This reminds me of the Middletons. The Middletons were solidly middle class and then their business took off and they sent their children to the better boarding schools in England. The children started to become friends with aristocrats and then the daughters married into royalty and aristocracy. Of course Kate will eventually have the highest title of all!
And even now in modern times the aristocrats gave her hell for not being one of them. I remember reading all the gossip of calling her and Pippa “the Wisteria Sisters” and how they tried to embarrass her cause her mom was a flight attendant. Now she is a solid (and many agree the best) part of the royal family. Love me some Kate fashion moments plus their family is adorable. She had the last laugh.
They was new money actually self made muiti-millionaire it's a myth that their upper middle class. As Britain doesn't recognize the nouveau riche self made class. 6 figures is different to millions
"I'm sure every upper-class person in the Regency Era would have liked my videos" Ma'am you're teaching social climbers to infiltrate the upper-class, I'm not so sure about that :P
Look at the disastrous marriage of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry for proof of that. Also Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson Windsor and the one time king, Edward VIII.
@@walqqr1 as one of my professors at college explained: "there are two ways to become rich, either by birth or by marriage", to which another professor responded: "or via divorce like our exes did". Needless to say, we're trying to build things up for the 1st option 😬
Kind of the same here! I’m fascinated by this stuff, despite being extremely happily married…and having turned down overtures from a family in the Norwegian nobility in the long-ago past. 😆
How to marry rich : Be pretty Be witty Don’t have embarrassing family Don’t have shop keepers as family Have a big house Don’t have a small house Go to party’s with rich single guys
And of extreme importance, be very well educated in the liberal arts (not only fine art & literature but fine antiques, such as furniture, crystal glassware, & other furnishings of upper class homes) & be very adept at 'polite conversation' & knowledgeable of the manners of the upper class. As she points out more than once in the video, it's essential that one knows how to behave properly (that is, like the upper class) or else one will quickly learn to regret having married into the upper class.
My grandmother married down. It was a love match, but the family struggled to make ends meet, at times they actually were hungry. Grandfather died young and worn out, grandmother lived to regret the marriage. Money isn't everything, but it's a damned lot.
My grandmother married down. Her wealthy father ensured all his daughters were educated. They were all school teachers (only thing girls could become). When she married a hog farmer against her father’s wishes he said it was her choice but she would not be welcome back if it didn’t go well for her. It didn’t and she wasn’t.
Jane Bennet (Jane Fairfax as well, educated, beautiful, talented, very elegant manners and intelligent) was a perfect exemple of a woman who could easily marry up in the regency era. She is a very beautiful young woman, classy, with gentle and calm spirit, pure of heart, decent and has very lady-like manners, of course with her beauty and personality trades she is admired wherever she goes. The problem was her embarrassing family (Mother and Lydia’s affair that brought serious shame to the family). I never could understand how Mr. Bennet raised such wonderful women as Jane and Lizzie and then the three younger daughters became so foolish. Maybe after he saw his third child wasn’t a male, he gave up on educating properly his daughters, like “whatever”. He was negligent and irresponsible, his major defect. I think Mrs. Bennet nerves attacks was anxiety cuz she knew that her daughters without a rentable marriage would be miserable and her husband did nothing to solve that so she was having panic attacks. She may be foolish and superficial but she at least thought very much of her daughters and was realistic about their situation.
Jane Bennet technically married down, though. It was Bingley who married up. In that case the difference was so small however that clearly people didn't feel the need to even comment on it. As to the difference between the older Bennet girls and the younger ones, I've seen it suggested that Jane and Lizzy owe much of their good manners to the Gardiners' influence. They seem to be closer with them than the younger sisters are. Perhaps the parents sent Jane and Lizzy to London to seek husbands there back when they were younger, and while the Gardiners weren't able to introduce them to right kind of candidates and the whole thing was a failure in that regard, the girls still benefited from the experience and good example?
I think the suggestion is that because Mrs. Bennet herself came from a modest background, she was not equipped to educate and prepare young ladies. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are a cautionary tale about what happens when gentlemen whose estates are subject to entails (financially precarious) unwisely marry someone who isn’t cut out for the job because she’s cute and a good time. It reflects the beliefs of the author.
So that explains the Bingley family really well. Obviously their dad made the money in trade, put his son and daughters in the best schools, married the elder daughter off to a layabout drunkard younger son of the aristocracy and then died leaving his son to find and purchase a manor.
Jane married up in the money sense, Bingley married up in the class sense. Manners - I'd say Lady Catherine had none. The Gardiners - I see them as being quite content in their sphere.
Lady Catherine is what Emma Woodhouse could have become without a person like Knightley. She was smarter than most people in her circle, the top dog of their area, and doted upon by quite a few other influential people. No one but Knightly ever really said no to her and that leaves a mark.
Both Lady Catherine and Emma would have benefited from a larger society, with people of similar or higher rank. That would have taught them some humility.
@@adorabell4253 I think a couple of points would have saved Emma - she wanted to be a better person and she had a lot of heart. When she did wrong by Harriet she didn't need Knightley to set her right, she naturally wanted to make amends. But I have to agree Emma's behaviour to the Coles and their evening party in no way flattered her character. However! Once she was at the party she did behave charmingly and I'm not sure Lady Catherine was ever charming to anyone, even Darcy.
The Medici were pharmacists outside of Florence. They invented double entry bookkeeping and the did branch banking. They married up. The English Stuart were Medici.
I thought they started out in insurance, the Medici? Gentleman Jack, the 1830's assures us that manners were regarded less than originality by the upper echelon. To assert there was only one sort of upper class leaves no room for Byron and his 'fat friend', the Prince Regent, who forced his way into the frontispiece of Emma. Dissipation, at the time, seems to have been a part of the rites of passage, as much as the Grand Tour (where you probably got two for the price of one). Yes, theatre, horse racing, gentlemen's clubs, lots of room for tearing it up. But then you had the Duke of Bridgewater who made a vast fortune investing in canal building, some say £70,000. Choose your poison.
@@MalcolmTurner-k2knope. The name Medici means pharmacist. They and the strozzi were rural banking families that married each other. The aristocracy of Europe hated that they were beholden to those bankers in trade. Never mind, the nanking famolies ran iq circles around the upper class.
I would like to see her dress up in a period appropriate costume and hairstyle one day. Maybe an opportunity for a collaboration with another youtuber from the historical costume community.
Unfortunately, it’s true even today, although we have class climbing today, it’s incredibly uncomfortable to be in a class too high for your level of manners and disposition. Just attend a black tie event and you will suffer the exact embarrassment described if you weren’t brought up to understand the customs.
Yes, but I think the main difference is that many people today would view the snobbery as bad, particularly if they're not in the black tie event. Whereas, in the Regency period, I think there was more of an agreement of what was socially acceptable or not.
I come from a family with many who have a net worth of about 1 million. My rich father did not want me to go to my brothers wedding. Probably partly because I show no signs of building wealth yet
Yeah, a middle class person would likely feel awkward being in a room with Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey. They live in another world, and to be part of that world you'll have to be a billionaire or related to one.
I think this all depends on if you care about the opinions of those around you or not. I respect those like Fauci, Goodall, those who combine both intellectual weight with a sense of ethics that sees them make a positive impact on society or the environment. If it is anyone else I generally feel nothing for their opinion, well unless I emotionally care for them in some way or have some use for them.
In social-psychology, the technique Ellie talks about is called "anticipatory socialisation". I find her talks highly educational, well-researched and to the point. Rare but wonderful stuff.
I must say that the first thing I thought was, "buy a piece of land and have a more beautiful house" as a first option. I personally would not seek to advance socially if I was in a good situation obviously. My father has a store or is a banker? I would look for someone from a similar social status, as long as I don't have to work, have entertainment and if possible servants to help me around the house I'll be fine.
And people did. You would not be doing anything unusual or unacceptable. It was encouraged by their families for people in trade and business to form alliances and connections with other trade and business families. They would have been the people that you would have encountered in daily business and social life. Some business families felt that the gentry and aristocracy were a bad bargain because they could bring in so many debts, demands and drains on even a large fortune or simply because they lacked similar values and an outlook in common. Others tried to reach for a higher station. To each their own.
Exactly. Why be a small fish in a large pond, if you can be a large fish in a small pond? I never got that kind of ambition...unless, it elevates you out of poverty or such, of course. I wouldn't have wanted to constantly fight, to be accepted by the people surrounding me. Never mind, dealing with being snubbed and looked down upon.
Good points all. But, since I am 100% THAT !@#$%, I'd DELIGHT in reminding the "fam" as well as others how they were able to keep their place in society and their land/houses: by marrying me and my millions because they were composed of more mortgage than money. I'd be known as an Original because whatever anyone clapped at me, I'd clap it right back. Only those who wanted a verbal smacking would get in my face with some snobbish nonsense. I would also be highly educated in order to sling innuendo every bit as well as they could. Fun times!!!! 😆🤣😂😹😆🤣
@@alisaoliver1969 Yeah, but being an Original is as much about the way you are received as how you actually behave. People in good society wouldn't exactly appreciate being clapped back at, so without at least a very powerful ally or two, you'd be unlikely to take.
18:00 Im from a working class family and I honestly found it hard to fit into the middle class people at the university i studied. There are so many small things that I just didn't know. Nobody was mean to me about it dough
@@fridaber6069it would be sports they played, owned a car, not working their way through school, type of summer job or traveled instead, where they vacationed, taking a gap year, if they had a passport, how many outfits they had for job interviews, if they could afford better than ramen noodles, etc.
I always thought Mr. weston did a wonderful job of moving up. He bought a house, became part of society, married a woman of genteel birth, his son inherited a fortune and estate. His son married a young lady of respectable birth and excellent manners.
I thought Mr Weston had been in the Army, not in trade? Its been a long time since I read it but I thought he was unable to take care of baby Frank because of his military duties (probably being stationed overseas). I don't think he is an example of moving between classes, he obviously had the social connections to marry relatives of rich landed gentry (Frank's connection to the Churchills is through his mother, Mr Weston's first wife). I think he was relatively poor for the upper class, probably a younger son. Emma has zero qualms about associating with him (and even wants him to marry her governess, the closest thing Emma has to a mother) and we know how much of a snob Emma is. She is very concerned about associating with the Coles and is hesitant about Mrs Elton. Now I think about it he would have had a military title if he had been in the army but I can't believe he was in trade or Emma wouldn't have had anything to do with him I'd have to assume he was in a respectable profession, probably Law.
@@ElizabethJones-pv3sj from what I recall, the one who was in the army was Jane fairfaxes father, which is the reason she was able to grow up with an upper or at least higher middle class upbringing, the reason that mr Weston has connections to the Churchill’s is that his previous wife married down, and when she died he was in so much debt from trying to maintain a lifestyle suitable for someone like her, that the Churchill’s decided to take frank, mrs Churchill’s estranged sisters son
What I've always wondered is how Darcy became friends with Bingley in the first place? If Bingley comes from a trade background and Darcy is super wealthy, how would they even meet and why would Darcy bother with him? We all know Bingley is agreeable but is that enough to solidify friendship with a Darcy?
Because Bingley had a gentleman's upbringing and education, he still would have been seen as a gentleman socially- he himself had never been a tradesman, only his father. Once he bought an estate, his gentry status would have been properly cemented.
@@zazubombay It's Elizabeth's assumption that he's a snob, simply because he has pride. His friendship with Bingley is actually early proof to the reader that he isn't; plenty of men in his position would not have entertained someone like Bingley as a friend. At the end of the novel, it's mentioned how close Darcy remained with the Gardiners, who are of blatant socially inferiority, yet this doesn't seem to bother him.
Interesting personal story about modern snobbery. My grandmother was an American raised in upper class family. Her father was a superior court judge, she was a debutante, went to a private university and traveled abroad after graduation. Her mother was mortified when she married someone she thought was beneath her daughter socially. Interestingly, the marriage didn't last after the children were grown. She said it was because he wasn't available emotionally, but I wonder if their class difference was a factor.
