Desperate Walkers
The walks, walkers, and walking verbs in Jane Austen’s novels
Lotte Oostebrink
S1463004
Supervisor: Dr. Amanda Gilroy Date of completion: 15 February 2013
Word count: 17,334
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Table of Contents
Preface 3
Introduction 4
Chapter 1: The numbers and functions of walking verbs 15 Chapter 2: Walkers, personalities, and ‘good’ characters 23
Chapter 3: Walks, plots, and marriage proposals 32
Conclusion 39
Bibliography 41
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Preface
The idea for this dissertation originated while I was watching the 2005 version of Pride &
Prejudice by director Joe Wright. At the end of the film, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy are
walking towards each other through a foggy field, droplets clinging to their hair, with the sun rising in the distance. Although I loved the visual splendour of this moment, it made me think: is this how it happens in the novel? Are they both out alone, walking through a field early in the morning, and just happen to meet each other? Of course not, this would have been highly inappropriate, not to say dangerous, at the time. In the novel, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy set out to walk with Jane, Kitty, and Mr. Bingley, and after losing their companions walk on together. The difference between Austen’s words and Joe Wright’s interpretation of them set me thinking on walking and Austen. As I have always loved Austen’s novels, I thought it might be possible to write my dissertation about the walks found in them.
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Introduction
Walking is one of the most basic activities known to humankind, shared by all cultures as a leisure activity and fundamental necessity of life. Walking is often connected to our way of living, in the sense of ‘all walks of life’, a bond that is especially strong in literature, as expressed in the idea of ‘life as a journey’. In this dissertation, I explore walking in the works of a famous author and keen walker: Jane Austen. In her lifetime the social opinion towards walking changed dramatically and with widespread consequences, affecting social intercourse, the spending of leisure time, garden design, and the arts. Austen’s novels, filled with walking and walkers, were written after these changes took place. As she is known as an avid walker and for her realistic portrayal of her own time and society, one may think that the many walks merely serve the cause of social realism. However, I will argue that an understanding of walking is essential to understanding her novels and characters.
The many walks and walkers in Austen’s novels have drawn scholarly attention, and although the investigation of walks and walking in nineteenth-century novels is a relatively new field of study, some commonly accepted conclusions have been drawn.1 These are often connected to the Romantics’ influence on walking, and generally infer that walkers were ‘good’, while carriage drivers were ‘bad’. These arguments, often deriving from Marxist literary theory, aim to show that Austen promoted the ‘poor man’s walk’ while mocking bourgeois carriage drivers. In contrast, I will not adhere to any specific literary theory but focus on the precise verbs used to depict walking, their effects, and the function of walking in character descriptions and plot development. Essentially, this is going ‘back to basics’ on Austen’s walks, an exercise that appears to be often overlooked by scholars aiming to put Austen in a specific social box. My research is thus positioned on the border of linguistics and literature. Several studies have shown how Austen carefully chose her words, and I will illustrate that this also applies to her descriptions of walking and walkers, and her positioning of walks in her plots.2 She promoted walking for everyone, be they ‘good’ or ‘bad’, not in the same manner as the guidebooks so popular in her time, but simply by showing it as a positive activity. This promotion may have been unconscious, as Austen enjoyed walking herself, but is definitely a result of the changed opinion towards walking that took place during her lifetime.
1 This branch of scholarly investigation was initiated by Anne Wallace’s Walking, Literature, and English
Culture: The Origin and uses of Peripatetic in the Nineteenth Century (1993).
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Walking and changes in Austen’s period
As my research focuses on novels written after the event, I will only give a brief overview of the changed opinion towards walking, its causes, and outcomes. In the middle of the eighteenth century, walking was a dangerous and limited activity, practised only by the poor and confined to local movement (e.g. to work, to church, but no further). Women walkers had to be extra careful, as ‘walking out’ with someone “was understood to include sexual intercourse” and was “unusually perilous to their reputations” (Wallace 30). The aristocracy and higher gentry travelled on horseback or in carriages, leaving the shopping and running of errands to their servants. Private gardens were used for daily exercise, but walking as a goal in itself did not exist (Amato 76-81).3 In the early nineteenth century, the middle and lower gentry also began to regard walking as a possible leisure activity or aim in itself. For the majority of the lower classes walking remained a daily necessity, but as a free choice it was no longer restricted to the aristocracy. However, women walkers still had to choose their walking location and companions wisely.
Scholars are not in agreement on the precise causes, influences, and order of the change in walking culture. However, it is generally accepted that as the transport revolution gave the poor access to other means of transport, walking became a matter of choice and thus a possible leisure activity.4 Conversely, walking could now be used to travel to other locations, thus breaking the idea that walkers were confined to both poverty and the location they happened to live in (Wallace 18-66). Another factor that promoted walking was the spread of the enclosure movement.5 Occasionally, enclosure legitimated footpaths by putting them on official maps, but it generally “provided the legal means for closing, moving, or destroying parts of the paths and ended common access to unpathed moors and heaths” (Wallace 115). These measures were counter-acted by walking, as “English common law
3 With both the lowest and highest class moving on foot, walking did not always signify poverty. There existed a
clear difference between voluntary and involuntary travel, as from the Middle Ages onward only the genteel were able to travel when and where they liked (Jarvis 23).
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The ‘transport revolution’ (1770-1820) entails the improvements, including the paving of roads and rise of the railways, by which transport became easier, faster, and safer. Not all scholars agree that this revolution was truly ‘revolutionary’: Robin Jarvis argues that travel by coach was still “slow, uncomfortable, and limited to a tiny minority of the population” (22). “Improvements in transportation were far from universal ... the foot remained the most reliable mode of transport” (96-97) according to Joseph Amato. However, these scholars do agree that the period saw a dissociation of ‘travel’ and ‘travail’, so that travel and walking became pleasurable and a free choice (Jarvis 28).
5 The enclosure movement had been on the rise from the sixteenth century onwards, but after 1755 its intensity
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provides that public use itself creates public right of way” (Wallace 10). A third motivator of walking was the situation in France: with the onset of the French Revolution and subsequent Napoleonic Wars, taking a Grand Tour was made impossible, as French armies prevented the English from travelling to the continent. The cut-off from the continent led to an increase in ‘home’ tourism, specifically “scenic or aesthetic tourism” with “health, recreation and aesthetic purposes” (Amato 107; Jarvis 16). Finally, the increasing scientific knowledge of nature, geology, and the physical sciences made walking a necessity to gain data from remote areas for both amateur scientists and academics (Amato 115).
