Lisa's Friday Round-Up

As we saw in this act, Cecily imagined for herself that she had been engaged to "Ernest" for the past three months, with presents, letters, and diary entries to back up this imaginary relationship that both she and Algernon both treated with sincerity. Yet when she found out that Algernon's name was not, in fact, Ernest, she claimed that she was engaged to no one. At some point, this imaginary character of Ernest crossed into reality in the form of Algernon to Cecily, and was unable to return to the imaginary world when the lie was discovered. With Wilde's ideas in mind, Cecily's imagined relationship has been the most real one we've encountered so far. She invested her time, effort, emotions, and money into creating a romance for herself with an imaginary person, more than we've seen any of the other characters invest into their real romances. Cecily is very earnest when she speaks of this engagement, yet it is clearly ridiculous looking from the outside in. Perhaps Wilde is suggesting that the most earnest relationship people can have is with themselves, and when others enter into the equation, one must take up falsehoods in order to hide one's true self, as it will not fit into conventions of society, like Cecily's "engagement" to Ernest. One should not expect these relationships to become reality though, as Cecily does, because like the Wilde fable we read, when it became reality, it was just an imagined facade.
Yet, as we learn from Ms. Prism, one can only lead an introspective life after mastering the great principles of Bimetallism. As both metals are important to the monetary standard, perhaps one can only have a rich, earnest inner-world when one is displaying the proper facade to the rest of society, that both are required in order to have anything imaginary, and thus real. Ms. Prism lacks the imaginary qualities, and as a result does not seem to have the inner-world the other characters do—she finds it distasteful to think for oneself. Though the other characters aren't exactly held up as models, they do have a relationship with themselves, as they understand what they want internally, and try to project it in a socially acceptable way.

(Sorry it's late, folks)

Natalie's Friday Roundup Post

Throughout our reading of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, we have come to see the importance of the letter. On the surface, a letter is simply a means of communication, but when used in a literary context, it can convey plot points through different points of view and lend much to the characterization of its author. For example, the first glimpse of Mr. Collins we receive is through his letter to the Bennets, expressing himself in a ridiculous and overly verbose manner, and we come to find upon his arrival to Longbourne that this manner is an exact representation of his character (which is not very surprising, as we later learn that he physically writes down little complimentary speeches to give to people). Jane's letters also reflect her temperament, as she is unable to think ill of anyone even in a private letter. Her correspondence with Lizzy while in London shows that she is ever optimistic about the characters of others, even when she reports that Wickham has run off with Lydia.
However, Austen employs the letter specifically as a tool of satire in order to reveal the contradictions of her characters--consequently making a statement concerning the contradictory nature of all humans. From the first, we all know Darcy's demeanor to be taciturn and haughty, but in his letter to Lizzy concerning the two accusations she has laid against him, Austen shows us traits to the contrary. The style of the letter conveys Darcy's desire to get straight to the point, a quality sharply juxtaposed with many other characters in the novel, but the length completely contradicts his short, sometimes nonexistent, manner of speaking in Hertfordshire society. We are told he even writes on the envelope, he has so much to say. His facade of pride is lifted as he delves into his past, taking Elizabeth into his confidence and opening himself up for the first time in the novel.
Conversely, though, letters can also be used to project facades for social purposes. When all the letters of congratulations flow in upon the Bennet sisters' marriages, many of them are insincere notes sent as a matter of social obligation. Others are used to patch up relations of the past, such as Caroline Bingley and Lydia's letters, in hopes of making social or monetary gain through association.
Whether used to bring news, reveal secrets, or simply say hello, a letter conveys much more than its intended message, as much is woven subconsciously between the lines.

I figured it out guys!

Spencer's Friday Roundup

Hi all-- unfortunately Spencer could not figure out how to post exactly, and being in a hurry he chose to simply send me his Friday Roundup post instead. So here it is... happy responding!

So far this week, we’ve spent a good amount of time discussing the various satirist of Pride and Prejudice and the various methodologies these characters utilize in their practice.  We established Elizabeth, Mr. Bennet, and Mr. Darcy as the three main satirists, with Elizabeth and her father falling into the category of Horacian satirists and Mr. Darcy into the category of Juvenalian satirists.  I believe there is a very relevant connection between the character’s satirical method and his or her social / economic class.  By the society’s standard, the Bennet’s are not particularly well off, where as, most consider Mr. Darcy to be considerably wealthy.  Darcy’s wealth and status allow him to speak bluntly because whether or not people consider him rude or disagreeable, he will maintain a high rank in the social order because of his economic status and social connections.  On the other hand, it’s hard to imagine Elizabeth speaking in the same manor without receiving some social backlash.  When Elizabeth does speak bluntly after Catherine announces to her engagement with Mr. Collins, Catherine replies, “Do you think it incredible that Mr. Collins should be able to procure any woman’s good opinion, because he was not happy as to succeed with you?” (Austen 85).  Even though Elizabeth reacts poorly to the news of the engagement, because Mr. Collins is a buffoon, Catherine insinuates that Elizabeth thinks that she is better than Catherine since Elizabeth turned him down.  When Elizabeth attempts to point out the ridiculousness of the situation in a direct format, the result is far less affective.