Pride And Prejudice 论文

On the Four Marriages in Pride and Prejudice

摘要

本文首先介绍《傲慢与偏见》作者的身世和当时的社会背景。然后从四段不同性质的婚姻入手：柯斯林和夏绿蒂互利互惠的财产婚姻,威克姆和莉迪亚荒唐的游戏式婚姻,彬格莱和简“郎才女貌”的理想婚姻以及达西和伊丽莎白的完美婚姻来分析爱情和婚姻的基础。幸福的定义有许多种,究竟是以地位和财富为基础的婚姻是幸福的,还是以爱情、理解、尊重为基础的婚姻是幸福的。从中得出作者及本人对爱情、婚姻的看法。

奥斯丁的时代已经远去了,但人们追求幸福美好婚姻的脚步却从未停止。急剧变革的现代社会中,人们谈婚论嫁时依旧进行着爱情与金钱的权衡。面对婚姻,究竟如何选择,希望该论文会对现实生活中的人们给予一些启示。

关键词：《傲慢与偏见》，婚姻基础，婚姻观

Abstract

This thesis first introduces the life experience of Jane Austen and the social background at that time. Then from four different marriages, namely the mutual beneficial treasury marriage between Collins and Charlotte, the ridiculous marriage between Wickham and Lydia, the ideal marriage between Bingley and Jane and the perfect marriage between Darcy and Elizabeth, the thesis analyses the basis of love and marriage. There are many definitions of happiness, but which one is happier, marriage based on status and wealth, or marriage based on love, understanding and respect, from which comes to the Austen?s views of love, marriage.

The time of Jane Aus ten has passed, but people?s pursuit of happy marriage has never stopped. In the modern society with rapid changes, people still judge love and money in marriage. How should people choose when they face marriage? The author hopes that the thesis can inspire people in modern life.

Key Word:Pride and Prejudice, marriage basis, views of marriage

Chapter1 Introduction

The purpose of the thesis pdf1 1.2

Chapter2 Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice.

The English author Jane Austen lived in me late 18th century and early 19th century England. Her reputation has grown steadily since her death. Her novels are concerned with a narrow world, yet within the world she deals deftly with profundities as well as with subtleties overlooked by more encompassing writers. Just as David Daiches says, she deals with the “steady moral apprehension of the nature of human relationships”.Although the domain of Jane Austen?s novels was as circumscribed as her life, her caustic wit and keen observation had made her the equal to the greatest novelists in any language.

2.1 Short summary of Pride and Prejudice pdf5 chapter1 pdf 4

Published in 1813, Pride and Prejudice remains one of Austen?s best-loved and best-known works. t has been brought into films or TV series several times, which is an evidence of its popularity.

Pride and Prejudice discusses themes of class, economy, and the essence of marriage system of the early 19th century. It is a record of the world of Austen?s era, as Jane Austen writes from her own experiences and about peop1e she has met. Being a master of character, Jane Austen had a unique gift of creating peop1e as they actually appear in reality. She displays this gift extremely well in her novel, Pride and Prejudice. In 1826,Sir Walter Scott recognized Jane Austen?s skillfully written novel when he wrote,“That young lady had a talent for desc ribing the involvements, and feelings, and characters of ordinary 1ifc,which is to me the most wonderfu1 I ever met with”.

Pride and Prejudice, a witty satire of courtship and marriage, depicts how the young 1adies choose their husbands. It tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, their five daughters, and the various marital relationships at their residence of Longbourn. Elizabeth, the heroine, is the second eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. She is an intelligent young woman. The characters of Elizabeth?s parents are in great contrast: Mr. Bennet is a wise and witty gentleman, while Mrs.Bennet is a silly woman who permanently devotes to the task of marrying off her daughters at any cost. As Mr. Bennet?s estates will be entailed away to a distant relative, their daughters are under more pressure to secure a profitable marriage. The story begins from the arrival of the young and wealthy bachelor Charles Bingley and his friend Fitzwilliam Darcy, a rich aristocratic landowner. The clash between E1izabeth and Darcy is the main plot. Their relationship starts from dislike and prejudice, but Darcy becomes enchanted by Elizabeth?s mind and spirit. At last, they fall in love and marry each other. At the same time other attachments and marriages are formed simultaneously. Of a11 her heroines,

the intelligent and high-spirited Elizabeth was Jane Austen?s own favorite as Austen herself wrote to her sister Cassandra, “I must confess that I think her(Elizabeth)as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her a 1east,I do not know”. At first g1ance, Jane Austen tells us a story in Pride and Prejudice of romance in the genteel society, but underneath the skin of the drama, there exist serious moral issues of that time and contains Austen?s keen observation of the severe class distinction in the English society of her time. 2.2 Jane’s personal background pdf4

