Becoming Jane...

I am watching Becoming Jane, a story of Jane Austin, my favorite author. The story goes that a wealthy young man of proper birth asks for her hand in marriage and she refuses him. This was unheard of, back then, because she was of such a lesser status than him, she should have accepted him, it was expected of her. Why did she not accept him then? She said that she could not marry without affection, without love, this is ridiculous, since she could go about the marriage with little trouble to herself and be keenly rich and happy. To have a wife, then, with a mind was considered quite improper. Marriage was so easy, so simple, so fitting. Everything that I want in life, children, a family and a comfortable home, used to be given to girls as they reach a marriageable age of 18-20. She refuses to accept what is given to her and repay what her parents did for her and so she is reduced to nothing. She finds love in another man, but his family does not accept her due to her small fortune. She ends up reverting back to the first man that she isn't "in love with", but backs out at the last minute. So in short, she is given a home, fortune and status but turns it down for "love".

It is my thought that she could have learned to love him if she would have went through with the desired union, but she let her feelings get in the way of her common sense. If I was in her situation, I would have married him and done just that. I wish I had been born back then so that I could have what she discarded.