Seventeen-year-old Austen's satirical response to the Georgian marriage market...
From The Gallery of Fashion, April 1795
Janeites, hello and welcome to the Austen 250 Reader series! Today, we will focus on an epistolary tale from "Volume the First" of Austen's extensive adolescent portfolio.
"The three Sisters" is dedicated to Austen's brother, Edward.
To Edward Austen Esq(re)
The following unfinished Novel
is respectfully inscribed
by
His obedient Hum.(ble) Serv.(t)
The Author
If an anthology of Juvenilia cannot be easily procured, please visit The Jane Austen Centre's blog, where they have graciously uploaded this hyperbolic gem online. (A stage adaptation of "The three Sisters" by Adam McCune was performed at the JASP symposium in 2022, so should you feel yourself in the mood for some lively theatrics, please find a recording here.)
A Brief Letter-by-Letter Summary
Letter 1st – Miss Stanhope to Mrs––––
Mary Stanhope begins the chronicle by writing to her friend, Fanny, which states she is "the happiest creature in the World, for [she has] just received an offer of marriage from Mr. Watts." This is shortly disproved, as Mary is far from happy at the prospect of marrying Mr. Watts, who is "quite an old Man, about two & thirty, very plain so plain that I cannot bear to look at him." She goes on, writing something very shocking indeed about her would-be husband: "He is extremely disagreeable & I hate him more than any body else in the world." Ouch. The string of insults and degradations on Mr. Watts's character continues and readers become aware that the real reason Mary is entertaining the offer (see one of the many: "I do believe I should have him") is the fact that she would be married before her sisters, Sophy & Georgiana, as well as their friends, the Duttons. Mary then dialogues about the particular carriage that must be part of the bargain if she is to consider accepting the proposal. Hmm...
From the Same to the Same
In this letter Mary details a conversation she had with her mother, one that she found deeply distressing. Mrs. Stanhope nudges her daughter toward matrimony by suggesting that if she does not marry Mr. Watts, one of her younger sisters will. Mary does not wish to watch her sisters marry before her and goes back and forth on the issue many more times, posing questions to her mother that only grow in significance and absurdity. After the conversation concludes and Mrs. Stanhope leaves the room, Mary resolves "to ask Sophy & Georgiana whether they would have him were he to make proposals to them, & if they say they would not I am resolved to refuse him too, for I hate him more than you can imagine." If Mr. Watts would go calling on their family friends, the Duttons, to ask for one of the daughter's hands in marriage, Mary states that "I shall still have the triumph of having refused him first." This is the final part of the piece where readers hear from Mary Stanhope firsthand.
Miss Georgiana Stanhope to Miss XXX –– Wednesday
Georgiana Stanhope– the youngest sister– takes the stage next with a letter written to her friend, Anne. The first sentence is as follows: "Sophy & I have just been practising a little deceit on our eldest Sister, to which we are not perfectly reconciled, & yet the circumstances were such that if any thing will excuse it, they must." Georgiana details every facet of the "deceit", proving through her divulgence of all the particulars that Anne is truly a close friend. Georgiana is more outspoken than her older yet milder sister, Sophy, and in order to protect Sophy from an unhappy marriage to Mr. Watts– as she is next in line should Mary decline him– Georgiana takes matters into her own hands. Sophy is trepidatious at the prospect of thrusting Mary into a disastrous union, but in the end, she and Georgiana pull off their little deception. Georgiana details to Anne the reasons why Mary would not be too negatively affected by– and may actually benefit from– a marriage to Mr. Watts. "Remember all this & do not condemn us", she writes.
Friday.
The letter continues with a slight break, its contents taking place two days after the previous portion of the missive. What follows is nearly a direct transcription of Mr. Watts's visit to the Stanhope abode the previous night. The dialogue is captured word-for-word and gives the reader direct experience Mr. Watts's countenance and the substance of his interactions with Mary. The "lovers" are very harsh with one another and argue in quite a merciless manner. It takes hours to settle pedantic details regarding carriages, jewels, and servants, among other particulars, with Georgiana writing to Anne that "It engrossed the whole Evening to settle these affairs... [Mr. Watts] did not go till twelve." After his departure, Mary speaks about her future husband with great contempt, is admonished by Mrs. Stanhope, and Georgiana adds emphatically to Anne: "What a Wedding this will be!" Forsooth. One can only imagine...
From the Same to the Same –– Saturday
The final letter is, once again, from Georgiana Stanhope to her friend, Anne. It appears that all Mary speaks about is her upcoming nuptials, and it certainly seems she is more "in love" with the idea of being married than the man she is going to marry. Georgiana details a visit to the home of the Duttons, where Mary preens and makes quite a fool of herself, flaunting soundless reasons for superiority and embarrassing her sisters in front of the intelligent Dutton sisters and their haughtily handsome visitor, Mr. Brudenell, whom Georgiana calls "...the handsomest Man I ever saw in my Life..." Upon their arrival back home, they find Mr. Watts. The banter between Mr. Watts and Mary Stanhope is engaging for readers, but does not assure anyone of their future wedded bliss. For a brief moment, the engagement is called off, but by the end of the letter is on again with "Watts... going to Town to hasten the preparations for the Wedding." On that positive note, thus concludes "The three Sisters".
A Very (Very) Brief Analysis
While conducting a bit of research on "The three Sisters", I stumbled across a brilliant piece by Frances Beer, originally published in the November 2006 edition of Persuasions. Instead of repeating what has already been so admirably completed, I shall direct you, dear readers, to her article. Beer discusses Austen's deft skill at consciously crafting even the most minute of details in her fiction, hinting at characters, themes, and circumstances to follow suit in her later, more mature works, notably Pride and Prejudice.
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