Not covered in your video was the option for young men to advance socially by joining the Navy. All it took was a few wars at the right time, so you could get prize money for the capture of enemy merchant men. Advancement, if you are involved in combat and a superior officer dies you are almost certain to be promoted. While there is a downside to marrying a poorly educated man of lower social class, a war hero is different.Especially if he has a nice uniform and a few medals. Finally with all these wars going on there will be a shortage of suitable men, an over supply of rich daughters thanks to all the money being spent on ships and guns (trade). So it is a great time to spend your prize money on a nice piece of land, marry that pretty young, well connected, thing and move on to a nice life in the country. The flaw in this plan is that most people who attempted it died
yea... i was thinking... what about sons.... how could they advance and imitate the upper class. i was thinking perhaps somehow trying to push into the navy, army, clergy or government? Seems harder than a daugther marrying up though
Even more than Captain Wentworth, Admiral Croft and his wife Sophia/Sophy come to mind. Croft moves up in the ranks in the Navy, marries Sophia Wentworth of a good family but impoverished branch (amd with naval connections of her own). Her next brother Edward becomes a clergyman with his own living, and her yoynger brother Frederick becomes a captain with a snug fortune. As a midshipman, he was earlier ineligible for a rich baronet's daughter. As a wealthy ship's captain, he was just about acceptable for a now poor baronet's daughter.
Interesting to think of Carolyn Bingley and Lizzie where Carolyn must have been wildly envious because she spent all this time and effort trying to be in Lizzie's class and still failed in the eyes of Darcy. What's even more interesting is that we have this in the States. Middle class behavior is so, well, obvious. My parents were highly educated but both of them were from the upper lower class and could not adjust to middle class values (like cocktail hour and golf). They preferred beer and camping out. But being so educated put them out of the blue collar realm in which they were comfortable. We both went to good schools or worked places where middle class people engaged in that cutting behavior in which Carolyn Bingley excelled and despised it. I worked with the extremely rich, and got along with them very well because we both had no middle class values! The only differences in our behavior were money, and not manners at all. I went to high school in England and also found this to be the case. Because I was eccentric and an artist, I was acceptable to the upper classes and not to the middle, where manners and appearance were the driving factors. My sister married up and faced constant criticism and was somewhat miserable at having to watch her every move, even in the US. Good video!
Caroline Bingley's fatal error was thinking that the aristocracy were snobs and full of contempt for the lower classes (even though she, herself, was of a lower class). She was wrong, especially in the case of Darcy. It was probably the nail in the coffin that she tried so hard to denigrate Lizzy, who was in the same class as Darcy, in an effort to elevate herself in his eyes. It did the opposite. Could she have been something of a mirror to him that gave weight to Lizzy's words about his pride? Did he recognize his need to come down off his own pedestal? It seems possible.
Reminds me of Winston Churchill's parents - his father was a member of the aristocracy and his mother was a rich American heiress. A perfect match for both :)
@@courtneydebian Jennie Jerome was not miserable. Money was a constant problem because both Jennie and Randolph lived beyond their means. However, she and he agreed on politics and she was very helpful to his career, early on. As he became successful and did not need his wife's close support; they did not see very much of each other. But, by then Jennie had her own circle of friends and her many very rich lovers. Jennie and Randolph had an open marriage. After his death she married two much younger men.
@Qrtuop Are you referring to the Bengal Famine? This was caused by a monsoon and a Japanese invasion of Burma cutting off food supplies. Churchill arranged for food supplies to be sent from Australia, Iraq and Canada during WWII with ships being sunk.
I loved this video! It really reminds me of the "Dollar Princesses"; the daughters of extremely wealthy American business moguls who married financially strapped European aristocracy. Of course this happened about 100 years after Jane Austen's time, but it was scandalous none the less. A lot of people know of poor Consuelo Vanderbilt, forced to marry the ninth Duke of Marlborough, with a dowry of $2.5 million in railroad stocks (over $75 million in today's money), but another fascinating story is the Mary Leiter, who married George Curzon. It didn't seem that exciting when they married (he was a member of Parliament, and a gentleman, but definitely not a duke), BUT George ended up becoming the viceroy of India in 1898, arguably the most powerful position in the English government, below Queen Victoria herself. Lady Mary Curzon became the Vicereine of India, and for all intents and purposes, lived the life of a queen. Another positive note is that Mary and George had a loving and supportive marriage. 😊
And she wore the most beautiful gown ...The Peacock dress. Bernadette Banner has a video on it... Shame it has deteriorate , but even now it looks wonderful
Yes! New money families with daughters were sending their “dollar princesses “ to England because they were having trouble marrying them off in America. Men from old money families didn’t want vulgar new money ladies and men from anew money background also wanted to marry into an old money family. So sending their girls to England where poor aristocratic families needed money meant that their families could gain respectability and consequence.
@@fatimaachebly1279 I don’t think Kick classified as a Dollar Princess though, she wasn’t given nor promised a significant fortune to invest in Chatsworth. In other words, she lacked the “dollar” even if she came from a relevant family.
It'd be interesting to see you touch on the landed gentry being at risk of losing their fortunes and having to marry the wealthy American daughters to keep that money. I find the Million Dollar Princesses as they were called so interesting to learn about.
The manners part reminded me of some job-seeking advice I hear from time to time: dress for the job you ultimately want, not the one you are applying for. Of course, that advice is mostly aimed at college students to encourage them to dress better for job interviews, but still... manners.
Unless, you come over-dressed (yes, that is a thing)and lose the job because you make your interviewer nervous...or-if you are a woman- you look better in your clothes than your female interviewer. Manners are okay up to a certain point, otherwise you look pretentious.
While marrying up was rare - but done- at least within ones class, marrying down was a thing, too (see the three sisters in Mansfield Park - one married rich, one married respectable, one married down). Marrying down was of course frowned upon, but there were less men than women (too many wars) - so what was a girl supposed to do? Stay a *gasp* spinster?
You should do a video on the book Vanity Fair in relation to trying to move up in social class. The criticism that book and the movie adaptations get is so disgustingly sexist about a woman daring to be ambitious and open in her desire to marry up. Obviously every woman wanted to marry up because that was the only way a woman could be secure in society but how dare we talk about openly .
I just wrote the same petition! I hope she does a vid on Vanity Fair. I do think that in some adaptations its interesting (like the movie with Reese Witherspoon) they kinda give Becky a happy ending. Even in the amazon at the end Becky rides the carousel. Kinda like a nod that nowadays what Becky does is ultimately what a lot of us do, take your destiny in your own hands and do as best as you can with the hand you are dealt.
I was thinking about the late Mrs. William Elliot. Mr. Elliott married her because she was wealthy, so he would have money to spend. She also happened to be beautiful and well-educated. But her father was apparently in a less respectable line of trade, and she was described as "very low." So low, in fact, that she drove Mr. Elliott down - not even his closest friends, such as the Smiths, could remain acquainted with him while she lived. There's so much going on there.
lol no, the Smiths were very close to Mrs Elliot at first. They only ceased their intimacy when Mr Smith couldn't keep up with Mr Elliot's extravagant new lifestyle and Mr Elliot found his friend's new penury an embarassment.
It's someone who married not out of my class but specifically out of my culture, I actually kind of agree with the idea that they could very easily spend the rest of their lives being frustrated with not being as natural in knowing how to behave in an upper-class. Coming from the West Coast United States and marrying into a deep south family I have spent a good portion of time feeling frustrated and irritated and confused as to the social expectations and I've actually caused myself a lot of Problem by not knowing how something women behave. I come from a culture that is very straightforward and if you don't like somebody you just don't like them you don't behave like you do like them but here in the South I have come to learn that a lot of women who pretend to be my friend or not and that is pretty normal. I didn't know the be nice to somebody wasn't genuine at first glance. So I can understand especially how some of mr. Darcy's family treat Elizabeth
I would never have thought about marrying 'up' or at all (I never did) ... however, my mother always thought of that. She was beautiful and smart! She was actually a 'hair' model in the 50s. She married rotten money first time around - divorced (drinking and all that entails) ... second, she married a young officer in the military (my dad). She always stressed good manners and education to her children. We were taught proper table manners - I would not be intimidated attending a 'regency' dinner - our holiday dinners actually look a lot like the ones displayed on the shows; she would say, who knows who you will be dining with when you grow up so learn it now; be as comfortable with a crystal glass of wine or a bottle of beer. If there were no social functions, dinner was at 6:30 every night with fully set table - conversation was current events complete with 'word of the day' .... We read many classics and learned 'old' games (chess, cribbage, backgammon and cards) oh, and we learned needle / thread work - even my brothers can sew and one was remarkable at counted cross stitch. Growing up, I thought everyone lived like we did ... I was in for a rude awakening as an adult! We used to kid my mom that she should start a school for ladies because we had fun learning it all - and now I know that type of thinking is in line with Austen's era. Have been enjoying your videos!
I think this may be a military thing. My mother ran our home very similarly. My high school was full of Pentagon kids, and we all had to know table settings, etc. I got a Girl Scout badge in needlework and hospitality!
I suppose that if I were a rich heiress aiming to marry up I would be constantly worried that my husband would only marry me because of my money and have no real affection for me. Maybe I would be better off remaining single and live off the interest of my fortune.
I think what is not mentioned here is investment money. Many, many landed gentlemen and nobles became invested in companies like the East India company, putting them into trade and making them even wealthier. So at about the same time as the regency period, and even before, Britain was highly involved in international trade, and it was quite lucrative. Investments in fabrics like silk, jewelry and precious and semi-precious stones, metals such as gold and silver, were quite common, even among the landed gentry and the nobility. In fact, without investment by nobility, luxury trade would not have been possible.
Yes colonial ventures and trade were major destination for british investments at the time. I think in Mansfield Park Sir Thomas the owner of the house is in Antigua setting up business.
I recently started reading about the Scottish Enlightenment (starting in the 18th C), and I'm finding it shocking how much *more* egalitarian Scotland was than England in this period. Like, fully half of the University students were "the sons of industry and commerce", a lot of merchants and tradesmen were happily reading Latin and Greek, and great academics like Adam Smith were able to write "The Wealth of Nations" because he was besties with the Tobacco Lords of Glasgow, and great poets like Robbie Burns was the son of a ploughman. They aren't talking about marriage trends, though, so I'm a bit curious about how it compared to England in Austen's era. I feel like Austen would have been writing significantly different novels if she'd been born north of Gretna Green.
That’s why the British Empire and Royalty had been so scared of Scotland for so long. Yes they had their own Kings and Queens, but they really kicked off moving to a more modern society and England hated that.
It seems that the Gardiner family was already transitioning to the upper class in P&P. Supposing Mr. Gardiner's father was in roughly the same situation, of the 3 children we know of, 2 have married into the upper class: Mrs. Bennet by snagging a landed gentleman, and her sister marrying a lawyer, one of the gentile professions.
Mr. Philips would not have been considered upper class. Lawyers, with some exceptions, were viewed as a kind of tradesman. I think it would be interesting to know more about Mrs. Gardiner's background. She is a perfect lady.
Speaking of Mrs Elton, what do you think of the theory that she was actually a con artist who didn’t really have a sister at Maple Grove and probably had a lot less money than was originally thought? She always changes the subject when Jane Fairfax talks about MG, and the way she describes the place as looking just like Emma’s house and grounds is improbable to say the least.
I don't think she was a con artist. First, I am sure Elton wouldn't have married her without her dowry, and these things had to be formalized at some point, I think unlikely he would go so far without making sure she had that money. I am sure Mrs. Elton was a social climber, with her own money from family trade, what she needed was a man in a respectable, gentlemanly profession such as the church, to cement her claim to gentility. As the wife of a gentleman she can claim she is a lady. Also, despite the church being a gentleman's profession, it did not bring a lot of money, so I am sure marrying rich was of extreme importance to Mr.Elton.
Maple Grove being near Bristol represented slave trade money…. Jane Austen was supportive of abolition it’s why she have Mrs Norris the name of a defender of slavery
@@BoninBrighton Mrs Elton gets very defensive when Jane refers to governess trade as human trading, saying that her family were "always friends of the abolition"
I married up in todays class system and it’s kind of stressful. Luckily his family are nice but the “fitting in” and expectations are like speaking a foreign language. It can be done but it will never be comfortable and automatic.
I told a boy my grandfather was a doctor in the army (I don't remember how it came up) and knew the king, and he one upped me saying his uncle was a general and knew the king. Like dang, I guess everyone has a general or doctor or someone who knew the king in their family. Crazy how there's a judgment for everyone. Such is the fate of those who are not rich, and especially, apparently, of the ones who are! What I am saying is that it amazes me how much bragging and one upping there is if you are young and dealing with non dirt-poor people. I am personally impressed if your uncle is a lawyer. That being said some educated and well to do people are monsters and really do look down on others.
This is really interesting, as a man who grew up poor, became very successful, and dated a super rich European girl for a few months; I definitely saw signs of this kind of thing still happening. I doubtless embarrassed her as well, haha. Something about the way I ate with one hand marked me as not being part of her social class, she told me.
