Obstinate Headstrong Girls

“Obstinate, headstrong girl!” – Lady Catherine De Burgh, Pride and Prejudice

“If I am a wild beast, I cannot help it.” – Jane Austen in a letter to her sister Cassandra, 24^th May 1814

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Jane Austen’s novels are full of rebellious and badly-behaved women who push against the restrictions and limits of ‘genteel’ society. Lizzy Bennet dares to refuse a proposal from a man who is socially her superior. Lady Susan is an adulterous widow. Emma Woodhouse is fiercely independent. Anne Elliot learns to know her own mind in an era when this alone was a radical act for a woman.

But what about the real-life women whom Jane Austen spent her time with? In this lively online talk, illustrated with objects from Jane Austen’s House, you will meet a cousin who fled the French revolution, an aunt imprisoned for theft, the woman who may have inspired Pride and Prejudice’s boy-mad Lydia Bennet, a poet, and (shock horror) women who, like Jane Austen, refused marriage entirely.

Details:

Date: Thursday 7 October

Time: 7.30pm – 8.30pm (British Summertime)

Location: This event will take place online. We will send you a link to join the day before.

Tickets: £5

BOOK HERE

This talk will take place on Zoom. Please provide a valid email address, as you will be emailed a link to join the talk in the run up to the event. 

Please buy one ticket for each person attending.  All proceeds go towards the upkeep of the Museum.