Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Austen and Love Triangles



I am not a fan of love triangles. I think it's hard to believe a character is in love if he or she has spent half the film or book in love with someone else.

But I've been noticing that Jane Austen uses love triangles in her books, and most of the time, I never doubt the characters’ love for each other at the end. How does she do it?

Here are some patterns I see:

 


Youthful stupidity:
(Sense and Sensibility): Elinor and Edward are in love with each other, but Edward is trapped by a foolish match he made when he didn’t know any better. The tension comes from will he be honorable and stick to his engagement or be with his true love? When the engagement is broken, and he finally is free, we feel their joy.




First Impressions:
(Pride and Prejudice): Elizabeth is misguided in her preference for Wickham. He flatters her and seems more “open.” The fact that she is even interested in him is an illustration of her character flaw, her extreme prejudice. When Elizabeth changes, she sees Darcy’s good attributes and falls deeply in love. At the end of P & P, you have no doubt that Wickham was a passing fancy, but Darcy was the real thing.







Pretending to be in love to make the person you really love jealous:
(Persuasion): Captain Wentworth flirts with Louisa and seems to be on the point of marrying her , but really this is his reaction to how hurt he is by Anne. Once he forgives Anne, we see his true feelings. He never loved Louisa, and so that makes his love for Anne all the stronger.

Granted, many of the plot points in Austen’s work wouldn’t work for modern readers, but the way she uses love triangles—not as vying between two equal loves—but as illustrating how the person truly loves the “right” person is really effective. It’s why we return to Austen again and again.

Maybe it’s not whether you do a love triangle, but how you do it.

What do you think?

15 comments:

  1. Great points, here - you're so right about love triangles often not working, but Austen is a master of them. Thank you for taking apart how she did it for us!! I also posted about love stories today (funny that... ;) ), and I wasn't thinking of using a love triangle, but now I just might. So thank you!!

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    1. I'm glad this was helpful to you, Liz! I enjoyed your post about love stories, too. :)

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  2. Wow. You pulled those apart perfectly. It's true, I HATE love triangles, but if you put this spin on any of them, I'm totally cool with the gimmick.

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    1. Crystal, I'm with you. I think triangles often come off as a gimmick. But now I'm starting to see them in a different light.

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  3. Triangles usually pit duty vs. passion in one way or another. In Austen's stories ladies are often battling these expectations.

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    1. That's so true, Mirka. It's probably why her plots wouldn't work in present day. :)

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  4. I'm with you on love triangles. They usually feel like a plot device rather than something genuine, but Austen really is the master because the love triangles feel like they really do come from the characters.

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    1. That's a good point, Anna. I think maybe the key is it coming from the characters, not an artificial source of conflict.

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  5. I'm a huge Austen fan and Persuasion is my favorite Austen novel. I never really thought about the love triangles in Austen's work before, which meant I must've looked at them at natural consequences of the time period, rather than say a plot device. I totally feel like rereading Persuasion now. Thanks!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Kimberly! I love Persuasion--and it's always good to have a reason to reread Austen. :) I think you're right, that a lot of her plots just naturally grow from the conflicts of life in Regency England.

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  6. I'd never given much thought to love triangles before, but I see the dilemma. You are right though, Jane Austen pretty much excelled at creating love stories, including the love triangle.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Kristin. Yes, Austen is the master!

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  7. Austen must be in the air- I'm planning on posting about Austen this Sat! =D And that was a great breakdown, Jenni!

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    1. Thanks, Leandra! Ooh! I'll be checking out your post on Saturday!

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  8. These are three Austens I've read so I loved your breakdown and was nodding my head as I read through it. I agree exactly about love triangles, they can be so well done (and so NOT well done in other cases)

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