1、存档编号 学士学位论文Views on Marriage of Jane Austenin Pride and Prejudice教学学院 外国语学院 届 别 届 专 业 英 语 姓 名 学 号 指导教师 _完成日期 _Views on Marriage of Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice论傲慢与偏见中简奥斯丁的婚姻观Abstract: Jane Austen was one of the distinguished realistic novelists in the nineteenth- century in English literatureP
2、ride and Prejudice is a world- wide popular novel published in 1813Austen set the story in the first decade of the nineteenth centuryAt that time，marriage was the only way for women to gain social status and recognition. From the description of four different marriages, the novel explore the importa
3、nt role that money and love plays in marriage. Austen fully expresses her original views on marriage：property, social status and love are three indispensable elements in a marriageIt is wrong to marry for money，but it is unwise to marry without money. Austens views on marriage emphasize love and eco
4、nomic condition, and a happy marriage should be based on mutual love ,mutual understanding .The thesis tries to draw some inspiration from Austen and provide some hints for modern women in their view of marriage。Key words: Love; Marriage; Money; social status摘要：简奥斯汀是十九世纪英国文学史上最伟大的现实主义小说家之一。她的傲慢与偏见于1
5、813年问世，是一部享誉世界的著名小说。小说将故事情节置于十九世纪初，十九世纪的英国，婚姻是女性获得社会地位和社会认知的唯一途径。小说通过对四种不同婚姻的描写，探讨金钱与爱情在婚姻中的重要作用，从而得出作者简奥斯汀的婚姻观：财产、社会地位和爱情是婚姻中必不可少的三个因素，为了金钱而结婚是错误的，然而缺少金钱的婚姻也是不明智的。奥斯汀的婚姻观强调爱情和经济条件，认为幸福的婚姻应该建立在相互爱慕和相互理解上。本文作者意在借用奥斯汀的一些进步观点为现代女性在婚姻观方面提供一些借鉴关键词：爱情； 婚姻； 金钱； 社会地位 ContentsAbstract.2Keywords.2Chapter1 Int
6、roduction.41.1Jane Austen .41.2 Background of Pride and Prejudice.4Chapter2 Four Marriages in Pride and Prejudice.6 2.1 Collins and Charlottes marriage.62.2. Lydia and Wickhams Marriage72.3. Jane and Mr. Bingleys Marriage.72.4. Darcy and Elizabeths Marriage8Chapter3 Views on four Marriages of Jane A
7、usten in Pride and Prejudice113.1. Marriage based on true love and mutual understanding.113.1.1. Jane and Mr. Bingleys marriage113.1.2. Darcy and Elizabeths marriage.113.2. Marriage based on money and social status.123.2.1. Collins and Charlottes marriage.123.2.2. Lydia and Wickhams Marriage.13Chapt
8、er4 The practical importance of Jane Austens views.15 4.1. At Jane Austen time.15 4.2 .In modern society .16Chapter5 Conclusion.18Chapter1 Introduction 1.1 Jane Austin “Jane Austen (1775-1817) was born in Hampshire, a country priest family located in Hants, the village of Kingston, Sidemen in north
9、England. She was a beautiful, talented middle class woman with extraordinary temperament and good cultivation.” Her six novelsSense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield, Emma, Persuasion “all describe more than marriage” (Wang, 2005: 64). However, her marriage is in blan
10、k within her 42 years lifetime. Going through the best time of the life, she ultimately doesnt meet the right person in her life and finally gives up her love. With these sweet and bitter experiences she writes the great work Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen was mostly tutored at home, and irregular
11、ly at school, but she received a broader education than many women of her time. She started to write for family amusement as a child. Her parents were avid readers; Austens own favorite poet was Cowper. Her earliest-known writings date from about 1787. Very shy about her writing, she wrote on small
12、pieces of paper that she slipped under the desk plotter if anyone came into the room. In her letters she observed the daily life of her family and friends in an intimate and gossipy manner: “James danced with Alethea, and cut up the turkey last night with great perseverance. You say nothing of the s
13、ilk stockings; I flatter myself, therefore, that Charles has not purchased any, as I cannot very well afford to pay for them; all my money is spent in buying white gloves and pink persian.” (Austen in a letter to her sister Cassandra in 1796)1.2 Background of Pride and PrejudicePride and Prejudice,
14、the book about commonplace things and ordinary people, is one of Jane Austens famous books, being the representative of realistic literature. In portrays, with special sensitive characteristic of female writers, the life and ideas of middle class who live in countryside. This novel makes an analysis
