature to be only a reader and not a writer.
How nice to hear from you, Sandra, and I apologize for not discovering your reply until this morning. Regardless, I am pleased you enjoyed both of my books about Anne de Burgh. As a matter of fact I intend (one day!) to write the sequel to Rosings Park, part of which may take place in India and part back in England. People want to know what you want to know: How do Anne and Worthy get on? What happens to Amelia? In truth, I haven’t thought about these characters for two years because I’m finishing my trilogy, of which books 1 and 2 are finished; book 3 is about half-done. The trilogy takes place in 1816 and 1817 but it has nothing to do with Jane Austen … it’s all about surgeons and bodysnatchers and, of course, love! (Can’t leave out love! No matter what else is going on, people are always falling in love.) But, one of these days, I plan to return to Anne and Worthy’s story. And I hope you will continue thinking about writing fiction. I thought about it for two or three decades before ever starting a novel. Good luck!