《傲慢与偏见》中的女性形象分析

毕业论文

题目：《傲慢与偏见》中的女性形象分析Title:An Analysis of the Imagery of

Woman Characters in Pride

and Prejudice

2009年 5 月 20 日

Acknowledgements

I acknowledge with gratitude the various critical guidance and substantial assistance, which are indispensable to the completion of my thesis.

First of all, I should express my gratitude to my family who supported me heart and soul，I would also like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the numerous other teachers in my four study years, who teach me much essential knowledge .

Then I want to thank my friends in my academy, whose help and inspiration have benefited me much.

Finally, I am greatly indebted to my supervisor Han Yaqiong, who, with invariable kindness and patience, has carefully scrutinized and corrected my draft, which makes this thesis less imperfect. But for their great help in collecting the reference materials, giving me valuable advice and encouragement at different stages of its conception, I can not finish my thesis.

Abstract

Pride and Prejudice is Austin’s great work. Through the discussion of the different imagery of woman characters, the discussion of their marriages and love, the writer demonstrates her concept about love and marriage: love and marriage is closely associated with property and society, however, love and marriage can not only be decided by the property and social status. An ideal marriage should be based on mutual affection and respect. She rejects the marriage based on wealth and stresses the element of emotion in a marriage. The imagery of woman characters in Pride and Prejudice was taken as some typical images, which are used to analyze how money influenced their matrimonial value orientation.

Key words: love; marriage; property; social status

摘要

《傲慢与偏见》是奥斯汀的伟大著作，小说中的四段婚姻基本完全概括了当时社会中爱情和婚姻的状况，小说通过对故事中不同女性角色形象及她们不同的婚姻和爱情的描写，解析和探讨了，从分体现了作者的爱情和婚姻观。这篇论文就是通过对这四段婚姻的详细地分析，来探讨《傲慢与偏见》中的爱情观和婚姻观，那就是：恋爱婚姻与财产和社会地位相互关联，但恋爱婚姻不能仅取决于财产和社会地位，正确的婚姻应当建立在相互爱慕、相互尊重的基础上。作者奥斯汀即反对为金钱而结婚，也反对轻率结婚，她强调了婚姻中感情因素的重要性。《傲慢与偏见》中的女性形象已成为用来分析金钱与财富是如何影响当时女性婚姻爱情观的典型代表。

关键词：爱情; 婚姻；财富；社会地位

Contents

Introduction (1)

I. The introduction of the different marriages and love in the book (1)

1.1 The writer’s concept about love and marriage (1)

1.2 The discussion of the different marriages and love (1)

1.2.1 Collins and Charlotte’s Marriage (2)

1.2.2 Lydia and Wickham’s Marriage (2)

1.2.3 Jane and Mr. Bingley’s Marriage (2)

1.2.4 Darcy and Elizabeth’s Marriage (3)

II. Woman characters in Pride and Prejudice (3)

2.1 Symbolic figures (3)

2.1.1 Mrs. Bennet (3)

2.1.2 Jane Bennet (4)

2.1.3 Elizabeth Bennet (4)

2.2 Setting (5)

2.2.1 Stage background (5)

III. Theme interpretations with reference to symbolic images (6)

3.1 The feminist consciousness reflected in Pride and Prejudice (6)

Conclusion (7)

Bibliography (9)

Introduction

Jane Austen (1775-1817), who was born at Steventon, a small town in England on December 16, 1775, was one of the greatest novelists in England. She died on July 18, 1817.She totally wrote six novels in her life, they are Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Manshifeierde Manor, Emma,and Persuasion. Among the six novels, Pride and Prejudice has been valued as the most successful and popular masterpiece.[6:64]

Pride and Prejudice is the most enduringly popular novel written by Jane Austen. It talks about trivial matters of love, marriage and family life between country squires and fair ladies in Britain in the 18th century. [7:89]

Austin fully critiqued some bad phenomenon in her work Pride and Prejudice, taking some perfect points about marriage and love to demonstrate her own view on love and marriage. The imagery of woman characters in Pride and Prejudice was taken as some typical images, which are used to analyze how money influenced their matrimonial value orientation，and tell us what is an ideal marriage should be.

