Sir William Lucas & CLASS | What is a Knight? Jane Austen PRIDE AND PREJUDICE social class analysis

What social class is Sir William Lucas in Jane Austen’s great novel Pride and Prejudice? Why is he so class-conscious? Why is Sir William Lucas so anxious about class? What is a knight? What is a knighthood? And what social class were knights in Jane Austen’s period? How does Sir William Lucas’ class consciousness compare to the snobbery of the Bingley sisters (Caroline Bingley and Mrs Hurst)? Like Lady Catherine de Bourgh, does Sir William Lucas like “to have the distinction of rank preserved” (ch.29)? Lots of questions! The lecture provides some of the answers: it outlines the social classes & ranks that classified Regency society; it provides a definition & explains the meaning of ‘knights’ and ‘knighthoods’; & it analyses Jane Austen’s depiction of a knight in the character of Sir William Lucas in Pride and Prejudice. The video analyses Sir William Lucas with a little help from Caroline Bingley, Mrs Hurst, Mr and Mrs Gardiner, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Elizabeth Bennet, and Mr Darcy. Analysis of social class in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

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[DrOctaviaCox]

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[darthlaurel]

Elizabeth's lack of awe for Lady Catherine is another way that Austen shows she is a fit wife for Darcy. She takes rank in stride and is confident in her own just as he is.

[iluvmusicals]

Charlotte learned how to "suffer fools" by living with her father, so she knew she could put up with Mr. Collins.

[annarita]

I always felt that Austen criticizes Sir William for caring more about rank than money. His fortune is not enough to provide a good dowry for Charlotte or to allow her a season in town. She was 27 when she married. He was so eager to leave trade that he used to much money to buy Lucas Lodge (Speculation). He should have done it like late Mr Bingley: send the oldest son to university and let him purchase an estate while he himself would grow the money with good business.

[InThisEssayIWill...]

I love that the novels give us a wide variety of attitudes within one class. I can condone poking fun of sir Lucas and Mr Collins for groveling, but it's so important to note that nothing happens in a vacuum. Would they be so apt to placate if the authorities that be, (the lady Catherine's) did not require and relish the performance? It's almost a natural extension to some extent, wherein as a tradesman one needs to keep a certain pleasant rapore with ones trade clients. 🤷 It's easy to disdain their behavior from a distance, but when those people hold the puppet strings to the course of your life.. can we blame them for dancing?

[nicoleallen]

This is fantastic!!! I always thought that this is one of the reasons that Charlotte is resigned to marry Mr. Collins. She knows that is something she can bear by living through the years with her father. Not a bad man, just ridiculous.

[Marie-moid]

You answer literary questions I didn't even know I had! Thank you!

[michellerhodes]

There is also a comparison between the Bingley sisters and Charlotte Lucas in their upbringing because the Bingley ladies have had the right kind of education (languages, music, deportment etc.) but Charlotte obviously learned the skills necessary for a tradesman's daughter and is required at home at one point to bake the mince pies.

[amybee]

Dr. Cox, I love your analysis. In the best sense, it makes me feel like I'm back in college -- like my brain is firing on all cylinders! You have a real gift for close reading, bringing out the nuances without injecting any agenda of your own, letting the author's intent and genius shine more clearly. Thanks so much for putting your scholarship and giftings on youtube for the edification of the intellectually hungry!

[EffieStephens]

I cannot express how happy I am each time I see you’ve posted. I thoroughly enjoy your insight—but it isn’t only that. I find your videos very relaxing. Much needed in these crazy times!

[helenannedawson]

A really interesting point about the 'performance' around people of rank. It reminds of a line towards the end of Persuasion, where Austen describes Sir Walter and Elizabeth, flattering and following their titled cousins, but miss being flattered and followed by Mrs Clay - and Mrs Clay's behaviour is a lot like Mr Collins and Sir William to Lady to Lady Catherine - so it's like chain up the social strata, which Lizzy Bennet gets out of by laughing at everyone and Darcy gets out of by ignoring everyone or being rude.

