In “Pride and Prejudice” letters are used to express intimate feelings that the person would not usually convey aloud. Letters permitted characters to reveal their thoughts more personally and intimately than they could in person. Looking into someone’s eyes can make you lost for words, stutter uneasily and produce awkward silences; perhaps a good letter at that time could have the same effect. The writer could spend hours composing the letter to achieve the desired effect and perfect the “work of art”.
The most obvious example of a letter revealing intimate feelings is Darcy’s to Elizabeth, where he justifies himself against her charges, once she has rejected his proposal. After Elizabeth has accused Darcy of being greedy and cruel to Wickham and ruining Jane’s chances of happiness with Bingely, he leaves immediately without explaining his actions. In the letter he writes to Elizabeth, however, he does justify himself and reveals his lack of arrogance, “I write without any intention of paining you, or humbling myself”. He has taken time thinking what he should write, unlike when he was speaking to her, face to face, when he sounded arrogant and conceited. He was shy and so unaccustomed to dealing with a country girl like Lizzie that he didn’t think about how his actions, manner and words would be interpreted.
Darcy’s letter is used as a way of justifying what he could not defend in the presence of Elizabeth. With a letter, it was much easier for him to do this as there was no one to disagree or interrupt him: “If I have been misled by such error to inflict pain on her your resentment has not been unreasonable.” He sounds very humble and gentlemanly, a total change from the Darcy we have seen up to this point, accepting that he might have been at fault even though he had no intention of giving offence. Whilst going over exactly what he has been accused of, he uses several alliterations: “honour and humanity”, then “Wilfully and wantonly”, powerful constructions that emphasise how he felt at being so wrongly accused. It is the first time Elizabeth has seen a pleasant and not at all proud side to his personality: “My character required it to be written and read.” Though a man who is very conscious of his class, he also has a very strong sense of right and wrong and of honour. He is not content with her being misinformed of the facts. Within the second paragraph he apologises in case the contents of the letter would offend her, “I can only say I am sorry.” It is a dramatic transformation: the once proudest man in Hertfordshire admitting to having been possibly wrong.
Although in this letter he made several apologies, they usually came with conditions: “If you have not been mistaken here, I must have been in error.” He was apologising but only on condition that she is sure he is in the wrong, as if politely prompting her to reflect upon her own behaviour. While excusing his actions he makes no bones about what he thinks of her family: “The situation of your mother’s family, though objectionable”. He is very harsh about her family, describing them as “other causes of repugnance”. Such harshness is justified by Mrs Bennet’s unnecessary and persistent rudeness to him; he is being very honest and is merely explaining his reaction to her treatment of him.
This extremely surprising letter brings across to the reader his qualities of intellect, upright character and refinement of manners suggesting that perhaps he and Elizabeth may be compatible: “Detection could not be in your power and suspicion not in your inclination” He has a wonderful flow of English, which the reader has not heard from him before. Darcy’s letter enlightens the reader to the truth about the confused circumstances, and reveals his true nature.
Letters are used by Mr Darcy, Jane and Elizabeth to express their sincere thoughts and deep, hidden emotions, from anxiety to contentment, in contrast to letters from Lydia and Mr Collins, which reflect their ridiculous characters. Mr Collins’s first letter to Mr Bennet showed how in awe he was of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, “Lady Catherine is far from objecting to my occasional absence on a Sunday.” You can clearly see how he referred to her for her advice on everything, and hung on her every word. This illustrates what a pathetic and indecisive man he was. Take for another example, Mr Collins’ absurd letter to Mr Bennet, in which he tries to make peace with the family while being quite unintentionally rude and offensive, “the circumstances of my being next entail of Longbourne estate.” By reminding Mr Bennet that after his death the estate will be passed on to him, he is being very vulgar and blunt. He seemed totally unaware that certain subjects are best left unspoken.
The letter he sent Mr Bennet after hearing about Lydia eloping with Wickham was even worse. It's difficult to count the number of ways in which Mr. Collins managed to be insulting, in one medium-sized paragraph. His idea of comforting Mr Bennet was to write, “The death of your daughter would have been a blessing in comparison of this.” One can only assume Jane Austen meant him to appear incredibly stupid and lacking in good manners, in spite of his social position in life. Mr Collins also manages to make it clear that he has heard the news by gossip and has passed it on to others in the same way. He writes, “We were yesterday informed by a letter from Hertfordshire” and “Lady Catherine and her daughter, to whom I have related the affair”. This was the height of rudeness to let the Bennet’s know that their misfortunes were local gossip. His insensitivity was really quite shocking considering he is a, vicar, which is only otherwise apparent in the unkind judgment he passes on her: “this licentiousness of behaviour in your daughter has proceeded from a faulty degree of indulgence”. The only saving grace of the letter is that it is so insensitive that it is comical and ridiculous, Jane Austen making sure that the reader enjoys laughing at his expense.