Jane Austen was born in a highly educated family though they were relatively normal members of the upper middle class living with frugal comfort. The Austen family enjoyed themselves with reading, talking, letter writing, dancing, acting charades and plays rather than local gossip and squandering time. The depth of Jane Austen?s family leisure was pointed by the fact that Mr. Austen used to read Cowper aloud to his family in the morning. Mr. Austen, Jane?s father Rev. George was rector of the parish Knight who was a scholar and fellow of St, John?s College. Because of the best-educated father in the community, he stocked a lot of books which offered a chance for Jane to get access to the books. Her father was relatively open-minded compared with others. Normally old—fashioned fathers were not willing to let their d aughters? publish at the risk of their daughters? reputations, modesty, sometimes even marriageability. But Jane Austen?s father helped her to publish the early version of Pride and Prejudice, First Impressions and wrote to publisher himself. Through popular literature, the Austens were connected to the political debates. While political commentary is never explicit in Austen?s writing, her novels confront these issues, such as women?s right to property, throug h the lives of her characters. Good atmosphere offers Jane a chance to become a writer as a woman to explore female assertion and issues.

It was indicated that Jane Austen?s time was harsh for woman to become a writer. ”It was not until 1965 that married women were legally permitted to publish a work or engage in any profession without the consent of their husband.” Jane Austen doubted about the possibility of being both of a woman and a writer, thus showing her “author anxiety”. Unmarried women in the 18th century on the whole lived under their fathers? authority. But Jane Austen?s circle of family and friends, some of them published their works. It created a good atmosphere for the author. Women wrote and earned a living even through writing, which was a revolutionary idea. It proved the possibility for women a sense of self-fulfillment. It was known that Jane Austen wrote novels and sold them in order to live. Initially it showed her unique independent spirit. Though female writers were under some social pressures to remain anonymous, June Austen wrote under her own name after her brother Henry once revealed her identity to his friend. It was in essence a feminist spirit which required having equal fights with men. From Jane?s family members to her friend s, they wrote and stimulated Jane to write.

Austen read a variety of literary genres, such as prose, poetry, history, published sermons and French works. Henry, Jane?s brother commented on her reading that“her

reading was very extensive in history and bell e letters”. Also the advantage of many circulating libraries in Bath provided good knowledge resources for her. She travelled a great deal in Bath, Gloucestershire, Kent, Southampton, Surrey, and London. In highlighting what she knew and experienced demonstrated her artistic integrity and great intelligence. Strictly, she was not a common country girl confined to the limited sphere.

Jane Austen, as a woman, she had self consciousness compared with other women of her time. Her objection to sentimentality was revealed in her feeling against others? pity since to be pitied by others was apt to be in want from others and easily led to be vulnerable. Jane Austen herself was against the powers of sympathy. Her family was not that poor compared with others. But for a family with many children, especially in the circle of middle-upper class, they couldn?t live an abundant life. How often Jane had to defend herself against interested and patronizing panics? And she had to protect from the pity of her solicitous friend s who heard reports that Jane Austen?s family would be moving to Bath. Actually when Jane Austen heard the news that their family had to remove to Bath because of the financial problems, she fainted when she heard it. Her self-consciousness was also reflected in her attitudes towards love. In the advice she gave her niece, Fanny Knight,“Anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without affection. Jane?s famously withdrawal her marriage proposal to Harris Bigg-Wither who enjoyed the right t o inherit his family?s estate Manydown Park, Hampshire, verified her resisting the attractions of security as a basis of marriage. Just the immediate morning after accepting Bigg-Wither?s proposal, Jane Austen called off the engagement to feel that “She would rather remain single than enter a loveless union with a mall who was not her intellectual equal."(Laura Dabundo concluded in Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography)Her niece Caroline's observation well answered Jane?s sensible decision and Bigg-Wither?s plain intelligence. She remembered that“Harris was…very plain in person—awkward & even uncouth in manner—nothing but his size to recommend him—he was a fine big man?He had sense in plenty＆went through life very respectably, as a country gentleman--I conjecture that the advantages he could offer＆her gratitude for his love.＆her long friendship with his family, induced my aunt to decide that she would marry him when he should ask her--but that having accepted him she found she was miserable＆that the place and fortune which would certainly be his, could not alter the man?”. When an acquaintance married a husband whose economic position forbade her from keeping a servant she remarked：“what a prodigious innate love of virtue she must have, to marry u nder the circumstances!” Though Austen had certain of the expectations came from middle class society, she had a very high ideal of the love that should unite a husband and wife together by highly praised innate love of virtue. Mutual love without subjugation to any material aim was one of the contestations feminists advocated.

