Character and Caricature In Jane Austen

It seems abundantly clear that in reading Jane Austen’s novels we are not intended to take all the figures in the same way. In Charlotte, the identifying peculiarity is not only exaggerated but recurrent; silly merriment sums up the aspect of her that Jane Austen wants us to attend to, and its repetition takes the place of any extended exploration of her personality. The natural portraiture which contrasts with this sort of treatment is of course a relative matter. With the tacit understanding established that a figure is caricature the reader is prepared for certain differences in its handling. As a general rule attention is then concentrated on a few features or a small segment of the personality to the neglect of much that would make the figure a full human being, and the understanding is that the reader will accept this convention and not inquire closely into the areas of behaviour and personality that the author chooses to avoid.