Becoming Jane Quotes

I should have done this long ago, but I keep forgetting. Watching Becoming Jane again last night made me dig my old file. So here we go: the quotes. Of course, more input and additions are welcomed. So, what’s your favourite?

“Mr. Austen, I have shared the bed with you for thirty two years, and perfection is something I have yet encountered.” – Mrs. Austen

“A brilliant young lawyer - with a reputation!” - Lucy Lefroy on Tom Lefroy
“For lateness?” - Jane Austen on Tom Lefroy

“The most disagreeable, insolent, arrogant, imprudent, insufferable, impertinent of men!”
Jane Austen on Tom Lefroy

“Flirting is a woman's trade. One must keep in practice.” – Eliza De Feuillide

“Experience can recommend a man...” – Eliza de Feullide

“If you wish to practice the art of fiction, to be the equal of a masculine author, experience is vital. Your horizons must be…widened.” – Tom Lefroy

“In life, bad characters often thrive; take yourself.” – Jane Austen to Tom Lefroy

“A novel must show how the world truly is. Somehow, reveals the true source of our actions.” – Jane Austen

“Jane!” – Mrs. Austen
“What is she doing?” – Lady Gresham
“Writing.” – Mr. Wisley
“Can’t anything be done about it?!”– Lady Gresham

“Affection is desirable. Money is absolutely indispensable!” – Mrs. Austen

“No sensible women would demonstrate passion, if the purpose were to attract a husband.” – Jane Austen
“As opposed to a lover?” – Tom Lefroy

“How can you of all people dispose of yourself without affection?” – Tom Lefroy
“How can I dispose of myself with it?” – Jane Austen

“I'm yours, Jane, heart and soul!” - Tom Lefroy

“Portable property is happiness in a pocketbook.” – Jane Austen

“Irony is the bringing together of contradictory truths to make out of the contradiction a new truth with a laugh or a smile.” – Jane Austen

“Jane, I've tried! I have tried and I cannot live this lie. Can you?” – Tom Lefroy

“What value would there be in life, if we are not together?” – Tom Lefroy

“You cannot begin to imagine...” – John Warren
“Thank you for your kind attention...but... ARE THERE NO OTHER WOMEN IN HAMPSHIRE?!” – Jane Austen

“As for fortune, a young woman might depend on herself.” – Jane Austen

“My characters shall have, after a little bit of trouble, all that they desire.” – Jane Austen

More of Maria's fanvids!

Sorry for (again) the slow posts. Thank God that Maria has more fan-vids, hence I can make a post out of it :-D Easter Holiday should be free-work days, but not for me, alas.

The second one is called Empty Room:



and the third one is Amazed:



Check them out, they're great! Oh, and I watched the BJ DVD again for the first time for so many months last nite, and I was still captivated. I should write a review of it on my spare time.

And Happy belated Easter, everyone!

Please sign 'The Hathavoy Petition'!

Dear ladies and gents,

In addition to accommodate various information on Becoming Jane, Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy, one of the purposes of this fansite is to help other fans to promote their fandom on the BJ creative team. Hence, when Nancy and co asked me to post the petition below, I gladly do it.


We Love Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy Petition

To: Directors, Producers, Writers, etc.

A great amount of "Becoming Jane"/Jane Austen & Tom LeFroy/Anne Hathaway & James McAvoy fans have come together to create this petition because we've fallen in love with Jane Austen and Tom LeFroy's tragic love story - whether it was fully true or not. Jane and Tom have really captured our hearts and "Becoming Jane" was a really touching film that we thought Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy portrayed very well. We thought that their chemistry together was magnificiantly beautiful and magical!

Furthermore, we loved Hathaway and McAvoy's onscreen presence and chemistry, but some of us were really saddened by the ending of "Becoming Jane". Even though Jane and Tom have reconciliated and of course, not all love stories end well, we really wanted them to end happily together since their feelings for each other were very strong and remained strong after 20 years.

Therefore, some of us have come together and hope that Hathaway and McAvoy would team up again onscreen for a second film, whether it's an independent film or mainstream, we would just love to see them paired up again - and this time with a HAPPY ENDING because Hathaway and McAvoy have a really undeniable chemistry together which makes it very realistic and entertaining to watch.

In addition, this message is not directed to anyone specifically, but if any directors or screen writers who come by this letter, we really hope you take our idea into consideration and truly touch our hearts once again. We adore Hathaway and McAvoy together in "Becoming Jane", but since it's not our decision to make at the end of the day, it is something we can just hope for in the future.

Overall, we hope the fans will sign this petition, for those who are in support of Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy's reunion for a second film.

Now, I've signed the petition, and it's your turn now! Let's have another Hathaway/McAvoy movie, with happy ending this time, and (to me) preferably in the periodic drama. (Regency, Victorian, whatever).