[melissapagonis]

I'm a high school science teacher now, but my bachelor's degree is in English literature, and watching your videos brings me back to the joy of literary analysis. Thank you so much for them!

[HRJohn]

Having just re-read (for the umpteenth time) P&P, I am beginning to feel slightly sorry for Caroline Bingley despite her being singularly unlikeable. But consider: her main objective is (to quote that lovely spoof "Lost in Austen") "to get her paws on Darcy". When Lizzy seems to excite D's interest, she develops a secondary, related objective - trying to diminish that interest.
Her problem, however, is that in spite of being "educated in one of the first private seminaries in town", she's really a bit dim, and has no idea how to achieve either objective (forgive the anachronism, but Jeeves could have helped her with the advice he often gave Bertie Wooster - "study the psychology of the individual") and every time she opens her mouth in persuit of her objectives, she puts her foot in it.
Commenting on L's appearance after walking to Netherfield "I am afraid, Mr Darcy, that this ..has .. affected [your appreciation of] her fine eyes" "Not at all....they were brightened by the exercise". D's remarks about what constitutes an accomplished women (he claims to know six), and L's reply "I rather wonder you know any" are followed (after L has left the room) by Caroline accusing her of using "a paltry device, a very mean art" of undervaluing her own sex to attract the other, D replies "Whatever bears affinity to cunning is despicable".
Later, when she comments on D's handwriting, she says "You write uncommonly fast", he replies "...I write rather slowly". The remarks continue "Pray tell your sister that I long to see her" - "I have already told her so once, by your desire." And so on, whenever we meet Caroline.
It's sad that she is so obvious - she is "rather handsome" and has a considerable fortune: what a pity that she understands so little.

[jolmerbolleman]

I always read it that Sir William received his knighthood for being a successful mayor of a market town to the extend that he got the King himself to visit. Who then gave a nice speech to clinch the honour.

[dianaarneson]

It struck me that, in a way, Sir William Lucas is a bit like Miss Bates in "Emma." Except that he strives to be affable because he wants so much to raise his status, and she does it because she's trying so hard not to lose the little status she has left.

[kirstena]

no wonder Sir Lucas was so pleased that Charlotte married Mr Collins, who despite his ridiculousness, is still 'gentry'. Like the Bingley sisters, she comes from a family of trade, so this is a step up for her in terms of class, which further strengthens the position of the rest of the family through the connection.

[sarahmwalsh]

You mentioned in another video the similarity between Sir William and William Collins, in that their elevation (Sir William to the knighthood, William Collins to the living in the parish at Rosings) gives them a puffed-up sense of their own importance, but I think you make it very clear here that it is what one does with that elevation that really matters. Mr. Collins is insufferable and often hurtful in his tone and attitude toward others; Sir William, on the other hand, is completely harmless and just wants to host parties and have lots of company around him.

[dottiewi]

I always thought that Mr Darcy didn’t like his aunt very much. And that he only visited her rather as a duty. He doesn’t care for people above him, he doesn’t go to St James, like Sir William thought he would etc. And this he shares with Lizzy. And with Anne Elliott. I always thought, Darcy wanted to find someone like Anne Elliott, kind, intelligent, witty in her way, respectable social status, and unimpressed by rank. But he found someone with a different kind of wit in Lizzy, and less passive. And was probably surprised by his feelings. I think, if Anne and Lizzy had met, they could have been good friends.

[deannajoy]

These videos all make me appreciate the BBC miniseries all the more, because they do an excellent job representing the characters and capturing a lot of these nuances.

[daniellescrochet]

Thank you for making these videos. They really help me to understand better what everyone reading Austen's stories and other classic literature when they were first published would have automatically known. Especially as an American, I find ridged class and rank structures a foreign concept, because we are often taught there is upward mobility potential. (Whether that's really true could be debated, but it's what we are taught.)