Apart from these practical and social concerns, the Romantic movement greatly influenced the shifting perception of walking.6 Formerly, the focus was on the destination of a journey, with travel rarely represented in art as it was considered neither useful nor beneficial.7 While the transport revolution made a journey more suitable for consideration, Romanticism transformed walking from “a lower-class necessity and an upper-class select activity ... into an elevated vehicle for experiencing nature, the world, and the self” (Amato 102). Romantics saw “walking in the landscape as the consummation of a relationship with such places and an expression of the desire for simplicity, purity, solitude” (Solnit 85-86) and their themes of independence and freedom of movement led Romantic walkers to intentionally choose a mode of transport unconnected to their class.8 This was connected with Rousseau’s idea that the natural, the good, and the simple are similar, and that man’s original condition was a better representation of goodness than culture or education.9 Although William Wordsworth is often hailed as a forerunner and representative of the Romantic walker, he (or any other writer) was not the sole instigator of the walking movement but “must be set in the general wave of pedestrian touring that began in the late eighteenth century” (Wallace 167). His poetry gave expression to this new pastime; for example, his famous poem “I wandered lonely as a cloud” illustrates how walking “is physically linked with the process of composition” (Wallace 128). This emphasis on the act of walking and not the destination was quite revolutionary. The aim of a Romantic’s walk was to appreciate, explore, and learn from nature, seeking out pleasing landscapes to appreciate the sublime and
6 Their precise influence is unclear, complicated by the fact that ‘the Romantic movement’ was not a uniform,
guided movement but has retrospectively been labelled as a coherent group by English historians (Greenblatt 6).
7 Without destination one would be wandering, which generally indicated that one was landless, an outlaw, or
any other form of vagabond.
8 Freedom and independence mostly concerned artistic freedom from former strict rules of poetry and writing,
but was also expressed physically through walking and other behaviour.
9 However, Rousseau’s walking as an expression of “well-being, harmony with nature, freedom and virtue” can
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capture it in nature poetry.10 This strong connection between Romantic ideas and walking did not form a conscious, guided movement but was an interaction of various ideologies.
These changes, and the outcome in the daily life of Jane Austen’s contemporaries, can be found in her novels. All Austen heroines take a daily walk, except Fanny when she is living in Portsmouth, a situation exceptional enough to receive particular mention. For most, taking a daily walk is not an issue, as they have either a private garden or company at hand.11 However, Emma finds herself in some difficulty when Mrs. Weston moves to her own home and she loses her primary walking companion. Mrs. Weston reckons the distance from Hartfield to Randall as “easy ... convenient for even solitary female walking” (I: 2), but “[Emma] had ventured once alone to Randalls, but it was not pleasant”. She needs “a Harriet Smith, therefore, one whom she could summon at any time to a walk” (I: 4). This illustrates the importance of for women having a daily walk (and walking companion).
This daily walk was part of a range of possible pedestrian leisure activities for women. For Catherine, her “regular duties” (I: 3) include shopping, sight-seeing, and parading. Without acquaintances Catherine and Mrs. Allen are “looking at everybody and speaking to no one” (I: 3), but when they meet the Thorpes they arrange regular meetings to ‘take turns’ in either the Pump Room or the Royal Crescent.12 This emphasizes that these activities are not only exercise but also socially important to meet others and be seen. In Persuasion, the other novel set in Bath, Anne does not parade at all. This change in walking behaviour was caused by a declining popularity of both parading and Bath in general.13 “By 1816 ... the Bath assembly rooms were no longer quite so smart – the city had become less of a fashionable holiday resort and marriage-mart and more of a residential retreat for invalids, elderly spinsters and widows” (Benedict xxxi-xxxii). Apart from Bath’s changed image, parading was no longer fashionable as the Romantics ‘democratized’ walking. Austen’s novels thus reflect the changed social opinion of Bath and promenading. Moreover, all the heroines do some
10 Edmund Burke’s A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757)
has often been noted as the starting point for the distinction between the beautiful and sublime, although this discussion originated in ancient Greek writings (Wenner 6). The concept quickly found its way into Romantic poetry, where natural scenes provoked ecstasy, but also stimulated meditation and thought (Greenblatt 11).
11 Women walking remained a delicate subject, and to preserve their reputations they had to keep close to home
and have a companion; women could not walk long distances alone.
12 During this period, there was a strict fashionable routine: “people visited the Pump Room in the morning then
promenaded” (Stabler 211).
13 However, Austen’s personal opinion of Bath had also changed. Northanger Abbey (described as a “visitor’s
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shopping in their respective novels, but it is most strongly emphasized in Northanger Abbey. This reflects how shopping was a new element recently added to a gentlewoman’s possible daily activities. When cities became safer and cleaner, social display and promenading could extend to include shopping, and a more positive connotation was added to ‘walking the streets’. In later novels, shopping is common knowledge and less emphasized. All these functions of leisure walking were considered especially relevant for women, to keep them occupied and distracted from boredom.14 We do have to keep in mind that walking required more attention than for most of us today, as women had to remain graceful, poised, and elegant. This entailed not only the capacity of ‘elegant walking’, but also managing the variety of clothing and accessories a woman had to contend with, including long skirts, parasols, fans, and hats, all indicating that a woman belonged to the leisure class.
Apart from leisure, walking could also be simply necessity. The Dashwood sisters, living outside a village without a carriage, have to walk almost everywhere. “The independence of Mrs. Dashwood's spirit overcame the wish of society for her children; and she was resolute in declining to visit any family beyond the distance of a walk” (I: 9). In Pride
& Prejudice, the Bennet sisters also often walk into town because they do not have the money
or means to go by carriage (or because their father does not want to encourage their husband-hunting activities). Luckily, Meryton is “only one mile ... a most convenient distance for the young ladies” (I: 7). In Mansfield Park, Fanny is often sent walking to perform her various errands and to enhance her frail constitution.15 Mr. Dashwood and Admiral Croft are also encouraged to walk to for their health, with obvious benefits in a society where the leisure class was expected to remain indoors and inactive, with even movement from room to room tightly controlled by protocol.
Walking also serves as a stimulant for private thought, as repetitive movements draws one into one’s thoughts. Wordsworth often walked while composing his poetry (or the other way around) and the streams of consciousness produced by the solitary walks of the protagonists of Ulysses and Mrs Dalloway also show this effect (Solnit 21). Moreover, renowned psychologist Daniel Kahneman describes thinking and working best when walking at a comfortable speed. He calls this his “natural speed” and argues that “the mild physical arousal of the walk may spill over into greater mental alertness” (39). The effect is probably
14 This is not to say that all gentlewomen had nothing to do. “Housekeeping alone was then a full-time
occupation in its own right … the mistress of an average landed gentry household was ... in modern terms something like the manageress of a small hotel” (Le Faye, The World 89).
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strongest in solitary walkers, and several characters in Austen’s novel have to walk either to amass their courage (Edward Ferrars) or think through difficult information they have just received (Elizabeth). However, as I will demonstrate, Austen emphasizes walking in company more than walking alone. She uses this form of the private walk for almost all her heroines when they receive their marriage proposal during a private walk.
