Lady Susan
Encyclopedia
Lady Susan is a short epistolary novel
by Jane Austen
, possibly written in 1794 but not published until 1871.
, an early complete work that the author never submitted for publication, describes the schemes of the main character—the widowed Lady Susan—as she seeks a new husband for herself, and one for her daughter. Although the theme, together with the focus on character study and moral issues, is close to Austen's published work (Sense and Sensibility
was also originally written in the epistolary form), its outlook is very different, and the heroine has few parallels in 19th-century literature. Lady Susan is a selfish, attractive woman, who tries to trap the best possible husband while maintaining a relationship with a married man. She subverts all the standards of the romantic novel: she has an active role, she's not only beautiful but intelligent and witty, and her suitors are significantly younger than she is (in contrast with Sense and Sensibility
and Emma
, which feature marriages of men who are sixteen years older than their wives). Although the ending includes a traditional reward for morality, Lady Susan herself is treated much more mildly than the adulteress in Mansfield Park
, who is severely punished.
The main character, at around 30 to 40 years old, she is a widow of just a few months, who is known to flagrantly manipulate and seduce single and married men alike. She uses flirtation and seduction to gain her way through life. As a widow and a mother, her main goals are to quickly marry off her daughter Frederica (whom she despises and regards as stupid and stubborn) to a rich enough man, and to marry an even better match herself. Mrs. Vernon describes her as "...really excessively pretty. I have seldom seen so lovely a woman as Lady Susan. She is delicately fair, with fine grey eyes and dark eyelashes; and from her appearance one would not suppose her more than five and twenty, though she must in fact be ten years older. I was certainly not disposed to admire her...but I cannot help feeling that she possesses an uncommon union of symmetry, brilliancy and grace." Lady Susan is extremely cold towards her daughter, for whom she feels little or no affection: she calls her "a stupid girl, and has nothing to recommend her." It is possible that Jane Austen drew on the character of the mother of her neighbour, a beautiful Mrs. Craven, who had actually treated her daughters quite cruelly, locking them up, beating and starving them, till they ran away from home or married beneath their class to escape There is an ironic contrast between the beautiful but determinedly chaste Susannah of the Old Testament
and Lady Susan.
Daughter of Lady Susan, Frederica is intended to a man who in the end marries Lady Susan. Oppressed by her mother, she is very shy and we don't initially perceive that she is a sweet, sensible girl. She is not as beautiful as her mother, but has a mild, delicate prettiness which, together with her evident ability to feel gratitude, attracts the Vernons. Frederica develops a love interest in Reginald De Courcy, and it is implied at the end that she will marry him.
Sister-in-law to Lady Susan, Mrs. Vernon clearly sees through Lady Susan’s charade and tries her hardest to save Frederica from an unwanted match, and is vexed to see her brother Reginald becoming blinder and blinder to Lady Susan's faults. Lady Susan, who tried her utmost to prevent the marriage of Mrs. Vernon and Mr. Vernon, easily perceives how much Mrs. Vernon dislikes her, but allows that she is "well bred," and has an air of "a woman of fashion." She feels far more affection and concern for Frederica than Lady Susan does, and often laments Lady Susan's great neglect of her daughter.
Brother-in-law to Lady Susan, he allows her to stay at his home.
Brother of Mrs. Vernon. Reginald is to be Lady Susan’s newest conquest; he temporarily realizes her true intentions when Frederica confronts him with a letter, but his sense is again soothed to sleep by charming Lady Susan; and it is only until he finds direct proof of her glaring lack of principles that he opens his eyes to her real character. He is handsome, kind, warm, and open, but rather gullible. Mrs. Vernon writes in one of her letters, "Oh! Reginald, how is your judgement enslaved!"
Confidante and mother of Mrs. Vernon. Lady De Courcy trusts her daughter's judgement and is concerned that Reginald not be taken in by Lady Susan.
