[Hitch]

Yes, poor Charlotte! Austen makes us all feel for her. And yes, I believe that Austen's quiet rage against "the system" is palpable. With the Mr. Collins scenario (I mean, really ladies, who amongst us could have said yes, today?), she has a choice between suffering due to her father's selfish foolishness and inept management, or suffering for the rest of her life with an intolerable toady man. Yuck. Not to mention the egregious horrors of paying court upon bended knee and head to LCdB. OHEMGEE.

(I also wonder, female heroism aside, if she really WOULD HAVE turned down Darcy. I mean, come on!!! It sounds good in P&P and all that, righteous anger, realizing that he wasn't all wrong, that her horrible family was weighing her down, etc.--and her denial drives him to acts of compassion and all that--but still. Would she really have declined, all things considered? Hard to believe so.)

And if I hadn't read Austen, at a time in my life when I needed to, I wonder if I ever would have appreciated women's lack of choices, in that period? I doubt it. Those books, starting with P&P, really drove it home for me and made me grateful that I was a girl in the 60's and early 70's, when AT LEAST we had some rights and were actively campaigning for more/full rights.

@Issy: yes, and I was compelled to wonder--many times, over all these years, just how many women who turned down odious men, as younger women with "more to offer" (let's not kid ourselves, ladies), regretted it later. But Gods above, marriage to Mr. Collins...an overdose of Laudanum seems a better solution and no, not really kidding.

@4691mls: yes, that's how I feel about it.

@Thaisadon: thanks.

Hitch