The Weather Is Dirty: Jane Austen’s Use of Nature as a Social Agent

Abstract

Throughout her works, Jane Austen utilized weather as a powerful natural phenomenon to facilitate plot action through enabling or inhibiting social interactions. The inclusion of the natural world gives indications of how Austen perceived humans in relation to the environment: that people, their plans, and their social interactions were very much at the mercy of nature. This ecocritical analysis of her work extends beyond the picturesque into broader conceptions of her interests in people and their interconnections with each other and with nature, raising the heretofore unspoken idea that Austen perceived nature as having the ability to both enable and interrupt social engagement. Austen’s use of weather to facilitate character action and plot development could be interpreted as a convention of Romanticism, or as counter to Romanticism, as these very same natural events create kinks in plans, deviating from so-called ideal conditions. This article examines the role of weather as a plot device across a selection of Austen’s novels, including Northanger Abby, Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion. This article offers further ecocritical analysis of her interests in people and their interconnections with each other and with nature.