Pic: www.annie-hathaway.com

Maria's first BJ fan-vid!

And it's great! Have a look here:



Love the clips, love the song. It suits well, as she said, with her I Remember Love fan-fiction. Have you read it? You should. It's Chapter 15 now, Jane Austen is taken ill :-(

Speaking of illness, I have in my mind a post about JA's illness and various medical opinions on it. I might have to spare time to write it, it's rather academic.

Jane Austen Regency World Awards

Ladies and Gents,

Thanks to Librarian Linda, I am aware of this interesting award launched by the Jane Austen Regency World as follows:

Vote for your favourite actor, actress and film of 2007 in the Jane Austen Regency World awards! In the seven categories the Awards recognise the contribution of the nominees in furthering the understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of the work of Jane Austen.

You can only make your vote online. Please vote here.

Voting will continue up to the 10th of May after which time this link will be closed.
The winners will be announced and awards presented at a black tie dinner event at the Hilton Hotel in Bath on 15th May 2008.

If you would like to attend the event, a limited number of tickets are available for purchase from the Jane Austen Centre online giftshop.

The Awards are sponsored by The Jane Austen Centre and Bath Aqua Glas.


So, what are you waiting for? Vote for Becoming Jane, Anne Hathaway, and James McAvoy!

Pic: Jane Austen Centre UK

Mariana's Analysis

Hello All,

I have not written a post for sometime but I wanted to share with you some of the wonderful
work that our dear friend Mariana has provided for us to read and learn from.Mariana has written her own interpretation of the similarities between the relationships of Tom Lefroy and Jane Austen and Charles Bingley and Jane Bennet (Pride and Prejudice). I am going to summarise her findings below.


Both Tom Lefroy and Mr Bingley arrive into the company of their prospective partners around the period of Michaelmas (November 2nd-25th). Tom left his law studies in London at the end of Michaelmas term to reach Hampshire before Christmas. Mr Bingley moved in “before the michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week.”Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy were the same age (Jane’s birthday 16/12 and Tom’s 08/01); they were both celebrating their 20th Birthdays when they met. Mr Bingley and Jane Bennet were also the same age; they were both nearly 23. A quote from Pride and Prejudice indicates this: “will be quite an old maid soon, I declare. She is almost three and twenty.”



Tom Lefroy had 5 sisters; he was the first son to Colonel Anthony Lefroy and Anne Gardiner of Limerick. The Bennet’s in Pride and Prejudice have 5 daughters and Mrs Bennet’s maiden name was ‘Gardiner’; she even had a sister-in-law named Anne Gardiner! There is also a reference that Mr Bingley was expected to bring “from London his five sisters.”




Tom Lefroy and Jane Austen met firstly at one of the four balls that were held during the holiday season of 1795/6. Mr Bingley and Jane Bennet attended a ball in the village of Meryton- from the second chapter of the novel, it is highlighted how little time the couple spent together; probably around the same amount of time as Tom and Jane did. (Reference on blog) Both couples were attracted to each other, most likely from the first ball. Cassandra scolded Jane before the 3rd ball, at Manydown, so they were already close; “You scold me so much in the nice long letter which I have this moment received from you, that I am almost afraid to tell you how my Irish friend and I behaved.” In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth who knew Jane’s disposition very well was pleased to see her falling in love: “It was generally evident whenever they met, that he did admire her; and to her it was equally evident that Jane was yielding to the preference which she had begun to entertain for him from the first, and was in a way to be very much in love;”



The last ball that both of our couples danced at seemed uncertain and long expected. In the case of Tom and Jane, this ball was at Ashe Rectory and in a letter to Cassandra, Jane states “I can expose myself however, only once more, because he leaves the country soon after next Friday, on which day we are to have a dance at Ashe after all.” For Mr Bingley and Jane, the dance at Netherfield was also planned; “Mr. Bingley and his sisters came to give their personal invitation for the long expected ball at Netherfield, which was fixed for the following Tuesday.” Jane danced and talked with Tom mainly at these balls. It appears that the only time she saw Tom at Steventon was on the very same day as the letter written to her sister Cassandra; Saturday, January 9: “After I had written the above, we received a visit from Mr. Tom Lefroy and his cousin George.” Although this kind of visit was typical; the gentleman calling on the lady he had danced with the previous evening, it is clear that they danced at two other balls before and Tom did not visit Jane at Steventon. It is more likely that Tom was actually accompanying his cousin, George Lefroy, to bring the invitation for the Ashe ball. To note, in Pride and Prejudice, Jane also did not write about a visit the day after the Meryton ball. Instead she described the visit before the Netherfield ball when Mr. Bingley and his sisters brought the invitation.



