Art: C.E. Brock, 1895.
Mr. Darcy says Elizabeth is “not handsome enough to tempt him” to dance.
Jane Austen is in the news again thanks to a tv series about that devoted sister who burned all her letters after her death. I like thinking about how deeply Jane remains embedded in our culture, despite our losing out on the burned details.
Much continues to be discovered — or at least brought to our attention — about the world she knew. Today’s article is from the Conversation and describes the origins of the words that title her best-known novel, Pride and Prejudice.
Margie Burns, lecturer of English at the University of Maryland, writes, “Most readers hear ‘pride and prejudice’ and immediately think of Jane Austen’s most famous novel. … Few people, however, know the history of the phrase ‘pride and prejudice,’ which I explore in my new book, Jane Austen, Abolitionist: The Loaded History of the Phrase ‘Pride and Prejudice.’ …
“The phrase, which has religious origins, appeared in hundreds of works before Austen was born. From Britain it traveled to America, and from religious tomes it expanded to secular works. It even became a hallmark of abolitionist writing. …
“The phrase ‘pride and prejudice’ first appeared more than 400 years ago, in religious writings by English Protestants. … If ministers wanted to reproach their parishioners or their opponents, they attributed criticism of their sermons to ‘pride and prejudice’ – as coming from people too arrogant and narrow-minded to entertain their words in good faith.
“While the usage began in the Church of England, other denominations, even radical ones, soon adopted it. … One early takeaway is that, amid fervent religious conflicts, various denominations similarly used ‘pride and prejudice’ as a criticism. … At the same time, the phrase could be invoked to support religious toleration and in pleas for inclusiveness.
“ ‘When all Pride and Prejudice, all Interests and Designs, being submitted to the Honor of God, and the Discharge of our Duty,’ an anonymous clergyman wrote in 1734, ‘the Holy Scriptures shall again triumph over the vain Traditions of Men; and Religion no longer take its Denomination from little Sects and Factions.’ …
“One fan was American founding father Thomas Paine. In his 47-page pamphlet ‘Common Sense,’ Paine argued that kings could not be trusted to protect democracy: ‘laying aside all national pride and prejudice in favor of modes and forms, the plain truth is, that it is wholly owing to the constitution of the people, and not to the constitution of the government that the crown is not as repressive in England as in Turkey.’ …
“My annotated list in Jane Austen, Abolitionist includes more than a dozen female writers using the phrase between 1758 and 1812, the year Austen finished revising Pride and Prejudice. …
“As the critique embodied in the phrase progressed beyond religious and partisan conflict, it became increasingly used in the context of ethics and social reform. … The leaders of transnational antislavery organizations used it at their conventions and in the books and periodicals they published. In 1843, 30 years after the publication of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, British Quaker Thomas Clarkson wrote to the General Antislavery Convention, which was meeting in London.
“He exhorted the faithful to repudiate slavery ‘at once and forever’ if there were any among them ‘whose eyes may be so far blinded, or their consciences so far seared by interest or ignorance, pride or prejudice, as still to sanction or uphold this unjust and sinful system.’ …
“At the funeral for abolitionist John Brown, the minister prayed over his body, ‘Oh, God, cause the oppressed to go free; break any yoke, and prostrate the pride and prejudice that dare to lift themselves up.’
“Use of the phrase did not end with Emancipation or the end of the U.S. Civil War. In fact, it was one of Frederick Douglass’ favorite phrases. On Oct. 22, 1883, in his ‘Address at Lincoln Hall,’ Douglass excoriated the Supreme Court’s decision rendering the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional.
“As was typical of Douglass, the speech ranged beyond racial inequities: ‘Color prejudice is not the only prejudice against which a Republic like ours should guard. The spirit of caste is malignant and dangerous everywhere. There is the prejudice of the rich against the poor, the pride and prejudice of the idle dandy against the hard-handed workingman.’ ”
More examples at the Conversation, here. No firewall.
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