No Alternative to Marriage?: Reading Jane Austen through Virginia Woolf’s ‘Phyllis and Rosamond’

Abstract

Virginia Woolf’s first short story “Phyllis and Rosamond,” has a strong resemblance to Pride and Prejudice in characterization, main events and plot, and more importantly in its theme. This paper starts with the supposition that Woolf deliberately parodies Pride and Prejudice in a modern version, focusing on the matter of female seduction, which is interwoven with their “vulnerability and subordination” in a male dominant society. To prove this contention it compares two works following the story line and analyzes various tactics of seduction which female characters are practicing for husband hunting in the savage marriage market. It also interprets Austen’s subtle irony and Woolf’s unreserved disclosure, which prove to point out the brutal sexist ideology pervasive in the convention. The conclusion of the paper is that these two writers have the same end in view that there soon should be substantial changes; women will come out of the shade, play public roles, and take up occupations as an alternative to “universally acknowledged” mercenary marriage.