A comparative study of Jane Austen’s, Pride and Prejudice and Fay Weldon’s, Letters to Alice on first reading Jane Austen, argues the values of social restrictions to dictate notions of success. The reading of Pride and Prejudice presents confusing perspectives on social restrictions and success in love, mannerisms and marriage. It is only upon reading Letters to Alice, an epistolary series does Weldon explicitly and implicitly comment on Jane Austen’s context, utilising her own context to allow greater understanding. The overall comparison of both texts show universal social values to encourage or discourage notions of success and as a result offer new understandings of themselves the world around them.
It is apparent that the paradigm for social rules framed the way women acted in Jane Austen’s context. Austen expresses the societal prospects in society where women were expected to accomplish domestic tasks, articulating how integral these tasks were to be assets for husbands. A woman must have a “thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern language, to deserve the world;” The utilisation of cumulative listing explicitly shows the circumstances of which make up an accomplished woman in a society that imposes these potentials, earning an offensive reaction from the audience in response to Darcy’s misogynistic views. Furthermore, social rules also dictated mannerisms and taboo violations. In particular, Austen …show more content…
Both composers highlight that restrictions are the most significant factor in hindering or supporting success, showing that it conjures both obedience and rebellion. Together the two texts, Pride and Prejudice and Letters to Alice establish that new understandings of themselves and the world are the preordained outcome in
It is apparent that the paradigm for social rules framed the way women acted in Jane Austen’s context. Austen expresses the societal prospects in society where women were expected to accomplish domestic tasks, articulating how integral these tasks were to be assets for husbands. A woman must have a “thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern language, to deserve the world;” The utilisation of cumulative listing explicitly shows the circumstances of which make up an accomplished woman in a society that imposes these potentials, earning an offensive reaction from the audience in response to Darcy’s misogynistic views. Furthermore, social rules also dictated mannerisms and taboo violations. In particular, Austen …show more content…
Both composers highlight that restrictions are the most significant factor in hindering or supporting success, showing that it conjures both obedience and rebellion. Together the two texts, Pride and Prejudice and Letters to Alice establish that new understandings of themselves and the world are the preordained outcome in