The Relevance of Dance in Jane Austen’s Novels

Abstract

This paper presents the importance of dance in the great majority of Jane Austen’s novels. In the first place, I describe the epoch in which Austen, who is considered by many critics, one of the most outstanding writers in the field of literature, lived and wrote her most representative novels: the Regency era. The role that dances occupied in the society of that time is the next item analysed. The minuet, the cotillion and the country dances, the types of dances that most of Austen’s heroines perform, are the next topic addressed. Next, the relevance of dance as a social event showed in the writer’s novels is discussed. In this section the great importance that ballrooms and dancing occupy in the society and in the lives of Austen’s characters is taken into account. Then, the relation between dance and love that the writer reflects in all of her novels is examined. Although, Austen does not depict the same type of love in all her works, what all the love stories have in common is the starting point, that is, most of the lovers meet each other at ballrooms and they have the opportunity to dance together. As a conclusion, a comparison between the function and the role that dance plays in the society that is portrayed in Austen’s novels and the meanings that dance has in present-day society is drawn.