That's not a matter of social class. Here in Europe all kids are taught to eat with fork and knife, and we find the American custom of cutting the food all at once and then eating only with fork funny to say the least (and a bit uncough). I think that this is more a cultural than class difference. I have no doubt that many of our European customs make Americans laugh, too.
@Anni Runaway I do, but I'm left-handed. What I remember of my etiquette lessons is that American eating etiquette is actually more involved than the European etiquette, because it was a subtle oneupmanship. But no one really uses it outside of high events that almost never happen.
@@veronikavolhejnova5036 It's not considered polite to cut all our food all at once in the US. it's considered polite to cut one piece at a time, with the fork in our left hand and the knife in our right hand. Then we lay the knife down on the plate, transfer the fork to our right hand, and eat the one cut piece with perhaps some veggies, etc, but only with our right hand. Then we pick up the knife again to cut the next piece, with the fork going back to our left hand. To eat with both knife and fork in hand is considered uncouth to us. :) We wouldn't say anything, but we'd secretly think they had been raised in a barn. lol
Actually i wondered abou this because it didn't sound like Mrs Bennett's dowry was really that good, and i got the impression that many in their social circle thought her manners/ behavior was inappropriate. This video made me wonder why Mr Bennett married down to her.
Although slightly pre-Regency Era - marrying "too far" above is very well portrayed in the book/TV series 'Poldark'. I'd highly recommend a read/watch (I'd recommend the 2015 version), particularly to any non UK viewers who haven't heard of it before! You'll love it! 😊
I believe that there was some sort of coveted advantage that Venetian glassblowers had that allowed their daughters to move past their family's trade status and attract men in the upper class. Another slightly later example was in The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton, where the daughters of American railroad, oil, steel, and shipping tycoons traded piles of "new" money for European titles and status through marriage. This backstory plot line was recently used in Downton Abbey to show how Cora could move up-class to become Lady Grantham.
I have an ancestor who married down, way down. She left a title and a castle to marry a sailor turned farmer, and family lore claims scandal. I wonder how many married ‘down’ and chose someone kind over someone ‘suitable’.
Even though we are more free and more upwardly mobile now, we basically still have those social rankings. We know when someone is upper class just looking at their schools, hobbies, interests, manner of talking and behaving, etc. It can't be helped. That is how humans are and we tend to move within our own circle and it is hard to penetrate the upper class unless you earn a lot of money but even then, the old rich look down on the nouveau riche but the former just don't show it because they are not supposed to be vulgar but classy and dignified :) EDIT: And even now, when a woman marries too high up, she is called a gold digger (even if she has some money like with famous actresses). And for the men, the same thing applies. And if you marry below your social status, you are also looked down upon. Just shows that only civil liberties have changed but social expectations have more or less remained the same.
That is not how humans are, that is a class system developed so that few control private property and most have to slave their whole lives to keep the rich rich.
I gotta say...I rather agree with the book, you quoted from. I do believe, marrying out of your class, would probably have set you up for lots of unpleasant situations and being treated with condescension by others. Don't know, if it would have been worth it in a time, where socializing with a rather limited number of acquaintances and books/instruments were your only form of entertainment. You would have basically experienced the equivalent to fat/ugly shaming today and we all know, what that does to people.
Good point. Americans think differently, since people who are wealthier are expected to make accommodations for others, and welcome them without looking down their nose at them. Most American wealth (outside the old East Coast families) was gained relatively recently anyway, so fewer people have a long heritage of wealth, and we instinctively don't like class barriers. But in that era in England, the social pressures and barriers were just too great. You would be a high-school basketball player stepping onto an NBA court. You simply don't have the ability to fit in, and everybody sees. it.
That was fascinating, thank you. Your discussion now puts a different light on William Elliot's first marriage. I thought her parents were just foolish and carried away by wanting their daughter to marry 'up' because of the idea of it only; but it seems they would have benefited from her marriage with William Elliot's higher connections and perhaps gained financially. I'm not completely sold on Miss Grey wanting Willoughby for his position in society, or at least, not only that - remember what Mrs Jennings said: ".....except that Mrs. Taylor did say this morning, that one day Miss Walker hinted to her, that she believed Mr. and Mrs. Ellison would not be sorry to have Miss Grey married, for she and Mrs. Ellison could never agree." Miss Grey and her guardian's wife didn't get along so she'd have been keen to get her own household. Also because of how she was characterised by Willoughby during his apology for his behaviour to Elinor - when he describes Miss Grey as coyly pretending to be play acting when asking to see his pocketbook so she can go through his things and then find Marianne's letters - which left me with the idea she knew full well of what she would find. Her behaviour during that scene put me in mind of many jealous people going through their partner's phone - I think that's plain jealously. One more thing though, is that Willoughby had already seduced two young women - one to her ruin - and was a charming fellow, and fully capable of working on another young woman solely for her money. So Eliza was lust; Miss Grey was greed, and Marianne was love.
I was not taught etiquette or manners by my birth parents but by well meaning friends and mentors being a working poor class. However when I was adopted by a middle class family and had to learn how to be more tactful and polite it was hard to undo 16 years . I've taken a etiquette course and now work in an upper middle class area. trying to make more money so my children can go to better schools and teaching them etiquette so they can blend in with higher status people and rise higher than me.
Well, I'd say it would depend on my options. Like if I had the option to merry up and the guy doesn't seem violent or something like that I'd merry up. If I would have any say in the matter.
Love your videos! I read Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice many years ago when I was in secondary school. It's an ESL class so a lot of details were skipped in the book. I learned a lot more from your videos and noticed how much there is behind the scenes!
I would try to marry to the highest ladder of my class and work on my kids to step over the boundary: they would then have a better opportunity to marry their offspring a little higher in the ladder... I just want to point out that these parameters still work today: you need to have at least a high-flying career or to be an ownee of a successful company with income to match. (Your parent's status becomes an embarrassment even if you can act the part.) It's a fallacy to think class system is a thing of the past just because we don't openly acknowledge it! Of course, these days you could marry up and still be better off after a divorce - the next marriage will be easier as you have learned the right manners and attitude and have that money from previous divorce settlement... There are women like that!
You have become one have my favorite TH-cam channels, I have learned so much and I appreciate the books so much more. I read Emma I while ago and I really enjoyed it, next I plan on reading Sense and Sensibility
As I recall a large part of S&S is all about how people manage their social climbing so there are loooong sections describing how someone met this group who introduced them to that group etc. Lucy Steele had some work to do in particular.
This reminds me of Gosford Park, where Freddie Nesbitt is ashamed of his wife Mabel. Freddie, who married for money the daughter of a glove manufacturer, has run through his wife's dowry and is irked that she doesn't have the breeding to fit in with a weekend shooting party.
Never read the book, but based on your description, I'd wonder what Mabel thinks of Freddie. After all, she's played her part in providing her money, which he has "run through," and despite her being the only reason (I assume) he was able to maintain his lifestyle for as long as he did, he's ashamed of her. Not to mention that, having run through her dowry, he is not threatening to drag her down with him.
If you’ve never seen the movie Gosford Park it definitely has some of the marrying down you talked about! It’s 1930’s England but there is a women whose father owned factories and she married The Honorable so and so. The other guests look down on her for it, ( as does her jackass of a husband). It’s a fab movie and cast, I highly recommend it!
You don't mention Charlotte Lucas ...her father had been a shop keeper before being elevated to a peerage and became Sir William Lucas. The Bingley sisters sneered, but it didn't stop Mr Collins from marrying her. This improved Mariah Lucas's chances of marrying into a better class than she had been born into.
So when Emma was trying to marry Harriet to Mr. Elton, Mr. Knightley was pointing out how her lack of connections would be too great for Elton to accept. And even Emma thought that Harriet was not good enough for Mr. Knightley (putting aside her feelings on the matter),
Harriet, of course, has the added hurdle of having NO family connections and the assumption that she is an illegitimate child. Emma, a romantic snob, sees Harriet being a "lady by blood" without legitimacy, as better than being a respectable member of the middle class, but pragmatic, clear-sighted Mr. Knightley sees differently
I'm wondering: would elder daughters get larger dowries, or would all daughters have equal dowries? If the latter, then each sister would be losing money every time a new daughter was born, but the former (to use Lizzie's words) would hardly encourage sisterly affection!
I think in general if the family were wealthy enough all daughters and younger sons would be given (in dowery form for girls) equal shares, obviously the eldest son inherits the estate and the money that entails plus a title if there is one. The only exception is say if a rich, childless relative dies and leaves money to a daughter or younger son
Once one daughter has married up, she would be expected to help the remainder of the family to rise as well through her new connections. Her married status is greater than for a single woman.
The only case of unequal dowry I know of was when the 5th Duke of Devonshire (certified AH) gave 30,000 to the eldest daughters, one of them illegitimate, and gave only 10,000 to the youngest. But as soon as their brother took over the title, he gave his sister another 20,000, and I think as much because he was decent as because that was the norm.
Your anecdote about the hypothetical woman who married above her station and hated it reminds me of Pygmalion/My Fair Lady, both in Liza's character arc of achieving the appearance/social connections of a lady but finding that this comes with its own difficulties and in her father's arc of inheriting a bunch of money and being openly disdainful of the fact that he has to be a respectable gentleman now. Pygmalion premiered about 100 years after Austen was active, but a lot of aspects of English society remained the same, it seems.
There's a couple of other ways to marry up. One is the slow path through buying a coat of arms and climbing over a couple of generations from the wealthy yeomanry into the gentry until you can marry up via a younger daughter of a neighbour. (Shakespeare tried this path but his family didn't last long enough to really be gentry) One open to all classes that lack a sense of propriety is to be an actress, get the manners via stage training, become so wildly popular that scandal is almost a positive, and run off with a besotted Duke (like Lavinia Fenton who originated Polly in the Beggars Opera, though admittedly she didn't marry him until his wife passed away.)
Very interesting! When you were discussing lower middle class ladies aspiring to wed upper class gentlemen and just embarrassing themselves I was reminded of "My Fair Lady". I know this isn't Regency era but Eliza Doolittle is still lower class trying to learn to fit into upper class society - with the help of the irreverent Henry Higgins.
This was so interesting. It made me rethink how in North and South, John Thornton is working on his education by learning literature from Margaret Hale’s father to improve himself. He’s very wealthy, but he can see his factories from his windows and so is bettering himself by improving his education. It also made me think of the line in A Little Princess (the book, not the movie) when they say although Sara’s father was in trade he was not only fabulously wealthy but it was from diamond mines, and it’s even commented that the allure of it being diamonds made one willing to overlook that it was from trade.
The idea of a dowry is not dead. My mother had one, as did I. My marriage to a cousin, not within the forbidden degrees of consanguinity, was arranged. While he did not control my dowry, it did have to be returned to me in total when the marriage failed. My daughter, and her daughter, also have dowries. Ours goes in the female line. My son also has a daughter and he is acquiring a dowry for her. It's not riches untold, but it does grant breathing space. While a dowry does not, in 20th and 21st century America, guarantee a marriage won't fail, it does give some financial security if a husband abandons the family. Even in modern America, a wife can be reduced to penury rather quickly when a marriage breaks up.
I always learn something, thank you. It's like you're telling me a story or a tutorial, I enjoy listening while drawing, even more so than listening to music.
Here is a suggestion for future vidoes of the Regency Era; Mistresses and Social climbers. You mention in the video it was very difficult (almost impossible.) for a woman from the lower middleclass and working class to marry up in the society, but there are few exceptions. Like Rebecca Sharp from Vanity Fair and Lady Emma Hamilton (Mistress of Lord Nelson.) It would be nice if you make a videos about these women.
It seems like everything in the Regency was about connections. I am curious about lower class people trying to move up. Like a man that worked in the warehouse of a wealthy man marrying his daughter to his bosses son. Did that happen very often? Or were people from poor families always fated to be poor due to lack of connections?
I think there were opportunities in trade (working your way up) and the military. Also colonial exploration/exploring the frontier. There are known cases of social climbing this way, but of course it's a minority.
I think there was a chance for them to start something in trade and moving up, consequently becoming a rich merchant or something? Then they could save up to buy land and all that could help their kids marry up. In Emma, Mr. Elton marries a woman who came from new money, so she married up.
I’m so sorry to hear about your time machine! I hope you get it fixed soon. At least you can use this time to stock up on essential information to use on your next trip. 🤔😂
@@christina1wilson Just came back. Tried to land a gal and move up, but I was too American Backwoods for them apparently. I suggested to them, tho, (as a token of good will), to invest in Apple as it will “big” someday. They were very perplexed and asked if my father was a grocer of some sort. Mission: FAILED.
