Importance and Function of Letters in Pride and Prejudice

This essay analyzes the importance and function of letters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, exploring how they contribute to the plot and character development. The letters play a crucial role in moving the story forward and revealing the motivations of the characters. They also provide insights into the relationships and feelings between the characters. Overall, the letters serve as a storytelling device and help the readers understand the subject matter of the novel.

Running head: IMPORTANCE AND FUNCTION OF LETTERS IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Importance and Function of Letters in Pride and Prejudice
Name of the Student
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Author Note

2IMPORTANCE AND FUNCTION OF LETTERS IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Pride and Prejudice is a romantic novel of manners published in the year 1813 by the
author Jane Austen. The novel tells the readers of the story of Elizabeth Bennett and of the
various events in her life which teaches her the outcome that hasty judgements can cause to a
human being and the man difference between the superficial goodness and the actual
goodness. In this essay, the readers will analyse the letters which are found in the novel Pride
and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The readers will analyse the letters which are found in the
novel and will try to understand the importance those letters have on the novel itself. This
will help the readers to clearly analyse the importance of the letters in the novel. Throughout
the novel, the letters play an important role in the moving the story forward for the readers.
This is what the readers will explore in the essay.
The purpose of this essay is to analyse and state the importance of the letters and
the roles the letters play in the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
In the novel Pride and Prejudice, written by the author Jane Austen, it is seen by the
readers themselves that the protagonist of the novel Elizabeth Bennett, sends a number of
letters to her love interest Darcy. Experts are of the opinion that these letters play a very
important role in the novel Pride and Prejudice. The letters play a very important role in the
setting of the novel itself. One of the major use of the letters in the novel is the fact that it
keeps the novel moving forward (Murphy:140). So, it is inevitable that Austen would use the
letters in the novels as a form of storytelling to the readers.
“The contents of this letter threw Elizabeth into a flutter of spirits in which it was
difficult to determine whether pleasure or pain bore the greatest share. The vague and
unsettled suspicions which uncertainty had produced of what Mr. Darcy might have
been doing to forward her sister's match which she had feared to encourage as an

3IMPORTANCE AND FUNCTION OF LETTERS IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
exertion of goodness too great to be probable and at the same time dreaded to be just
from the pain of obligation were proved beyond their greatest extent to be true.”
Another importance of the letters in the novels is the fact that it helps the readers of
the novel to understand the subject matter of the various roles which the characters of the
novel play. This is evidenced by the fact that there are around seven letters in the novel which
helps to understand the plot and the motivations of the characters in the novel itself. The first
letter which was written by Mr. Collins serves as the plot device which was used by the
author in the novels itself (Fricke:375). The letters of Mr. Collins inform the readers on the
gossips like that of Elizabeth getting engaged to Darcy and also of the subject matter of the
treatment of Lydia by Mr. Bennett
“Nothing is more deceitful…than the appearance of humility. It is often only
carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.”
Another importance which the letter plays in the novels is that it also helps in the
revealing of the characters as seen by the readers in the novel. This process of revealing of
the characters in the novel is seen by the readers in the letters which were addressed to Mr.
Collins on the character of Mr. Bennett. The letters also help in linking up the story from one
scene to the other (Fricke:375). The readers get to know such information such as how
characters feel for each other in the novel itself. An example of this would be Mrs. Bingley’s
feelings for Jane, which is told to the readers in the form of the letters which the author has
used in the novel itself. Moreover, the news can be delivered from a long way which makes
the readers know about the characters in the novel from the letters by the author.
“There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The
more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my

4IMPORTANCE AND FUNCTION OF LETTERS IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can
be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.”
The author has used each of the five to six letters in the novel to make sure that the
readers get to know everything about the characters in the novel. For e.g. The author had used
the first letter of Mr. Collins in the novel to make the reader understand what kind of
character Mr. Collins is (Fricke:375). The letters also help the readers to understand the
opinions of the Bennett family to the events in the novel. Similarly, the letter which was
written by Darcy to Elizabeth explaining his actions is considered to be one of the most
important letters which the readers comes across in the novel itself (Murphy: 125). This is
because it is this letter which the portrays the romanticism that plays between the characters
in the novel itself. Last but not the least, the letter also serves the purpose of providing
new information to the readers wherever it is deemed to be necessary (Fest: 75). This is
because of the fact that the readers of the novel see the events happening from the
perspectives of Lizzy.
From the above paragraphs, it can be concluded that the letters in the novel Pride and
Prejudice indeed plays an important role in the essay itself. It is because of the letters used in
the novel that the readers get to know about the relationships and the feelings which these
characters have for each other in the novel. The letters manage to portray several important
moments in the novel. It is because of the letters used in the novel that the readers of the gets
an idea about how quickly news spread in the Regents Society. Hence, it can be stated that
the letters serve to be the cause of Elizabeth growing to love Darcy in the novel.

5IMPORTANCE AND FUNCTION OF LETTERS IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Reference List
Feest, Christian F. "Pride and prejudice: The pocahontas myth and the pamunkey." The
Invented Indian. Routledge, 2017. 49-70.
Fricke, Christel. "The Challenges of Pride and Prejudice: Adam Smith and Jane Austen on
Moral Education." Revue internationale de philosophie 3 (2014): 343-372.
Fullerton, Susannah. Celebrating Pride and Prejudice: 200 Years of Jane Austen's
Masterpiece. Voyageur Press (MN), 2013.
Gao, Haiyan. "Jane Austen's Ideal Man in Pride and Prejudice." Theory & Practice in
Language Studies 3.2 (2013).
Jane, Austen. Pride and Prejudice. Рипол Классик, 2017.

6IMPORTANCE AND FUNCTION OF LETTERS IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Morris, Jenny. Pride against prejudice: Transforming attitudes to disability. The Women's
Press, 2014.
Murphy, Olivia. "Jane Austen’s “Excellent Walker”: Pride, Prejudice, and Pedestrianism."
Eighteenth-Century Fiction 26.1 (2013): 121-142.
Page, Norman. The Language of Jane Austen (Routledge Revivals). Routledge, 2013.
van Ostade, Ingrid Tieken-Boon. In search of Jane Austen: The language of the letters.
Oxford University Press, 2014.