Apart from various walking functions, the enclosure movement and the picturesque, a concept related to the beautiful and the sublime, can also be found in Austen’s novels.16 Mr. Dashwood describes “[t]he inclosure of Norland Common” as “a most serious drain” (II: 11) on his finances, confirming that these mattered more to him than the effect on his tenants.17 In contrast, Mr. Knightley comes to the rescue in a twofold manner when he distracts his brother from a dispute with Mr. Woodhouse: “But John, as to what I was telling you of my idea of moving the path to Langham, of turning it more to the right that it may not cut through the home meadows, I cannot conceive any difficulty. I should not attempt it, if it were to be the means of inconvenience to the Highbury people” (I: 12). He thus acknowledges the common rights of the villagers and acts in their best interest, something few wealthy landowners did. Henry Tilney, the only man to discuss the picturesque with any enthusiasm, “extend[s] his improvements for [Catherine’s] sake” (II: 16), “but he is not pushing people off land to make room for profitable sheep” (Easton 83). Thus, Austen uses her character’s attitude towards enclosures to make them show their true mettle. Opinions towards the picturesque also vary throughout the novels. It is mocked during Catherine’s walk to Beechen Cliff with the Tilneys, while the romantic Marianne Dashwood defends picturesque ideals after Edward contracts a “fresh admiration of the surrounding country” (I: 18) during a walk.18
Independent Elizabeth quips to her companions: “the picturesque would be spoilt by admitting a fourth” (I: 10), “suggesting that they [are] objects that she can contemplate as impersonally as trees or water” and mocking their confinement “within the bounds of both garden shrubbery and society” (Solnit 98-99).19
This mockery of the picturesque is absent in later novels. While Catherine worries she “should not know what was picturesque when she saw it” (II: 7), Fanny
16 The definition of ‘picturesque’ was unclear at the time, but “it generally lies somewhere between the sublime
and beautiful, giving the viewer a scene which is neither totally awesome nor totally beautiful, in other words, an English landscape” (Wenner 6).
17 In this, he did not stand alone. “The moral and social effects of enclosure were, during this period, decidedly
secondary” (Easton 72), as the focus was on improving agricultural profits. Although not without political controversies, the movement was generally accepted.
18 However, Marianne’s ideas are generally seen as ironic parodies of a sentimental heroine (Watt 50).
19 Rogers (lix) argues that Austen also mocks the picturesque when Elizabeth exclaims: “What are men to rocks
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and Emma form considered opinions about the gardens they visit. Other examples are the “sweet view ... English verdure, English culture, English comfort” (III: 6) in Emma and the descriptions of Winthrop and Lyme in Persuasion, in which Austen uses “the words ‘romance’ and ‘romantic’ without irony” (Mudrick qtd. in Todd lxvii). The novels thus show Austen’s gradual acceptance of the main literary tendencies of her period. However, those hoping for detailed Romantic descriptions of sublime landscapes will be disappointed. Even though “Jane Austen knew all the ‘rules’ of the conventional picturesque and could … use them to describe a landscape such as Pemberley ... [or] Bath”, “[h]er landscape descriptions are few and spare, requiring some imagination on the reader’s part to picture the scenes” (Wenner 45; 1).
Effects: gardens and guides
The changes in social opinion and practice affected more than just how the gentry’s leisure time was spent: garden design also underwent radical changes. Earlier baroque gardens contained straight-lined paths, cone-shaped hedges, and geometrically shaped fountains: a superimposition of culture on nature. Under Romantic influences, these gardens transformed “from the formal and highly structured to the informal and naturalistic” (Solnit 86). The distinction between the garden and the surrounding landscape disappeared as the garden walls were turned into ha-has for uninterrupted views. Garden design moved towards a form of informal naturalistic landscaping now known as the English garden, in which tastefully arranged natural elements were planned as in picturesque landscape paintings. Naturally, these gardens contained architectural items such as ruins and temples, but the focus was on nature as a visual spectacle. “Just as walking was exercise for those who need no longer work, so these vast gardens were cultivated landscapes that need no longer produce anything more than mental, physical, and social stimulation for walkers” (Solnit 87).
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There were several walking possibilities: excursions on the beach, dunes or cliffs, searching for sea shells, wading, or even swimming. However, we should remember that ‘to tour’ in the nineteenth century meant ‘to travel’: ‘touring’ the countryside was harder work than most current-day tourism (Amato 119-121). Previously, tourists used a human guide, but now a paper version proved sufficient (and cheaper). These guides promoted walking as safe, easy, healthy, and the only possible way to see the finest views. Interestingly, guidebooks not only mentioned possible sights and where to find them, but also described how to see the landscape, showing that a taste for landscape viewing could be learned through study (Solnit 95). Although not all picturesque tourists were pedestrians, both groups overlapped and “came into vogue together” (Jarvis 53). In the picturesque it is important to ‘frame’ an image in a precise way, requiring a slow journey to stop and search for the perfect spot, quite impossible when ‘rushing by’ in a carriage.
These effects can also be found in Austen’s novels. While men often discussed the design of a garden, it is mainly in the writings of women that people are actually mentioned walking in them (Solnit 97). Landscape and garden improvements are found in the four earlier novels but absent from the last two, indicating how the ‘newness’ had worn off. Henry wants to improve his grounds so he can support Catherine, while Mr. Dashwood improves his lands for financial gain. Pemberley’s grounds have also been modified: “a stream of some natural importance was swelled into greater, but without any artificial appearance” (III: 1). But no novel is more concerned with improvements than Mansfield Park. The first estate to be improved is Sotherton, and Mr. Rushworth’s motive is similar to Henry’s: to impress his bride.20 Later, Fanny says about the Parsonage garden: “Three years ago, this was nothing but a rough hedgerow along the upper side of the field, never thought of as any thing, or capable of becoming any thing and now it is converted into a walk”, admiring “the taste Mrs. Grant has shewn in all this” (II: 4). This indicates that the “rough hedgerow” dates from Mrs. Norris’ time at the Parsonage and may be a covert reference to Mrs. Grant’s better judgement in more than garden improvements. Finally, Mr. Crawford tells Edmund he should clear away the farm-yard and change the approach at the Parsonage in Thornton Lacey to improve the “air of a gentleman’s residence”. Edmund rebuffs him: “I must be satisfied with rather less ornament and beauty” (II: 7), indicating his approval of honest display. Improvements are absent from Emma and Persuasion, unless one counts the Crofts’ removal of Mr. Elliot’s
20 Mr. Rushworth does not need the improvements to make more money, as he is the richest character in
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mirrors from his bedroom. Regarding larger ‘touristic’ trips, Catherine makes her walking excursion to Beechen Cliff, while in Pride & Prejudice the visit to Pemberley is a clear example of a newly emerging touristic form. In Emma, the trip to Box Hill is an important break of daily routine. Off-scene both Emma and her sister visit one of the new fashionable seaside resorts, similar to the visit to Lyme by a large group in Persuasion.
