Letters To Alice Essay

Jane Austen’s regency novel Pride and Prejudice (1813) is a novel that is already appreciated by society but in order to gain a deeper appreciation of the novel, context must be explored. Letters to Alice: on First Reading Jane Austen (1984) by Fay Weldon evokes a deep appreciation of Austen’s social conventions and incorporates her own context so the reader can appreciate and understand the progression of social values. By reading Pride and Prejudice and Letters to Alice, an enriched holistic appreciation of social values such as education and the role of women can indubitably be achieved.
An enriched appreciation of education in Pride and Prejudice can be enhanced through reading about Austen’s context in Letters to Alice. In Pride and Prejudice,
The role of women in Austen’s context was to become as well accomplished as possible to be noticed by men and to be deemed compatible to secure a good marriage. In Chapter 8, Volume 1 in Pride and Prejudice, Caroline Bingley highlights the many accomplishments such as “a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages” a woman must possess to be esteemed as an accomplished woman. The use of cumulative listing by Austen emphasises the extensive list of hobbies and achievements a woman must occupy to “employ for captivation”, according to Mr Darcy. A woman’s role in society was to become well accomplished to secure a respectable marriage in the Regency period. By looking at Letters to Alice, readers are allowed to explore the progression of the role of women and zeitgeists of the 19th to 20th centuries. Weldon comments on this progress in Letter Two “it was the stuff of our women’s magazine but it was the stuff of their life”. Women became accomplished as “to marry was a great prize. It was a woman’s aim”. Weldon uses parataxis to emphasise the focus of marriage to a woman in the 19th century, it was of paramount importance. Writing during this period was only for the “impoverished and helpless female members” and Weldon accentuates this to distinguish the contrast of the role of women to her own context. Weldon herself is proof of this contrast as she is a well accomplished and wealthy academic. Alice is also proof of this as she herself is pursuing a career in literature which in the 1800s was deemed only for the impoverished. In the 19th century and Pride and Prejudice, women were dictated a criterion of accomplishments and hobbies they needed to possess to secure a marriage but Weldon contrasts this to the 20th