17:50 is the best part of any video of yours I’ve seen yet. You are so funny and critical but you always make fun so reasonably and in service of educating us.
I just started reading Middlemarch, and this made me think of Miss Vincy and the remark that she's over educated and all her accomplishments will be wasted when she marries a man of her own station. She, of course, thinks she will marry up--snd I can't wait to see how it unfolds!
I think it might be interesting to have a video on officers and buying a commission and how that played into these social considerations. What's Wickham's class level?
I would think he’s middle class at most - his father worked for the elder Mr Darcy. Regency Austen readers would have understood that he did very well (socially speaking) by the end of the novel - and that would’ve been galling to them...
Army officers were considered gentry in the same way the clergy were, despite not being landowners. They were expected to live like gentlemen as well, despite earning a pittance.
Not necessarily. Mr Wickham the elder was steward to Mr Darcy the elder. That was often an occupation for younger sons in the upper class. Or an occupation for an retired officer. But certainly with connections to the upper class. Like Bertie Pelham in Downton Abbey. His second? cousin, the marquess, is rarely at home, Bertie takes care of the running of the estate.
Speaking of acceptable types of trade, one example is from Cranford when it's decided that for poor clergyman's daughter it's acceptable to sell tea. Another example is from North and South where Margaret is discussing manufacturers with her mother and are like "oh yeah, back at home there was that one who made carriages, but it's ok, carriages are ok and acceptable"
I like what you're doing since history is not just about major things done but it's also about the culture of the time and how that functioned for the people that lived then.
Your channel is my new favorite channel! I started reading Pride and Prejudice when I was fairly young, but I didn't finish it because it was too hard to read for me at the time. Then when Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was announced I thought "wtf is that" so I bought the book and read it in less than a day. Of course, this meant I had to immediately read Pride and Prejudice (which I did) and by the end of the week I had watched every adaptation I could find and re-read parts of the book. Your channel is just making me want to re-live that week again, I might settle for re-reading Pride and Prejudice and maybe Emma (my second favorite). It's also nice to understand the everyday lives of people in that era a little better, I'm hoping that I'll understand the issues a little more next time I read Jane Austen's work thanks to your channel!
Great video as usual! Please do make video about fundamental beauty routines in regency era/beauty routines that jane austen's characters most probably take!
Staying within your class was prevalent even to recent times. My father was British, and he was offered a very good job when he came the US, which he refused because the felt it was above him.
I've just found your channel. I'm not sure if you're a PhD student or just a hobby researcher but so much time and effort must go into making these videos so kudos to you, they are really well done!
Thanks for the helpful overview. It reminds me of W.H. Auden's 1936 poem "Letter to Lord Byron," in which he says of Austen's novels: It makes me uncomfortable to see An English spinster of the middle class Describe the amorous effects of `brass', Reveal so frankly and with such sobriety The economic basis of society.
Omg I always zone out when other youtubers remind me to like their videos, but your methods have an 100% success rate on me. Lol. Definitely smashed that like button ASAP.
How does everyone know how much everyone else is worth? I assumed talking about your wealth was in poor taste back then. But at the same time, it seemed like you wanted people to know so they regarded you highly. Was there a protocol for disclosing but not disclosing that info?
I think there were some type of who is who books, mostly about ancestry of cpurse, but they obviously mention the house belonging to the title. Maybe they list the size of the lands as well?
I would assume it was more done by show. Be seen at the right places, wear the right clothes, go to the opera, finagle an introduction to the right people. (Save the right person from drowning).
I guess I was sort of raised in a Jane Austen novel, in a way. A rather scandalous one, I suppose. I always wondered why I related to regency era fiction so much, but as I've written this all out, I've come to realize a lot of it reflects (though, obviously, not entirely, and on a smaller scale) my own upbringing. I was raised pretty solidly middle class, but with upper middle class dreams: dad was the vice president of a medium-sized company with some foreign business partners, mom could afford to be a stay at home mom and still any work she does is mostly to keep herself busy, I went to private school and most of my self-worth as a young woman rested upon things like "talent" or how pretty I was, etc. My parents were sort of modern-day "social climbers:" Both me and my brother were raised to be exceedingly polite, our grammar and education were really important to them, they'd scoff at any friends we made that they felt weren't the correct "class" (which, for me, was most of the friends I was drawn to,) and we lived in a regular suburban house compared to most of our parents' friends and their children that they foisted upon us (whom I always hated) who lived in fairly fancy McMansions, because my parents were focused on decking us out in all the more socially noticeable drippings of being "upper class." We'd spend that money on vacations we can flaunt or nice shoes people can notice or education and respectable extracurriculars for the kids instead of on some fancy house. As I mentioned before, I never had a natural affinity for my "own class" or the class my parents wanted me to move into. My first best friend was the daughter of recent immigrants from Mexico and they lived in a (quite expensive as I'm looking back on it) apartment complex. I can remember my parents being apprehensive about going to visit them and only being baseline polite whenever they had to be around my friend's parents. But, I absolutely loved them and I loved my friend. I was always drawn to more kind, accepting, silly, and laid-back natures, and found that almost entirely across the board (there are exceptions,) the upper middle class had almost no sense of humor or acceptance for those unlike them. They were judgemental and mean, including my own parents, who were unkind, nasty, and abusive behind closed doors to both me and my brother. I always felt like they felt thwarted by us, like they'd been so close to moving up the ranks and we'd ruined it by not being perfect enough. I always felt a harrowing connection with the children of Sir Thomas and General Tilney, having been thrown out of my home multiple times because I wouldn't fall in line with what they preferred, and was belittled and called terrible names. As of now, I've done the ultimate Jane Austen faux pas and cut off ties with my fairly well-off family as a woman (*gasp*) and am now living with my loving boyfriend of five years who comes from a "lower class" (though, thinking that makes me feel icky, we definitely came from slightly different financial upbringings) and I, personally, couldn't be happier. We've definitely had our learning curves (I'll never forget the horrified stares I got when I threw away some of the plastic containers that had come with the Chinese we'd ordered early in our relationship 😂) but I've learned and have lost quite a few of my "genteel manners" over the years, which I now mostly see as a superficial song and dance that people like to use to judge others for anything other than their strength of character or their mind. I do think me and my boyfriend have some important things in common that make our relationship work, such as common interests, talents, work ethics, morals, etc. I consider him an "honorable man of good character" in every way that matters, and I admire and respect him. I won't pretend we're not struggling financially, though honestly everyone is right now, including my own parents, from what I've heard. It's only been almost four years since I had to restart on my own, and it's been a tough going getting ourselves financially in shape. But, I still see my ending as happy, though I suppose Jane Austen would have predicted I'd have chosen poorly and fallen completely into despair. Though I guess I can attribute that to the wonderful new opportunities women have to make their own money. I guess I wanted to share this as a foil to other stories I've been seeing showing how people from different backgrounds don't always get along. It hasn't been a walk on the beach (absolutely no relationship is) and there have been hardships (as every life bears) but my life is my own and I feel as though I am surrounded by people that love *me* and care for *me,* which is something I always struggled to find among other people in my "class." I feel my current partner acts more gentlemanly than most of the more "upper class" guys I'd been introduced to, who were mostly superficial, vain, and misogynistic. Of course, that's only my own experiences, and I've absolutely met some exceptions, as I mentioned before, but I guess everyone's life is their own to live.
Two things happened to rattle the social order - the American and French revolutions, and colonization/ industrial Revolution creating huge fortunes that reached FU money. Maybe a girl couldn’t marry way up, but she could marry ambition and her daughters could marry up. People planned this across generations.
I'm not sure the super poor are "comfortable" in their situations of constant work and want. And our fallen human nature would envy those who just sit around all day and get pampered. But then again you might lose your soul, turn into a snob and be focused on money, status and wealth which turn any soul dark after a time. My choice? A NO to the upper class. I don't do rich snobs who sit around all day and do nothing. Give me purpose, service and work...helping others and giving God glory. THAT is happiness:+) God bless~
I think these days marrying up is easier since there are a lot more sources to upgrade your social intellect and learn manners... Couches, courses, Internet etc. Back then none of that was as readily available and the social gap was really huge between the lower middle class and and upper middle class - much wider than the gap between the upper middle and the upper class.
I really enjoyed this video! You’re a wonderful resource when I’m doing research, seeing the sources in your description, is so incredibly useful. I’d love if you did a video on your favorite nonfiction history books :)
Miss Jane Bennett is actually a better class than Binglly. His family had money but no lineage. So he is bettering his offsprings status by marrying Jane. Bennetts were landed gentry for multiple generations. A marriage not quite equals but Bingly is a good catch.
This reminds me of the Middletons. The Middletons were solidly middle class and then their business took off and they sent their children to the better boarding schools in England. The children started to become friends with aristocrats and then the daughters married into royalty and aristocracy. Of course Kate will eventually have the highest title of all!
And even now in modern times the aristocrats gave her hell for not being one of them. I remember reading all the gossip of calling her and Pippa “the Wisteria Sisters” and how they tried to embarrass her cause her mom was a flight attendant. Now she is a solid (and many agree the best) part of the royal family. Love me some Kate fashion moments plus their family is adorable. She had the last laugh.
They were always upper middle class
With the name Middleton, I thought you were talking about a children's tale! Middleton - middle-class. What a coincidence!
They was new money actually self made muiti-millionaire it's a myth that their upper middle class. As Britain doesn't recognize the nouveau riche self made class. 6 figures is different to millions
I thought you were talking about Sir John and Lady Middleton from Sense and Sensibility, and for a moment, I was very confused.
"I'm sure every upper-class person in the Regency Era would have liked my videos"
Ma'am you're teaching social climbers to infiltrate the upper-class, I'm not so sure about that :P
😂😂 I thought the same thing
Clearly she has not paid enough attention to Fordyce's Sermons.
Look at the disastrous marriage of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry for proof of that. Also Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson Windsor and the one time king, Edward VIII.
Me: already part of a long, stable, modern XXI century relationship
Also me: *taking notes and paying my undivided attention to this guide*
😂😂😂
Well, maybe you and your partner can give these tips to your kids someday lol
@@walqqr1 as one of my professors at college explained: "there are two ways to become rich, either by birth or by marriage", to which another professor responded: "or via divorce like our exes did". Needless to say, we're trying to build things up for the 1st option 😬
Kind of the same here! I’m fascinated by this stuff, despite being extremely happily married…and having turned down overtures from a family in the Norwegian nobility in the long-ago past. 😆
😂
How to marry rich :
Be pretty
Be witty
Don’t have embarrassing family
Don’t have shop keepers as family
Have a big house
Don’t have a small house
Go to party’s with rich single guys
And be tall.
@@penultimateh766 of course
And of extreme importance, be very well educated in the liberal arts (not only fine art & literature but fine antiques, such as furniture, crystal glassware, & other furnishings of upper class homes) & be very adept at 'polite conversation' & knowledgeable of the manners of the upper class. As she points out more than once in the video, it's essential that one knows how to behave properly (that is, like the upper class) or else one will quickly learn to regret having married into the upper class.
wtf is this channel omg this is giving me gold digger vibes😳
@@janegarner6739 sounds like someone did regret marrying into the upper class, specifically the royal class....
My grandmother married down. It was a love match, but the family struggled to make ends meet, at times they actually were hungry. Grandfather died young and worn out, grandmother lived to regret the marriage. Money isn't everything, but it's a damned lot.
There's a Latvian saying that goes something like: Where hunger enters the door, love exits through a window.
Pretty much. Money isn't everything yet it does take care of a lot of problems. I wish someone would say that more often
Ellie: if you owned a candle stick shop you’d be lower middle class
Me: feeling personally attacked as I own a small business candle company
It's very different now. You are a boutique entrepreneur.
They sold (and probably made) candles made out of tallow.
My grandmother married down. Her wealthy father ensured all his daughters were educated. They were all school teachers (only thing girls could become). When she married a hog farmer against her father’s wishes he said it was her choice but she would not be welcome back if it didn’t go well for her.
It didn’t and she wasn’t.
ok now i'm intrigued
Wow! That’s so sad that it didn’t go well. 😔
I need more details!
Her life’s story should be a novel.
What a shame. Was her husband simply unfortunate in business? Or was there more to it?
