Jane Austen & the Undeserving Poor
There exists nothing conceivable anywhere in the world, indeed generally even out of it, which could without limitation be held to be good, except only a good will.
„Es ist überall nichts in der Welt, ja überhaupt auch außer derselben zu denken möglich, was ohne Einschränkung für gut könnte gehalten werden, als allein ein guter Wille.“
Immanuel Kant, Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten
When Emma, in the early 1800s, pays a charitable visit to the poor — a unique occurrence in Jane Austen’s novels — we get the shortest of glimpses into the terrible conditions and the abject poverty surrounding the middle and upper classes. Emma Woodhouse, a rich member of the upper classes, absolves this duty charmingly and competently, with no undue fuss and with a remarkable lack of busybodyness. These visits are to her, as indeed they were to Austen herself, a matter of course: an undisputed personal and religious duty, a social responsibility taken seriously. The State, after all, did not see its way to providing for the poor.
This early-Industrial-Revolution visit, vividly described in Chapter 10 of Emma, presents a shrill contrast with contemporary attitudes. Today, we find ourselves in the early days of a…
