Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen and Letters to Alice- Fay Weldon Essay

An examination of Jane Austens 1813 brotherly satire Pride and Prejudice, and the culture of Fay Weldons 1984 epistolary text Letters to Alice on first reading Jane Austen, allows understanding of Austens novel to be moulded and past shifted. Pride and Prejudice is a novel of manners, focusing on marriage, Pride, Prejudice and Social Class which are projected through the characters, gentry-class setting and Austens authorial comment. Austens purpose was to introduce the world of the gentry class, and satirise some aspects of her society and praise others. Weldons purpose is to encourage an understanding of the value of literary works for individuals and society. She models Austens writing to examine her argument and in so doing she gives a heightened understanding of values in Austens context. She reviews Austens society, providing an report of social conventions such as marriage, social social stratification and women.aunt Fays opinions allow readers to influence their under standing of events and characters in Pride and Prejudice. Her conclusions allow the reader to draw connections amidst our contemporary society and Austens context, which then en up to(p)s us to reshape our original understanding of Pride and Prejudice and our own context. by dint of Letters to Alice, Weldon discusses the importance in the value of literature. This is displayed through use of the absolute you must read. Her observing of literature linking to the transcendence of time is examined when adopting the metaphor of the city of invention, which educates the readers of what unsloped literature is and the solid foundations that make it withstand time. aunty Fay says done reading literature we learn about the way people thought and how they lived, the ways we are different and the things we share, suggesting an implicit link to Austens work. Weldon writes that good literature has the ability to transcend time and reach readers across centuries.She demonstrates that the c haracters Austen created, are still relevant in modern society. The universal themes of faults and failings such as loss are seen in both texts, as they were been written for moral guidance purposes. Austen uses her novel to suggest how people should be arrest. She condemns snobbery, pride and injustice. For example, Austen uses the character transformation between Elizabeth and Darcy and rewards them with happiness. Through Mary, Austen uses authorial comment on pride by saying human nature is particularly prone to itaperson may be gallant without macrocosm vain. Weldons character Aunt Fay is comparable to Jane Austen, as she teaches her niece Alice to read, be appreciative of her world and develop empathy for those who are less fortunate. Through Aunt Fays didacticism, the readers see a changing Alice, kindredly to Elizabeth Bennets character transformation in Pride and Prejudice.Elizabeth has to overcome her initial judgements of Mr Darcy in identify to gain a heightened und erstanding of herself. For example, after the first brief encounter with Darcy she re of imported with no very cordial feelings towards him. She is left believing he is arrogant and the just about disagreeable man. However she learns from her wrongness when she begins to understand his character and his motives. This is similar to Alices experience, as she is taught to reshape her opinionated first impressions of Jane Austen and the Professors wife. Alice comes to understand, through Aunt Fays letters, that she has interpreted her life and educational opportunities for granted and should non make judgements of Unlovable when barely based on her Professors opinion. Marriage is the primary concern of Austens novel.The immense importance of which is referred to by Mrs Bennet If I can but see one of my daughters happily settled at Netherfield, and all the others equally hygienic married, I have nothing to wish for. The plot follows Mrs Bennets desperation in having her five daughter s married to men who have inherited a substantial fortune. The novel reflects Austens context where marriage was a result of seeing profitable prospects rather than love. This is exemplified through Mrs Bennets comment A single man of a large fortunewhat a fine thing for our girls Marriage benefited the couple in both wealth and social status. Austen utilises a variety of marriages to contrast and show preference to the uniting of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy who have love and respect, and have had to overcome initial personal judgements of each other. Elizabeth Bennet, who has to reassess her prejudice and Mr Darcy, who has to overcome his pride.They become the most affluent and respected couple in the novel. The idea of entailment ensured the family fortune was inherited by the men, which meant women had limited inheritance rights. This is the main incentive for Mrs Bennet having her children married to men with a substantial fortune, as when Mr Bennet dies, the family will be le ft poor. This is augmented through Weldon who expresses empathy towards Mrs Bennet, and says life was not rosy whether women married or not. This helps to reshape theunderstanding of marriage gained in Austens novel, as it was previously believed that marriage lead to a better life-style for women. Fay Weldon connects the idea of marriage by linking the two generations, and interpreting the changing facets of matrimony. In Jane Austens period, marriage was a necessity rather than a commodity. Alice, the representative for the contemporary context, perceives marriage as an outmoded institution.Alice views Austens novel as boring, petty and irrelevant, as her context believes love should be factored into marriage. Fay Weldon connects the generations by justifying aspects that have remained the same or have neuterd. She highlights the harsh realities of married women in Jane Austens patriarchal world. For example, she writes men could beat you if they saw fit. Weldon constitutes Aus tens contextual ideas on marriage through Aunt Fay who attempts to help her niece Alice, a rebellious university student, understand the necessity for marriage in Austens context. She uses the metaphor To get married was a salient prize. It was a womans aimNo wonder Mrs Bennet driven half mad by anxiety, knowing they would be unprovided for when her husband died. This helps the readers to reshape their understanding of Mrs Bennet.In Pride and Prejudice, Austen satirises and condemns her character for her obsession with finding suitable partners for