Who was Jane Austen’s best heroine? These experts think they know

To mark the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, we’re pitting her much-loved heroines against each other in a battle of wit, charm and sass. Seven leading Austen experts have made their case for her ultimate heroine, but the winner is down to you. Cast your vote in the poll at the end of the article, and let us know the reason for your choice in the comments. This is Jane Austen Fight Club – it’s bonnets at dawn…

Elinor Dashwood, Sense and Sensibility

Championed by Julie Taddeo, research professor of history, University of Maryland

At just 19, Elinor Dashwood is wise beyond her years – and she must be. Like many of Austen’s young women, she suffers the consequences of a father’s careless disregard for his daughters’ futures.

Sensible and reserved, Elinor may seem less exciting than her emotional younger sister, Marianne, but who would you trust in a crisis? A drama queen who nearly grieves herself to death over an unworthy lover, or her sister who quietly endures heartbreak with maturity and grace? When Elinor believes she must accept “the extinction of all her dearest hopes”, we realise that she loves as deeply as Marianne but chooses restraint. She is, in fact, both sense and sensibility.

When Marianne marries the dependable Colonel Brandon, we suspect she believes she has “settled”. Elinor, by contrast, is rewarded with the man she has loved all along (although whether Edward truly deserves Elinor is the subject of a separate debate).

This article is part of a series commemorating the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. Despite having published only six books, she is one of the best-known authors in history. These articles explore the legacy and life of this incredible writer.

Emma Woodhouse, Emma

Championed by James Smith, senior lecturer in literature and theory, Royal Holloway University of London

Emma nonchalantly insists that reality conform to her intentions, however outlandish or arbitrary. For one, she is determined to arrange a noble marriage for her friend Harriet Smith, despite her lack of high birth. She hilariously attributes reality’s disappointing deviations to a vulgar lack of decorum – “of judgement, of knowledge, of taste”.

Whereas in other novels such as Don Quixote, Northanger Abbey, and Madame Bovary the principal character flaws are born of reading too much, Emma has been shaped by reading decidedly too little.

Does she feel guilt for her more outlandish whims, including convincing Harriet Smith to decline a real love match? Yes, Austen’s depiction of her mortification is a realistic masterpiece. Does reality get Emma in the end? Sure. She’s ashamed of the way she behaved and endeavours to right her wrongs.

But great comedies let us have it both ways: taking satisfaction in a conciliatory solution to the crazy discrepancies between dream and reality, while transgressively allowing us to feel as though the discrepancy is with us still.

Fanny Price, Mansfield Park

Championed by Emma Sweeney, senior lecturer in creative writing, The Open University

Jane Austen’s mother wrote off the heroine of Mansfield Park as “insipid”, and she’s been dismissed by countless readers since as mousy, unlovable and priggish. Sure, Fanny Price has none of Emma Woodhouse’s wit. She lacks Elizabeth Bennet’s charm. And yet, I’ve never rooted for any of Austen’s heroines as much as I root for Fanny: the Cinderella figure, the frightened child, the poor relation.

Fanny endures real cruelty and neglect. Her place in the Bertram household is genuinely precarious. Fanny cannot afford the jauntiness of life’s Emmas and Elizabeths. Despite having been taught always to consider herself “the lowest and last”, Fanny is the bravest and most subversive of all Austen’s heroines. She resists intense pressure to marry a wealthy suitor and even dares to question her plantation-owning uncle about slavery.

Fanny might have been deprived of a fire in her room, but she certainly has fire in her belly.

Lady Susan Vernon, Lady Susan

Championed by Leigh Wetherall Dickson, associate professor in 18th and 19th-century English literature, Northumbria University, Newcastle

Possessed of an “uncommon union” of beauty, brilliance and “captivating deceit,” Lady Susan is the most audaciously amoral of all Austen’s characters. She pursues sexual gratification and financial security with equal vigour, while taking “exquisite pleasure” in making those “pre-determined to dislike, acknowledge one’s superiority”.