Walking in Jane Austen’s life and novels
The Romantic poets were not the only early nineteenth century authors who enjoyed walking: Jane Austen was “an avid walker [who] had great respect for anyone who could keep up with her” (Olsen 705).21
In a letter Austen writes: “We walked to Weston one evening last week, & liked it very much. –Liked what very much? Weston? – no – walking to Weston” (Le Faye,
Letters 47). A few months later she writes: “it is too dirty even for such desperate Walkers as
Martha & I” (Le Faye, Letters 66). In another letter she describes walking with Mrs Chamberlayne, stating that their paces are equally fast and that “climbing a hill Mrs Chamberlayne is very capital; I could with difficulty keep pace with her – yet would not flinch for the World. –on plain ground I was quite her equal” (Le Faye, Letters 91). Claire Tomalin’s biography describes Austen’s insistence on walking outside after the first bout of the illness that would take her life to show that she was healthy again (261). In a period when women were largely confined indoors, for Austen “the most enjoyable and significant moments of life” (Palmer 154) were spent walking. Austen’s letters show that she almost never walked alone and that her solitary walks were considerably shorter than those taken in company, probably because she had private conversations while walking (Palmer 156). Apart from these descriptions of her walks, few of Austen’s opinions on walking are known, but we may assume that she approved of the widened possibilities for walking. As Austen was clearly no member of the aristocracy,22 this multitude of walks again shows how the social opinion towards walking had changed.
The many examples of walking and walkers in Austen’s novels have led to several conclusions, such as: “clear-thinking characters are those who walk” as they practice their “powers of observation in walking, rather than by standing in front of a mirror indoors, they are habitually focused outward, rather than inward” (Palmer 164). Generally, “a taste for
21 There is an ongoing debate whether or not Austen herself should be classed as a Romantic. Palmer argues that
“As a reader, a walker, and a writer, Jane Austen participated trifold in this Romantic renaissance” (161) while Copeland says: “Jane Austen was not a Romantic, but the child of eighteenth century rationalism” (xxxix).
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walking and respect for other pedestrians become signs of the virtues Austen ascribes to the best of the English landed gentry and freeholders” (Wallace 99). The negative effects of walking are downplayed or given positive twists so that “the walk emerges as a positive forward motion” (Palmer 161).23
Moreover, “Austen uses the intimacy and privacy of garden strolls for dramatic purposes” and moving the plot forward, as secrets and stories are shared (Olsen 706). Many private walks lead to marriage proposals, “a union of walkers who reach mutual understanding and plight their troths on the paths of forests and garden” (Wallace 100). Palmer takes this argument even further, arguing that for Austen, the ideal marriage is not symbolized by dancing24 but walking: “[f]or Austen, ideal marriage consists not of gazing into one’s partner’s eyes, but of facing outward together as a team” and “moving in the same direction together” (158). Both Palmer and Wallace also argue that a contrast between carriage drivers and walkers exists in the novels, with the latter being portrayed more positively (Palmer 163-4; Wallace 100).
So Austen’s novels, which “frame the window of attitudinal and practical change” (Wallace 99) of walking, realistically display the effect of the changes in walking. However, her depiction of her society has not always been regarded as realistic. In the past, she has been berated for ignoring the main ‘historical’ event of her time, the Napoleonic Wars, but in 1973 Williams already pointed out the presence of changes in social history in Austen’s novels (113-117). Moreover, ever since Marilyn Butler’s Jane Austen and the War of Ideas, scholars have rethought Austen’s portrayal of her era. For example, Roger Sales has written on the representations of Regency England in Austen’s work, describing many of the changes and events related to walking mentioned above. Clifford Siskin describes the influence of the ‘new technology’ of novel writing on late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century society and states that Austen’s novels at the time of their publication were seen as very ‘accurate’ and realistic (204).25 This realism, especially when connected to walking, can be explained by Marxist literary criticism: “authors ... [are] constantly formed by their social contexts in ways which they themselves would usually not admit” (Barry 158). These social influences may lead to literary works serving as propaganda for a certain class or lifestyle. However, as the
23 There are few truly negative effects of walking in Austen’s novels, such as Marianne’s fall and illness, Harriet
being attacked by the gypsies, and Louisa’s fall from the Cobb.
24 This is what Henry Tilney argues in Northanger Abbey: “I consider a country-dance as an emblem of
marriage” (I: 10).
25 Austen’s contemporaries also noticed and commented on her realism. “In 1813 Miss Milbanke, future Lady
Byron, wrote to her mother: ‘I have finished the Novel called Pride and Prejudice ... I really think it is the most
probable fiction I have ever read’” (Benedict xxxix), baroness de Montolieu “described Austen’s work as a new
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main changes in the opinion towards walking had already taken place before Austen wrote her novels, I do not expect that her works were written or functioned as manifestos for or against a current social perception of walking. Nevertheless, they may still have encouraged walking in its own right, as this was now a suitable leisure venture.
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In this dissertation I will focus on the walks and walkers in Jane Austen’s six completed novels. In contrast to many other scholars who have investigated the walks, for example in relation to social class or women’s rights, I will avoid approaching them from a specific theoretical perspective. Before one can apply a theoretical framework, one must first go back to the linguistic basics: what was Austen actually conveying with the walks in her novels? The precise verbs, descriptions, and functions of walking, walkers, and walks will be my focus, and I will aim to show that Austen made very conscious decisions in these descriptions. In my step-by-step analysis, first I will present the numbers concerning walking verbs in the novels: their variations, and the amount of walking per heroine. Then I will illustrate how Austen used the repetition, presence or absence of walking verbs to set the tone of a scene. A second chapter will focus on the walking of specific characters, and how this is connected to their personalities. Moreover, I will investigate and debunk the claims made above, including the assumption that walkers are ‘good’ characters and that Austen created a contrast between carriage drivers and walkers. In the final chapter, I will focus on the effect of walking on the plot of the novels, showing that Austen used walks to introduce new plot elements, but also employed the privacy of walks for climactic scenes, including a connection between marriage and walking.
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Chapter 1
“You take up an idea, Mrs. Weston, and run away with it”: The Numbers and Functions of Walking Verbs
Jane Austen chose her words very carefully. Scholars have noted her particular vocabulary and word choice, revealing how carefully she shaped and fine-tuned her writings. This is especially visible in her last completed novel, Persuasion, which is unique in that several cancelled chapters have been preserved (Todd lxxviii). The analysis of specific linguistic elements of Austen’s novels may concern just the use of one word, such as Barbara Britton Wenner’s analysis of the word “natural” in Emma, and its relation to ‘natural’ children and the natural world in the novel (74-82). Austen’s letters have also been investigated, for example in David Graves’s analysis of the frequency patterns of her vocabulary. He mentions that “[Austen] often played with words” (par. 2), especially in expressing irony or parodying other literary works. I will also make a linguistic analysis of Austen’s works, investigating those active verbs connected to walking. I restrict myself to these precisely-described movements as they are more descriptive and thus more informative than general terms. So, if a character is described as “going” or “moving”, it is not included in my investigation.