By consideration of Austen?s personal biography, it seems that literate and artistic interests of her family contrasted with their relatively modest means. Precedents in the family and near relations for authorship as a possibility, even for a woman set examples for Austen. Austen had direct experience in her own life of the problems

consequent for women on economic insecurity and the pressure to marry for wealth made her think thoroughly about women's situation at her time with sparking feminist ideas.

Chapter 3

3.1The social background of Pride and Prejudice

pdf1 2.2 , pdf3 1.1 ,pdf4 ,pdf5 3.3, pdf7 chapter3

Jane Austen was tom in 1775 and died in 1820.It may be said that she is the character who carried on the 18th century English literature tradition and started the 19th century English novel creation. Before Jane Austen, Romanticism flourished in England, yet after her appearance, Critical Realism became the most important power of the 19th century English literature. It can be seen that Jane Austen?s novels not only reveal the trace of Romanticism but reflect the spirit of Critical Realism as well. In the 18th century, the Bourgeois Revolution broke out in England. The emerging bourgeois overthrew the feudalist ruling in England. Romanticism became the rising forces revealing English people?s ideal towards unknown future. In the 19th century, bourgeois exposed themselves drawback and social contradictions were exacerbated. So Critical Realism turned to be the main literature trend. Jane Austen lived in the joint point between the 18th century and the 19th century. Due to the limitation of her life circle, social turbulence has scarcely exerted any influence on Austen?s life. But Austen is apt to reflect serious events through trivialities so she often describes some family affairs to reveal the social background then. The ideal husband conception in girls? view may reflect that in that period, feudal aristocracy family status had begun to decline and the emerging bourgeois had become an important social class. The conception that money is almighty began to flourish. The hero Mr.Darcy and his friend Mr.Bingley in Pride and Prejudice are the representatives of the emerging bourgeois class

The era in which Austen rived was turbulent and transformative. Revolution defined the age. At the beginning of the 1760s, the Industrial Revolution “'transformed Britain from all agrarian economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture.”(Morrison,2005：9) Technological innovations included the use of new basic materials such as steel and iron, the exploitation of new energy sources like coal and the steam engine, and the invention of new machines such as the power loom and spinning jenny. Labor was reorganized and factories sprung up, and the population moves from countries to the city.

The age was also dominated by political revolution. In 1775, the American War of Independence broke out. Thirteen British colonies in North America took up arms against their parent country, Great Britain. In 1776, American Declaration of Independence was published, which marked the independence of the United States of America.(Morrison,2005：18) The American Revolution spread to Europe and helped overturn the corrupt monarchical systems which had been in place for centuries. In 1789,French mob stormed the Bastille prison in Paris, marking the outbreak of the French Revolution；French National assembly proclaimed Declaration of the Rights of

Man.

The England in which Jane Austen lived was undergoing rapid and accelerating social and economic change, but at the same time, it was still structured by a long-established political and social order. The political and social institutions were still those of the period historians sometimes, for convenience, referred to as "the long eighteenth century.”This was the period begging with the so-called …Glorious Revolution? in 1688, when a group of English lords forced the Catholic King James II into exile and replaced him with his Protestant sister Mary and her Dutch husband William, Prince of Orange. The revolution established a constitution which, by the Bill of Rights of 1689, abolished the arbitrary exercise of power by the monarch and gave real legislative and executive power to the House of Commons. The…long eighteenth century?could most usefully be taken to end in 1 832,when the first of the nineteenth century?s Reform Bills Was finally passed by parli ament(Irvine,2005：5) English society of “the long eighteenth c entury” was still typically hierarchical. It "can be divided politically into three groups：aristocracy, entry and everyone else.”(Irvine.2005：5)The third group included the vast majority of the population with no property who did manual work for a living. The politics was not democratic yet. Jane Austen?s immediate family belonged to the rural version of the professional group, earning its living mainly in the church and the military, but "retained close ties to the gentry.”(Irvine,2005：5)Undoubtedly these would have much influence on Austen, not only in her thoughts, but also in her writing.

