Letters to Alice on P&P
How has your understanding of Letter Two reshaped your understanding of marriage and female identity in Pride and Prejudice?
In Weldon’s novel, Letters to Alice, she scrutinises and exposes the reality that women faced in the Regency period in regards to marriage and female identity. This forces the reader to rethink their prior views of women that were shaped by Austen’s context, thus appreciating her novel on a deeper level. In comparison to Austen’s text which emphasises the necessity for Georgian women to marry to gain financial stability, Weldon’s influences of post-modernist perspectives and second-wave feminism shed some light on the expectations these women had to uphold in order to get married, which she interprets as an “outmoded institution”. Feminist inspirations such as Betty Freidman help influence Weldon’s notions by highlighting “the problem with no name” and the dissatisfaction of the domestication of women. This allows readers to view Mrs Bennett more sympathetically as she was “driven half-mad” whilst “husband-hunting” for her daughters. Weldon’s use of alliteration and hyperbole to describe Mrs Bennet’s mental state furthermore increases sympathy for her due to the strenuous circumstances they were living in. Women had little independence and could “become a butcher…or a prostitute”, if they chose not get married, justifying Mrs Bennet’s hysterical nature of whom Austen satirises for valuing marriage for mercenary motives. It also enables readers to understand Charlotte Lucas’ motives for marrying the “irksome” Mr Collins, in order to avoid being destitute and vulnerable to “malnutrition, ignorance and disease”, where people were “hopping, shuffling, peering”. The use of listing verbs highlights the multitude of physical ailments and accentuates Charlotte’s need to marry Mr Collins in order to avoid this destructive path caused by the little compassion towards women who didn’t marry. Similarly to Austen, Weldon values the importance of
In Weldon’s novel, Letters to Alice, she scrutinises and exposes the reality that women faced in the Regency period in regards to marriage and female identity. This forces the reader to rethink their prior views of women that were shaped by Austen’s context, thus appreciating her novel on a deeper level. In comparison to Austen’s text which emphasises the necessity for Georgian women to marry to gain financial stability, Weldon’s influences of post-modernist perspectives and second-wave feminism shed some light on the expectations these women had to uphold in order to get married, which she interprets as an “outmoded institution”. Feminist inspirations such as Betty Freidman help influence Weldon’s notions by highlighting “the problem with no name” and the dissatisfaction of the domestication of women. This allows readers to view Mrs Bennett more sympathetically as she was “driven half-mad” whilst “husband-hunting” for her daughters. Weldon’s use of alliteration and hyperbole to describe Mrs Bennet’s mental state furthermore increases sympathy for her due to the strenuous circumstances they were living in. Women had little independence and could “become a butcher…or a prostitute”, if they chose not get married, justifying Mrs Bennet’s hysterical nature of whom Austen satirises for valuing marriage for mercenary motives. It also enables readers to understand Charlotte Lucas’ motives for marrying the “irksome” Mr Collins, in order to avoid being destitute and vulnerable to “malnutrition, ignorance and disease”, where people were “hopping, shuffling, peering”. The use of listing verbs highlights the multitude of physical ailments and accentuates Charlotte’s need to marry Mr Collins in order to avoid this destructive path caused by the little compassion towards women who didn’t marry. Similarly to Austen, Weldon values the importance of