“To My Dearest Sister Cassandra”: An Analysis of Jane Austen's Will

Abstract

Short though it is, Jane Austen's Will contains all the elements of a traditional Will. Only the names of witnesses are missing, which would have made it invalid. Drawing on Ulrich Bach's study of Wills from the Early Modern English period, this article analyses the structure of Jane Austen's Will as well as its formulaic language, focusing on features like spelling, punctuation, grammar and lexis. Studying the probate copy of the Will, which includes the names of the witnesses that were eventually found to validate it, allows us a close insight into Jane Austen's social network around the time of her death, while her language use in the Will itself demonstrates her extreme closeness with her sister Cassandra, who was both the executor and the main beneficiary of the Will.