Patrimonial Issue: Dutiful and Prodigal Brothers

Abstract

As Elizabeth Bennet wanders around the Pemberley estate, she muses on Darcy’s responsibilities and obligations: ‘As a brother, a landlord, a master, she considered how many people’s happiness were in his guardianship! — How much of pleasure or pain it was in his power to bestow! — How much of good or evil must be done by him!’ (PP, pp. 250–1). While the dynamics of sororal and cross-sibling relationships steal the limelight, brotherly relations remain in the wings of Austen’s novels. Nonetheless, the decisions and directions of brothers either affect or serve as a catalyst for all of the action in the novels. Elder brothers, in particular, have the ability to improve or ruin the lives of their sisters and younger brothers, whether temporarily or permanently. In this way, Austen reveals her acute sensitivity to and comprehension of the inner workings of the contemporary economic and social arena. The guardianship of brothers and the unequal fortunes doled out by the system of primogeniture may not be the major focus of her works, but they do serve as the underpinnings for her narratives. Thus, fraternal roles and relations become the prism through which expectations and prescriptions for other family members are refracted.