That was just me
Posted by Dianna on February 13, 1998 at 14:00:44:
In response to Jane Austen's use of Symbolism, written by Mark on February 12, 1998 at 17:28:47
] (snip) But how much deliberate symbolism does Aunt Jane use? I read somewhere that it was symbolic in Pride and Prejudice that after the first proposal, Elizabeth could not bring herself to walk inside of Rosings' Park. She stayed in the lane. Mr. Darcy handed her the letter through the gate. He remained inside, and she remained outside. Did Miss Austen deliberately do this, do you think? I personally feel she didn't.
Some months ago, and I can't remember when so I can't link it, I posted that observation on the P&P board. (So it wasn't any kind of "official" accepted interpretation.) It just struck me during one rereading, and I think it fed off of some of Patrick's musings about the different "worlds" in P&P, and also some discussions about parallel scenes (although those have more to do with the movie than the book). My post drew a parallel between the letter-handing scene and the chance meeting at Pemberley, something to the effect that in the first there's a barrier (the gate) between their two worlds and in the second, there's no barrier and she's in his world.
Even at the time I, too, questioned whether this could be deliberate. I was torn, because on one hand it seems JA does very little, if anything, by accident, but on the other hand it seemed like a stretch. Yet there it was in my feeble brain, so I felt compelled to tell it to the Pemberleyans.
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