15、 of human nature and then stick up readers to think over social relations. “At that time, according to the social conditions in Britain, a good marriage for a young woman was critical. This phenomenon was closely associated with the British society and the status of women in the society. In the 19th
16、 century, women were not well respected compared with the ones in the present society. There was no equality between woman and man. Women were considered to be inferior to men in terms of intelligence and capacity. The central life of women was forced to be staying at home; their roles were to deal
17、with the family affairs, such as taking care of the children and serving for the husband.” (Zhu Hong 1995:34).People at that time thought that women should be submissive to their husbands. The virtues of women were patience and deference. They must recognize their inherent inferiority to men, so the
18、y must restrict their abilities without question. Although the status of women was low, few of them expressed dissatisfaction about their own destiny. At that time, many middle-class young women had three ways out: getting married, staying at home as old maids or working as the family female teacher
19、s. The income of a family female teacher was very low, and the status was low as well. It was very difficult for them to change or swap out of this status, no one would like to be a maid forever, therefore, for young women, especially those who did not have enough properties, getting married was the
20、 only good way for them to gain respect, stability and social status.Austen fully criticized some bad phenomena at that time in her work Pride and Prejudice and took some perfect points about marriage to demonstrate her own view on marriage. Chaper2 Four marriages in Pride and Prejudice2.1 Mr. Colli
21、ns and Charlottes Marriage In Pride and Prejudice, the first part is the marriage of Charlotte and Collins. Charlotte is William Lucass daughter, who is the neighbor of Lizzy Bennett. She is born in a poor family and very mediocre in every aspect. So she has not got married even until she is 26 year
22、s old. She may be a typical questionable girl. “However, there are 5 daughters in the Bennetts, the five daughters are gradually growing up to the age for marriage. So both of the two families rival mutually, especially in the eyes of the ordinary women, such rivalry was particularly tedious.”(Huang
23、, 2007: 126)Bennetts wife is especially typical; she does not give birth to a boy but five girls. The familys property couldnt be given to a daughter according to the custom at that time, and the family without a son can grant the wealth to the nephew. So one of Bennett nephewsCollins can inherit th
24、e family wealth. Therefore, Mrs. Bennett has great expectations on her nephew. Though the family is not so rich, Collins is the only one who can inherit the whole property. For this reason, Mrs. Bennett feels at ease, and then she has great hope on Collins and likes him. With the help of one of his
25、relatives, Collins becomes a priest. And then he goes to his uncles home, wanting to be one son-in-law of Bennett. Because he has heard a lot about the situation of the five daughters of his uncles family; he is coming to try his luck here. In his mind, if he could be one son-in-law of his uncles, t
26、hen he could get the property of the family. At first, he suggests Mrs. Bennett that the 26-year old Jane has captured his attention. After informed that the eldest daughter Jane has a boyfriend, he thinks that the second daughter Elizabeth would be an agreeable alternative. Eventually, Elizabeth re
27、fuses him with sharp tongue. But Collins quickly finds comfort from Charlotte who desires to get married and believes that the marriage is the only way for her to gain respect and also is the only ending of a woman. And then they get married as quickly as the lightning. 2.2 Lydia and Wickhams Marria
28、geThe second marriage is between Bennetts third daughter Lydia and Wickham, the son of the housekeeper of Mr. Darcy. At first, he is well-treated by the family and the friends. However, he comes down in the world because of his misbehavior. He gets into debt. He is a man without any responsibility.