3.2 Women′condition in Auste n’s time pdf2 chapter1 pdf 5 2.2 pdf6 chapter3

In Austen?s lifetime, England was at the end of the conservative Victorian Times. Industrial Revolution had begun, capitalism was sprouting. But the society was still patriarchal. Traditional social concepts and ideas were still deeply rooted. In some respects, the social predicament of women was even worse in “the long eighteenth century” than it had ever been. The prevailing opinion to female was that “the woman was created for man.”(Wollstonecraft 2001：19) Consequently obedience was “the grand lesson” (Wollstonecraft,2001：18)which ought to be impressed to them with unrelenting rigor.

From the perspective of economy, in spite of the industrial revolution in England, women were still dependent on men: A woman could not own property, unless as a widow she inherited that of her late husband. Daughters were, legally speaking, themselves the property of their fathers, wives the property of their husbands. Marriage, under such circumstances, might be thought of as an exchange of property between men, of which the bride and her dowry were merely part. It was “after the year 1880, a married woman was allowed by law to possess her own property.”(Woolf,193 1：169—170)Daughters had no heirdom from their father even they had no brother. So in Pride and Prejudice, it is Collins, a nephew of Mr.Bennet, who is the expected inheritor of the Bennets?property, rather than any daughter of Mr.Bennet. As to the living methods, the society provided very limited fields for

well-educated women:“either as a governess or a lady's companion. The former offered enormous risks and the latter was arduous, penurious, and little respected.”(Gillie,2005：98) Journalism and literature could also be a living way for well-educated women in the late 18th century, but they seldom afforded a stable livelihood.

From the perspective of education, women had little chance to get good education because of the poor economic status. Few families could afford a governess or send their daughters to a boarding school.“Young ladies were typically taught singing, drawing, dancing and modem languages.”(Irvine,2005：24) “All the skills taught to young ladies were only to rise in the judgment of men,”and thus“to secure a husband, rather than to exercise rational Or moral judgment themselves.”(Irvine,2005：25) Furthermore, women were regarded as intellectually inferior to men since at least the 17th century.(Irvine,2005：25) People commonly supposed that women were “the creatures of feeling rather than intellect.”(Irvine,2005：25) But in the middle of the 18th century, there had been protests against the restriction of y oung women?s horizons and the idea that “women are intellectually inferior to men.”However, women?s horizons were still strictly restricted, they were still limited at home and had little chance to enlarge their knowledge and experiences. Even in the 19th century, women of the middle class were still limited within a narrow space of family and their emotion. To Jane Austen, Bronte sisters, and George Eliot, except for the sitting-room of the middle class, all the other doors to experiences were closed to them. It was impossible for them to get the first-hand knowledge about the war, navigation, polities or trades. Even their emotional world was also strictly disciplined by the contemporary law and social customs.

From the perspective of marriage, it “was not regarded as a culmination of a romance but as a social arrangement for the promotion and maintenance of the family.”(Cecil,1979：98) First of all, marriage was the only way for women to gain respect and some social status.”If no man wants to marry the woman, she would be a wastrel.”“Spinster was regarded as parasite and was looked down upon.”"Happy matrimony was the only way of life in which middle-class and upper-class women could normally find themselves satisfied, esteemed, and secure.”Because of failing in finding a good marriage for herself, Austen and her sister Cassandra had to spend all their life in spinsterhood. Austen once wrote in 1817 that “single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor—which is one very strong argument in favor of matrimony. Secondly, marriage was, at least in part, a means to a political or economic end for the landowning classes, particularly for the aristocracy. Marriage was a “means of uniting, not so much two individuals, as the estates that were attached to them, and the income and political influence that went with those estates.”Thirdly, the after-marriage life of women was usually not so satisfying. Women were Often cruelly "neglected by their husbands.”Furthermore, it was regarded as improper to make love with her husband if not for the aim of children production, so women never expected much sexual love in marriage and mainly thought about the responsibility to the family. They believed that their heartthrob should go to the God instead of their spouse.(Pan and Yah,2004：4)As the result, "women?s health is

