Letters in Pride and Prejudice

This essay explores the role of letters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, highlighting their significance in revealing character relationships and plot development.

Running head: LETTERS IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Letters in Pride and Prejudice
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LETTERS IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Pride and Prejudice is the name of a romantic novel that was written by Jane Austen
in the year 1813. The novel shows emotional development of the main protagonist called
Elizabethan Bennet. The novel depicts important aspects in relation to manners, education
along with marriage at the time of the Regency era within Britain. The letters were crucial in
the Regency society as it helped an individual in sending information to another individual
who was living far away. This essay argues that letters in Pride and Prejudice has helped in
showing the relationship in between the characters and the personality of the characters.
The letters can act as useful devices as the reactions of the characters are not
controlled as the sender is not with the reader at the time of reading of the letter. It helps in
conveying the purpose of the story. Jane used to write the letters to Lizzy in the event of
being in a depressed state of the mind. Jane wrote a letter to Lizzy while she was sick in the
place of Netherfield. Jane could not find Mr Bingley in London and this made her feel that
she was being avoided by Mr Bingley. Jane also writes a letter to Elizabeth at the time of
elopement of Lydia. Jane writes in the letter, “shall I own that I long for your return? (Austen,
pp 90). This goes on show that though Jane was the elder daughter of Elizabeth yet she looks
up to Elizabeth as a source of guidance. The letters of Jane helps in providing greater
understanding of the character of both Jane along with Elizabeth (Lundahl, pp 34).
Caroline Bingley was involved in manipulating the people with the help of her letters.
She invited Jane to Netherfield so that she can befriend her. He tries to damage relationship
in between Jane and Bingley. She informed Jane in the letter that Netherfield party have left
for the place of London. She writes, “My brother admires her [Georgiana Darcy] greatly” to
try and convince Jane that Mr. Bingley was not interested in her” (Austen, pp 65). The lack of
the courtesy in her letters shows that the Caroline did not perceive Jane of being a friend. She
used to conceive Jane in a demeaning manner on account of her status in the society. Jane

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was upset by the tone of the letters that brought out the fact that she felt that Jane should not
be provided with any prominent position in the society (Svendsen, pp 98).
Austen makes use of the letter of Collins for introducing him to novel and for telling
readers about essential aspects of his character. Letter helps in introducing crucial plot
elements of novel like Longbourne that was being entailed away from that of Bennet sisters.
The letters of Collins helps in portraying the general opinions of the society in regard to the
elopement of Lydia. Mr Collins wrote the first letter so that he could introduce himself to the
family of the Bennet. The other letters that are written by Collins plays a crucial role that
berates the Bennet sisters. The letters can be said to be interesting from the point of view of
the readers as it helps in representing the point of view of the community (Woumans et al., pp
78). Collins writes in the letter, “Collins writes, “this licentiousness of behaviour in your
daughter has proceeded from a faulty degree of indulgence” (Austen, pp 24) This goes on to
show the disapproval of the manner of the Bennets by Collins. Bennet sisters reacted with
contempt to the letters that shows that they were judged in the negative manner by the
personality of Collins (Svendsen, pp 56).
The letter of Darcy to Elizabeth helps in explaining why he had acted in the particular
manner with the character of Elizabeth Bennet. It was a pivotal point within novel that helped
in changing the perception of Lizzy towards Darcy. It played an important role in making
Elizabeth change the opinions that she had towards Darcy. This also changed her perspective
towards the character of Wickham. The letter helps in pointing out why he had behaved in a
bad manner with Wickham and the deception of the character. It shows that Elizabeth was a
character of reason who behaved in a rational manner.
The main protagonist does not write any letter but she is often shown pondering in the
novel regarding writing the letters. This can be attributed on account of the fact that the

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readers can see the though process of the central character. The free indirect speech of
Elizabeth helped in revealing her innermost thoughts that can guide the readers in the right
direction (Lau, pp 17). The letters play a crucial role in advancement of plot and it helps in
the introduction of new information within the story.
The letter that was written by Elizabeth to aunt called Mrs Gardiner manifests close
relationship existing between aunt and that of her niece. She confides in the letter that the
affections of Wickham have reduced and it has been administered to a young lady by the
name of Miss King. His change of emotions was due to the fact that Miss King had recently
been able to gain 10,000 pounds. This helps in providing insight into the character of
Elizabeth Bennet. The letter of Mr Gardiner that was written towards ending of novel shows
the positive aspects of the character of Darcy (Huang, pp 90). It showed that Mr Darcy was
responsible for finding whereabouts in relation to the character of Wickham. In the event of
Darcy finding the couple he tried convincing Lydia so that she would leave the evil character.
The letter showed that Darcy had offered money to Wickham so that he would agree to marry
Lydia.
Austen makes use of the letters for showing the intentions of the characters that can
help in the advancement of the plot. The letters helps in revealing how the news along with
the gossip used to spread within the Regency society. The letters helps in reflecting on the
times so that the reader can get a true picture of the social customs and the manners of the
people living in the age. The letters helps in bringing out the true feelings of the characters
that can act to the convenience of the readers of the novel.

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References
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice (International Student Edition)(Norton Critical Editions).
WW Norton & Company, 2016.
Huang, Juan. "Love and Fortune Balance in Marriage------view of marriage in Pride and
Prejudice." 2017 International Conference on Innovations in Economic Management and
Social Science (IEMSS 2017). Atlantis Press, 2017.
Lau, Beth. "Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice." A Companion to Romanticism (2017): 237-
244.
Lundahl, Linnea. "Laughing at the World: Comedy and Gender in Jane Austen's Pride and
Prejudice." (2018).
Svendsen, Amalie Due. "Pride and Prejudice: A Bildungsroman." Leviathan:
Interdisciplinary Journal in English1 (2017).
Svendsen, Amalie Due. "Pride and Prejudice: A." (2017).
Woumans, Evy, et al. "Bilingualism and cognitive decline: a story of pride and
prejudice." Journal of Alzheimer's Disease60.4 (2017): 1237-1239.