Maha Yassin
Girls love taking personality tests. It’s like asking people what they think you’re like, without having actually to do that and risk unfavourable answers! Now if you want to compare yourself to book heroines, no one is better than Jane Austen characters. Throughout her various works, Miss Austen introduced us to seven incomparable heroines—each one holds her own in life while facing it entirely differently.
Jane Austen’s main characters are all female. Miss Austen put a part of herself into each heroine she wrote while keeping them as unique as possible. From Elizabeth Bennet to Emma Woodhouse to Marianne Dashwood to Anne Elliot, each Jane Austen woman is a force not to be reckoned with. But these women are also wholly different from each other. That makes for an excellent opportunity to compare yourself to them and discover which Jane Austen character is the closest to you.
Which Jane Austen Character Are You?
We are not actually going to answer this question for you. Why? Because 1. We don’t really know you, and 2. Jane Austen’s characters are too layered and complicated just to be assigned one characteristic and relate to you. So, instead, we’re going to tell you a bit about the character of each heroine and let you decide for yourself who you think is the most like you.
Make sure you read about the seven Jane Austen characters thoroughly and choose the one that feels the most like looking in the mirror (at yourself if you’re a woman who lived in 19th century England, but you know what we mean!). These characters are complicated, and their personality is largely built around the events they are part of and the time they lived in. However, if we peel them to their roots, we’ll find it very easy to find ourselves in the folds of their characters.
So without further ado, let’s meet Jane Austen characters: Elizabeth Bennet, Emma Woodhouse, Anne Eliot, Elinor Dashwood, Marianne Dashwood, Catherine Morland, and Fanny Price!
Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice)
Proud, intelligent, but also kind-hearted, Elizabeth Bennet is Jane Austen’s most famous character. Everyone wants to be Elizabeth, but not everyone can. Miss Bennet has a unique personality. She is a mix of extreme pride that meets a lot of empathy and feeling for others. Many might characterise her as an INFJ (MBTI Characterisation). This means she is quick to judge others but would also tire herself trying to understand their feelings and thoughts.
Someone like Lizzy Bennet would have difficulty connecting with strangers. However, she won’t let go quickly once she makes the connection. She holds those she loves close to her heart and would do anything to ensure they’re happy (ex: Jane & Charlotte). She is also easy to cross and has a nasty temper. However, if she finds out she’s wrong, she will be the first to apologise. Elizabeth would not let others walk all over them, no matter how robust or influential that person is.
So is Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet your soulmate?
Emma Woodhouse (Emma)
Known to be superficial and selfish, Emma Woodhouse is greatly misunderstood. Growing up rich and coddled by her father, Emma never had to ask for anything. That upbringing makes it hard for a character like Emma not to see herself as the centre of the universe. Emma looks at life like a party and is the one making the list. She moves the chess across the board in any way that suits her and does not apologise for it.
However, Emma is not a bad or mistaken person. At the end of the day, all she wants is for those around her to be happy and to get the best out of life. But a person like Emma only sees life from their own perspective and thinks everyone does as well. Someone like Emma doesn’t like to leave things to chance. She wants to be in control of her own destiny (and sometimes others as well!). Emma can be characterised as an ENFJ—a person who gets so lost in others’ life that they miss what’s right under their feet.
So is Jane Austen’s character Emma Woodhouse your soulmate?
Anne Eliot (Persuasion)
Mature, caring, and deeply attached to the past, Anne Eliot is Austen’s oldest heroine. She has a different view of life than other Austen characters and even the characters in her story. Anne Eliot is the middle child, the forgotten one. Having grown up among very selfish and demanding sisters and a father, Anne also takes care of everyone without being looked after. She avoids drama and takes care of things from behind the curtain.
Anne is deeply connected to the past and cannot let go. She stays in love with someone she broke up with for a decade, never faltering in her feelings. At the same time, Anne is easily influenced by people she respects and would put duty over her own happiness. As an ISFJ, someone like Anne will care for everyone around them, balance things with their minds, not hearts, and later beat themselves up over their decisions alone.
So do you find yourself in this Jane Austen character Anne Eliot?
Elinor Dashwood (Sense and Sensibility)
Being the eldest sister is a full-time job. Just having the fortune (or misfortune) of being the first-born female in a family moulds a person into a specific type of character, and Elinor Dashwood is a typical eldest daughter. She is responsible, intelligent, practical and cares for everyone around her.
Having a daring little sister in Marianne, Elinor settles into the role of the mature sibling. She is the one who fixes problems for others and always puts other people’s feelings above her own. However, this trait is not always good because it makes people like Elinor lose their own sense of self. Being like Elinor means you are loyal and dependable but maybe sometimes get used by others around you. But Elinor is strong and unwavering in her loyalty, which makes her a great person.
Does the Jane Austen character Elinor Dashwood speak to you?
Marianne Dashwood (Sense and Sensibility)
A lover of life and everything beautiful, Marianne Dashwood is the light of every party. Marianne is someone who feels deeply, loves intensely and will do anything to get what she wants. She doesn’t back out of a fight. When Marianne falls in love, she will do anything to get her chosen person. She is sociable, loyal and easy to talk to. She makes everyone feels welcome around her.
However, this bubbly personality doesn’t mean her feelings are fleeting or weak. She is intense with her emotions, be it positive or negative. As someone who gives so much, someone like Maarianne can easily be hurt by the smallest of actions. Her feelings are always on maximum volume in sadness and happiness. This intense emotional range makes characters like hers very creative and into art, theatre and everything that can mirror their feelings and make them tangible.
So is Jane Austen’s character Marianne Dashwood your soulmate?
Catherine Morland (Northanger Abbey)
A bookworm whose inner life is much more imaginative and adventurous than her actual life. Catherine Morland is someone who is very creative and likes to make up stories about people and events around her. She finds it exciting to imagine what others might be up to without giving much hide to the truth. She looks for excitement, not reality.
A person like Catherin is a stereotypical introvert who finds it very hard to relate to others or form relationships with them, mainly because who that person really is will never compare to who they build them to be in their head. Catherin sometimes feels lonely, but she knows how to entertain herself. She is independent and self-sufficient and would never pretend to be someone she s not to please others.
So is Jane Austen’s character Catherine Morland your soulmate?
Fanny Price (Mansfield Park)
Fanny is someone with a strong sense of justice and morality. She has strong personal beliefs that she will never back off from or apologise for. Being an introvert, Fanny is timid and might not join a conversation quickly, but that does not make her clueless at all! In fact, her avoidance of interacting with others allows her to watch them and interpret their actions.
She keeps a quiet judgement of everyone around her according to her own moral compass. But that strong moral compass allows her to face people with the truth no matter how hard it is for others to do it. No one in her time or position would have dared to talk about slavery, but Fanny would! Someone like Fanny would fight injustices and stand up for the weak. They won’t back down even if everyone around them does.
So is Jane Austen’s character Fanny Price your soulmate?
Did you find out which Jane Austen character you are most like? Many of us might be a combination of two or more characters, and that’s totally okay. But even in that case, one of Austen’s women must have stood out to you the most. Jane Austen tried her best to represent the woman around her in her characters, but her own life and experiences also defined her. So even if none of these women speaks to you, we’re sure you can find beauty in their stories.