The Importance of Letters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

The Importance of Letters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

To reveal how useful the letters are in ‘Pride and Prejudice’, we need

to look at the history behind letter writing. Jane Austen’s novel,

‘Pride and Prejudice’ was written in 1813. The main form of

communication then was by letters. However, they did not have a

Central Postal system that we have today, where if you want to send a

letter or parcel urgently then it could arrive within a few hours,

instead they had their mail sent by Mail Coach. Although, you could

send the mail by ‘express’, which was where you would pay an extra

amount of money to have your mail sent faster, for example Mr

Gardiner’s letter in chapter 44 was sent by express.

There were no separate envelopes so letters were folded and the

address would be written on the back, often they would seal it using

wax. If the letter was private then the writer may have made an

envelope which would be made from simply folding paper. In chapter 35

Darcy makes an envelope for his letter to Elizabeth because it is so

long. Paper would have been extremely expensive in Jane Austen’s time,

so to save paper the writer would write in the margins making sure

they used up every space upon the paper. The letters would have been

written using a pen made from a quill feather, which would have been

sharpened to a point and dipped in ink.

The lost original first version of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ was written

in epistolary form and was called, ‘First Impressions’. Other

eighteenth century authors wrote in this form. A twentieth century

novel also written in epistolary form is, ‘The Color Purple’, Alice

Walker.

In total there are 40 letters either paraphrased or directly quoted

in the novel ‘Pri...

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... knows that she will be distraught by the

news, she writes,’ I am very, very sorry.’, and ‘ My dear Lizzy…’ She

is being sympathetic and a true sister! Jane uses abbreviations for

places and names that she knows Lizzy will understand, these are, ‘Mrs

F.’ , ‘W.’ and ‘Colonel F.’ The letters reveal that Jane’s character

is comforting, kind-hearted and considerate.

I have learned that in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ the letters are very

useful because they move the plot along and introduce new storylines.

They give secrecy between two characters and allow them to express

their true feelings. The characters will find it much easier to reveal

their thoughts more intimately in a letter then saying it in person.

Most importantly they allow us to see what the letter reveals about

the writers character and give us a better understanding for their

actions and behaviour.