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JANE AUSTEN'S CLERGYMEN PART TWO

© Viola Ashford

Fanny who judges her own standards by her 'inner voice' which tells her what is right is Edmund's conscience. Although modern critics and readers because of their priggishness and dullness have often criticized Edmund and Fanny it is arguable that they have been misunderstood. The most important example here is their opposition to acting the play 'Lover's Vows'. Fanny and Edmund had many reasons to oppose these amateur theatrics. This was an advanced play with ideas that were regarded as immoral by many people in the eighteenth century. They knew that Sir Thomas, the father of the Bertram family and its head would disapprove of these ideas and that he would dislike his rooms being disordered. Fanny and Edmund both approve of Shakespeare, after all.

Fanny knows that Mary is wrong for Edmund but she also realizes that he must discover this for himself. When Mary has a somewhat mild reaction to the adultery of her brother and Edmund's sister, suggesting that Henry still marry Fanny and have a flirtation with Maria, Edmund does indeed see that she is not fit to be a clergyman's wife.

Edward Ferrars, one of the heroes of Sense and Sensibility, is another honorable clergyman, similar in some ways to Edmund. He also mistakenly falls in love with a duplicitous woman, Lucy Steele, whose main interest is money. Shy and dominated by his spiteful mother and sister, Edmund keeps the engagement a secret because he knows that they will dislike the fact that Lucy has no money. When he is ordered to break off the engagement by his mother or lose his inheritance, however, he nobly chooses the latter, depriving himself of family and friends. He does this even though he has since fallen in love with Eleanor.

Edward is not as dutiful a clergyman as Edmund. Somewhat lazy and diffident, he relies on Colonel Brandon, who has kindly granted him a living, to improve the parsonage at Delafield so that he can move in. There is no reason why Edward cannot do that himself. Jane Austen gives the impression that Edward, although a good person will not over-tax himself with parish duties.

Mr. Elton, of Emma, does not live up to the standards of Edmund and Edward. Although regarded as a fine addition to the parish, and a handsome and well-educated man, Emma thinks that he is beneath her. The girls of Harriet's school, however, would be happy to be shown any attention by him - they rush to look out of the window to see him walking along the street.

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