undermined and their spirits broken by discontent.”(Wollstonecraft,2001：20) Madwomen in the attic were even asocial problem in the long eighteenth century. Fourthly, by the end of the century, something changed in people?s mind. Feminism saw its dawn. It was expected that young people should “in the first instance select from those available on the basis of mutual attraction (although a wealthy family might still exert a veto over particular candidates for marriage).”It was suggested that “a young woman?s feelings, in particular, had been granted an authority in questions of…the heart?that they had never had before.”This was the idea of…companionate marriage?incorporating Addison?s idea of “a mutually…improving?relation between the sexes.”(Irvine,2005：22-23) But the motives for marriage among the gentry and the middling sort “remained a matter of personal feeling tempered with varying degrees of avarice and snobbery.” The difficult romance process between Elizabeth and Darcy is a good reflection of that social background. Anyway, by the early 19th century, a young woman had got a real opportunity to exert control over her life in the choice of a marriage partner.

From the perspective of family, it went without saying that women took all the housework, and the housework was transmogrified into a "leisure" activity and “positive learnin g experiences with the children” during the “quality time.”At the same time "the work which wives do for their husbands?occupations, for men?s leisure activities, and for their emotional and sexual well-being” often got completely lost sight of because i t was“so varied, so personalized and so intimate.”) Women?s work varied according to the men to whom they were married, their primary role was their“service” to the men, then the care of the children, then most or all of the household work, which freed men "not only for paid work but also for other activities, including voluntary work, sport, hobbies and socializing.”

From the perspective of politics, though women did not enjoy any political rights, they had been participating in various types of political activity from the early eighteenth century, particularly during and after the American Revolution. But it was not until in 1919 when women were “given a vote.”

Living in a changing era, more and more women began to think about their fate, even started to fight against their unfair given position in the society.

4.Four different marriages in Pride and prejudice

4.1 Charlotte and Collins

Charlotte is t he daughter of Bennet?s neighbors and the close friend of Elizabeth. She is a quite informative women: for example, when others blame Darcy in pride and conceit, she is the only one thinks that "this outstanding young people, the door first is good, and rich, everything stronger than others, no wonder he Since that great. " In the absence of substantial dowry, nor proud of theirs, has been 27 years already, Charlotte is still not married. She is very clear that the cruelty of reality: if she still cannot get marriage as soon as possible, she would become a burden to their families and live with no fixed abode the day. So when she learned that Collins was refused to marry

Elizabeth, she managed to marry Collins, and succeeded in seizing the opportunity. During this marriage, Charlotte is very rational, in her own words, "Mr. Collins, of course, is neither sensible nor agreeable, to get along with him really is a nasty thing, his love for her must also castle in the air, but she still wanted him to be her husband. Almost all his family was very poor but highly educated young woman, always a decent marriage as the only escape route, though not necessarily marriage would seem. Happiness, but at least give their own arrangements for one of the most reliable storage room, in the future can not be cold by hunger. "

夏洛蒂是班奈特邻居家的女儿，也是伊丽莎白的知心好友。她是个颇有见识的女性：比如别人都在责怪达西的骄傲与自负时，唯有她认为“这么优秀的青年，门第好，又有钱，样样都比别人强，也难怪他要自以为了不起”。由于没有丰厚的嫁妆，亦没有傲人的姿色，年已27 的夏洛特仍然待字闺中，她非常清楚现实的残酷性：如若再嫁不出去，自己将成为家人的累赘并过上居无定所的日子。于是，当她得知柯林斯向伊丽莎白求婚被拒时，她设法让柯林斯转向自己求婚，并成功地抓住这次机会改写了自己的命运。在这段婚姻中，夏洛蒂是非常理性的，用她自己的话说“柯林斯先生固然既不通情达理，又不讨人喜欢，同他相处实在是件讨厌的事，他对她的爱也一定是空中楼阁，但她还是要他做丈夫。大凡家境不好而又受过相当教育的青年女子，总是把结婚当作仅有的一条体面的退路，尽管结婚并不一定会叫人

幸福，但总算能给自己安排一个最可靠的储藏室，日后可以不致挨冻受饥”。

Collins is Mr. Bennett?s nephew and is naturally the legal successor of the property. He is ignorant and ridiculous, but also holds a post as parish priest for his flattery. Just because of Mrs. Catherine?s joke "You should get married,”Collins begins his courtship of the trip. He has targeted five Bennet t?s daughters, so he could have a clear conscience when he inherited. At first his favorite girl is Jane, but he immediately turns to Elizabeth when he hears that Jane has the marriage partner. He confidently proposes to her but is firmly refuses. However, two days after refusing, he changes to another goal—Charlotte, Elizabeth's friend, and quickly succeeds. For marriage, Collins just focuses on marriage itself. H e?d like to reflect his identity and status by marriage, as well as to get the favor of Mrs. Catherine so it can be helpful to his own business.