Jane Bennet (Jane Fairfax as well, educated, beautiful, talented, very elegant manners and intelligent) was a perfect exemple of a woman who could easily marry up in the regency era. She is a very beautiful young woman, classy, with gentle and calm spirit, pure of heart, decent and has very lady-like manners, of course with her beauty and personality trades she is admired wherever she goes. The problem was her embarrassing family (Mother and Lydia’s affair that brought serious shame to the family). I never could understand how Mr. Bennet raised such wonderful women as Jane and Lizzie and then the three younger daughters became so foolish. Maybe after he saw his third child wasn’t a male, he gave up on educating properly his daughters, like “whatever”. He was negligent and irresponsible, his major defect. I think Mrs. Bennet nerves attacks was anxiety cuz she knew that her daughters without a rentable marriage would be miserable and her husband did nothing to solve that so she was having panic attacks. She may be foolish and superficial but she at least thought very much of her daughters and was realistic about their situation.
Jane Fairfax is poor-rich, a gentlewoman with good connections by birth- she is technically marrying within her own class
Jane Bennet technically married down, though. It was Bingley who married up. In that case the difference was so small however that clearly people didn't feel the need to even comment on it.
As to the difference between the older Bennet girls and the younger ones, I've seen it suggested that Jane and Lizzy owe much of their good manners to the Gardiners' influence. They seem to be closer with them than the younger sisters are. Perhaps the parents sent Jane and Lizzy to London to seek husbands there back when they were younger, and while the Gardiners weren't able to introduce them to right kind of candidates and the whole thing was a failure in that regard, the girls still benefited from the experience and good example?
I think the suggestion is that because Mrs. Bennet herself came from a modest background, she was not equipped to educate and prepare young ladies. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are a cautionary tale about what happens when gentlemen whose estates are subject to entails (financially precarious) unwisely marry someone who isn’t cut out for the job because she’s cute and a good time. It reflects the beliefs of the author.
Mary was devoted to her studies. Lydia n Kitty were young and may have matured later.
Except Bingleys were only a generation or do from trade.
So that explains the Bingley family really well. Obviously their dad made the money in trade, put his son and daughters in the best schools, married the elder daughter off to a layabout drunkard younger son of the aristocracy and then died leaving his son to find and purchase a manor.
hello genteel people and friends
Hello! I'm here to enquire after you and your family. I hope everyone is in good health?
@@JacquelineViana Everyone is fine thank you for asking
Speaking to me without a proper introduction!! How crass....
😉😄
Jane married up in the money sense, Bingley married up in the class sense.
Manners - I'd say Lady Catherine had none.
The Gardiners - I see them as being quite content in their sphere.
Interesting points! And Jane and Bingley definitely both gain something by their marriage!
When you're *that* rich and have a title like Lady Catherine, who need manners?
Lady Catherine is what Emma Woodhouse could have become without a person like Knightley. She was smarter than most people in her circle, the top dog of their area, and doted upon by quite a few other influential people. No one but Knightly ever really said no to her and that leaves a mark.
Both Lady Catherine and Emma would have benefited from a larger society, with people of similar or higher rank. That would have taught them some humility.
@@adorabell4253 I think a couple of points would have saved Emma - she wanted to be a better person and she had a lot of heart. When she did wrong by Harriet she didn't need Knightley to set her right, she naturally wanted to make amends. But I have to agree Emma's behaviour to the Coles and their evening party in no way flattered her character. However! Once she was at the party she did behave charmingly and I'm not sure Lady Catherine was ever charming to anyone, even Darcy.
The Medici were pharmacists outside of Florence. They invented double entry bookkeeping and the did branch banking. They married up. The English Stuart were Medici.
I thought they started out in insurance, the Medici? Gentleman Jack, the 1830's assures us that manners were regarded less than originality by the upper echelon. To assert there was only one sort of upper class leaves no room for Byron and his 'fat friend', the Prince Regent, who forced his way into the frontispiece of Emma. Dissipation, at the time, seems to have been a part of the rites of passage, as much as the Grand Tour (where you probably got two for the price of one). Yes, theatre, horse racing, gentlemen's clubs, lots of room for tearing it up. But then you had the Duke of Bridgewater who made a vast fortune investing in canal building, some say £70,000. Choose your poison.
@@MalcolmTurner-k2knope. The name Medici means pharmacist. They and the strozzi were rural banking families that married each other. The aristocracy of Europe hated that they were beholden to those bankers in trade. Never mind, the nanking famolies ran iq circles around the upper class.
Being as beautiful as Ellie Dashwood wouldn't hurt.
I would like to see her dress up in a period appropriate costume and hairstyle one day. Maybe an opportunity for a collaboration with another youtuber from the historical costume community.
Agreed, she is a classic beauty
Agreed
Unfortunately, it’s true even today, although we have class climbing today, it’s incredibly uncomfortable to be in a class too high for your level of manners and disposition. Just attend a black tie event and you will suffer the exact embarrassment described if you weren’t brought up to understand the customs.
Yes, but I think the main difference is that many people today would view the snobbery as bad, particularly if they're not in the black tie event. Whereas, in the Regency period, I think there was more of an agreement of what was socially acceptable or not.
I come from a family with many who have a net worth of about 1 million. My rich father did not want me to go to my brothers wedding. Probably partly because I show no signs of building wealth yet
Yeah, a middle class person would likely feel awkward being in a room with Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey. They live in another world, and to be part of that world you'll have to be a billionaire or related to one.
I think this all depends on if you care about the opinions of those around you or not. I respect those like Fauci, Goodall, those who combine both intellectual weight with a sense of ethics that sees them make a positive impact on society or the environment.
If it is anyone else I generally feel nothing for their opinion, well unless I emotionally care for them in some way or have some use for them.
@@dianerose7631 Wow, talk about putting pressure on one’s children. :/
In social-psychology, the technique Ellie talks about is called "anticipatory socialisation". I find her talks highly educational, well-researched and to the point. Rare but wonderful stuff.
I must say that the first thing I thought was, "buy a piece of land and have a more beautiful house" as a first option. I personally would not seek to advance socially if I was in a good situation obviously. My father has a store or is a banker? I would look for someone from a similar social status, as long as I don't have to work, have entertainment and if possible servants to help me around the house I'll be fine.
And people did. You would not be doing anything unusual or unacceptable. It was encouraged by their families for people in trade and business to form alliances and connections with other trade and business families. They would have been the people that you would have encountered in daily business and social life. Some business families felt that the gentry and aristocracy were a bad bargain because they could bring in so many debts, demands and drains on even a large fortune or simply because they lacked similar values and an outlook in common. Others tried to reach for a higher station. To each their own.
Exactly. Why be a small fish in a large pond, if you can be a large fish in a small pond?
I never got that kind of ambition...unless, it elevates you out of poverty or such, of course.
I wouldn't have wanted to constantly fight, to be accepted by the people surrounding me. Never mind, dealing with being snubbed and looked down upon.
@@raraavis7782 And people who could never forget what your origins were. "Not a proper gentleman/lady. Family money came from trade!!!"
Good points all. But, since I am 100% THAT !@#$%, I'd DELIGHT in reminding the "fam" as well as others how they were able to keep their place in society and their land/houses: by marrying me and my millions because they were composed of more mortgage than money. I'd be known as an Original because whatever anyone clapped at me, I'd clap it right back. Only those who wanted a verbal smacking would get in my face with some snobbish nonsense. I would also be highly educated in order to sling innuendo every bit as well as they could. Fun times!!!! 😆🤣😂😹😆🤣
@@alisaoliver1969 Yeah, but being an Original is as much about the way you are received as how you actually behave. People in good society wouldn't exactly appreciate being clapped back at, so without at least a very powerful ally or two, you'd be unlikely to take.
18:00 Im from a working class family and I honestly found it hard to fit into the middle class people at the university i studied. There are so many small things that I just didn't know. Nobody was mean to me about it dough
Can you elaborate on that? Would be so interesting to hear what these modern "social codes" are
@@fridaber6069it would be sports they played, owned a car, not working their way through school, type of summer job or traveled instead, where they vacationed, taking a gap year, if they had a passport, how many outfits they had for job interviews, if they could afford better than ramen noodles, etc.
I always thought Mr. weston did a wonderful job of moving up. He bought a house, became part of society, married a woman of genteel birth, his son inherited a fortune and estate. His son married a young lady of respectable birth and excellent manners.
Yes, key thing was money
What is the source of mr Weston’s money?
I thought Mr Weston had been in the Army, not in trade? Its been a long time since I read it but I thought he was unable to take care of baby Frank because of his military duties (probably being stationed overseas). I don't think he is an example of moving between classes, he obviously had the social connections to marry relatives of rich landed gentry (Frank's connection to the Churchills is through his mother, Mr Weston's first wife). I think he was relatively poor for the upper class, probably a younger son. Emma has zero qualms about associating with him (and even wants him to marry her governess, the closest thing Emma has to a mother) and we know how much of a snob Emma is. She is very concerned about associating with the Coles and is hesitant about Mrs Elton.
Now I think about it he would have had a military title if he had been in the army but I can't believe he was in trade or Emma wouldn't have had anything to do with him I'd have to assume he was in a respectable profession, probably Law.
@@ElizabethJones-pv3sj from what I recall, the one who was in the army was Jane fairfaxes father, which is the reason she was able to grow up with an upper or at least higher middle class upbringing, the reason that mr Weston has connections to the Churchill’s is that his previous wife married down, and when she died he was in so much debt from trying to maintain a lifestyle suitable for someone like her, that the Churchill’s decided to take frank, mrs Churchill’s estranged sisters son
@@ccburro1 Trade.
What I've always wondered is how Darcy became friends with Bingley in the first place? If Bingley comes from a trade background and Darcy is super wealthy, how would they even meet and why would Darcy bother with him? We all know Bingley is agreeable but is that enough to solidify friendship with a Darcy?
I think they met at school. They're about seven years apart in age, but it was usual for a younger boy to be basically a servant for an older student.
I have always wondered this, too. Especially since Darcy seemed to be a social class snob at the beginning of the novel.
Because Bingley had a gentleman's upbringing and education, he still would have been seen as a gentleman socially- he himself had never been a tradesman, only his father. Once he bought an estate, his gentry status would have been properly cemented.
@@zazubombay It's Elizabeth's assumption that he's a snob, simply because he has pride. His friendship with Bingley is actually early proof to the reader that he isn't; plenty of men in his position would not have entertained someone like Bingley as a friend. At the end of the novel, it's mentioned how close Darcy remained with the Gardiners, who are of blatant socially inferiority, yet this doesn't seem to bother him.
Darcy needed someone to take care of. Bingley was socially adept. They were a match made in London.
Interesting personal story about modern snobbery. My grandmother was an American raised in upper class family. Her father was a superior court judge, she was a debutante, went to a private university and traveled abroad after graduation. Her mother was mortified when she married someone she thought was beneath her daughter socially. Interestingly, the marriage didn't last after the children were grown. She said it was because he wasn't available emotionally, but I wonder if their class difference was a factor.
Maybe one reason why he married her was to raise himself socially and it didn't work out.
Not covered in your video was the option for young men to advance socially by joining the Navy.
All it took was a few wars at the right time, so you could get prize money for the capture of enemy merchant men. Advancement, if you are involved in combat and a superior officer dies you are almost certain to be promoted. While there is a downside to marrying a poorly educated man of lower social class, a war hero is different.Especially if he has a nice uniform and a few medals.
Finally with all these wars going on there will be a shortage of suitable men, an over supply of rich daughters thanks to all the money being spent on ships and guns (trade). So it is a great time to spend your prize money on a nice piece of land, marry that pretty young, well connected, thing and move on to a nice life in the country. The flaw in this plan is that most people who attempted it died
True. Also colonial endeavors were useful, as were colonial wars, for such career advancing and class climbing.
yea... i was thinking... what about sons.... how could they advance and imitate the upper class. i was thinking perhaps somehow trying to push into the navy, army, clergy or government? Seems harder than a daugther marrying up though
Exactly what happens to Captain Wentworth in Persuasion- before he went off to war he wasn’t suitable, but after making a lot of money- he was!
Even more than Captain Wentworth, Admiral Croft and his wife Sophia/Sophy come to mind.
Croft moves up in the ranks in the Navy, marries Sophia Wentworth of a good family but impoverished branch (amd with naval connections of her own). Her next brother Edward becomes a clergyman with his own living, and her yoynger brother Frederick becomes a captain with a snug fortune. As a midshipman, he was earlier ineligible for a rich baronet's daughter. As a wealthy ship's captain, he was just about acceptable for a now poor baronet's daughter.
