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Letters To Alice Comparison

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Composers reflect and challenge the values and attitudes of their context, enabling the responder to gain an enhanced understanding of the influence of context on their texts. Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice (1813), written during the patriarchal Regency Era, examines the intrinsic connection between love and financial security that impacted marital agreements. Similarly, Fay Weldon’s postmodernist epistolary novel Letters to Alice (1984) highlights the importance of morally instructive texts as well as supporting the importance of finding a balance between love and financial security within marriage. Hence, the comparative study between these two texts highlights shifts in values and attitudes due to varying contextual influences but also …show more content…

Initially, Lydia’s characterisation as “self-willed and careless…ignorant, idle, and vain” foreshadows her eventual elopement with elopement being a punishable offense under the Hardwicke Act of 1753 which enables Austen to advocate a sense of independence, tempered with values of prudence and consideration for others. After Wickham deceitfully claims “Till I can forget his father, I can never defy or expose him”, the dramatic irony in the omniscient narration “Elizabeth honoured him for such feelings” exposes Elizabeth’s prejudiced dislike towards Darcy formulated from appearance and emotion rather than rationality. However, Elizabeth overcomes her prejudgement after reading Darcy’s letter, shown through the cumulative listing “Astonishment, apprehension, and even horror, oppressed her”, resulting in the ephiphany "she had been blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd”, typifying the impact of the epistolary style in promoting introspection and re-evaluation of one’s morality. Consequently, the satirisation of the Regency value of Physiognomy in Elizabeth’s perceptive monologue, "There was some great mismanagement in (their) education. One (Darcy) has got all the goodness, and the other (Wickham) all the appearance of it" validates Elizabeth’s moral development, highlighting the importance of responsiveness to feedback in …show more content…

Due to the advancement of female rights, the significance of marriage has dramatically shifted as indicated by the varying values of the characters within Pride and Prejudice and Letters to Alice. Despite diverging compositional milieu and contextual differences, the universal importance of novels for moral instruction is explored. A comparative study enhances the reader’s understanding of both texts by exploring the connections between both

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