Letter Writing in Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"

Book Review # 113249

A discussion of the use of letter writing as a way of expressing hidden feelings in Jane Austen's novel, "Pride and Prejudice."

1,357 words () | 5 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how Jane Austen uses letters in "Pride and Prejudice" to provide some of the most intense and important moments in the novel and supply crucial information about the plot. The writer focuses on the pivotal letter from Darcy to Elizabeth, which justifies and explains Darcy's actions and which effectively changes her entire attitude to him. It is also fundamental in eliciting reader response, as it functions as a medium for connecting his 'real world' to that of Austen's novel. The paper concludes that letters serve in this novel as a more effective means of communication than ordinary conversation and enable Elizabeth to see through the exterior of the man she once thought that Darcy was.

From the Paper:

"Of all the letters in Pride and Prejudice it is this particular letter from Darcy, the proud and rich man who falls in love with Elizabeth, that is the most important and revealing of the novel. The significance of the letter lies in not only the reactions that it evokes from Elizabeth, but also as a space in which Darcy can explain his feelings and his behavior with out interruption. It allows access into Darcy's thoughts and joins the reader towards him and his cause. Darcy becomes a different man through the letter than the man the reader has seen throughout the beginning of the text, thus becoming a more intimate and therefore a more relatable and reliable character. Upon finishing Mr. Darcy's letter, Elizabeth has finally begun to see her foolishness and realizes Darcy's true motives."

Sample of Sources Used:

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. , 1980.
Bonaparte, Felicia.: Conjecturing possibilities: reading and misreading texts in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Studies in the Novel (Univ. of North Texas, Denton) (37:2) [Summer 2005] , p.141-161.
Le Faye, Deirdre. Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels. NY: Abrams, 2002.
Nixon, Cheryl and Louise Penner. "Writing by the Book: Jane Austen's Heroines and the Art and Form of the Letter". Jane Austen Society of North America. Vol 26:1 (Winter, 2001).
Wiesenfarth, Joseph. "THE CASE OF PRIDE AND PREJUDICE." Studies in the Novel vol.16 issue 3 (84) 261-74. 03/11/08 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=7115603&site=ehost-live>.

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APA Citation:

Letter Writing in Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" (2012, January 15). Retrieved February 10, 2012, from http://www.academon.com/Book-Review-Letter-Writing-in-Austen's-Pride-and-Prejudice/113249

MLA Citation:

"Letter Writing in Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"" 15 January 2012. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. <http://www.academon.com/Book-Review-Letter-Writing-in-Austen's-Pride-and-Prejudice/113249>