Interesting to think of Carolyn Bingley and Lizzie where Carolyn must have been wildly envious because she spent all this time and effort trying to be in Lizzie's class and still failed in the eyes of Darcy. What's even more interesting is that we have this in the States. Middle class behavior is so, well, obvious. My parents were highly educated but both of them were from the upper lower class and could not adjust to middle class values (like cocktail hour and golf). They preferred beer and camping out. But being so educated put them out of the blue collar realm in which they were comfortable. We both went to good schools or worked places where middle class people engaged in that cutting behavior in which Carolyn Bingley excelled and despised it. I worked with the extremely rich, and got along with them very well because we both had no middle class values! The only differences in our behavior were money, and not manners at all. I went to high school in England and also found this to be the case. Because I was eccentric and an artist, I was acceptable to the upper classes and not to the middle, where manners and appearance were the driving factors. My sister married up and faced constant criticism and was somewhat miserable at having to watch her every move, even in the US. Good video!
Caroline Bingley's fatal error was thinking that the aristocracy were snobs and full of contempt for the lower classes (even though she, herself, was of a lower class). She was wrong, especially in the case of Darcy. It was probably the nail in the coffin that she tried so hard to denigrate Lizzy, who was in the same class as Darcy, in an effort to elevate herself in his eyes. It did the opposite.
Could she have been something of a mirror to him that gave weight to Lizzy's words about his pride? Did he recognize his need to come down off his own pedestal? It seems possible.
Reminds me of Winston Churchill's parents - his father was a member of the aristocracy and his mother was a rich American heiress. A perfect match for both :)
too bad his mom was miserable! But we have to thank her for Winston's legacy!
@@courtneydebian
Jennie Jerome was not miserable.
Money was a constant problem
because both Jennie and Randolph
lived beyond their means. However,
she and he agreed on politics and she
was very helpful to his career, early
on. As he became successful and
did not need his wife's close support;
they did not see very much of each
other. But, by then Jennie had her
own circle of friends and her many
very rich lovers.
Jennie and Randolph had an open
marriage. After his death she
married two much younger men.
And they had a mass murderer son. How wonderful!
@Qrtuop
Are you referring to the Bengal Famine? This was caused by a monsoon and a Japanese invasion of Burma cutting off food supplies. Churchill arranged for food supplies to be sent from Australia, Iraq and Canada during WWII with ships being sunk.
I loved this video! It really reminds me of the "Dollar Princesses"; the daughters of extremely wealthy American business moguls who married financially strapped European aristocracy. Of course this happened about 100 years after Jane Austen's time, but it was scandalous none the less.
A lot of people know of poor Consuelo Vanderbilt, forced to marry the ninth Duke of Marlborough, with a dowry of $2.5 million in railroad stocks (over $75 million in today's money), but another fascinating story is the Mary Leiter, who married George Curzon. It didn't seem that exciting when they married (he was a member of Parliament, and a gentleman, but definitely not a duke), BUT George ended up becoming the viceroy of India in 1898, arguably the most powerful position in the English government, below Queen Victoria herself. Lady Mary Curzon became the Vicereine of India, and for all intents and purposes, lived the life of a queen. Another positive note is that Mary and George had a loving and supportive marriage. 😊
Another one was Kick Kennedy who would've become Duchess of Devonshire if she and her husband had lived, which I find really interesting!
On "Downton Abbey," Cora Levinson Crawley, who became Countess of Grantham, was a dollar princess.
And she wore the most beautiful gown ...The Peacock dress. Bernadette Banner has a video on it... Shame it has deteriorate , but even now it looks wonderful
Yes! New money families with daughters were sending their “dollar princesses “ to England because they were having trouble marrying them off in America. Men from old money families didn’t want vulgar new money ladies and men from anew money background also wanted to marry into an old money family. So sending their girls to England where poor aristocratic families needed money meant that their families could gain respectability and consequence.
@@fatimaachebly1279 I don’t think Kick classified as a Dollar Princess though, she wasn’t given nor promised a significant fortune to invest in Chatsworth. In other words, she lacked the “dollar” even if she came from a relevant family.
It'd be interesting to see you touch on the landed gentry being at risk of losing their fortunes and having to marry the wealthy American daughters to keep that money. I find the Million Dollar Princesses as they were called so interesting to learn about.
yes! but the regency was much different than the late victorian
@@Udontkno7 I'm aware of that, but she doesn't talk solely about the Regency Era. She has covered different eras.
Wouldn't it just be the same as marrying any girl of money below your class?
@@funkyfranx i think that, because for a long time, being American was seen as '' less'' for British aristocracy
your comment reminds me of mr. henry wotton in dorian gray said about American women in the book LOL
The manners part reminded me of some job-seeking advice I hear from time to time: dress for the job you ultimately want, not the one you are applying for. Of course, that advice is mostly aimed at college students to encourage them to dress better for job interviews, but still... manners.
Unless, you come over-dressed (yes, that is a thing)and lose the job because you make your interviewer nervous...or-if you are a woman- you look better in your clothes than your female interviewer. Manners are okay up to a certain point, otherwise you look pretentious.
While marrying up was rare - but done- at least within ones class, marrying down was a thing, too (see the three sisters in Mansfield Park - one married rich, one married respectable, one married down). Marrying down was of course frowned upon, but there were less men than women (too many wars) - so what was a girl supposed to do? Stay a *gasp* spinster?
The sex imbalance was also made worse by primogeniture…. If you want to become Lady Whoever, you need to marry Lord Whoever, not his younger brother.
It really was hard to find suitable husbands back then!
@@archervine8064 unless of course, if the elder brother dies....which Miss Crawford is speculating for in Mansfield Park.
@@andreaweber8059 true, but hard to count on that…
@@archervine8064 One could "make sure" it happens, though there's the risk of getting caught.
You should do a video on the book Vanity Fair in relation to trying to move up in social class. The criticism that book and the movie adaptations get is so disgustingly sexist about a woman daring to be ambitious and open in her desire to marry up. Obviously every woman wanted to marry up because that was the only way a woman could be secure in society but how dare we talk about openly .
I just wrote the same petition! I hope she does a vid on Vanity Fair. I do think that in some adaptations its interesting (like the movie with Reese Witherspoon) they kinda give Becky a happy ending. Even in the amazon at the end Becky rides the carousel. Kinda like a nod that nowadays what Becky does is ultimately what a lot of us do, take your destiny in your own hands and do as best as you can with the hand you are dealt.
I was thinking about the late Mrs. William Elliot. Mr. Elliott married her because she was wealthy, so he would have money to spend. She also happened to be beautiful and well-educated.
But her father was apparently in a less respectable line of trade, and she was described as "very low." So low, in fact, that she drove Mr. Elliott down - not even his closest friends, such as the Smiths, could remain acquainted with him while she lived.
There's so much going on there.
lol no, the Smiths were very close to Mrs Elliot at first. They only ceased their intimacy when Mr Smith couldn't keep up with Mr Elliot's extravagant new lifestyle and Mr Elliot found his friend's new penury an embarassment.
It's someone who married not out of my class but specifically out of my culture, I actually kind of agree with the idea that they could very easily spend the rest of their lives being frustrated with not being as natural in knowing how to behave in an upper-class. Coming from the West Coast United States and marrying into a deep south family I have spent a good portion of time feeling frustrated and irritated and confused as to the social expectations and I've actually caused myself a lot of Problem by not knowing how something women behave. I come from a culture that is very straightforward and if you don't like somebody you just don't like them you don't behave like you do like them but here in the South I have come to learn that a lot of women who pretend to be my friend or not and that is pretty normal. I didn't know the be nice to somebody wasn't genuine at first glance. So I can understand especially how some of mr. Darcy's family treat Elizabeth
I would never have thought about marrying 'up' or at all (I never did) ... however, my mother always thought of that. She was beautiful and smart! She was actually a 'hair' model in the 50s. She married rotten money first time around - divorced (drinking and all that entails) ... second, she married a young officer in the military (my dad). She always stressed good manners and education to her children. We were taught proper table manners - I would not be intimidated attending a 'regency' dinner - our holiday dinners actually look a lot like the ones displayed on the shows; she would say, who knows who you will be dining with when you grow up so learn it now; be as comfortable with a crystal glass of wine or a bottle of beer. If there were no social functions, dinner was at 6:30 every night with fully set table - conversation was current events complete with 'word of the day' .... We read many classics and learned 'old' games (chess, cribbage, backgammon and cards) oh, and we learned needle / thread work - even my brothers can sew and one was remarkable at counted cross stitch.
Growing up, I thought everyone lived like we did ... I was in for a rude awakening as an adult! We used to kid my mom that she should start a school for ladies because we had fun learning it all - and now I know that type of thinking is in line with Austen's era.
Have been enjoying your videos!
I think this may be a military thing. My mother ran our home very similarly. My high school was full of Pentagon kids, and we all had to know table settings, etc. I got a Girl Scout badge in needlework and hospitality!
I suppose that if I were a rich heiress aiming to marry up I would be constantly worried that my husband would only marry me because of my money and have no real affection for me. Maybe I would be better off remaining single and live off the interest of my fortune.
I think what is not mentioned here is investment money. Many, many landed gentlemen and nobles became invested in companies like the East India company, putting them into trade and making them even wealthier. So at about the same time as the regency period, and even before, Britain was highly involved in international trade, and it was quite lucrative. Investments in fabrics like silk, jewelry and precious and semi-precious stones, metals such as gold and silver, were quite common, even among the landed gentry and the nobility. In fact, without investment by nobility, luxury trade would not have been possible.
Yes colonial ventures and trade were major destination for british investments at the time. I think in Mansfield Park Sir Thomas the owner of the house is in Antigua setting up business.
Much of this involvedslavery
I recently started reading about the Scottish Enlightenment (starting in the 18th C), and I'm finding it shocking how much *more* egalitarian Scotland was than England in this period. Like, fully half of the University students were "the sons of industry and commerce", a lot of merchants and tradesmen were happily reading Latin and Greek, and great academics like Adam Smith were able to write "The Wealth of Nations" because he was besties with the Tobacco Lords of Glasgow, and great poets like Robbie Burns was the son of a ploughman. They aren't talking about marriage trends, though, so I'm a bit curious about how it compared to England in Austen's era. I feel like Austen would have been writing significantly different novels if she'd been born north of Gretna Green.
That’s why the British Empire and Royalty had been so scared of Scotland for so long. Yes they had their own Kings and Queens, but they really kicked off moving to a more modern society and England hated that.
many scientists and technologists were scottish, right? apart from Maxwell...
It seems that the Gardiner family was already transitioning to the upper class in P&P. Supposing Mr. Gardiner's father was in roughly the same situation, of the 3 children we know of, 2 have married into the upper class: Mrs. Bennet by snagging a landed gentleman, and her sister marrying a lawyer, one of the gentile professions.
Mr. Philips would not have been considered upper class. Lawyers, with some exceptions, were viewed as a kind of tradesman. I think it would be interesting to know more about Mrs. Gardiner's background. She is a perfect lady.
Speaking of Mrs Elton, what do you think of the theory that she was actually a con artist who didn’t really have a sister at Maple Grove and probably had a lot less money than was originally thought? She always changes the subject when Jane Fairfax talks about MG, and the way she describes the place as looking just like Emma’s house and grounds is improbable to say the least.
I’d never thought of that! But it fits...😁
I don't think she was a con artist. First, I am sure Elton wouldn't have married her without her dowry, and these things had to be formalized at some point, I think unlikely he would go so far without making sure she had that money. I am sure Mrs. Elton was a social climber, with her own money from family trade, what she needed was a man in a respectable, gentlemanly profession such as the church, to cement her claim to gentility. As the wife of a gentleman she can claim she is a lady. Also, despite the church being a gentleman's profession, it did not bring a lot of money, so I am sure marrying rich was of extreme importance to Mr.Elton.
Maple Grove being near Bristol represented slave trade money…. Jane Austen was supportive of abolition it’s why she have Mrs Norris the name of a defender of slavery
@@BoninBrighton Mrs Elton gets very defensive when Jane refers to governess trade as human trading, saying that her family were "always friends of the abolition"
I married up in todays class system and it’s kind of stressful. Luckily his family are nice but the “fitting in” and expectations are like speaking a foreign language. It can be done but it will never be comfortable and automatic.
Truth be told the Bennets outranked the Bingleys. His family was in trade. He was marrying up.
I told a boy my grandfather was a doctor in the army (I don't remember how it came up) and knew the king, and he one upped me saying his uncle was a general and knew the king. Like dang, I guess everyone has a general or doctor or someone who knew the king in their family. Crazy how there's a judgment for everyone. Such is the fate of those who are not rich, and especially, apparently, of the ones who are!
What I am saying is that it amazes me how much bragging and one upping there is if you are young and dealing with non dirt-poor people. I am personally impressed if your uncle is a lawyer. That being said some educated and well to do people are monsters and really do look down on others.
