Jane Austen: A Love Story

Whom would you choose to marry? An unattractive man who makes a dull proposal and says all his wealth will become yours, or a prince charming you simply cannot resist, but who is arrogant?

This was the choice facing author Jane Austen, who lived in the 18th Century, and it is similar to the choices facing women in the 21st Century. At a time when fulfilling traditional women’s roles as mothers and daughters, and concealing female talent were considered virtues, Jane Austen (played by Anne Hathaway), who loves to write, meets Tom Lefroy (played by James McAvoy), a brash law student from London. Her dislike for a man who looks down on her work as self-absorbed soon turns into love during the course of the movie. However, her poor family urges her to marry a wealthy Weasley.

“Becoming Jane,” scheduled to hit movie screens this Thursday, is the romantic love story of Jane Austen, the famous writer of “Pride and Prejudice.” Although she wrote about how she met and fell in love with Lefroy when she was 20 in her letters, other details of her life turned into ashes as most of her letters were burnt.

“Becoming Jane” is a typical romantic drama with the same old message that marriage cannot be all about love. However, the camera delicately captures the two main characters’ emotions in their eyes, gradually revealing their love for each other. The picturesque landscape of rural England (the film was shot in Ireland), the sound of Austen’s pen scribbling away on paper, and raindrops falling in the garden resonate in the viewers’ minds. American actress Hathaway recreates a young and lively Austen on the screen with a perfect British accent, and she received great reviews in the U.S. and European media.

Toward the end of the movie, Jane says, “By my pen,” when Weasley asks her how she would spend the rest of her life. Perhaps through her painful experience of love, she grows into the writer Jane Austen that reaches far into this century. Austen wrote six novels, including “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility” that are considered jewels of English literature. She remained single for her entire life and died at age 41.

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