English (Advanced) Module A Essay
ENGLISH PAPER 2
2011 CSSA TRIAL
Section I
Changes in context and form offer fresh perspectives on the values in texts.
How does Weldon's Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen reveal her response
to the values explored in Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice?
Through exploring the connections between texts, a fresh perspective on values can
be obtained. This is evident through the changes in context and form between Jane
Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Fay Weldon's Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane
Austen. Weldon's contemporary context and epistolary form offer insights into the more
archaic ideas explored within Austen's text. Thus these links reveal Weldon's responses
to these values, and reshape them for the reader. Values pertaining to social class and
marriage are explored while putting an emphasis on the value of literature. Hence
changes in context and form provide new perspectives on the values in texts.
For contemporary responders, the opening line of Austen's novel is simply not applicable
to their lives. It is not a "truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession
of a good fortune must be in want of a wife". Nowadays marriage is not so integral to
our way of living, and this value and the significance placed on marriage isn't evident in
developed countries. The shift in context has made Austen's ideas inaccessible and some
characters difficult to relate to. However, Aunt Fay in Weldon's text provides a new
perspective, and explains how this was extremely important in the Regency period: "to
marry was a great prize. It was a woman's aim". Weldon agrees that marriage was a way
up for a woman as "only 30% of women married". Weldon uses statistics and factual
detail to highlight that it was extremely competitive. "Women lived by their husband's
favour", she asserts, expressing how women had little choice. This in turn throws light
onto Austen's characterisation of Charlotte, who found Mr Collins' "society irksome, but
still he would be her husband". Initially, contemporary responders would be outraged
that an independent woman would tie herself to someone else just for financial security.
However, Weldon's explanation of Austen's context allows readers to review the scenario
and agree that Charlotte "was doing the best she could with what she had", and thus
found a pragmatic solution to her situation through Mr Collins. Therefore Weldon's
response to the value of marriage can be seen through the connections to Pride and
Prejudice. The change in context serves to offer a fresh perspective on Austen's ideas, and
to make them relevant to contemporary readers.
A new perspective of the character of Charlotte is presented in Weldon's text: her
acceptance of Mr Collins' proposal is the work of an insightful woman who knows her
station in life and precisely what she has to do in order to escape the fate of being "left
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on the shelve". Weldon's response to the value of this character introduces the
importance of literature. The choice of form for her text, a series of letters, allows her
to both mimic the letter writing in Austen's novel and to use didacticism to her
advantage. This strong authoritative voice is used in her high modality of "you must read,
Alice, before it's too late". This statement, in conjunction with the extended metaphor of
the City of Invention, reveals Weldon's affirmations of the values presented in Austen's
novel. Through her third person narrative, Austen introduces the importance of a
heroine who is independent by giving Elizabeth the most fulfilling marriage as part of
the "happiest couple in the world". Weldon responds to the strong character of
Elizabeth Bennett through her assertion that the "Wayward capricious girl" would have
"upset a number of her readers, changed their minds, and with their minds, their lives,
and with their lives, the society they lived in". The parallelism and the climax of changing
society demonstrates the impact of literature and its importance as a moral compass in
society. "Enlighten people, and you enlighten society", Weldon argues, firmly believing
that being independent is important. In this way, Weldon emphasises Austen's ideas
through her epistolary form, reinforcing how Austen wrote "out of a tradition - if only to
break away from it" and it is this type of literature, "Literature with a capital L" that
provides "A legacy for the future to build on". Hence it can be observed that changes in
form offer new insights on the values of texts, bringing implicit ideas on the value of
women in society forward.
Austen challenges the Regency period notion of social class based on wealth and through
changes in context and form, Weldon provides fresh insights. The clash between the
characterisations of Lady Catherine and Elizabeth exemplify Austen's endorsements of
the ability to resist social pressures. Lady Catherine "likes to have the distinction of rank
preserved", Mr Collins explains in his shamelessly obsequious manner. Lady Catherine is
a caricature of the pretentious nobility, impertinent and secure in her superiority. Her
snobbishness is evident as she poses a rhetorical question to Elizabeth: "are the shades
of Pemberley to be thus polluted?" This lack of politeness is then undermined by
Elizabeth's cool demeanour and assertiveness as she responds "I am only resolved to act
in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness." The
juxtaposition of these characters demonstrates Austen's belief that good manners is
important, and also undermines the belief that the nobility is in every way better than
the ranks below them. Austen satirises the self-importance of the nobility as even Mr
Darcy initially succumbs to societal expectation and believes himself more worthy than
Elizabeth: "could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your connections?"
However, these class barriers are eventually broken down and the "abominable pride"
he possessed is tempered by the "intelligence, vigour and honesty" of Elizabeth, whom
was of a lower social rank. Weldon's response to this in Letters to Alice on Reading Jane
Austen explain how "Jane Austen likes to see the division between nobility and gentry
broken down". This is reflected through Weldon's highly didactic epistles, which, like
Lady Catherine, are "in so authoritative at tone" as to brook no argument. However,
Alice mirrors Elizabeth and "swims against the stream" of Weldon's persuasive advice
and publishes her novel to widespread success. Aunt Fay is forced to acknowledge her
success as Alice follows her own desires: "I still argue in favour of postponement while
wishing you a bestseller". This contradiction and Aunt Fay's ability to accept the many
paths to success demonstrate the changes in context, where social structure is not so
rigidly defined. Thus through the changes of form and context, fresh perspectives on
the values in the text are highlighted.
Therefore it can be observed that the links between Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
and Fay Weldon's Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen allow fresh perspectives
on values to be determined. Weldon's response to values such as marriage for security,
social class and literature as a moral compass are all explored through the changes in
context and form. Hence responders' understanding of the novel is enhanced.
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