At the age of 27, Austin faces a similar situation as Charlotte. But she ultimately rejects his proposal, the one who is a wealthy plantation owner. Let us see the results of the marriage in this book: when Elizabeth goes to visit them, she finds that furnishings in the house are elegant and neat, Charlotte is well enjoyed herself, and Mr. Collins speaks highly of Charlotte. From this passage we learn that: Austin knows the reality of that time, and fells sympathetic of Charlotte?s choice. The marriage is built on the property without too much love, but they both get what they have wanted -- Charlotte get enough to live comfortably in life, while Collins successfully forms a family. This kind of rational marriage may not be encouraged, but can be understood.

4.2 Jane and Bingley

As the eldest daughter of the family, Jane is not only gentle, kind, decent, but also recognized as the most beautiful local woman. Although she and Bingley fall in love at first sight at ball in Merry Tun, in fact before they meet she has known something

about Bingley. First of all, the work begins with the sentence "wealthy bachelor who always want marry a wife, it has become a universally acknowledged truth. " This is Austin-style irony, the implicit meaning is --- the beautiful single woman always wants to marry a rich man, this is a universally acknowledged truth. This sentence describes the mood of Jane: As the oldest of 5 sisters, she knows that women have no inheritance rights, therefore, she subconsciously favors wealthy men, so when she learns that a rich bachelor who has an income of 4 to 5 thousand pounds a year comes, she has already had a good impression on Bingley. This is the power of money, even Jane could not escape. Then during the following contact, Jane is impressed by Bingley?s easy-going, modest, honest characters, which makes her loves him.

For Bingley, when he revisits Mr. Bennet, "he has long admired the young and beautiful young ladies, hoping to meet them, but he saw only their father,” This explains that he has heard of their beauty, which determines he likes Jane at ball. During the following contact, Bingley realize that Jane?s good temper is the basis of their happiness, and they share the similar characters and hobbies. As a bachelor with a number of property, Bingley wants to marry a beautiful, polite woman, and Jane is the one, so they fall in love.

Let us see what is Austen?s view of the marriage: she allows them to get married, but she also sets up some obstacles, and each one almost ends their love. For example, Jane is too introverted, she loves Bingley but she does not shows it, as she is not confident of this marriage; and Bingley lacks his own opinion, he is apt to listen to others? comments and he nearly gives up. So, although they finally get married, but can they withstand the difficulty of the daily life, it is not known.

4.3Elizabeth and Darcy

At home Elizabeth is the second eldest and most favorite daughter of his father, she is not only beautiful and lovely, but also inherits his father's intelligence and wit. Middle-class background makes her extremely sensitive to the concept of class, simultaneously, she also feels ashamed for her families? acting like the buffoon in public. It is the important reason why she has prejudices against Darcy. She meets Darcy at the ball Merry Tuen, but the act that Darcy refuses to invite her to dance and the so-called reason "Elizabeth is not that bad, but not beautiful enough to touch my heart, and I wouldn?t like to fawn those ladies who are snub of people." makes Elizabeth think him arrogant, cold and rude. Still later, Elizabeth believes some bad rumors from Wickham about Darcy, and Darcy used to take part in destructing the marriage of Jane and Bingley. All of these deepened her prejudices against Darcy so that she firmly refused Darcy's first proposal.

As Bingley's good friend, Darcy first appearance at the ball is very attractive ---he is not only handsome, personable, but also very rich and powerful. He is a girl?s ideal marriage partner. But he talks little, does not care about others, and always treats people with a critical eye, which gives others an impression of arrogance. At the ball, he looks down on Mrs. Bennet's behavior, failing to appreciate the appearance of Elizabeth. As time passes, he is attracted by Elizabeth's smart and humorous personality, but still looks down on her family and their social status. As a result,

although he shows love to Elizabeth, his arrogance provokes Elizabeth, so he fails at the first proposal. Later on, Darcy begins to realize his mistakes and corrects them one by one, and he moves Elizabeth with his sincerity and eventually wins her heart.

