My Historic Figure, Jane Austen

Jane Austen

“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.” ― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
This is one of my favorite quotes from my favorite author, Jane Austen.
Jane Austen was a famous British novelist. She wrote romantic fictions, later on, Austen’s novels have become very important to English literature because of their realism and biting social commentary. Austen is one of the historic figures so this essay is about the life of Jane Austen and her works.

Jane Austen was born in 1775, on December 16th in Steventon, Hamshire, England, UK. Her parents, Rev. George Austen and Cassandra Leigh had 8 children, she was the seventh and she had 1 sister, Cassandra, who was older than her and 6 brothers. She spent her childhood with her siblings, family and other neighborhood kids. She was educated for most of her young life at home by her parents. She learned to play the piano, to draw and to write. She also enjoyed social activities like dances, balls and parties. She preferred the countryside to the city. She loved country life and enjoyed taking long walks. After her father retired in 1801, the Austens moved to Bath. The family had financial problems when her father died in 1805 so they had to move several more times until they settled in Chawton, Hamshire.
The love life of Jane Austen, Jane was once in love with a young man but unfortunately, no one really know the truth about what happened to them. Some sources said that the man died and another said that they were intercepted and he was kept away from her by his family so she never saw him ever again in her life. Her love life is dramatic, unlike the stories she wrote.
She began to write at the age of 14 and Love and Friendship (sic) was her first story. She wrote 6 novels ; Sense and Sensibility (Published in 1811), Pride and Prejudice (Published in 1813), Mansfield Park (Published in 1814), Emma (Published in 1815), Northanger Abby (Published in 1818) and Persuasion (Published in 1818). She also wrote plays and poems. At first, her novels weren’t well received by the society because of their unaffectedness, but since then they have become popular and significant to English literature because their language, realism and biting social commentary.
Jane Austen never married. She died from Addison’s disease in 1817, on Friday the 18th of July in Winchester, Hamshire, England when she was only 41 years old in the arms of Cassandra, her sister. Before she died, Cassandra asked her if she wanted anything, she said ‘Nothing but death.’ And those were her last word before she passed away.

Jane Austen was a great English writer and her works are very important to English literature. A lot of people whether or not they study English read her works. Her novels have been translated into many languages. Even though her works were written more than 100 years ago, they are still popular among people all around the world.
The reason why I chose Jane Austen as my topic for my historic figure essay is that because I was asked to read a literature book for my English class and I chose her novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’. I like the novel a lot and I also watched the movie. Both the story and movie represent the life of people in that time very well so I could picture how their life was.
The movie Bridget Jones’s diary is also the reason for choosing Jane Austen, I watched this movie and I discovered that the story in the movie is actually based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, in particular the main character ‘Mr. Darcy’ in the movie is actually the ‘Mr. Darcy’ in Pride and Prejudice.
Reading Jane Austen’s book ‘Pride and Prejudice’, I found some of her quotes which I like a lot and they inspire me;
“My good opinion once lost is lost forever.” ― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
“The distance is nothing when one has a motive.” ― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice “Angry people are not always wise.” ― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” ― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
The last one is my favorite one of all because reading is my passion and this quote represents me very well.