In this chapter, I will first look at the verbs that Austen used to indicate walking in her novels, various numbers, and variations in the verbs. I will sidestep into a discussion of the figurative use of walking verbs that Austen also employed. This linguistic analysis will be mainly descriptive, although I attempt to explain apparent discrepancies. Following, I will illustrate the effect Austen created with these walking verbs using various examples of the same phrases. To portray the effect of absence, I have included examples in which the absence of active walking verbs creates tension or sets the tone. Moreover, Austen sometimes included repetition to create a connection between characters. From these effects, we can infer that Austen carefully and consciously chose her walking verbs.
Walking in verbs, numbers, and functions
16 # walking verbs # verbs / # pages26 # verbs / heroine % verbs/ heroine # different verbs Northanger Abbey 55 0,21 43 78 7
Sense & Sensibility 44 0,10 M: 17 E: 13 M: 37 E: 29 5
Pride & Prejudice 77 0,18 42 55 5
Mansfield Park 98 0,18 31 32 6
Emma 76 0,14 34 45 6
Persuasion 54 0,20 21 39 7
Table 1: numbers of walking verbs in Jane Austen’s novels.
However, the number of walking verbs relative to the size of the novel is more interesting, as this provides a better ground for comparison. When the number of pages is taken into account,
Northanger Abbey contains the highest number of walking verbs, followed by Persuasion. Mansfield Park and Pride & Prejudice share the third place, with Sense & Sensibility again
coming up last. Thus, there is a kind of ‘double dip’ visible in the number of walking verbs Austen employed in her novels, while one would expect the number of walking verbs to stay the same or increase as walking became more commonly accepted. Are Sense & Sensibility, but especially Emma, the odd ones out due to their relative low number? Or is the high walking count in Northanger Abbey a distortion of the ‘norm’? It is possible that Austen revised her ‘first’ novel, published posthumously together with Persuasion, to include more active walking. However, I think that this is unlikely because Catherine’s impulsive walking behaviour is an accurate reflection of her emotional state and quick mind, making it almost impossible for Austen to have added this behaviour later onto the character. Therefore, I argue that Sense & Sensibility and Emma contain relatively low numbers of active walking verbs because of their origins and style. Sense & Sensibility was originally a novel of letters, called
Elinor & Marianne. Austen’s first rewrite dates from around 1797 and revision continued
until its publication in 1811. I think the original form of the novel can still be felt in the lack of walking verbs, especially when it is compared with Northanger Abbey, which is written almost entirely from Catherine’s point of view and literally ‘follows her around’. In Emma, the amount of dialogue is higher than in any other novel. There are entire chapters consisting of only dialogue, for example when Mrs. Weston and Mr. Knightley discuss the new friendship between Emma and Harriet (I: 5). Apart from the identifying tags indicating the speaker, there is nothing to specify where these characters are or what they are doing. It may well be that they are walking, but we do not know. As Emma consists of puzzles,
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misdirection, and handling a lack of information, which is mostly shared in dialogue, it is only natural that it contains less active verbs than the other novels.
Apart from these absolute numbers of walking verbs, the variety in the verbs is also of interest. It is unsurprising that in describing a walking movement, Austen mainly uses ‘walking’. Two other verbs are found in all the novels: ‘running’ and ‘stepping’, with less common varieties including ‘darting’, ‘pacing’, ‘parading’, ‘sauntering’, ‘strolling’, ‘taking a turn’, and ‘wandering’.27
Breaking down the number of different verbs used in each novel, both Northanger Abbey and Persuasion contain the highest variety, with 7 different verbs. This is surprising because these novels are the shortest and at the lower end of the overall number of walking verbs (55 and 54 respectively). However, in relation to their length, both novels contain a relatively high number of walking verbs, which explains the high variety. Looking at the four middle novels, there is a slight increase from 5 to 6 different verbs. Sense
& Sensibility has the highest number of ‘wandering’, whereas Pride & Prejudice contains
more ‘running’ and Mansfield Park’s characters are mostly ‘stepping’. I will expand upon the effect of these specific verbs on both characters and plot in their respective chapters.
Looking at the number of walking verbs per heroine, it is obvious that Catherine Morland walks most. Her 43 walking movements constitute 78% of all the walking in
Northanger Abbey, quite logical as this novel is written completely from her point of view.
Henry is mentioned walking 5 times, mostly together with his sister or Catherine. Elizabeth Bennet is second with 42 walking verbs, but since Pride & Prejudice contains more walks than Northanger Abbey, she performs only slightly more than half of all the walks (55%). Mr. Darcy walks 21 times, exactly half of Elizabeth’s count. Interestingly, both characters mostly walk alone. Emma is third, both in absolute numbers and percentages, with 34 walks making 45%. Mr. Knightley, generally known as a walker, takes only 8 walks in the entire novel, 6 of which are alone.28 We can already see that independent characters walk mostly alone, as I will discuss in more detail in Chapter 2. Next in absolute numbers is Fanny Price with 31 walks. Even though she walks most of all the characters in Mansfield Park, this is actually the lowest percentage of all heroines (32%), because the novel contains the overall highest number of
27 Surprisingly, ‘strolling’ is used only twice, both times in Persuasion. This is possibly because an earlier
definition of ‘strolling’ included “To roam or wander from place to place without any settled habitation” (OED), indicating a vagrant. This meaning became obsolete around 1770, but the fact that Austen only used it in her last novel may indicate that the newer definitions were slow to become common.
28 The reader has to wait until chapter 13 of Volume III, the marriage proposal, until Emma and Mr. Knightley
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walking verbs. Edmund takes 18 walks, but is outshone by Miss Crawford, who takes 19 walks. Anne Elliot takes 21 (39%) walks, while Captain Wentworth is a good second with 13 walks. In Sense & Sensibility, Marianne performs 17 (37%) of the walks compared to Elinor’s 13 (several of which are naturally taken together).29 Marianne is another character that walks mostly in private, although here this is not a sign of mental independence, but more of mental instability. The men are equally inactive, with 5 (Edward) and a mere 2 (Colonel Brandon) active walking verbs.
Austen also used walking verbs figuratively. As Elinor is talking with Anne Steele, the latter goes off on a tangent concerning pink ribbons and “wandered away to a subject on which Elinor had nothing to say” (III: 2). When Elizabeth is talking playfully to Mr. Bingley, her mother tells her: “do not run on in the wild manner that you are suffered to do at home” (I: 9). ‘Running’ is also used in Mansfield Park, as “dear as all these brothers and sisters generally were, there was one among them who ran more in her thoughts than the rest” (I: 2). Later on, Mrs. Rushworth expects “to parade over the wonders of Sotherton in her evening-parties” (II: 3). When Emma does not appreciate Mrs. Weston’s suggestion, she says: “You take up an idea, Mrs. Weston, and run away with it” (II: 8). Figurative use of walking (although without an active walking verb) also occurs when Anne wants “to retrace, as quietly as she could, the few steps of unnecessary intimacy she had been gradually led along” (II: 10) by Mr. Elliot. However, the most famous use of figurative walking, which might also be taken literally, must be Elizabeth’s declaration that she “had wandered about, till she was beyond her own knowledge” (III: 17) when Mr. Darcy asks her to marry him. It is typical that in these instances, Austen employs verbs that are suited to the character they are meant to describe; blundering Anne Steele wandering about in a conversation, posh Mrs. Rushworth parading, Anne Elliot quietly retracing her steps, and Elizabeth wandering away into love. I will go into more detail on how Austen defines her characters through their walking, but it is useful to note that this occurs via figurative walking too.
