Letters To Alice On First Reading By Jane Austen

By making connections between texts we can deepen our understanding of values they examined and the context in which they were composed. Jane Austen’s Bildungsroman text, Pride and Prejudice and Fay Weldon’s epistolary didactic text, Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen both examine the ideas of the autonomy of women and, the social class and standing of women in their texts. By studying these in conjunction with each other, we are able to better understand each texts values and the way in which these have changed through time.
The autonomy or personal freedom of women wasn’t viewed as important in the Regency period, resulting in limited opportunities and choices for them. The expectations of females were that they would live with

In modern society the freedom of women allows them to be themselves and more equal to men. Fay Weldon was a part of the ‘second wave’ of feminism and she created her character Alice to represent the ‘modern woman’ and through her letters both implicitly and explicitly indicates the changes which have occurred. Through the symbolism of Alice’s hair, Weldon talks about what lengths people will go through to achieve some form of individualism. The representation of Alice’s “black and green hair” shows her wanting independence and by drastically changing her hair colour from the ‘normal’ allows her to achieve this as well as asserting herself in life. Only after Alice became accomplished and found her identity did she dye it back to her natural “mousy brown.” Because of the person Alice is, Weldon suggests that “[Alice] wouldn’t survive living in Austen’s time.” This reiterates the difference of the times and values upheld as well as the autonomy of women, in a modern context compared to that of Austen’s time, evident in the disparaging comments when Elizabeth allows herself to become

The women of the Regency period married for financial stability and as the only real option for their futures. Status was maintained and this notion through Lady Catherine who tells Elizabeth “[their] alliance will be a disgrace...I am ashamed of you...have you no regard, then, for the honour and credit of my nephew.” Lady Catherine’s hyperbolic, high modality underpins her belief that Darcy and Anne de Bourgh should be married because they are equal in class. Lady Catherine thinks Elizabeth “a young woman without family, connections, or fortune, making her not ideal of a candidate” to marry Darcy. When Mr Collins proposed to Elizabeth, Mrs Bennet believed it to be an agreeable marriage because Mr Collins would entail Mr Bennet’s estate on the occurrence of his death. When Elizabeth refused him, Mrs Bennet stated that “Mr Collins might never make the offer” of marriage again. Both Mrs Bennet and Lady Catherine know the standing they hold in society and they are trying to find an ‘agreeable’ marriage for their daughters. The notion of pride and prejudice is present throughout Austen’s text which is demonstrated through Mary Bennet who spoke about how “pride...is a very common failing.” This creates irony in the text because she herself has succumbed to pride. Similarly, Darcy fails to see his pride causing prejudice against Elizabeth and how because of “the inferiority of her connections he