This is really interesting, as a man who grew up poor, became very successful, and dated a super rich European girl for a few months; I definitely saw signs of this kind of thing still happening. I doubtless embarrassed her as well, haha. Something about the way I ate with one hand marked me as not being part of her social class, she told me.
That's not a matter of social class. Here in Europe all kids are taught to eat with fork and knife, and we find the American custom of cutting the food all at once and then eating only with fork funny to say the least (and a bit uncough). I think that this is more a cultural than class difference. I have no doubt that many of our European customs make Americans laugh, too.
@@veronikavolhejnova5036 Americans do that?!
@@FOLIPE Don't know how many, but I met several who do, and they said it's normal.
@Anni Runaway I do, but I'm left-handed. What I remember of my etiquette lessons is that American eating etiquette is actually more involved than the European etiquette, because it was a subtle oneupmanship. But no one really uses it outside of high events that almost never happen.
@@veronikavolhejnova5036 It's not considered polite to cut all our food all at once in the US. it's considered polite to cut one piece at a time, with the fork in our left hand and the knife in our right hand. Then we lay the knife down on the plate, transfer the fork to our right hand, and eat the one cut piece with perhaps some veggies, etc, but only with our right hand. Then we pick up the knife again to cut the next piece, with the fork going back to our left hand. To eat with both knife and fork in hand is considered uncouth to us. :) We wouldn't say anything, but we'd secretly think they had been raised in a barn. lol
Mrs. Bennett did it. Of course she was quite the looker according to Mr. Bennett. And she had a decent dowry. Also, my wife would LOVE your necklace.
Actually i wondered abou this because it didn't sound like Mrs Bennett's dowry was really that good, and i got the impression that many in their social circle thought her manners/ behavior was inappropriate. This video made me wonder why Mr Bennett married down to her.
@@KiraRagged When she was young she was HOT. People will do rash things owing to sexual attraction.
@@michellebrouellette Yes, and she came with 4000 pounds, if I remember correctly, 3000 more than her daughters will receive.
Ooh you should make a video about the American heiresses that married into the British nobility!
After watching this video, all I want if for you to do a deep dive into vanity fair and how that book presents social mobility!
That is a great idea! Thank you!
Although slightly pre-Regency Era - marrying "too far" above is very well portrayed in the book/TV series 'Poldark'.
I'd highly recommend a read/watch (I'd recommend the 2015 version), particularly to any non UK viewers who haven't heard of it before! You'll love it! 😊
I believe that there was some sort of coveted advantage that Venetian glassblowers had that allowed their daughters to move past their family's trade status and attract men in the upper class. Another slightly later example was in The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton, where the daughters of American railroad, oil, steel, and shipping tycoons traded piles of "new" money for European titles and status through marriage. This backstory plot line was recently used in Downton Abbey to show how Cora could move up-class to become Lady Grantham.
I have an ancestor who married down, way down. She left a title and a castle to marry a sailor turned farmer, and family lore claims scandal.
I wonder how many married ‘down’ and chose someone kind over someone ‘suitable’.
Even though we are more free and more upwardly mobile now, we basically still have those social rankings. We know when someone is upper class just looking at their schools, hobbies, interests, manner of talking and behaving, etc. It can't be helped. That is how humans are and we tend to move within our own circle and it is hard to penetrate the upper class unless you earn a lot of money but even then, the old rich look down on the nouveau riche but the former just don't show it because they are not supposed to be vulgar but classy and dignified :)
EDIT: And even now, when a woman marries too high up, she is called a gold digger (even if she has some money like with famous actresses). And for the men, the same thing applies. And if you marry below your social status, you are also looked down upon. Just shows that only civil liberties have changed but social expectations have more or less remained the same.
That is not how humans are, that is a class system developed so that few control private property and most have to slave their whole lives to keep the rich rich.
I gotta say...I rather agree with the book, you quoted from.
I do believe, marrying out of your class, would probably have set you up for lots of unpleasant situations and being treated with condescension by others.
Don't know, if it would have been worth it in a time, where socializing with a rather limited number of acquaintances and books/instruments were your only form of entertainment.
You would have basically experienced the equivalent to fat/ugly shaming today and we all know, what that does to people.
But your children would be born in a higher class which would be a huge plus as the family status was significant.
Good point. Americans think differently, since people who are wealthier are expected to make accommodations for others, and welcome them without looking down their nose at them. Most American wealth (outside the old East Coast families) was gained relatively recently anyway, so fewer people have a long heritage of wealth, and we instinctively don't like class barriers. But in that era in England, the social pressures and barriers were just too great. You would be a high-school basketball player stepping onto an NBA court. You simply don't have the ability to fit in, and everybody sees. it.
If you're looking at a novel about this, I would recommend The Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer, which is step by step about this.
love Georgette Heyer, I have just started this book
That's one of my favorites. It's so deep and genuine.
That was fascinating, thank you. Your discussion now puts a different light on William Elliot's first marriage. I thought her parents were just foolish and carried away by wanting their daughter to marry 'up' because of the idea of it only; but it seems they would have benefited from her marriage with William Elliot's higher connections and perhaps gained financially.
I'm not completely sold on Miss Grey wanting Willoughby for his position in society, or at least, not only that - remember what Mrs Jennings said:
".....except that Mrs. Taylor did say this morning, that one day Miss Walker hinted to her, that she believed Mr. and Mrs. Ellison would not be sorry to have Miss Grey married, for she and Mrs. Ellison could never agree."
Miss Grey and her guardian's wife didn't get along so she'd have been keen to get her own household. Also because of how she was characterised by Willoughby during his apology for his behaviour to Elinor - when he describes Miss Grey as coyly pretending to be play acting when asking to see his pocketbook so she can go through his things and then find Marianne's letters - which left me with the idea she knew full well of what she would find. Her behaviour during that scene put me in mind of many jealous people going through their partner's phone - I think that's plain jealously. One more thing though, is that Willoughby had already seduced two young women - one to her ruin - and was a charming fellow, and fully capable of working on another young woman solely for her money. So Eliza was lust; Miss Grey was greed, and Marianne was love.
Suggestion for shorts, read a few lines of classic literature to your cat…. While petting them… or playing with them. More Cat please
😂😂😂😂 My cat would love that!
I often read to my cat and he never fails to give his opinions on the day’s text. Cats! 😹
I was not taught etiquette or manners by my birth parents but by well meaning friends and mentors being a working poor class. However when I was adopted by a middle class family and had to learn how to be more tactful and polite it was hard to undo 16 years . I've taken a etiquette course and now work in an upper middle class area. trying to make more money so my children can go to better schools and teaching them etiquette so they can blend in with higher status people and rise higher than me.
Well, I'd say it would depend on my options. Like if I had the option to merry up and the guy doesn't seem violent or something like that I'd merry up. If I would have any say in the matter.
That’s such a good consideration! What is this guys temperament? 🤔
0:07 This is the video I’ve been waiting for. I will send a link to my boyfriend to make my intentions clear. His last name is literally Gentry!
😂😂😂 He definitely needs to watch this and immediately propose while you take a scenic walk through the English countryside.
@@EllieDashwood yes oh my goodness yesss!!! He bought the right actually, it’s Art Deco!
Love your videos! I read Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice many years ago when I was in secondary school. It's an ESL class so a lot of details were skipped in the book. I learned a lot more from your videos and noticed how much there is behind the scenes!
Yay! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the videos! 😃😃😃
I would try to marry to the highest ladder of my class and work on my kids to step over the boundary: they would then have a better opportunity to marry their offspring a little higher in the ladder...
I just want to point out that these parameters still work today: you need to have at least a high-flying career or to be an ownee of a successful company with income to match. (Your parent's status becomes an embarrassment even if you can act the part.) It's a fallacy to think class system is a thing of the past just because we don't openly acknowledge it! Of course, these days you could marry up and still be better off after a divorce - the next marriage will be easier as you have learned the right manners and attitude and have that money from previous divorce settlement... There are women like that!
You have become one have my favorite TH-cam channels, I have learned so much and I appreciate the books so much more. I read Emma I while ago and I really enjoyed it, next I plan on reading Sense and Sensibility
As I recall a large part of S&S is all about how people manage their social climbing so there are loooong sections describing how someone met this group who introduced them to that group etc. Lucy Steele had some work to do in particular.
Yay! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the videos! 😃 And I hope you love Sense and Sensibility!
This reminds me of Gosford Park, where Freddie Nesbitt is ashamed of his wife Mabel. Freddie, who married for money the daughter of a glove manufacturer, has run through his wife's dowry and is irked that she doesn't have the breeding to fit in with a weekend shooting party.
Gosford Park is one of my favourites, good to see someone else remembers it.
Never read the book, but based on your description, I'd wonder what Mabel thinks of Freddie. After all, she's played her part in providing her money, which he has "run through," and despite her being the only reason (I assume) he was able to maintain his lifestyle for as long as he did, he's ashamed of her. Not to mention that, having run through her dowry, he is not threatening to drag her down with him.
If you’ve never seen the movie Gosford Park it definitely has some of the marrying down you talked about! It’s 1930’s England but there is a women whose father owned factories and she married The Honorable so and so. The other guests look down on her for it, ( as does her jackass of a husband). It’s a fab movie and cast, I highly recommend it!
You don't mention Charlotte Lucas ...her father had been a shop keeper before being elevated to a peerage and became Sir William Lucas. The Bingley sisters sneered, but it didn't stop Mr Collins from marrying her. This improved Mariah Lucas's chances of marrying into a better class than she had been born into.
So what I'm hearing is "Get mega rich and then ignore the shit out of the upper class, they're all elitist snobs anyway"
Well, yes. 200+ years ago.
So when Emma was trying to marry Harriet to Mr. Elton, Mr. Knightley was pointing out how her lack of connections would be too great for Elton to accept. And even Emma thought that Harriet was not good enough for Mr. Knightley (putting aside her feelings on the matter),
Harriet, of course, has the added hurdle of having NO family connections and the assumption that she is an illegitimate child. Emma, a romantic snob, sees Harriet being a "lady by blood" without legitimacy, as better than being a respectable member of the middle class, but pragmatic, clear-sighted Mr. Knightley sees differently
I'm wondering: would elder daughters get larger dowries, or would all daughters have equal dowries? If the latter, then each sister would be losing money every time a new daughter was born, but the former (to use Lizzie's words) would hardly encourage sisterly affection!
I have wondered about that, too. We do know it for the Bingley and Bennet sisters, in both cases they get an equal share....
I think in general if the family were wealthy enough all daughters and younger sons would be given (in dowery form for girls) equal shares, obviously the eldest son inherits the estate and the money that entails plus a title if there is one. The only exception is say if a rich, childless relative dies and leaves money to a daughter or younger son
Once one daughter has married up, she would be expected to help the remainder of the family to rise as well through her new connections. Her married status is greater than for a single woman.
The only case of unequal dowry I know of was when the 5th Duke of Devonshire (certified AH) gave 30,000 to the eldest daughters, one of them illegitimate, and gave only 10,000 to the youngest. But as soon as their brother took over the title, he gave his sister another 20,000, and I think as much because he was decent as because that was the norm.
@@giovana4121 It's probably very obvious and I'm sorry if so - but may I ask what certified AH means?
Your anecdote about the hypothetical woman who married above her station and hated it reminds me of Pygmalion/My Fair Lady, both in Liza's character arc of achieving the appearance/social connections of a lady but finding that this comes with its own difficulties and in her father's arc of inheriting a bunch of money and being openly disdainful of the fact that he has to be a respectable gentleman now. Pygmalion premiered about 100 years after Austen was active, but a lot of aspects of English society remained the same, it seems.
There's a couple of other ways to marry up. One is the slow path through buying a coat of arms and climbing over a couple of generations from the wealthy yeomanry into the gentry until you can marry up via a younger daughter of a neighbour. (Shakespeare tried this path but his family didn't last long enough to really be gentry)
One open to all classes that lack a sense of propriety is to be an actress, get the manners via stage training, become so wildly popular that scandal is almost a positive, and run off with a besotted Duke (like Lavinia Fenton who originated Polly in the Beggars Opera, though admittedly she didn't marry him until his wife passed away.)
Very interesting! When you were discussing lower middle class ladies aspiring to wed upper class gentlemen and just embarrassing themselves I was reminded of "My Fair Lady". I know this isn't Regency era but Eliza Doolittle is still lower class trying to learn to fit into upper class society - with the help of the irreverent Henry Higgins.
Eliza's ambition was to become a shop assistant, so she could rise above being a street seller of flowers--and have a room of her own to stay warm in!