Presence or absence of walking movements
To further illustrate Austen’s careful employment of walking verbs, I will now demonstrate how the presence or absence of walking verbs sets the tone of certain scenes, with similar verbs repeated in similar occasions. To avoid repetition, I limit myself to one example found in all the novels. There are two main stock sentences to indicate that a character is agitated
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and/or thinking deeply, generally indoors: “walking about the room” and “walking to windows” or other elements of a room.30
These verbs produce tension for both characters and readers. General Tilney “slowly pacing the drawing-room for an hour together in silent thoughtfulness” (II: 8) creates an atmosphere of oppression and assures Catherine that he has something to hide. A bored Miss Bingley also decides to “walk about the room” (I: 11) when Mr. Darcy will not talk to her. Other characters are more agitated while walking about rooms, such as Emma, who cannot refrain “from walking about the room for a few seconds” (III: 12) when she realises she has failed by encouraging Harriet and shunning Jane Fairfax. Colonel Brandon similarly “walked for a few minutes about the room” (II: 9) to settle his emotions before continuing his story of Eliza, and an agitated Marianne “walked about the room” (III: 1) after hearing of Edward’s disinheritance. These suppressed emotions, which are only described through the character’s walking, lend extra emotion and tension to the scene. In a more comical note, Sir Walter is “pacing the room” (I: 3) as he realises he will have to rent out his house to a navy man. Moreover, Mr. Bennet is “walking about the room, looking grave and anxious” (III: 17) after Mr. Darcy asks him for Elizabeth’s hand; this contrasts strongly with descriptions of Elizabeth’s joy upon the same occasion, creating a comical effect. Finally, while discussing his intimacy with Rosings, Mr. Collins “was obliged to walk about the room” as words “were insufficient for the elevation of his feelings” (II: 15).
Walking to and from windows is another sign of emotional disturbance. While waiting for Willoughby, Marianne “walked from one window to another” (II: 5) and Elinor is “walking thoughtfully from the fire to the window” (II: 7) after reading Marianne’s correspondence with him. Elinor’s walking ‘thoughtfully’ emphasizes the difference between her sense and Marianne’s sensibility, and somehow makes her walking seem slower than Marianne’s. Frank Churchill “walked to a window” (II: 12) when he thinks Emma knows about his secret engagement to Jane Fairfax, and when he unexpectedly finds himself alone with Anne, Captain Wentworth “walked to the window to recollect himself” (I: 9). Later on, he “walked to the fireplace; probably for the sake of walking away from it soon afterwards” (II: 10) to talk to Anne. On these occasions, the reader does not know the true emotions of these characters, but their walking indicates that they may think differently than Emma or Anne assume, creating tension in the reader’s expectations.
Austen also uses the contrast between movement and stillness to create power differences and thus tension. Just before his first proposal Mr. Darcy “walked about the room”
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and afterwards (while Elizabeth “could easily see that he had no doubt of a favourable answer”) he leans against the mantle-piece. When her answer is negative, he “walked with quick steps across the room” (II: 1). The agitated movements reflect his agitated mind and contrast with the stillness of leaning against the mantelpiece, when he is assured all will be well. This stillness thus generates a ‘calm before the storm’ as the reader already knows Elizabeth will not accept him. Moreover, his walking forms a display of activity and power, indicating a possibility of physical persuasion. Similarly, Edmund “walked about the room” (I: 7) after hearing how Fanny has been mistreated by her aunts, displaying his strength by mirroring that behaviour which made Fanny so tired: walking. His walking demonstrates his activity and authority as a man, contrasted with his aunts’ passive acceptance. Finally, Emma and Harriet experience some tense power play when Harriet declares she is in love with Mr. Knightley. After this revelation Emma sits down, while Harriet is “standing at one of the windows”. This physically gives her the upper ground, and while Emma “sat silently meditating” Harriet speaks of her hopes concerning Mr. Knightley. Emma’s lower, inferior position insinuates that Harriet has already won him. After she leaves, Emma springs into action and “sat still, she walked about, she tried her own room, she tried the shrubbery”, in an attempt to “thoroughly understand her own heart” (III: 11). This burst of activity contrasts with her inactivity during Harriet’s talk and reveals her uneasiness and willingness to defend her own position. These examples clearly show how Austen consciously created this contrast of movement and stillness.
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Apart from the typical presence of walking verbs, their absence can also influence a scene. Although it is difficult to prove the effect of something that is absent, I think that in several important scenes the lack of active movement is particularly noticeable. One of these occurs at the junction of the first and second volumes of Mansfield Park. The rehearsal for the theatricals has just begun when “the door of the room was thrown open, and Julia appearing it, with a face all aghast” (I: 18) tells them their father has returned. The fact that Julia “appears” in the door, without apparent movement, portrays her as a divine messenger, come to break up their sinful theatricals. After her exclamation, the consternation of the group is described in terms of stillness: “not a word was spoken for half a minute; each with an altered countenance was looking at some other ... It was a terrible pause”. This tension is then broken by Julia, “the first to move and speak again”. Again, her movement is not described, only that she “turned out of the room”, further enhancing the surreal effect of her presence. In the next sentence the tension is broken as “the two brothers stepped forward, feeling the necessity of doing something” (II: 1). Their active movement contrasts with Julia’s non-descriptive passive passages through the door. Moreover, by using the short, sharp movement of ‘stepping’ Austen breaks her spell of stillness. The contrast between the absence and presence of active movement verbs is used to build and break the tension in this scene.
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connects them in their activity. Moreover, the absence of active verbs for any of the other characters makes them seem like passive bystanders in the main interaction of the story. All in all, it is clear that Austen played with the repetition, presence and absence of certain walking verbs to influence the tone of a particular scene.
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Chapter 2
“I walk. I prefer walking”: Walkers, Personalities, and ‘Good’ Characters
We have seen how carefully Austen depicted her society and chose her words, and it is unsurprising that she exercised the same care to model her characters. Her work has often been recommended for maintaining social realism with psychologically well-developed characters whilst similarly portraying others with a distanced irony. Austen paid attention to minute details, including the working out of the precise income and economic circumstances of all of her characters. She wrote about what she knew, her own class, but also people she knew. Individuals in Austen’s direct vicinity were used as models for her characters; for example, it has been argued that Mr. Collins was modelled on the Reverend Samuel Blackall (Lerman par. 12).31 Moreover, it has been noted that Austen’s heroines resemble herself: many are the daughters of clergymen and the age of the heroines goes up as she herself becomes older. It is therefore unsurprising that many also share her love for walking.
