Re: Threes in Austen novels

Posted by Dafyd on March 14, 1999 at 08:56:13:

In Reply to: Bingo! ---Threes in Austen novels posted by PommePomme on March 11, 1999 at 18:07:10:

: the more I think about it, the more it gets harder to reach a definite answer. Well, since Austen did not create her heroines/heroes according to the system called Enneagram, we might have to allow some room to interprete them differently from our more or less biased views.

That's probably the most sensible thing anyone has said in this thread. :)

: : And Austen may have disliked Threes in general. [She sees insincerity as one of the worst vices.]

: I cannot agree with you more. Other examples: Mr Eliott in "Persuasion", trying to seduce Anne (my impression is she's a waking-up Nine) and Mrs Clay (the widow who accompanies Sir Eliott and Anne's sisiter to Bath) at the same time to secure his position of next Sir Eliott.

I agree with most of your Threes and all your Sevens. Mrs Clay I'm not sure about - she could be a Two?
I don't know about Anne - she could be a Nine or she could equally well be a Five. She could even be a healthy Four -
'the only privilege I claim for my sex is of loving even after hope is gone.' (Not an exact quote.) It's generally
agreed that Anne is Austen's most mature, insightful and healthy heroine, so it would be hard to tell.

Dafyd

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