Dancing with Mr. Darcy

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This past Wednesday, I sat in my living room scrolling through Google's tourist generated list of "Must See Sights in Bath" when I suddenly remembered Dr. Hentschell having mentioned the Jane Austen Centre was there. I asked my flat mate, Karina, if she wanted to come along with me, hoping desperately to convert her into a fan. She agreed, and I promptly booked our tickets before she could change her mind. 

Jane and I

 

         We entered the centre and were promptly greeted by a cast of Austen characters, from Mr. Darcy to Catherine Moorland. The experience began with sitting in a small room, doing Jane Austen trivia and word searches, and learning about the filming of Persuasion. We were then greeted by Mr. George Knightley (from Emma) who talked to us all about Jane's (or as he liked to call her, his employer's) life. Following this lecture, we were led downstairs to the exhibit where we got to view portraits of what artists think Jane may have looked like, info graphics about Jane's time in Bath, bottles of perfumes based on Austen characters, and tools that would have been used by the characters in Jane's novels. We even got to see a short film that took viewers to all of the different sites in Bath that would have held significance to her and her novels. 

The only portrait of Austen based on her in real life, it was never completed.

 

         The highlight of this trip though had to have been getting to dress up in Georgian era clothing and pretending to be a character in an Austen novel. I even got my own Mr. Darcy (in the form of Karina).

Mission accomplished, I converted Karina.

 

-Mariah Gorham

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