In reality Austin shares similar personality with Elizabeth, but not as lucky as her. So in a surreal world, Austen makes her favorite heroine Elizabeth win the "Prince Charming" Darcy's love and lives a happy life. Let us see how Austen deals the marriage: first she makes two main characters hate each other, making people think it is a most unlikely pair. And then gradually let them fall in love with each other. Austin has also arranged a series of characters (such as Bingley's sister, Lady Catherine) to make it difficult for them to love. However, the two main characters are brave, as they are not giving up as easily as Charlotte?s pursuit of l ove, nor so credulous as Bingley, but they surpass themselves and the outside obstacles, and eventually lead a happy life together. We can predict that their marriage not only has the basis of wealth, but also contains deep meaning of love. This knot, combining the emotional and the rational choice of marriage, is the most stable and can withstand the test of life. It is the most recognized of the four marriages.

4.4Lydia and Wickham

As the youngest daughter of the family, Lydia is fair-skinned and voluptuous. She wins the favor of her mother, who brings her to the society when she is still very young. She behaves frivolously and likes flirting, especially with the young, handsome sliders who are in red uniforms. At first, Lydia likes Wickham because of his coldness, then when she gets the favor of the soldiers, she forgers Wickham. And then comes the news that she escapes with Wickham and the statement that "I only love a man in the world, he (Wickham) is an angel," After marrying, his feelings for her soon cools down, and her feelings for him does not last long either. Lydia blindly judges people by appearances, regardless of love, so her choice is reckless and irrational.

The second hero, Wickham, gives the impression handsome, well built and full of grace when he appears. But with the deepening of understanding that he was "fair without and foul within": he had no money but many debts, one hand, he seduces women who own property with his good look, on the other hand, he slander others (such as Darcy) with his three-inch tongue. He started to plan an elopement with Darcy's sister who owned ￡30,000, and later show great interest to Elizabeth, choose an easier trial when he saw the signs-- the pursuit of another woman had ￡ 10,000, and finally run away with Lydia in the process to avoid debt, not only for an accompany in the pastime when he feels alone, more importantly, he can use the scandal to ask the family of Lydia extortion money when necessary. Moreover, the reason why he had agreed married Lydia later, largely because Darcy promised to help him and give him a large sum of money. Wickham's view on love is totally "Intrigue and Love." For Wickham, the money is the only aim for his love,. Rich and unmarried women are likely to be the object of his pursuit.

Wickham, described by Austin, is nearly the same as the youth of Ireland she fells in love with, who broke her heart in reality. Then let?s look at how Austin say the

Wickham and Lydia's marriage: "She can not imagine what Wickham and Lydia rely on to maintain that nothing of their life. but she was not hard to imagine the kind of character before relying on passion than relying on a couple together, what will not be long happiness. "Their marriage should be the most failure one in this book. They have not a basis of money; neither do they have feeling as a basis, so she ends the story by marriage which is full of bargain, intrigue and lust. But it also laid a lot of instability exploded easily.

奥斯汀笔下的韦翰，和她在现实中爱上的那个爱尔兰青年是何等相似，在真实的生活中他让她伤透了心，那么奥斯汀是怎么看待韦翰和丽迪亚的这桩婚姻的：“她无法想象，韦翰和丽迪亚依靠什么来维持他们那种无所事事的生活。但是她却不难想象，那种依靠情欲多于依靠品德才结合在一起的夫妇，不会得到什么长久的幸福。”这该算是书中最失败的一桩婚姻———既没有财富作基础，也没有感情作基础，作者虽然让这段充斥着讨价还价、阴谋和欲望的故事以结婚收场，但也为它埋下了很多不稳定的因素，一触即发。

pdf3 chaptert 2 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5

pdf5 chapter2 3

不包括Mr. And Mrs Bennet

5.

5.1 Happy marriage beyond the Pride and Prejudice pdf3 3.4

Pride and Prejudice ends in the happy marriage of three Bennets?daughters. Of course the marriage of Elizabeth and Darcy is the most admirable one.

Darcy is an ideal husband looking forward to by middle-class women in Austen?s time. In appearance, he is elegant and handsome. In fortune, he is the owner of great Pembley estate, he has 10,000 pounds yearly income. In politics, he has powerful influence in church, he has relationship to court. Elizabeth marries the richest man in all of Austen?s novels. she is established as the mistress of Pemberley.