In this chapter I will connect the inventory of walking verbs in Austen’s novels to the personalities and descriptions of her characters and argue that character’s walking behaviour and descriptive walking verbs are connected to their personality. Walking is thus essential to understanding Austen’s characters. Secondly, and more importantly, I will investigate the notion of several scholars that in Austen’s novels ‘good’ characters are walkers. I will argue that not all walkers are ‘good’ characters, that not all ‘good’ characters are walkers, that the positive quality of elegant walking is not restricted to positive characters, and that the supposed contrast between walkers and carriage drivers is hard to find. Although walking verbs reflect a character’s personality, walking is not related to a character’s moral virtue, but might be said to be morally ambiguous.
Walking behaviour and verbs define a character
The personality of Austen’s characters is reflected in their walking behaviour and verbs used to describe it. Thus, Catherine Morland is always ‘hurrying’, ‘hastening’, or ‘running’, impulsive and active behaviour reflecting her similarly impulsive mind and active imagination. Moreover, “Catherine is the only [Austen] heroine who actually leaves the home and meets her future husband in some hitherto unknown location” (Benedict lx),
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demonstrating a vigour absent in all of the other female protagonists. The only other frequent walker found in Northanger Abbey is General Tilney. When Catherine is shown around the Abbey, he first takes her to the gardens because, as Eleanor explains, “he always walks out at this time of day” (II:7), even though it is inconsiderate towards Catherine who prefers to see the house. He is quite tyrannical in his behaviour, forbidding Eleanor to take Catherine into a room, almost preventing her from taking a certain garden path, and “slowly pacing the drawing-room for an hour together in silent thoughtfulness” (II:8) in the evenings. When he leaves, Catherine and the Tilneys are free to be “walking where they like and when they like” (II:13). This strict walking regime is a clue to the General’s controlling personality, which Catherine only discovers when she has already been sent from the Abbey.
In Sense & Sensibility, the contrast between the two heroines is represented through their respective walking verbs. Marianne is very independently active, first found “wandering alone” (I: 5) and saying goodbye to their old home.32
The next walk has her and Margaret “running with all possible speed” (I: 9) down the hill, leading to Willoughby’s introduction. When he suddenly disappears several chapters later, she takes to “wandering away by herself” and has to be “prevailed on to join her sisters in their usual walk” (I: 16). Her sensibility makes it hard to contain her emotions, as when she “got up, and walked about the room” (III: 1) after hearing of Edward’s disinheritance. Elinor has her share of agitated walking during Marianne’s illness and “almost ran out of the room” (III: 12) when Edward announces that he is not married to Lucy Steele. Otherwise, apart from her daily walk, Elinor is not described as a very active person. Marianne’s romantic ‘wandering’ is thus contrasted to Elinor’s sensible functional activities. Towards the end of the novel, walking becomes therapeutic as a recovering Marianne proposes they “take long walks together every day” followed by her “leaning on Elinor’s arm, ... authorised to walk as long as she could without fatigue, in the lane before the house” (III: 10).33
Marianne has discovered that walking together is preferable to walking alone, symbolizing how the sisters have learned to trust and depend on both each other and the qualities of the title.
Elizabeth is another character famous for her walking, displaying both Catherine’s unrestrained energy and Marianne’s tendency to walk alone. She spends two hours “wandering along the lane” (II: 13) to mull over Mr. Darcy’s letter, but otherwise is more
32 Apart from this instance, there are no active walking verbs in the first chapters of the novel. This expresses the
confinement that the Dashwood women feel when their house has been taken over by John Dashwood and his wife. Once they move to Barton Cottage, they are free to move about.
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focused in her activities, showing her energetic spirit and independence. In Netherfield gardens, Elizabeth leaves her companions standing while she “ran gaily off, rejoicing as she rambled about” (I: 10). All this running about leads Mrs. Hurst to comment that “[Elizabeth] has nothing, in short, to recommend her, but being an excellent walker” (I: 8). Mr. Bingley, also quite unrestrained in his emotions, similarly cannot contain himself after his marriage proposal to Jane and “suddenly rose, and ... ran out of the room” (III: 13) to ask for Mr. Bennet’s consent. In contrast, reserved and composed Mr. Darcy is always described as ‘walking’ or ‘stepping’, even when agitated. After Elizabeth dismisses his marriage proposal, he “walked with quick steps across the room” (II: 11) and when he meets her in the lane to deliver his letter he “stepped forward with eagerness” (II: 12). The “quick steps” and “eagerness” add urgency to the scene, but he is still ‘stepping’, not ‘running’ or ‘hurrying’. Austen made sure Mr. Darcy’s walking behaviour reflects both his gentle upbringing and pride, which disinclines him to “perform to strangers” (II: 8).
In Fanny, Austen created a special combination, as her frail health makes her “much less likely to go wandering than the rest of Austen’s heroines” (Palmer 163). The reader may be led to think Fanny frail and inactive in her personality as well. Interestingly, the opposite is the case, as she remains firm in her conviction not to marry Mr. Crawford and often thinks about morals, relationships, and her situation in life. This is the only instance of a heroine’s personality not being reflected in her walking behaviour, and it does make Fanny more like the other Austen heroines than she might appear at first glance. She is also found “wandering about and sitting under trees” (III: 17) with Edmund as he is recovering from the knowledge of Miss Crawford’s morals. This reflects how Edmund, generally controlled in his movements, is now truly lost and searching for a new direction. The only ‘running’ is done by some of the Price children: the boys who “run about and make noise” and Betsy who “ran to her mother’s protection” (III: 7). All the other characters behave in a sophisticated (or restricted) manner, although Austen made some reveal their true nature in their movements. Mr. Crawford is the best example, “stepping forward with a most earnest request” (II: 7) to teach Fanny and her aunt Speculation and also “stepping eagerly to Fanny” (III: 3) to have a conversation with her. Earlier in the novel, he is “stepping forward to Maria” (I: 9) to make a private comment about her upcoming marriage, so he uses these movements in his seduction to gain confidence and physical closeness with women.34
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Emma is also mostly composed and pretty sure of where she is going (even though it often turns out she is wrong) and only runs once: when she is unable to compose herself because Mr. Elton’s speeches “incline her to laugh” (I: 9). She also tells Miss Bates that she and Harriet “must be running away” (II: 1), a Freudian slip that indicates how much she dislikes talking (or rather, listening) to her. Otherwise, Emma’s walking is very much composed and restricted, with a focus on her being ‘stuck’: “Their being fixed, so absolutely fixed, in the same place, was bad for each, for all three. Not one of them had the power of removal, or of effecting any material change of society” (I: 17).35
Emma sees very little of the world apart from Box Hill, illustrating how she is fixed in her own little world of ideas. This is resolved at the end of the novel as Mr. Knightley takes her on a honeymoon trip to the seaside. He does walk often, although he is of the same class as Emma.36 This annoys Emma: “Mr. Knightley keeping no horses, having little spare money, and a great deal of health, activity, and independence, was too apt, in Emma’s opinion, to get about as he could, and not use his carriage so often as became the owner of Donwell Abbey” (II: 8).37 He is literally ‘down to earth’, represented in his defence of gentleman-farmer Robert Martin, which is partly caused by his walking, which not only physically connects him to the land, but also makes him see and respect other people’s experiences. How Emma regards this is illustrated when she and Harriet meet Robert Martin during one of their walks. After talking to him Harriet “comes running” (I: 4), as if the contact has somehow lessened her manners or decorum.
