Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is a 19th century social satire, written and set in 1813 England during the height of the regency period. Austen explores the plight of single women as well as the class structure and social snobbery of her historical context. Being a successful female writer herself and giving voice to the struggles of women in her novels, she undermined many of the societal boundaries of the 19th century and in this sense, was very much a subversive element in society. Fay Weldon’s 1984 novel ‘Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austen’ explores similar issues and serves to illuminate the reader’s understanding of the values and issues of Austen’s cultural context. By doing this Weldon encourages the modern reader
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She uses a didactic literary form which is softened through the fictional aspect of the novel and creates an interesting and engaging way of directly addressing her audience. Quite clearly we as the readers are Alice. ‘Letters to Alice’ highlights Austen’s divergent intimations, and enhances the readers’ understanding of them by making the context of Austen’s novel accessible to a modern audience. An example of this is her rationalisation of Mrs Bennet, introduced by Austen as a marriage-centric, flustered woman of little wit. Weldon artfully justifies Mrs Bennet’s actions and decorum in her explanation of the crucial nature of marriage for women at the time; “…You could be a prostitute, or you could marry”. All humour aside, the Bennett women were in very real danger and this is a point that Aunty Fay makes sure to stress: “Alice, by your standards it was a horrible time to be alive”. She also presents a unique perspective on Charlotte Lucas’s marriage to Mr Collins, likening it to modern day “rich land owners importing Asian girls as wives”, suggesting to Alice that we cannot judge the decisions of these women when we have not been in their predicament. In doing this Weldon again highlights the justification behind what a present day audience might consider to be superficial motive, by linking Charlotte’s situation to a contemporary
She uses a didactic literary form which is softened through the fictional aspect of the novel and creates an interesting and engaging way of directly addressing her audience. Quite clearly we as the readers are Alice. ‘Letters to Alice’ highlights Austen’s divergent intimations, and enhances the readers’ understanding of them by making the context of Austen’s novel accessible to a modern audience. An example of this is her rationalisation of Mrs Bennet, introduced by Austen as a marriage-centric, flustered woman of little wit. Weldon artfully justifies Mrs Bennet’s actions and decorum in her explanation of the crucial nature of marriage for women at the time; “…You could be a prostitute, or you could marry”. All humour aside, the Bennett women were in very real danger and this is a point that Aunty Fay makes sure to stress: “Alice, by your standards it was a horrible time to be alive”. She also presents a unique perspective on Charlotte Lucas’s marriage to Mr Collins, likening it to modern day “rich land owners importing Asian girls as wives”, suggesting to Alice that we cannot judge the decisions of these women when we have not been in their predicament. In doing this Weldon again highlights the justification behind what a present day audience might consider to be superficial motive, by linking Charlotte’s situation to a contemporary