Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift, and Anglicanism

Among the many linkages between Jane Austen and Jonathan Swift is a connection to the Anglican clergy. Austen was born a clergyman's daughter; Swift himself was a member of the clergy. This rational, moderating religion no doubt influenced the moral goals that both writers attempted to valorize in their work. Austen and Swift each utilized the technique of satire to humorously criticize the shortcomings and imperfections of the society in which they lived. In particular, Austen and Swift satirize human ignorance in their respective works Pride and Prejudice and Gulliver's Travels.

Jane Austen lived and wrote as neoclassicism was yielding to romanticism and the Church of England, to which she claimed membership, faced the challenge of an evangelical revival. Surrounded by clergymen in her lifetime, she naturally populates her novels with clerical characters, but they do not seem to hold much religious significance.

The Anglican influence on Austen's writing is more subtle; "one cannot read her works without getting the sense of a strong moral code underlying the comedy" (Cody, "Jane Austen and Religion"). It is this moral code that is the basis of Austen's satire. She uses satirical technique to ridicule the vices of her society, among them human ignorance:

"Oh! Mr. Bennet, you are wanted immediately; we are all in an uproar. You must come and make Lizzy marry Mr. Collins, for she vows she will not have him, and if you do not make haste he will change his mind and not have her!"

Mr. Bennet raised his eyes from his book as she entered, and fixed them on her face with a calm unconcern which was not in the least altered by her communication. "I have not the pleasure of understanding you," said he, when she had finished her speech. "Of what are you talking?"

"Of Mr. Collins and Lizzy. Lizzy declares she will not have Mr. Collins, and Mr. Collins begins to say that he will not have Lizzy.' "And what am I to do on the occasion?--- It seems a hopeless business."

Mrs. Bennet is held up to ridicule in this passage. Her ignorance, selfishness, and obstinacy in insisting upon the marriage of Elizabeth and Mr. Collins are exposed and made light of. In this scene, Mr. Bennet acts as an agent of satire. Though the reader assumes that he knows the nature of the events that trouble Mrs. Bennet, he feigns ignorance to highlight the ridiculousness of her exclamations. Mrs. Bennet represents the absurdity of the society as a whole. Her complete denial of the personal impropriety of a union between her most spirited daughter and an insipid clergyman receives a subtle yet scathing criticism from Austen. The aspects of society that Mrs. Bennet represents offend Austen's moral sensibilities, and she chooses satire to make a comment on human ignorance. Austen retains hope for societal improvement nonetheless. Eventually, the character of Elizabeth overcomes this flaw through her recognition of love for Darcy.

Jonathan Swift takes a more cynical perspective. Swift was an Anglican clergyman living in Ireland, a predominantly Catholic island. He perceived Catholicism "as threatening not only the Anglican church but the English Constitution" (Cody, "Swift's Religious Beliefs"). Anglicanism, on the other hand, was a moderating force for Swift which corresponded to his privileging of reason in a world of chaos. To understand Swift's satire, one must comprehend his core belief: "in Man God had created an animal which was not inherently rational but only capable, on occasion, of behaving reasonably" (Cody). Thus in his satire Swift ridicules the actions of Man in light of his capabilities. In 1735's Gulliver's Travels, he derides human ignorance and obstinacy in the denial of knowledge:

He replied that I must needs be mistaken, or that I ‘said the thing which was not.' (For they have no words in their language to express lying or falsehood.) He knew it was impossible that there could be a country beyond the sea, or that a parcel of brutes could move a wooden vessel whither they pleased upon the water.

In the course of this work, Gulliver encounters various societies which represent the extremes of certain human failings and tendencies. This passage concerns the Houynhnms, a group which seems benign and even ideal at first, but actually satirize humanity's tendency to overestimate its means to achieve perfection. For though this society is so perfect that it has no need for a word to indicate untruth, the Houynhnms are so confident in their superiority that they are unable to acknowledge an obvious fact. Here Swift's satire is exceedingly harsh; for his ridicule offers no real hope for the improvement of the human condition. Ignorance is an element of human nature which cannot be changed.

Jane Austen and Jonathan Swift shared similar religious influences, though Swift was more involved in the religious conflicts of his time. However, both had a sense of personal morality which led them to critique the wrongs of their respective societies. Both adopted the technique of satire to ridicule and expose human failings in a humorous, entertaining manner. The clearest divergence is here: when addressing the theme of human ignorance, Austen is harsh but allows some of her characters to overcome this flaw, but Swift is more cynical, asserting that human ignorance is innate and cannot be surmounted.