We all know the feeling. We close the novel and then wonder, but what happens next? Does Kitty make a match with one of Bingley’s friends? Does Mary make a match with…anybody? It turns out that Jane wondered about her characters too—and talked about their stories with her family. In his Memoir of Jane Austen, Jane’s nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, wrote that Jane Austen “would, if asked, tell us many little particulars about the subsequent career of some of her people.”
Did she, James? What did she say??
Below are the little tidbits Jane dropped about what happened to her characters after the last page.
Pride and Prejudice
What happened to Kitty? Austen-Leigh tells us that “Kitty Bennet was satisfactorily married to a clergyman near Pemberley.”
A clergyman! She really did become sensible after Lydia left, and she must have been happy to settle near Elizabeth.
Austen-Leigh also shares Mary’s story: “Mary obtained nothing higher than one of her uncle Philip’s clerks, and was content to be considered a star in the society of Meriton.”
Mary, star of Meryton! She got her small scale recognition, after all.
This site is ending, so I moved this post. Read the rest of it here.
6 responses to “What Happened to Kitty and Mary?: Austen Reveals What Happened to Her Characters After the Novels Ended”
I’d heard most of these before but NOT all. If only her nephews and nieces had had any idea how fascinated we are by these revelations!!!… Thanks for this. XXAlice
I know! The revelations feel like table scraps, don’t they? Just leave us wanting more!
Thanks for stopping by.
Very best post! I never heard this so this was fascinating for me to read! Loved it!
Thanks, Cindie! That’s great to hear! I was pretty excited when I uncovered it, too.
But there’s no mention anywhere about children, which I found odd because Austen’s books are all about the children in her families. It’s as if the families freeze in time. But they couldn’t at the time they were written. But Jane had no children I suppose. She was perpetually a child in her family.
That’s an interesting point. In my head, they have children, but you’re right that Austen didn’t mention that.