29、He wants to get married in order to become rich so he can change his social status. In his opinion, love is only recreation. For his purpose, he entices Lydia who is young, innocent and vainglorious. “Lydia, with perfect indifference, continued to express her admiration of Caption Carter, and her ho
30、pe of seeing him in the course of the day, as he was going the next morning to London.” (Austen 1813: 58) Lydia hates to work hard, and is spoilt by her mother, and getting love and praise of a boy is her dream. So Wickham gets her love easily. “When Wickham wants to reach his aimgetting wealth by l
31、ove and exalts her beauty hypocritically, she forgets who she is and feels she is the most beautiful and happiest girl in the world.”(Fu, 2002: 43) Their love does not get the permission from the parents, and then they elope. As Lydia is young and empty-minded, she never gives love a serious and pro
32、per consideration, so when Elizabeth hears the news, she believes that their love is false, Wickham would not marry Lydia, because she is not charming and has nothing to attract him, and he is only fond of the wealth of her family. Finally, with the help of Darcy, the scandal was covered and Wickham
33、 agreed to marry with Lydia . 2.3 Jane and Mr. Bingleys MarriageThe third marriage is of the eldest daughter Jane and Mr. Bingley. Bingley is a friend of Darcy. In the assembly, Jane and Bingley fall in love with each other at first sightMr. Bingley believed that “She is the most beautiful creature
34、I ever beheld!”(Austen,2001:12) After the meeting, Jane expressed to Elizabeth how much she admired him “He is just what a young man ought to be, sensible, good-humored, lively; and I never saw such happy manners! so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!”(Austen,2001:15) In the following days,
35、 their favorable emotions deepened with acquaintances. They agreed in tastes and temperament. Mr. Bingley almost intended to propose to Jane. But a disjunctive change happened. His best friendMr. Darcy thought that this is the scheme of the Bennet family, and he did not agree Jane had special sensib
36、ilities to Mr. Bingley. Mr. Darcy indicated his viewpoint to his friend. His poor friend believed that, and then he left Netherfield, departed from Jane without saying good-bye.Their separation made Jane sink into suffering. The root of the separation is Mr. Bingleys lack of definite view, his irres
37、olute and hesitant personality. He did not have enough confidence in himself, he was not sure about whether Jane loved him or not. And Jane was very reserved, although she loved Bingley very much but never expressed her felling to him, even strived for it actively. This behavior let Darcy misunderst
38、ood that she had never like his friend Bingley, and Bingley also doubted Janes affection to him. So the misunderstanding appeared. But fortunately, finally the misunderstanding was cleared up. Mr. Bingley came back for Jane with Darcys help, and proposed to her., 2. 4 Darcy and Elizabeths MarriageTh
39、e fourth marriage is the main theme of the work. That is Darcy and Elizabeths marriage. “Elizabeth is the ideal image for women. She is Bonnets second daughter, an active, intelligent and smart girl. She has a middle-class family background and has not been affected by the traditional concept that m
40、ost girls have. She isnt good at music and painting, but she has read many books which make her knowledgeable and perceptive.”(Fu, 2002: 64) The most important aspect is that she is a lady with dignity and upbringing. Darcy is a man with high status and good manner. He is handsome, rich and powerful
41、. So he is the ideal husband of most girls. But he has grown up in the surroundings with a strong sense of power, so he is always selfish and arrogant, and he has a critical look at each individual, except the family members; he is not concerned about anyone else, and looks down upon anyone else. Th
42、erefore, when he first arrives in the village, he finds all the persons are far away from those imagined. Although every girl there is young and lovely, he has no interest in anyone except Elizabeth. At first he doesnt put an eye on Elizabeth. Gradually, he has to admit that Elizabeth is beautiful,
43、distinct and popular, although he insists that Elizabeth hasnt the same social status as he does. Darcy is rational because he has a strong sense of power, which agrees on the reality at that time. Although he expresses his love to Elizabeth, he couldnt help showing his arrogance, which makes Elizab
44、eth have misconception and prejudice on Darcy. Darcy loves Elizabeth, but looks down upon her social status. He considers that he has been lowing himself and doing something against his will, personalities and even moral standard. He thinks that his marriage would certainly succeed and Elizabeth is
45、waiting for him to propose marriage.Therefore, even he is irresistible to the flooding feelings, and condescends to Elizabeth , he still remembers the gap between them. Clearly, the rational aspect of Darcys personality performs on the realities of society. When he talks about his feelings of love,
46、he also expresses the arrogance of these feelings in details, which results in the arousing resentment of Elizabeth; she rejects his marriage proposal, and angrily accuses his insolence. The rational aspect of the heroine Elizabeth shows her clear, calm and actually stressful personality. “Compared
47、with her stupid mother, the smooth and lazy father, the shallow-minded, self-willed sister with feather head, Elizabeth is one with ideal mind. She is elegant like her sister Jane, but more intellectually superior unlike her sister being easy to be favorable.”（London, 2007: 23）She also advises her sister to see through the stupidity and nonsense of those camouflage honest persons.Elizabeth is unique, because she has a deep understanding of all the things aroun