The intimate friend to whom Lady Susan confides all her true scheming. Mrs. Johnson has an immoral mindset similar to her friend's. Stuck in a marriage with a sensible man whom she does not love, and on whom Lady Susan derisively heaps the epithet of being "just old enough to be formal, ungovernable and to have the gout - too old to be agreeable, and too young to die", her chief delights are in hearing of and making suggestions for Lady Susan's manipulative plans.
for Celador Films and BBC4.
A two-woman version of Lady Susan, adapted by Inis Theatre, played at the Dublin fringe festival in 2001-2.
An adaptation by Christine U'Ren will be performed by Bella Union Theatre Company in Berkeley, CA, in July 2009.
Lady Susan reflects the lax morality of an earlier age - her heroine's behaviour is reprehensible if not immoral by Austen's standards - so, the rewriting of the story in her mature style is challenging. Helen Baker's Miss Jane Austen's Lady Susan - Revived was published in 2010, the first scholarly attempt in 200 years.
Lady Vernon and Her Daughter, a novel-length reconstruction of Lady Susan, was published by Crown Publishing in 2009. Written by mother-and-daughter co-authors Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway, the adaptation reinterprets the work to conform closely to Austen's more mature prose style.
Epistolary novel
An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents" such as recordings and radio, blogs, and e-mails have also come into use...
by Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
, possibly written in 1794 but not published until 1871.
Synopsis
This epistolary novelEpistolary novel
An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents" such as recordings and radio, blogs, and e-mails have also come into use...
, an early complete work that the author never submitted for publication, describes the schemes of the main character—the widowed Lady Susan—as she seeks a new husband for herself, and one for her daughter. Although the theme, together with the focus on character study and moral issues, is close to Austen's published work (Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility, published in 1811, is a British romance novel by Jane Austen, her first published work under the pseudonym, "A Lady." Jane Austen is considered a pioneer of the romance genre of novels, and for the realism portrayed in her novels, is one the most widely read writers in...
was also originally written in the epistolary form), its outlook is very different, and the heroine has few parallels in 19th-century literature. Lady Susan is a selfish, attractive woman, who tries to trap the best possible husband while maintaining a relationship with a married man. She subverts all the standards of the romantic novel: she has an active role, she's not only beautiful but intelligent and witty, and her suitors are significantly younger than she is (in contrast with Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility, published in 1811, is a British romance novel by Jane Austen, her first published work under the pseudonym, "A Lady." Jane Austen is considered a pioneer of the romance genre of novels, and for the realism portrayed in her novels, is one the most widely read writers in...
and Emma
Emma
Emma, by Jane Austen, is a novel about the perils of misconstrued romance. The novel was first published in December 1815. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively 'comedy of manners' among...
, which feature marriages of men who are sixteen years older than their wives). Although the ending includes a traditional reward for morality, Lady Susan herself is treated much more mildly than the adulteress in Mansfield Park
Mansfield Park
Mansfield Park may mean:* Mansfield Park by Jane Austen* Mansfield Park , based on the novel, directed by Patricia Rozema, starring Frances O'Connor, Embeth Davidtz, and Sheila Gish in 1999...
, who is severely punished.
Main characters
- Lady Susan Vernon
The main character, at around 30 to 40 years old, she is a widow of just a few months, who is known to flagrantly manipulate and seduce single and married men alike. She uses flirtation and seduction to gain her way through life. As a widow and a mother, her main goals are to quickly marry off her daughter Frederica (whom she despises and regards as stupid and stubborn) to a rich enough man, and to marry an even better match herself. Mrs. Vernon describes her as "...really excessively pretty. I have seldom seen so lovely a woman as Lady Susan. She is delicately fair, with fine grey eyes and dark eyelashes; and from her appearance one would not suppose her more than five and twenty, though she must in fact be ten years older. I was certainly not disposed to admire her...but I cannot help feeling that she possesses an uncommon union of symmetry, brilliancy and grace." Lady Susan is extremely cold towards her daughter, for whom she feels little or no affection: she calls her "a stupid girl, and has nothing to recommend her." It is possible that Jane Austen drew on the character of the mother of her neighbour, a beautiful Mrs. Craven, who had actually treated her daughters quite cruelly, locking them up, beating and starving them, till they ran away from home or married beneath their class to escape There is an ironic contrast between the beautiful but determinedly chaste Susannah of the Old Testament
Susanna (Book of Daniel)
Susanna or Shoshana included in the Book of Daniel by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. It is one of the additions to Daniel, considered apocryphal by Protestants. It is listed in Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England among the books which are included...
and Lady Susan.
