A brief description of the city Bath, often mentioned in Jane Austen's novels

1. The City of Bath Marissa Burdett

2. The City of Bath
• What and where is Bath?
• What is the history of Bath?
• What do people do in Bath?
• Jane Austen’s connection to Bath
• In her novels and in her life
• Bath’s meaning for people
• What makes Bath so popular, even today?

3. What and where is Bath?
• Bath is a large and prosperous city located in Somerset, in England.
• Famous for its natural hot springs/ Roman baths
• Thought to have healing powers
• Became a spa resort

4. The History of Bath
• Roman control of Britain between 43 and 410 A.D.
• Thought natural springs were an act of the gods
• Minerva/Sulis
• Built a great temple and bath-house
• Once Romans left, the baths were buried and lost

5. The History of Bath
• 1738- Hospital built in Bath
• Known as Royal Mineral Water Hospital
• continued belief that water could heal
• 1800- Year before Jane Austen moved there
• All the baths had been excavated
• Became a popular spa resort

6. Bath’s attractions- Why go there?
VIDEO: http://www.bath360.co.uk/
• Roman baths, of course
• Vacation from home- weeks or months at a time
• Sought cures for illnesses
• Entertainment
• Balls, gatherings, theater, music, shopping
• A place to see and to be seen
• Pump-room

7. Jane Austen and Bath
• Setting for two novels: Northanger Abbey and Persuasion
• Able to comment on hypocritical, vane, snobbish society through the
various scenes and settings in Bath
• Mentions Bath in all of her novels in some fashion
• Mostly as a place where the more “scandalous”
characters go and seek trouble
• Assume her belief that people behave much more carelessly in Bath than in
the countryside

8. Jane Austen and Bath
• Jane’s real life
• Forced to move to Bath by her parents in 1800 (age 25)
• Jane’s parents met and fell in love in bath- place for husband-hunting
• Bath was “vapour, shadow, smoke, and confusion”
“Another stupid party last night; perhaps if larger they might be
less intolerable”
“I cannot anyhow continue to find people agreeable” (Tomalin 173).
• Depressed; couldn’t write

10. Why is Bath so popular, even today?
• It looks relatively the same as it did in the 1800s
• Georgian architecture, Roman baths, preserved buildings
• Janeites gather there
• Jane Austen Centre and Jane Austen Festival
• Great shopping, culture, arts, and entertainment

11. Works Cited
• PICTURES:
http://www.sjsu.edu/studyabroad/img/Bath41.jpg
http://www.bugbog.com/images/galleries/england_pictures/bath-bridge-2.jpg
http://www.backpack-uk.com/images/BathMap.jpg
http://www.traveleden.com/images/upload/266_Roman-Baths-Bath.jpg
http://images.travelpod.com/users/cullism/england_first_t.1057038060.15_roman_baths_in_bath.jpg
http://carlaspathways.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/regencydance.jpg
http://cache.virtualtourist.com/2906188-Jane_Austen_Museum-Bath.jpg
http://photos.igougo.com/images/p361796-Bath-Jane_Austen_Center.jpg
http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/bathcard.png
• Tomalin, Claire. Jane Austen; A Life. New York: Vintage Books, 1999. 172-173.
• Bath 360. 6 Sept 2009.<http://www.bath.co.uk>.
• Colloff-Bennett, Tamara. “Jane Austen in the City of Bath, England.” The Quillcards Blog. 1 Feb 2009. 6 Sept
2009. <http://quillcards.com/blog/index.php/articles/jane-austen-in-the-city-of-bath-england/>.