A bit of ivory and a fine brush: Jane Austen's characters in four novels

In 1821 Archbishop Richard Whately wrote that Jane Austen's novels demonstrate "a regard to character hardly exceeded even by Shakespeare himself." From Jane Austen's day to the present, criticisms of her work have ranged from "dish-washings" to "divine". Her reputation has risen steadily in the twentieth century, as critic have recognized in her writings a sensitivity to character, a moral awareness, and a wit transcending her own time and community.