- Frederica Vernon
Daughter of Lady Susan, Frederica is intended to a man who in the end marries Lady Susan. Oppressed by her mother, she is very shy and we don't initially perceive that she is a sweet, sensible girl. She is not as beautiful as her mother, but has a mild, delicate prettiness which, together with her evident ability to feel gratitude, attracts the Vernons. Frederica develops a love interest in Reginald De Courcy, and it is implied at the end that she will marry him.
- Catherine Vernon
Sister-in-law to Lady Susan, Mrs. Vernon clearly sees through Lady Susan’s charade and tries her hardest to save Frederica from an unwanted match, and is vexed to see her brother Reginald becoming blinder and blinder to Lady Susan's faults. Lady Susan, who tried her utmost to prevent the marriage of Mrs. Vernon and Mr. Vernon, easily perceives how much Mrs. Vernon dislikes her, but allows that she is "well bred," and has an air of "a woman of fashion." She feels far more affection and concern for Frederica than Lady Susan does, and often laments Lady Susan's great neglect of her daughter.
- Charles Vernon
Brother-in-law to Lady Susan, he allows her to stay at his home.
- Reginald De Courcy
Brother of Mrs. Vernon. Reginald is to be Lady Susan’s newest conquest; he temporarily realizes her true intentions when Frederica confronts him with a letter, but his sense is again soothed to sleep by charming Lady Susan; and it is only until he finds direct proof of her glaring lack of principles that he opens his eyes to her real character. He is handsome, kind, warm, and open, but rather gullible. Mrs. Vernon writes in one of her letters, "Oh! Reginald, how is your judgement enslaved!"
- Lady De Courcy
Confidante and mother of Mrs. Vernon. Lady De Courcy trusts her daughter's judgement and is concerned that Reginald not be taken in by Lady Susan.
- Alicia Johnson
The intimate friend to whom Lady Susan confides all her true scheming. Mrs. Johnson has an immoral mindset similar to her friend's. Stuck in a marriage with a sensible man whom she does not love, and on whom Lady Susan derisively heaps the epithet of being "just old enough to be formal, ungovernable and to have the gout - too old to be agreeable, and too young to die", her chief delights are in hearing of and making suggestions for Lady Susan's manipulative plans.
Film and television adaptations
As of 2009, Lady Susan was being adapted by British writer Lucy PrebbleLucy Prebble
Lucy Prebble is a British playwright. She is the author of the plays The Sugar Syndrome and ENRON and the television series Secret Diary of a Call Girl.-Biography:...
for Celador Films and BBC4.
Stage and book adaptations
A stage adaptation by Bonnie Milne Gardner, PhD, the George and Louise Peters University Professor of the Dept. of Theatre & Dance at Ohio Wesleyan University, was performed at OWU during their theatre department's 1998-1999 season. The script is for five women and three men, with minimal staging requirements, and a performance lasts about 90 minutes.A two-woman version of Lady Susan, adapted by Inis Theatre, played at the Dublin fringe festival in 2001-2.
An adaptation by Christine U'Ren will be performed by Bella Union Theatre Company in Berkeley, CA, in July 2009.
Lady Susan reflects the lax morality of an earlier age - her heroine's behaviour is reprehensible if not immoral by Austen's standards - so, the rewriting of the story in her mature style is challenging. Helen Baker's Miss Jane Austen's Lady Susan - Revived was published in 2010, the first scholarly attempt in 200 years.
Lady Vernon and Her Daughter, a novel-length reconstruction of Lady Susan, was published by Crown Publishing in 2009. Written by mother-and-daughter co-authors Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway, the adaptation reinterprets the work to conform closely to Austen's more mature prose style.