Fathers often come off badly in Austen’s novels. Sir Walter Elliot, father of Anne, the heroine of Persuasion, is a selfish, heartless man, absorbed by himself and his title. He’s almost a caricature of the dim-witted upper classes. He is vain to the point of absurdity. His house is lined with mirrors. Obsessed by keeping up appearances, he will only be seen in public with attractive or well-born people. He dislikes sailors because of their orange tan and supposed lack of breeding. He’s so vain he probably thinks this feature’s about him
Photograph: BBC
Elizabeth is Austen’s most beloved heroine and most modern girl, unfazed by wealth and status (she makes mincemeat of Lady Catherine de Bourgh in their stand-off), and frank and fearless in her opinions. Her ability to laugh at herself (and others) is one of her best traits. Her intelligence and wit make her a worthy mate for Mr Darcy. She is given some of the best one-liners in all of Austen, including this outrageous comment: “I expected at least that the pigs were got into the garden, and here is nothing but Lady Catherine and Her daughter.” Photograph: Alex Bailey
Elinor is one of Austen’s most misunderstood heroines. Seen through the lens of modern sensibilities she is perceived as repressed and a control freak. In fact she is more sensitive than her sister Marianne, and selfless in her desire to keep her sorrow and heartbreak to herself. Her suffering is every bit as raw and painful as her sister’s, but she is the exemplar of quiet endurance rather than noisy self-indulgence. She gets her man in the end, but we wonder if he’s intelligent and interesting enough to deserve her. A very British girl Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features
Diana is a homeopathic health fanatic in Austen’s final, incomplete novel Sanditon, written when she was dying. Diana sips herbal and green tea, has anorexic tendencies and distrusts conventional medicine and doctors. She self-medicates with her numerous homemade remedies and is drawn to the other invalids who are staying at the seaside resort. She plans to take a sea bathe in a bathing hut on wheels with a mixed-race girl. What a pity that we’re deprived of the chance to see how that would have turned out Photograph: Public Domain
Mary Crawford is the character all men fall in love with. Vivacious, worldly, musical, funny and kind, she is the ultimate femme fatale. Even the dull parson Edmund Bertram falls for her charms, simultaneously attracted and repelled by her particular brand of sexy charisma. She’s a wonderful actress and plays the harp like an angel. She makes the filthiest joke in Austen when she makes a pun about sodomy in the navy, concerning rear and vice admirals: “Of rears and vices I saw enough. Now do not be suspecting me of a pun, I entreat.” Photograph: Public Domain
Mr Darcy is Austen’s most sexy hero. We celebrate Pride and Prejudice’s 200th birthday this month, and he still leaves an indelible impression on his readers, setting our hearts aflutter. Darcy’s aloofness and prickly demeanour make him the ultimate conquest, but his willingness to be humbled and to change for the woman he loves is a master touch. He loves Elizabeth so much that he’s prepared to take on her ghastly relatives (though admittedly he has a few of his own) and to transcend rigid class barriers. And his house isn’t bad either Photograph: Public Domain
We all love a villain and Mrs Norris in Mansfield Park is one of Austen’s blackest characters. She’s a heartless, tight-fisted bully, and her cruelty towards the heroine, Fanny Price, is relentless. She persuades her favourite niece, Maria, to marry a foolish rich man whom she doesn’t love, encourages licentious behaviour among the young people, steals from the big house and is totally devoid of compassion and kindness to those inferior in station. Austen shows how a selfish, bullying adult can make other people’s lives a misery Photograph: Public Domain
Mr Knightley is the hero Jane Austen most wanted to marry. He is the epitome of kindness, an underestimated heroic quality. He takes care of a vulnerable woman like Miss Bates, and steps in to dance with lowly Harriet Smith when he sees that she has been snubbed by the awful Mr and Mrs Elton. He represents the perfect English gentleman and sets himself firmly against French affectation. He refuses to play the conventional hero and talk the language of love: “I cannot make speeches, Emma. If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.” Perfect! Photograph: David Venni/BBC
Isabella is one of Austen’s funniest characters. She’s a very realistically drawn teenage girl who makes and breaks friends on a whim, is a shallow flirt and loves dancing, shopping and giggling. There are few things funnier than Austen’s description of boy-mad Isabella Thorpe chasing unsuspecting young men along the streets of Bath Photograph: ITV/Rex Features
Lady Susan is Jane Austen’s most unscrupulous, even sadistic, female character. She is the anti-heroine of an early novella, and Austen doesn’t hold back in her depiction of this “perverted” woman. Lady Susan is an older woman who manipulates men by her sexual charisma. She’s not so much a coquette as a cougar, one of the first in English literature. She is charming, clever, beautiful, vicious, witty and morally corrupt. She’s also a bad mother. She wreaks revenge on all who cross her. She refuses to repent, and she is not punished by the author Photograph: Public Domain