This was so interesting. It made me rethink how in North and South, John Thornton is working on his education by learning literature from Margaret Hale’s father to improve himself. He’s very wealthy, but he can see his factories from his windows and so is bettering himself by improving his education. It also made me think of the line in A Little Princess (the book, not the movie) when they say although Sara’s father was in trade he was not only fabulously wealthy but it was from diamond mines, and it’s even commented that the allure of it being diamonds made one willing to overlook that it was from trade.
The idea of a dowry is not dead. My mother had one, as did I. My marriage to a cousin, not within the forbidden degrees of consanguinity, was arranged. While he did not control my dowry, it did have to be returned to me in total when the marriage failed. My daughter, and her daughter, also have dowries. Ours goes in the female line. My son also has a daughter and he is acquiring a dowry for her. It's not riches untold, but it does grant breathing space. While a dowry does not, in 20th and 21st century America, guarantee a marriage won't fail, it does give some financial security if a husband abandons the family. Even in modern America, a wife can be reduced to penury rather quickly when a marriage breaks up.
Maybe it would be better for them to have, you know, CAREERS
@@Qrtuop Maybe they do have, you know, careers. Money can still be quite helpful even to a career woman when a husband has evaporated.
I always learn something, thank you. It's like you're telling me a story or a tutorial, I enjoy listening while drawing, even more so than listening to music.
Here is a suggestion for future vidoes of the Regency Era; Mistresses and Social climbers. You mention in the video it was very difficult (almost impossible.) for a woman from the lower middleclass and working class to marry up in the society, but there are few exceptions. Like Rebecca Sharp from Vanity Fair and Lady Emma Hamilton (Mistress of Lord Nelson.) It would be nice if you make a videos about these women.
Seconded!
It seems like everything in the Regency was about connections. I am curious about lower class people trying to move up. Like a man that worked in the warehouse of a wealthy man marrying his daughter to his bosses son. Did that happen very often? Or were people from poor families always fated to be poor due to lack of connections?
I think there were opportunities in trade (working your way up) and the military. Also colonial exploration/exploring the frontier. There are known cases of social climbing this way, but of course it's a minority.
Same
I think there was a chance for them to start something in trade and moving up, consequently becoming a rich merchant or something? Then they could save up to buy land and all that could help their kids marry up.
In Emma, Mr. Elton marries a woman who came from new money, so she married up.
Great job, Ellie! This will come in handy when I get my time machine working again! 😁😂
I’m so sorry to hear about your time machine! I hope you get it fixed soon. At least you can use this time to stock up on essential information to use on your next trip. 🤔😂
Of course when it was fixed, we will want a report.
@@christina1wilson Just came back. Tried to land a gal and move up, but I was too American Backwoods for them apparently. I suggested to them, tho, (as a token of good will), to invest in Apple as it will “big” someday. They were very perplexed and asked if my father was a grocer of some sort. Mission: FAILED.
just wanted to say that your makeup and eyebrows look flawless
17:50 is the best part of any video of yours I’ve seen yet. You are so funny and critical but you always make fun so reasonably and in service of educating us.
16:25. Basically the plot line of Evelina.
And this makes me appreciate even more the uphill battle Lucy Steele had to fight.
Yes - also Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair
I just started reading Middlemarch, and this made me think of Miss Vincy and the remark that she's over educated and all her accomplishments will be wasted when she marries a man of her own station. She, of course, thinks she will marry up--snd I can't wait to see how it unfolds!
One of my favorite books ever! Enjoy!
I think it might be interesting to have a video on officers and buying a commission and how that played into these social considerations. What's Wickham's class level?
I would think he’s middle class at most - his father worked for the elder Mr Darcy. Regency Austen readers would have understood that he did very well (socially speaking) by the end of the novel - and that would’ve been galling to them...
Army officers were considered gentry in the same way the clergy were, despite not being landowners. They were expected to live like gentlemen as well, despite earning a pittance.
Not necessarily. Mr Wickham the elder was steward to Mr Darcy the elder. That was often an occupation for younger sons in the upper class. Or an occupation for an retired officer. But certainly with connections to the upper class. Like Bertie Pelham in Downton Abbey. His second? cousin, the marquess, is rarely at home, Bertie takes care of the running of the estate.
Militia officers didn’t have to buy a commission.
Wickam bought an ensign position at 23, that would traditionally be filled by 16 year olds. It does show his lack of money.
Speaking of acceptable types of trade, one example is from Cranford when it's decided that for poor clergyman's daughter it's acceptable to sell tea. Another example is from North and South where Margaret is discussing manufacturers with her mother and are like "oh yeah, back at home there was that one who made carriages, but it's ok, carriages are ok and acceptable"
I'm so happy that your channel is finally getting the views it deserves
I like what you're doing since history is not just about major things done but it's also about the culture of the time and how that functioned for the people that lived then.
Your channel is my new favorite channel! I started reading Pride and Prejudice when I was fairly young, but I didn't finish it because it was too hard to read for me at the time. Then when Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was announced I thought "wtf is that" so I bought the book and read it in less than a day. Of course, this meant I had to immediately read Pride and Prejudice (which I did) and by the end of the week I had watched every adaptation I could find and re-read parts of the book.
Your channel is just making me want to re-live that week again, I might settle for re-reading Pride and Prejudice and maybe Emma (my second favorite). It's also nice to understand the everyday lives of people in that era a little better, I'm hoping that I'll understand the issues a little more next time I read Jane Austen's work thanks to your channel!
Great video as usual! Please do make video about fundamental beauty routines in regency era/beauty routines that jane austen's characters most probably take!
Thank you! That’s a great video idea!
Staying within your class was prevalent even to recent times. My father was British, and he was offered a very good job when he came the US, which he refused because the felt it was above him.
Your videos brighten and lighten my day. Thank you.
I've just found your channel. I'm not sure if you're a PhD student or just a hobby researcher but so much time and effort must go into making these videos so kudos to you, they are really well done!
I loved your comment how all of the regency upper class would like this page. Made me chortle. Your videos are amazing! Thank you
Thanks for the helpful overview. It reminds me of W.H. Auden's 1936 poem "Letter to Lord Byron," in which he says of Austen's novels:
It makes me uncomfortable to see
An English spinster of the middle class
Describe the amorous effects of `brass',
Reveal so frankly and with such sobriety
The economic basis of society.
Omg I always zone out when other youtubers remind me to like their videos, but your methods have an 100% success rate on me. Lol. Definitely smashed that like button ASAP.
How does everyone know how much everyone else is worth? I assumed talking about your wealth was in poor taste back then. But at the same time, it seemed like you wanted people to know so they regarded you highly. Was there a protocol for disclosing but not disclosing that info?
Good question
I wanne know, too.
They always seemed to have pretty accurate numbers, not just rough estimates. Maybe tax records were public?
I think there were some type of who is who books, mostly about ancestry of cpurse, but they obviously mention the house belonging to the title. Maybe they list the size of the lands as well?
Often servants would gossip and brag about how much their masters earned as well. I don't thin it was easy keeping secrets in this era.
I would assume it was more done by show. Be seen at the right places, wear the right clothes, go to the opera, finagle an introduction to the right people. (Save the right person from drowning).
We need more Emma content.
I guess I was sort of raised in a Jane Austen novel, in a way. A rather scandalous one, I suppose. I always wondered why I related to regency era fiction so much, but as I've written this all out, I've come to realize a lot of it reflects (though, obviously, not entirely, and on a smaller scale) my own upbringing.
I was raised pretty solidly middle class, but with upper middle class dreams: dad was the vice president of a medium-sized company with some foreign business partners, mom could afford to be a stay at home mom and still any work she does is mostly to keep herself busy, I went to private school and most of my self-worth as a young woman rested upon things like "talent" or how pretty I was, etc. My parents were sort of modern-day "social climbers:" Both me and my brother were raised to be exceedingly polite, our grammar and education were really important to them, they'd scoff at any friends we made that they felt weren't the correct "class" (which, for me, was most of the friends I was drawn to,) and we lived in a regular suburban house compared to most of our parents' friends and their children that they foisted upon us (whom I always hated) who lived in fairly fancy McMansions, because my parents were focused on decking us out in all the more socially noticeable drippings of being "upper class." We'd spend that money on vacations we can flaunt or nice shoes people can notice or education and respectable extracurriculars for the kids instead of on some fancy house.
As I mentioned before, I never had a natural affinity for my "own class" or the class my parents wanted me to move into. My first best friend was the daughter of recent immigrants from Mexico and they lived in a (quite expensive as I'm looking back on it) apartment complex. I can remember my parents being apprehensive about going to visit them and only being baseline polite whenever they had to be around my friend's parents. But, I absolutely loved them and I loved my friend. I was always drawn to more kind, accepting, silly, and laid-back natures, and found that almost entirely across the board (there are exceptions,) the upper middle class had almost no sense of humor or acceptance for those unlike them. They were judgemental and mean, including my own parents, who were unkind, nasty, and abusive behind closed doors to both me and my brother. I always felt like they felt thwarted by us, like they'd been so close to moving up the ranks and we'd ruined it by not being perfect enough. I always felt a harrowing connection with the children of Sir Thomas and General Tilney, having been thrown out of my home multiple times because I wouldn't fall in line with what they preferred, and was belittled and called terrible names.
As of now, I've done the ultimate Jane Austen faux pas and cut off ties with my fairly well-off family as a woman (*gasp*) and am now living with my loving boyfriend of five years who comes from a "lower class" (though, thinking that makes me feel icky, we definitely came from slightly different financial upbringings) and I, personally, couldn't be happier. We've definitely had our learning curves (I'll never forget the horrified stares I got when I threw away some of the plastic containers that had come with the Chinese we'd ordered early in our relationship 😂) but I've learned and have lost quite a few of my "genteel manners" over the years, which I now mostly see as a superficial song and dance that people like to use to judge others for anything other than their strength of character or their mind. I do think me and my boyfriend have some important things in common that make our relationship work, such as common interests, talents, work ethics, morals, etc. I consider him an "honorable man of good character" in every way that matters, and I admire and respect him. I won't pretend we're not struggling financially, though honestly everyone is right now, including my own parents, from what I've heard. It's only been almost four years since I had to restart on my own, and it's been a tough going getting ourselves financially in shape. But, I still see my ending as happy, though I suppose Jane Austen would have predicted I'd have chosen poorly and fallen completely into despair. Though I guess I can attribute that to the wonderful new opportunities women have to make their own money.
I guess I wanted to share this as a foil to other stories I've been seeing showing how people from different backgrounds don't always get along. It hasn't been a walk on the beach (absolutely no relationship is) and there have been hardships (as every life bears) but my life is my own and I feel as though I am surrounded by people that love *me* and care for *me,* which is something I always struggled to find among other people in my "class." I feel my current partner acts more gentlemanly than most of the more "upper class" guys I'd been introduced to, who were mostly superficial, vain, and misogynistic. Of course, that's only my own experiences, and I've absolutely met some exceptions, as I mentioned before, but I guess everyone's life is their own to live.
Two things happened to rattle the social order - the American and French revolutions, and colonization/ industrial Revolution creating huge fortunes that reached FU money. Maybe a girl couldn’t marry way up, but she could marry ambition and her daughters could marry up. People planned this across generations.
That was such a smooth way to get my like that I’m even going to comment
Awww!!!! Thank you!
I'm not sure the super poor are "comfortable" in their situations of constant work and want. And our fallen human nature would envy those who just sit around all day and get pampered. But then again you might lose your soul, turn into a snob and be focused on money, status and wealth which turn any soul dark after a time. My choice? A NO to the upper class. I don't do rich snobs who sit around all day and do nothing. Give me purpose, service and work...helping others and giving God glory. THAT is happiness:+) God bless~
So grateful to you for creating this channel!
Aw! I’m grateful to you for watching! 😃
I think these days marrying up is easier since there are a lot more sources to upgrade your social intellect and learn manners... Couches, courses, Internet etc. Back then none of that was as readily available and the social gap was really huge between the lower middle class and and upper middle class - much wider than the gap between the upper middle and the upper class.
I would definitely want to be able to move up in society if I could
I really enjoyed this video! You’re a wonderful resource when I’m doing research, seeing the sources in your description, is so incredibly useful.
I’d love if you did a video on your favorite nonfiction history books :)
Miss Jane Bennett is actually a better class than Binglly. His family had money but no lineage. So he is bettering his offsprings status by marrying Jane. Bennetts were landed gentry for multiple generations. A marriage not quite equals but Bingly is a good catch.
Well princess Kate and Pippa were called the wisteria sisters. Although their behavior had been way better imo than Fergie and Diana.
Indeed!