Connections Between Pride And Prejudice

An in-depth examination of texts not only reveals the universality in principles and how values transcend over time, but also leads to a deeper understanding and recognition of the societal ideals of each author’s respective context. Through exploring the intertextual connections between ‘Pride and Prejudice’ (1813), a comedy of manners delving into the Georgian-England era by Jane Austen, and Fay Weldon’s epistolary novel, ‘Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen’ (1984), responders mend the contextual gap by reflecting on the evolution of ideals, as it gives the opportunity to evaluate and amend previous social norms to fit today’s context. The comparative study explicitly illuminates Austen and Weldon’s shared purpose to denote how
Weldon’s characterisation of Aunt Fay mirrors the ideal 19th century’s societal ideologies and values of literature as a fundamental desire, unlike the Georgian-England context in ‘Pride and Prejudice’, as reflected in the assertion, ‘People want to be told how to live’. Furthermore, Weldon denotes how moral purpose and personal beliefs, coupled with sardonic wit, enables Literature to retain the power to instruct, as well as challenge flawed social conventions and values, regardless of changing context, by integrating moral education in her discussion, ‘Good books present a connection between life and art’. Weldon personifies the books in “[Jane Austen’s] call to moral arms [were] more muted; but it was there. And her books too live on’ to illuminate the power of moral development that books can offer, leading to a deeper understanding and recognition on changing societal values and their ability to shape one’s ideals. Moreover, Weldon’s didactic and imperative tone in, ‘You must read, Alice, before it is too late. You must fill your mind with the invited images of the past’, showcases her valuing and strong reinforcement of canonical texts, as evident in their ability to improve the individual,
Likewise, Aunt Fay’s didactic tone expresses value of self knowledge, confidence by abolishing previous social norms regarding gender expectations, such as women independence and self-fulfillment, as reflected in the powerful assertion, ‘It takes courage, to comprehend not just what we are, but why we are’. Weldon utilises Aunt Fay and her dialogues as a powerful vehicle to communicate to responders, to recognise their strengths and establishing their individual identity and purpose, by disregarding society’s identical social norms regarding gender expectations. ‘But myself living, talking, giving advice, writing this letter, is only, please remember, in first draft… But hear me out,’, the cumulative listing provokes Alice to understand the importance of having self awareness and confidence by abolishing existing social values regarding gender expectations, perseverance, much like Aunt Fay already possesses. Furthermore, through her generalization ‘Human nature does not change over the centuries’, Weldon implies that human nature is identical regardless of context, however, humans must learn from their own past as people become aware of their own personal traits and how they impact different