Pride and Prejudice / Letters to Alice

- ‘Pride and Prejudice’: Regency novel

- ‘Letters to Alice’: epistolary essays, erudite
- Weldon forms connections to P&P which help readers to understand Regency
England
- Exploring the connections between both texts enhance readers’ understanding of
each – demonstrates that Austen is more than “boring, petty and irrelevant”
- By forming connections between Regency England and contemporary society,
Weldon highlights subversive elements of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and thus illuminates
readers’ understanding of the themes contained in Austen’s novel
- Modern reader is positioned as Alice – a fictional character whose experiences are
used by Weldon to contrast the status of women in a Regency context with the
opportunities available in contemporary society
- As paired texts, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and the epistolary essays ‘Letters to Alice’
provide the reader with new perspectives on morality and appreciation for their
ability to empathise with the freedoms afforded to the “black and green hair(ed)”
Alice

Authors’ Techniques:
o Austen: irony, Bildungsroman structure, humour
o Weldon: didacticism to instruct Alice to read Austen’s literature, essays in the form
of letters
o Weldon’s recontextualisation of Regency experiences highlights a degree of
modernism in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ through the character of Elizabeth Bennett, and
conveys the importance of literature as a continuation of knowledge over time
o Weldon’s progressive lens offers a modern perspective of women within a Regency
context
o Austen’s omniscient narrative style

Lydia/Alice
 Weldon recontextualises the expectations constraining the lives of women in
Regency England to illustrate the liberating effects of shifting social values, allowing
readers to contrast the characters of Lydia and Alice
 Persona of Alice created as a modern counterpart to Elizabeth
 Austen provides insight into the consequences of Lydia’s elopement without
marriage – encouraged by Mrs. Bennett’s lack of guidance
 “Self-willed and careless” – infatuation with young men & immaturity lowers social
status of the Bennett family, diminishes sisters’ potential to “secure” a husband
 “Grievous affliction” within Regency context – society where marriage is critical in
affirming a woman’s social status
 “Lost forever” due to Wickham’s sheer malice
  “Wild, noisy” – actions bring her family overwhelming shame
 Feminist movement has granted Alice greater sexual and personal freedoms, and
lessened the societal ramifications of her mistakes
 Modern reader recognises Alice’s opportunities for study, seeking genuine love
within a relationship & to make errors without acute condemnation for her mishaps

Social Expectations/Values:
Marriage
 Expectations of marriage in Regency England irrelevant within Weldon’s context
 “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance”
 “The only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune”
 Significance of marriage in P&P reinforces class structure – underpins/perpetuates
status quo
 Purpose of marriage in a patriarchal Regency context was to affirm social status &
achieve financial security
 Economic contract often at the expense of emotion
 Weldon: “to marry was a great prize”, “child you don’t know how lucky you are”
 “On the shelve” – humiliating, degrading, shameful – contrast to Alice’s feminism
 Constraints upon young women allow the reader to empathise with Charlotte’s
decision to marry the “irksome” Mr. Collins – practical, but becomes less admirable
when compared with Elizabeth’s determination to marry for love – new value
 Weldon links Charlotte’s predicament to issues pertaining to women in less affluent
countries – “rich landowners (who) import Asian girls as wives” – marriage remains
the only means of achieving financial security & social mobility for women in some
cultural settings

Modernism in P&P:
 Weldon counters the perception of Austen as an insular or “gentle” writer
 Austen challenges traditional Regency values through the characterisation of
Elizabeth
 “Lively, playful disposition” – Elizabeth is far from the typical Regency heroine, offers
a new vision of ideal womanhood
 Progressive traits – impulsive nature, disinterest in obtaining a “thorough knowledge
of music, singing, drawing” – typical accomplishments of the time
 “Spring(s) over puddles” and finds entertainment in the absurdity of others
 “Brilliancy” and “glow” – liveliness of her character due to her independence and
resistance of social constraints evident in Miss Bingley’s remark that her behaviour is
“abominable”
 Austen’s satirical disdain for traditional Regency accomplishments evident through
her ridicule of the sycophantic Miss Bingley
 Conditioned by Austen’s mocking tone to dislike her views and hold the unorthodox
Elizabeth in high esteem
  Unconventional relationship between Elizabeth & Darcy offers new/subversive
alternative to traditional attitudes regarding marriage and the Regency status quo

Importance of Literature:
 You “must read… before it’s too late”
 Iconic texts such as P&P contain imaginative worlds that allow for inspiration and
self-discovery
 LTA: passionate defence of literature, provides an incentive for the reader to
appreciate literature
 Weldon implores readers to view literature as not merely enjoyable, but
provocative, with the capacity to transform, inspire & educate
 Extended “City of Invention” metaphor – timeless value of literature
 “Literature”: communal and collaborative art, evident in the image of texts “waving
to each other across the centuries”, provider of “real history”
 “With its capital L”, it allows insight into the mind of others and provides a
framework for readers’ personal experiences
 Dismissing the value of writing  historical alienation, we are all “ignorant until we
read”
 Just as Weldon experiments with form, using a pastiche of facts and imaginary
scenarios, Austen uses the novel form as a new medium to entertain & provide
moral instruction
 Weldon mentions Austen’s “literary life” – “breathed out a hundred different lives”,
created a perspective of Regency society in which reading is prized
 Admiration for Darcy’s extensive library containing “the work of many generations”
– view of literature as an intergenerational tradition of knowledge
 Reading enables self-knowledge – Bildungsroman structure of Elizabeth & Darcy’s
love affair
 Weldon argues that great literary texts can initiate social & personal change, using
Elizabeth’s transformation after reading Darcy’s letter as an example
 “Humiliating discovery” – moment of epiphany, realises that Darcy has accurately
judged her family, realisation allows for self-awareness – “checked herself”,
“enlightenment”
 Weldon argues that having immersed ourselves in the lives of Austen’s characters,
we too are able to gain self-knowledge and illumination of our own life experiences

Connections Between the Texts:

o Weldon replicates Austen’s style – use of irony
o Use of humour to instruct & engage the reader
o Using literature as a tool of instruction
o Both texts offer social commentary and provide instructions to their readers
o Both authors valued independence and believed that women should
transcend social constraints