Austen created another character whose independence and mental strength is revealed through walking in Jane Fairfax. She insists upon walking to the post office herself, and when she is exasperated leaves the strawberry picking party to walk home, even though it may appear rude. Similarly impolite is her dismissal of Emma’s walking invitation, although she is later seen “wandering about the meadows” (III: 9) in a style not unlike Marianne Dashwood.
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The other two characters included in “all three” are Mr. Elton and Harriet. This follows Mr. Elton removing himself to Bath, so even though he has to return to Highbury as he is “the adoration of all the teachers and great girls in the school” (I:17), he is not as stuck as Emma. In contrast to the statement, Harriet is socially mobile, as her friendship with Emma makes her part of a more genteel group in Highbury. The sentence must thus be interpreted from Emma’s point of view: she can move neither physically nor socially.
36 In fact, all Austen’s characters belong to the ‘gentry’, for example indicated by the fact that they all take a
daily walk. Nevertheless, there are great differences between the incomes of various characters, subtleties contemporary readers would have recognized but that are vague to current readers (Copeland, Women Writing 23-24). One indication to distinguish their respective levels is whether a character is able to keep a carriage (including horses), such as Marianne having to return Willoughby’s gift of a horse because they cannot afford to stable and exercise it. However, some characters are wilfully misleading, like relatively poor John Thorpe keeping a carriage: he is looking for a rich heiress for his upkeep.
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That she is walking, despite her frail health, reveals her determination, which also leads her to force Frank Churchill’s hand by accepting the position as governess. She is not afraid to appear discourteous to either Mrs. Elton or Emma and chooses her own path in life.
In Persuasion, Anne’s passiveness shows her reluctance to put herself in the spotlight, in contrast to her snobbish sisters. However, like Elinor, she is level-headed and will act when called upon. She also takes an ‘almost’ daily walk, but in this she stands alone in her immediate social circle because Lady Russell, Elizabeth, and her father prefer to be driven around.38 That she does not want to belong to this group is indicated quite literally when she is “stepping back from the group” (II: 8) around Lady Dalrymple to talk to Captain Wentworth. In fact, Anne closely resembles Mr. Knightley in being ‘down to earth’ and humble. Her other sister Mary does walk, but mainly to keep up with the Musgroves or put herself in the spotlight, as befits the character of a youngest child.39 By far the most active characters in the novel are the Crofts, who use many means of transport and often take walks. Their abundant movement demonstrates their freedom of mind, allowing them to walk about and meet old friends while most of the Elliots are cooped up in carriages.40 That “Anne was too much engaged with Lady Russell to be often walking herself” (II: 6) again shows her tendency to let her own views be overshadowed by others. Her opinion is made explicit when Elizabeth manages to get a ride in Lady Dalrymple’s carriage during a rain shower, but Anne tells Captain Wentworth, “I walk. I prefer walking” (II: 7). In the end, she breaks free of her self-imposed confinement through a walk with Captain Wentworth.
We have seen how the earlier heroines are often running and wandering about, whereas the later heroines are more constrained in their movements and the running is left to lower class characters or children. This reflects the higher maturity and social status of the protagonists, and emphasizes how Austen reflected their personalities in their walking behaviour. Independent characters, including Elizabeth, Mr. Knightley, Jane Fairfax, and the Crofts, are also independent walkers. Even more important, the inner workings of certain characters, such as General Tilney, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Crawford, or Anne, cannot be understood without carefully examining their walking behaviour, which gives clues to these otherwise composed and constrained characters.
38 Austen again uses this to show feelings of superiority, although Mr. Elliot closely resembles John Thorpe in
that he actually has very little money to keep up his carriage.
39 When Anne has just arrived, Mary immediately proposes a walk to the Great House to show off her sister, and
when the Musgrove sisters “were going to take a long walk, and therefore, concluded Mary could not like to go with them” (I: 10) she does not want to be left behind.
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Walking and ‘good’ characters
Several scholars have argued that in Austen’s novels, ‘good’ characters are walkers while ‘bad’ characters are not.41
At first glance, the arguments supporting this case appear solid; for example, Elizabeth and Jane often walk in the garden, while their mother is “not in the habit of walking” (III: 16). However, when looking more deeply at some of the character’s behaviour and motivations, walkers cannot all be classified as ‘good’ (or ‘bad’). In the example above, Mrs. Bennet can hardly be said to be a ‘bad’ character: she can be annoying and embarrassing, but overall she is trying to help her daughters into good marriages. To remain with Pride & Prejudice, the ‘bad’ characters Miss Bingley, Mr. Collins, and Catherine de Bourgh are also walkers. Arrogant Miss Bingley looks down upon Elizabeth “scampering about the country” (I: 8) only because she uses her walking for transport, thus acting like a lower-class person. It is not walking itself Miss Bingley despises, as she walks several times throughout the novel. “Very few days passed in which Mr. Collins did not walk to Rosings” (II: 7), Austen tells us. It may be argued that he is too poor to keep a carriage and so strongly attached to Lady Catherine that he must visit her daily by foot, but while visiting the Bennets it is mentioned that he is “much better fitted for a walker than a reader” (I: 15), confirming that this really is a ‘bad’ walker. His patroness also walks during one of the climactic scenes of the novel, as she discusses Elizabeth’s supposed engagement to Mr. Darcy. She should generally be classed as a carriage driver, but it is telling that Austen made her walk during this important moment: she and Elizabeth are now literally on the same ground. I will not go into all examples of ‘bad’ walkers, but just mentioning of General Tilney, Lucy Steele, and Mrs. Norris should prove that not just ‘good’ characters are walkers.
However, to debunk the argument that all ‘good’ characters are walkers, we have to investigate whether the reverse is true: are all ‘good’ characters walkers? Several examples of non-walking ‘good’ characters spring to mind, including Mrs. Jennings, Mrs. Bennet, Mrs. Gardiner, Mrs. Price, and Lady Russell.42 Another ‘good’ character who literally cannot walk is Anne’s friend Mrs. Smith. However, as these characters are all older or frail ladies, their lack of walking may not be sufficient evidence. Thus, the most prominent example of a
41 It is difficult to establish who is a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ character in novels dealing with social realism: there is no
ultimate fight of good and evil taking place. For the purpose of most scholars’ arguments, the heroines and their love interests are considered ‘good’, while those standing in the lovers’ way are considered ‘bad’.
42 Mrs. Jennings uses her carriage to pay social calls in London, as does Lady Russell in Bath, where she takes