Perhaps the happiness of Elizabeth seems to be too ideal to exist in her time. But with the given social and political background of the late 18th and the early 19th century, her marriage is reasonable, though it is not likely realizable in reality. In Elizabeth, we observe not only Enlightenment feminism, but also patriarchal femininity. In Darcy, we observe not only patriarchal conservativeness, but also a lot of democratized progress traits.

5.2 The views to marriage of Jane Austen pdf4 chapter 4

In Pride and Prejudice, Austen created Elizabeth Bennet with Prejudice and Darcy with Pride. Darc y?s pride of place is founded on social prejudice, while Elizabeth?s initial prejudice against him is rooted in pride of her own quick perceptions. Darcy, having been brought up in such a way that he began to scorn all those outside his own social circle, must overcome his prejudice in order to see that Elizabeth would be a good wife for him and to win Elizabeth?s heart. From the beginning of the novel Elizabeth prides herself on her keen ability for perception. Yet this supposed ability is

often lacking, a s in Elizabeth?s judgments of Darcy and Wickham. All these make it clear for a woman to gain independence; she must possess the ability to understand herself, to make a proper judgment by herself and to know what self-respect is. Austen presents her view of marriage succinctly: it is not sensible to marry for money, but it is silly to marry without money; marriage is associated with property and social status but is not resolved by them; marriage based on love is a happy marriage.

In the novel, Elizabeth Bo nnet turned down Mr. Collins?s proposal because “you could not make me happy, and 1 am convinced that I am the last woman in the world who would make you so” Although Mr. Collins reminds her that “your portions is unhappily so small, another offer of marr iage may never be made you”. Elizabeth would rather keep single than marry him , meanwhile she also realizes that marriages caused by financial situation happen often no matter what bad matches they made. Upon her changing attitude to Mr. Darcy?s proposal, in spite of her unambiguous idea that she will never be satisfied if she doesn?t gain real respect and real love, that is, personal relation in the marriage, she still considers the equal relation—a gentleman and a daughter of a gentleman.

Jane Bennet and Caroline Bingley both have some quality which are considered as women?s virtue in the society of the time--- Jane is beautiful、good-tempered, sweet, amiable, humble, selfless and she is universally well—liked; Miss Bingley is a girl of talents and she is elegant. Compared to them, Elizabeth Bennet stands alone among the women of the time—they lack her acuminous ability of observation and her ability of judgment. Jane Austen wrote in a letter to her sister about Elizabeth, “I must confess that I think her as delightful a character as ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her at least, I do not know”. Before the year 1 800 when Austen?s father decided to retire and move the whole family to Bath(which would not have been Jane Austen?s choice), Austen led a relatively stable life. Her social circle limited to the genteel class in the neighborhood and the relatives and friends in Church. She enjoyed social events much, and her early letters tell of dances and parties she attended in Hampshire, and also of visits to London. Bath, Southampton etc, where she attended plays and such. She felt that peaceful and busy daily family events were a way of preparing for the happy future life. In one of her cousin?s letters, she described Austen and her sister, Cassandra as the perfect beauties—pretty, polite and sensible. Here is one of her anecdotes. In 1795 and 1796, Austen had a mutual flirtation with Thomas Lefroy (an Irish relative of Jane Austen?s close older friend Mrs. Anne Leffoy). They danced together, chatted away together and he became her suitor. Then he left soon after . However, the day before he left, they danced together From her anecdote, we realize that Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice published in 1797 is Austen self-portrait. Elizabeth is good---looking. She is lively, quick-witted, sharp-tongued, bold and intelligent. Her rational view of love and marriage, her practical choice and her happy ending fully express Austen?s understanding of good behavior, of love, of marriage and of her ideal.

6 the meaning of Pride and prejudice in modern society

pdf8还有几篇文章

7 conclusion 你看着随便写点如果字数够了没的写,我就自己弄也行

看看毕业论文手册。大概就这样吧,你根据我写的资料出处找一下资料,拼凑起来,调整一下顺便,大概通顺就好。有什么问题我随时给你说。不要占用上课学习时间。正文4500到6000个单词,我觉得我列的够写很多了。以4.Four different marriages in Pride and prejudice 为主吧。字可以多点,到时候我可以给删。你有自己的想法和意见可以修改