Jane Austen was described by her family as being "reserved with strangers but open and kindly to those with whom she felt close and comfortable”. Her sister Cassandra Elizabeth was her only sister and closest confidante. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane also shared her feelings with her sister Elizabeth. Although five sisters were very close in age, the eldest two, Jane (22) and Elizabeth (20), had a stronger bond.It is quite probable that the same conversation took place between the two sets of sisters; Jane and Cassandra and Jane and Elizabeth. What did Jane say to her sister Cassandra when she returned to Steventon? Months had passed without a word from him. In Pride and Prejudice “She could think of nothing else, and yet whether Bingley's regard had really died away, or were suppressed by his friends' interference; whether he had been aware of Jane's attachment, or whether it had escaped his observation; whichever were the case, though her opinion of him must be materially affected by the difference, her sister's situation remained the same, her peace equally wounded.”



In August 1796, Jane wrote to Cassandra only few lines from Cork Street, London, where she stopped for a night on her way to Rowling, Kent. Jane started her short letter from Cork Street, London with “Here I am once more” and continued “We are to be at Astley's to-night, which I am glad of.” In Pride and Prejudice, “Jane had already written a few lines to her sister to announce their safe arrival in London; and when she wrote again, Elizabeth hoped it would be in her power to say something of the Bingleys.” In Jane’s first letter that we have record of from Kent, Jane apologised to Cassandra for the length of her previous letter and promised to start writing some elaborate details: “I am sorry that you found such a conciseness in the strains of my first letter. I must endeavour to make you amends for it, when we meet, by some elaborate details, which I shall shortly begin composing.” In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth is also impatient to hear something of Mr. Bingley and upon receiving a letter: “Her impatience for this second letter was as well rewarded as impatience generally is,” make us wonder whether Jane Austen was actually acknowledging the missing letter with “elaborate detail” that she once sent to her own sister.





Is it possible that Tom Lefroy , who was described as a shy and pleasant young man, was convinced by Mrs Lefroy or another close relative, that Jane did not reciprocate his affections. In Pride and Prejudice, a similar situation took place in a correspondence with Elizabeth Bennet; “I had not been long in Hertfordshire, before I saw, in common with others, that Bingley preferred your eldest sister to any other young woman in the country. -- But it was not till the evening of the dance at Netherfield that I had any apprehension of his feeling a serious attachment. -- I had often seen him in love before.” Also, “Your sister I also watched. Her look and manners were open, cheerful, and engaging as ever, but without any symptom of peculiar regard, and I remained convinced from the evening's scrutiny, that though she received his attentions with pleasure, she did not invite them by any participation of sentiment.”





Tom returned to Ashe after almost three years but did not visit Jane. Mrs Lefroy visited the Austen’s a week later and Jane reported the following in a letter to her sister Cassandra “I tell you that of her nephew she said nothing at all, and of her friend very little. She did not once mention the name of the former to me, and I was too proud to make any enquiries; but on my father's afterwards asking where he was, I learnt that he was gone back to London in his way to Ireland, where he is called to the Bar and means to practice.” In Pride and Prejudice, Jane’s spirits were affected when Mr Bingley returned to Netherfield after about 12 months and her parents started to talk again about him and their old expectations: “In spite of what her sister declared, and really believed to be her feelings in the expectation of his arrival, Elizabeth could easily perceive that her spirits were affected by it. They were more disturbed, more unequal, than she had often seen them.” It is possible that Jane Austen used this description in her novel to reminisce on a similar situation she found herself in years before?


Finally, Jane Austen often extracted names for her stories from a list of extinct peerages, in which the names Fitzwilliam figured prominently (Austen Blog). Also, it is widely known that as a young girl Jane Austen wrote her name alongside that a fictitious Mr. Henry Frederick Howard Fitzwilliam in the parish register of her father’s church in a flight of girlish marriage fantasy. The history of the Wentworth/Fitzwilliam family in England has been well documented , but what is less well known is the influence they had on the history of Ireland. As well as the family seat of Wentworth Woodhouse, they owned another large house called Malton House (later Coollattin House) in County Wicklow from where they managed their 88,000 acres of Irish lands. Interestingly, County Wicklow was also the very place Tom Lefroy spent many of his holidays.




Pics 1 and 3:
Pride and Prejudice site (Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley and Jane Bennet and Mr Bingley dancing; taken from the film Pride and Prejudice)


Pics 2, 5, 6 and 8:

Anne Hathaway fansite (Tom Lefroy and Jane Austen dancing, Jane and Cassandra Austen, Jane writing and Tom Lefroy; taken from the film Becoming Jane)


Pic 4:

Jane and Elizabeth


Pic 7:

Jane Bennet and Mr Bingley

A lovely fanvid of Becoming Jane!

Karen sent me the link about a lovely, bittersweet Becoming Jane YouTube fanvid, made by her sister. I think it's truly lovely, so I want dear friends here to see it as well!



Thanks Karen and redreh!