That she does so while wearing the full mourning apparel of “four months a widow” demonstrates a ruthless manipulation of social surfaces and expectations of behaviour.

To her public, Lady Susan “talks vastly well” to convince of an emotional sincerity that is revealed in private to her co-conspirator, Mrs Johnson, to be false. None of this is admirable but what makes Lady Susan worthy of admiration, a response all heroines must elicit, is how quickly her vexation when thwarted turns into brazen defiance of the forces that work against her.

We can’t help but cheer her resilience when it is declared in her rallying cry “I am again myself, gay and triumphant”.

Anne Elliot, Persuasion

Championed by Katherine Halsey, professor of English studies, University of Stirling

Austen herself called Anne Elliot “almost too good for me” in a letter to her niece, Fanny Knight, in March 1817 – just after she told Fanny that “pictures of perfection … make me sick and wicked”.

Anne isn’t a picture of perfection, but she is a delight, and of all Austen’s heroines, she’s my personal favourite. I love Austen’s description of Anne’s “elegant and cultivated mind”, as well as her occasional self-mockery. Anne is intelligent, loyal, self-aware and kind. She bears her considerable trials with fortitude and generosity, and she is, above all, quietly and steadfastly brave.

She has a strong sense of justice, advocating for what is right. She’s “on the side of honesty against importance”, as Austen puts it. And she knows how to survive suffering without becoming bitter. Anne epitomises grace under pressure, and is therefore a much-needed role model in today’s world.

Catherine Morland, Northanger Abbey

Championed by Victorina Gonzalez-Diaz, reader in English language, University of Liverpool

Catherine Morland is a heroine for every modern woman who has ever felt too ordinary for the spotlight. She isn’t exceptionally beautiful or comfortably wealthy like Emma. She doesn’t duel with language the way quick-witted Lizzy Bennet does.

Instead, Catherine is wonderfully average. No practising concertos, no embroidery tournaments, no long-winded diary entries: her chief accomplishments are a nosy naivety and a vivid imagination that can transform a draughty corridor into a murder mystery.

In the end, Catherine still bags herself Henry Tilney (one of the youngest Austenian heroes) and in Eleanor she gains a sister-in-law who keeps Henry’s verbal pedantry in check. Catherine shows that you don’t need riches, brilliance or carefully-catalogued talents to claim happiness: the best way forward is to be “nice” and wish for your life to be a never-ending gothic novel.

Elizabeth Bennet, Pride and Prejudice

Championed by Nada Saadoui, PhD candidate in English literature, University of Cumbria

Elizabeth Bennet’s wit is legendary, but her true power lies in her refusal to conform. She declines her cousin Mr Collins not with coyness but as a “rational creature”, asserting her right to choose. She speaks her mind, laughs at pretension, learns from error, and demands love founded on equality. She’s an “obstinate, headstrong girl” who best embodies Austen’s radical heart.

Elizabeth does not drift into gothic fantasy like Catherine Morland, nor does she suffer the destructive excesses of sensibility like Marianne Dashwood. Instead, she strides through Austen’s landscapes with perceptiveness, humour and growth. Her rejection of Mr Darcy’s first proposal is as revolutionary as her refusal of Collins – she demands respect, not rescue.

Flawed yet gloriously self-aware, Elizabeth moves with purpose, defying social expectations to forge her own path. In her, Austen crafted not just a spirited protagonist but a timeless symbol of thoughtful rebellion. Two centuries on, Lizzy remains unapologetically sharp, delightfully human and utterly unforgettable.

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

Emma Claire Sweeney received funding from Arts Council England to help with the research and writing of A SECRET SISTERHOOD: THE HIDDEN FRIENDSHIPS OF AUSTEN, BRONTE, ELIOT AND WOOLF.

James Smith, Julie Taddeo, Katherine Halsey, Leigh Wetherall Dickson, Nada Saadaoui, and Victorina Gonzalez-Diaz do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.