her unmarried daughters. However, Aunt Fays didactic attempt on using empathy is expressed through Mrs Bennet, who is described as politeness warred with desperation. Weldon details the unions between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy to be unlikely, given their differences in social standing. This is reinforced by Aunt Fay reminding Alice, Novels are illusion not reality. This perspective on matrimony takes the reader back to Pride and Pr ejudice and reinforces Charlottes pragmatic perspective mirth in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.Aunt Fay recognises that some unions have not changed from Austens period. There are women who still marry for survival. For example, the importation of Asian wives links to the marriage between Charlotte and Mr Collins, as she found happiness, inspite of marrying for all the wrong reasons. To heighten the readers understanding of marriage in Pride and Prejudice, she says is the block of our womens magazines, but it was the stuff of their life, their very existence. This is Weldon reinforcing the idea of necessity for marriage for women of Austens context. It helps Alice to overcome her initialthoughts on marriage in Pride and Prejudice. In Pride and Prejudice, social class overrides all other emotions such love and happiness. Mr Darcy is the central character who defines the upper class of Regency England. Mr Wickham uses bitter verbal irony to describe Darcy, noting He was to be above all company, in having been unworthy to be compared. Austen defies her conventional ideas on social stratification through the eccentric unions of matrimony between Elizabeth and Darcy or Jane and Bingley.These marriages occur, despite the authorative Lady Catherine saying Your alliance will be a disgrace, you name will never be mentioned by any of us. This allows the readers to see that Austen had created Elizabeth Bennet, to break through her societys rigid values. This is linked to Weldons comment Jane Austen likes to see the division between nobility and gentry disturbed down, as the division had been created when Elizabeth married Darcy. Fay Weldon uses social stratification to connect the gap between Austens society and the modern world. She contemporises Austens text by having the didactic Aunt Fay write to Alice explaining the gentry thought well of themselves, and liked to despise the nobility for their rackety ways, and were despised by them, in turn for being w orthy and boring. In this, Weldon suggests that people of both societies were limited by social boundaries. Through Weldons text, Aunt Fay attempts to make the readers feel empathy through the explanation of stratified womens lives Women were born poor, and stayed poor, and lived well only by their husbands favour.Weldons use of stratification, like Austens, is apply for didactic purposes. She writes human nature does not change over the centuries, indicating that snobbery, pride, prejudice and criticism, which Austen satirised in Pride and Prejudice, are still relevant in modern society. For example, Caroline Bingleys criticism of the middle class is similar to criticism aimed at writers, deriving from the readers who do not understand the difficulty of writing well. Austen believes women should have options and opinions. Her character Elizabeth is independent, witty and judgemental. She defies social conventions and is used as a model for achieving Austens purpose, and in return, is rewarded with love. There was also the idea of accomplished women being more suitable to men. Women who were well educated in the art of music, literature and languages, were thought to be accomplished and therefore more attractive to a suitor.Miss Bingley states, usingaccumulation A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word. In Pride and Prejudice, the Bennet sisters did not attend school and were only trained in accomplishment. This juxtaposes with Alices lifestyle, as she is eligible to attend university on a different continent to further her education. An example of this is when Aunt Fay plants the idea why dont you go to UCLA and write? This helps people understand the limitations of women in Pride and Prejudice and justify the difference between the ideas of a successful woman in both contexts. Fay Weldon defines womens lives in Austens context and compares it to modern society. She models Auste ns life for Alice to gain a heightened understanding of the difficulties women faced to defy social conventions. She demonstrates this by using the metaphor It takes great courage to swim against the stream of communal ideas.In this, Weldon is depicting the complications for Austen to see her world and reprimand its values on marriage, social class and women, whilst providing an pick perspective. Weldon describes the limitations for female writers as they were expected to be tender, flatter, deceivenever let anybody guess that you have a mind of your own. Female writers were discouraged from inventing and were only allowed to write about their world. Aunt Fays brief explanation of the female writers contrasts with contemporary society, with Aunt Fay being the example. With the ability of travel and freely express her opinions, she is able to write without concern of her work being unpublished because of contemporary values. Unlike Austen, she is being paid and recognised for the te xts she writes. Fay Weldon uses didacticism to develop an empathetic link to women in Austens context by detailing to Alice by your standards it was a horrible time to live.For example, she gives statistical evidence of childbirth childbirth was primitivethere was no analgesicsyour chances of dying wereone in two. In this, Aunt Fay highlights that Alice should not take being autonomous for granted. This is delineated through Aunt Fay expressing You do not know little Alice, how recent or lucky you are. A close study of Jane Austens 1813 social satire Pride and Prejudice and the 1984 epistolary text Letters to Alice on first reading Jane Austen by Fay Weldon, allows us to draw connections between the two texts and for our original understanding of Austens text to be shaped and shifted. Austen uses the main themes in Prideand Prejudice, such as Marriage, social class and Pride, to express her approval or disapproval of her societies attitudes. Weldons text is used for didactic purpose s to encourage an understanding of the value of literature, for which she uses Austens writing to project her ideas. She reviews Austens context by providing an explanation of social conventions such as marriage, social stratification and women.