Regency Era Customs

Fay Weldon’s ‘Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen’ (1984) through the form of an epistolic novel, serves to enrich a heightened understanding of the contemporary issues of Jane Austen’s cultural context. In doing so, the responder is inspired to adopt a more holistic appreciation of the roles of women inherent in Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ (1813). Due to the examination of the shift of attitudes and values between the Regency era and the 1980s, the reader comes to better understanding of the conventions of marriage for a women and the role education had in increasing one’s marriage prospects. Weldon’s critical discussion of these issues transforms a modern responder’s understanding of the role of a woman during the 19th century.

Thesis: Throughout the text of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen challenges gender and social norms in the Georgian Era through the development of Elizabeth Bennet as she interacts with characters in the novel.

Social hierarchy and the patriarchal society are explored in Jane Austen’s novels. She shows us how society and class order affected women in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Men were deemed superior over women. There were many differences that reflect the members of a particular social class and gender modes of conduct, upbringing, manner, education, and morality. Austen shows the injustice of inheritance laws and the psychological vulnerability of the women in her novels. Northanger Abbey portrays the volatility of patriarchal power.

Continuing her uncertainty of her sister’s judgement, Elizabeth concurs with Jane’s perception of Bingley while questioning “And so, you like this man’s sisters too, do you? Their manners are not equal to his” (11). Austen included this statement to show Elizabeth’s obsession with people’s manners and acknowledge society’s rules about manners, which Elizabeth has plentiful thoughts about. Simultaneously, Elizabeth ridicules the Bingley sisters’ manners and compliments Mr. Bingley’s. By asking if Jane likes the sisters, Elizabeth’s skeptical and scornful attitude towards people with poor manners is captured. Similarly, Austen demonstrates Elizabeth’s rejection of society’s idea about wealth and being a good person. While she acknowledges that this circumstance is true for Mr. Bingley, Elizabeth uses the Bingley sisters to prove this standard wrong. Without Elizabeth’s pessimism towards the Bingley sisters, the novel would lose

In 19th century England, manners played a big role. In her book Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen portrays many different aspects of English social manners in the 1800s, and these facets of English etiquette, including traveling etiquette, social propriety, and dancing, greatly affect the plot of the book.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen gives unique insight into the values and social structure of Austen’s world. These insights are expounded on and deepened by Fay Weldon’s Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen. Jane Austen Critiques the Regency Era’s views on marriage, condemning the social norms of marrying for status and social security rather than for love. Letters to Alice evaluates the role of women in Weldon’s 1980’s context, criticising the social expectation of ‘The Angel of the House,’ which was the expectation of women in the early to mid-20th century.

    "Like all true literary classics, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is still capable of engaging us, both emotionally and intellectually" (Twayne back flap) through its characters and themes. This essay illustrates how Jane Austen uses the characterization of the major characters and irony to portray the theme of societal frailties and vices because of a flawed humanity. Austen writes about the appearance vs. the reality of the characters, the disinclination to believe other characters, the desire to judge others, and the tendency to take people on first impressions.

Manners were also very important in the Regency era. Woman were judged on how they behaved in public and one little mistake could cause extreme embarrassment. They were expected to “possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions”v.

not the case during the regency period in England. In the book, Pride and Preiudice,by Jane Austen, social code is a very big deal and to be taken seriously. A family's reputation can be maintained or ruined based on whether or not they are willing to abide by these codes. There are many social codes that can be listed and talked about, but the few that will be discussed are social etiquette, courtship and marriage, and socioeconomic status.

Social norms, the rules of behaviour that are considered acceptable in a group or society, has been ever-present. Each society is shaped by the norms and customs that the citizens comply by. The major motivating component which attracts people to obey to these predetermined rules and behaviours is the desire to be accepted in certain social groups. Each social situation necessitates its own particular set of expectations about the proper way to behave. These expectations are the foundation of many social norms. In Jane Austen’s, Pride and Prejudice, many social norms are evidently present during the 18th century Regency period. It was imperative for people to meet their expectations as it defined their social standing. Thus, many characters

Views on social conventions are developing and changing, as time goes by. More emphasis was placed on social conventions in the 1800’s compared to the 1900’s, as shown through the ideas portrayed by two books of manners: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie. Pride and Prejudice takes place in the 1800’s during the regency era. The story is about two sisters Jane and Elizabeth Bennet, both from the middle social class and how they struggle with issues of social class, marriage and manners to find love within the upper social class. On the other hand, Death on the Nile takes place during the 1900’s.

Jane Austen is well known as a novelist for her satirical representation of female characters in late Georgian society. During this period, novel writing and reading was still a controversial topic, and as such was incorporated in her book Northanger Abbey (1817), which has at its core a young female protagonist obsessed with novels. We can clearly interpret Northanger Abbey as Austen’s satirical response to the social conventions decrying novel reading, as she uses an intrusive narrator and more subtle supplementary techniques to comment on and satirize the debate surrounding novels.

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice takes place in rural England among the landed gentry. In the society’s social atmosphere, it is imperative for characters to have a facade and for most of the characters, their first impressions are much different from who they really are. The only characters that do not have a facade, such as Mr. Collins, are socially inept. These first impressions play a large role in the novel and are often taken at face value, to the detriment of the receiver and impressionist.

During the Regency society, what made a man a true gentleman is still a confusing matter for many Austenesque and Regency readers (Grace). Many of the 19th century occupations have vanished because of changes in taste, socials customs, and technological advances (Pool 235). While some of the men during the Regency period were extremely wealthy, there were others that faced financial hardships (Grace). Most of time, the road of apprenticeship often led to a successful life and good fortune (Pool 240). The most gentlemanly professions during the Regency period were the clergymen, lawyers, and army officers.

Pride and Prejudice is one of the most popular novels written by Jane Austen. This romantic novel, the story of which revolves around relationships and the difficulties of being in love, was not much of a success in Austen's own time. However, it has grown in its importance to literary critics and readerships over the last hundred years. There are many facets to the story that make reading it not only amusing but also highly interesting. The reader can learn much about the upper-class society of this age, and also gets an insight to the author's opinion about this society. Austen presents the high-society of her time from an observational point of view, ironically describing human behavior. She describes what she sees and adds her own