Like Mr Collins, Lydia’s silly character is very evident in letters she wrote. The letter written to Harriet, after eloping with Wickham, shows that she did not comprehend the seriousness of the situation and treated it as a joke: “Sign my name “Lydia Wickham”. What a good joke it will be.” She is so naïve and immature - while her family are in despair about the trouble she has caused, all she can care about is being able to sign her name “Lydia Wickham”. She refers to Wickham as if he is the love of her life, “One man in the world I love, and he is an angel”. She later goes on to ask Harriet to apologise to “Pratt” for not being able to dance with him as arranged, but that she will, “dance with him at the next ball we meet, with great pleasure.” This just shows how ridiculously fickle she is. Clearly she is not totally in love with Wickham as she likes to think she is, or she would not be thinking about dancing with other men. Reading the whole letter illustrates the fact that Lydia’s elopement with Wickham was a mere whim, a way for her to feed her vanity and love of gossip. From the contents of this letter it is clear she would no doubt tire of him when the next handsome soldier looked her way.
Letters are also used to speed up the plot or to indicate a quick change in direction, as no long dialogue is needed. For example, there is the letter at the beginning of the novel from Jane telling Lizzy that she had been taken ill: “There is not much the matter with me. –yours etc”. Its sole purpose is to carry information. Hence there are no feelings or opinions in it, just facts. Letters that merely carry information are generally very short and sent between close family members. They appear always to end in “Yours etc”, perhaps because they are more casual than the long formal letters to and from, Mr Darcy, Mr Collins, Mr Gardiner and others, which always finished with their full names.
When something important happens, such as when Lydia runs away with Wickham, the only way the family can be updated is by letter. Understandably you can feel the family’s frustration at having to wait several days to hear the news of the desperate situation: “Elizabeth had the satisfaction of receiving an answer to her letter as soon as she possibly could”. Austen really manages to bring across the excitement that was felt at receiving a long awaited letter; she makes the reader quite excited about reading it too. Of course the long delay in receiving a letter can cause great confusion, as once it finally arrived the situation may have changed dramatically.
It is often said that Jane Austen’s novels do not reflect true love at all. The characters are not so in love they are willing to die for each other like in “Romeo and Juliet”. Once Elizabeth sees Darcy’s huge estate and imagines herself as Lady of the Manor, she feels very regretful about turning down his proposal of marriage. The same applies to Jane and Mr Bingely - you can’t help but feel that she doesn’t truly love him, but more the status she will get from him. This shows both women’s love as quite superficial and materialistic, a reflection of the times and society in which they lived. In “Pride and Prejudice” marriage was entered into out of convenience rather than love. If the woman was beautiful with money and class, and if the man had money and status, then the couple were suited in that society. As Mr and Mrs Bennet show, this definitely is not a good way to find a spouse, as once Mrs Bennet’s looks had gone there was nothing left to keep him loving her.
There are twenty-one letters in “Pride and Prejudice”, each of which plays a greater or lesser role in the novel. Some are merely used to speed the plot up and carry essential information. Nevertheless the novel is made more dynamic and interesting with letters every so often, rather than just never ending dialogue and description. Other letters give us an insight into characters’ true feelings for each other. For example, the letter Miss Bingely sends Jane is evidence of what she really thinks of her - that she is not good enough for her brother. Miss Bingely is obviously delighted to share the news that her brother will not be returning to Longbourne. She goes on to boast of Miss Darcy and Mr Bingely’s increasing intimacy.
The thing with writing such things in a letter is that it is there forever and there is actual evidence that Miss Bingely has lied unlike saying it out loud. In fact it is letter writing that eventually unites the hero and heroine. If Elizabeth had not received the letter in which Darcy managed to enlighten her of the confused circumstances and his true feelings, then she would never have considered him again. Letters often present the most intense climaxes in the story, not to mention the most hidden secrets. Austen’s use of letters manages to convey these vital situations without delay or interruption and rounds off the picture of a society so different from our own.