I. The introduction of the different marriages and love through the woman characters in Pride and Prejudice

1.1 The writer’s concept about love and marriage

Through the different marriages and love in Pride and Prejudice, The writer Jane Austen considers love and marriage is closely associated with property and society, however, love and marriage can not only be decided by the property and social status. An ideal marriage should be based on mutual affection and respect. She rejects the marriage based on wealth and stresses the element of emotion in a marriage. [8:12]

1.2 The discussion of the different marriages and love

The stories show the ordinary lives, feelings of the ordinary people. They were linked up in a harmonious order under the author's meticulous concepts. The work mainly describes four marriages. Two are the main and assisted by the other two assistant marriages.

1.2.1 Collins and Charlotte’s Marriage

In pride and prejudice, the first part is the marriage of Charlotte and Collins, their marriage is lucky and natural. They get married without any expectation. Charlotte is William Lucas’s daughter, who is the neighbor of Lizzy Bennett. She was born of humble parentage and very mediocre in every aspect. So she has not got married even until she is 26 years old. She may be a typical questionable girl. However, there are 5 daughters in the Bennetts, these five daughters just at little by little the increment be competent marriage age. Both these two families mutually compete, particularly with vulgar woman's standpoint, but talk about such antagonism is in particular depressed. Mrs. Bennet is a particularly typical model; the Bennetts especially the wife has good expectation on her nephew. Not very pretty good love, the marriage of muff has already been easily built up. The marriage that didn't love thus is too practical, therefore it is the marriage with no a kind of surface of happiness.

1.2.2 Lydia and Wickham’s Marriag e

The second marriage is between Bennett’s third daughter Lydia and Wickham, the son of the housekeeper. Originally 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 wants to take money and becomes to be rich with and changes his social status through the marriage, the marriage is also a method to approach a talented person, and he is done of men of job. The marriage is admitted in reaching the circumstance of west help. They not hymeneal real meaning, they the aspirant that want to make them is satisfied. We can say, this is a kind of on-the-spot love and marriage with no true love and job. Certainly this kind of marriage is in the clout to destine is a tragedy.

1.2.3 Jane and Mr. Bingley’s Marriage

The third marriage is of the eldest daughter Jane and Mr. Bingley. Bingley is a friend of Darcy. Bingley’s sister loves Darcy very much. Sh e wants Bingley to get married with Darcy’s sister Georgiana, because she wants to get love from Darcy by this way, which also reflects the selfishness the sister. The marriage of the able man- Bingley and the beautiful girl-Jane is ideal in most people’s eyes. Of course, the couple meets many setbacks, such as the misunderstanding of Darcy and Bingley's selfish sister. At last, the lovers get married as the misunderstanding between Elizabeth and Darcy has been solved.

1.2.4 Darcy and Elizabeth’s Marriage

The fourth marriage is the main theme of the works. That is Darcy and Elizabeth’s marriage. At the beginning, Elizabeth rejects the pursuer-Darcy, because she does not like him, even looks down upon him though Darcy loves her very much. In Elizabeth’s eyes, he is arrogant and unreasonable because he is rich and has high social status. Realizing that, Darcy begins to get rid of those bad habits quietly to crate her taste and get good impression and love of her. Because of Darcy’s perfect behavior and good education, Elizabeth gradually eliminates the bias on Darcy. Then they spontaneously fall in love. So when Darcy’s second suitor is sent to Elizabeth, Elizabeth readily agrees with. The couple has similar interests and they insisted on pursuing their true love, which lead them to a happy and perfect marriage.

II. Women characters in Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen has a talent for describing the involvement and feelings and characters of ordinary life, because she writes with her own female experience. With her forceful insight and gentle wit, she depicts a picture of life of her time vividly. Through the interesting plot and quick-witted language of the novel, she presents her attitude toward the society which seriously discriminates against women. Her attitude

is ironic and critical. With Elizabeth as her representative to revolt against the tradition and convention, Jane Austen is one of the principal challengers of the male dominant tradition in the awakening of feminist consciousness.

2.1 Symbolic figures

2.1.1 Mrs. Bennet

Mrs. Bennet is a self-centered woman with the attitude that what is good enough for her is good enough for her children. She married for financial security and showed her true personality only afterwards. Her main concern in life is seeing her daughters married well. She does not believe in educating her children beyond the information they need to find a husband, but is very single-minded in trying to make her children achieve this goal.

Mrs. Bennet is a miraculously tiresome character. Noisy and foolish, she is a woman consumed by the desire to see her daughters married and seems to care for nothing else in the world. Ironically, her single-minded pursuit of this goal tends to backfire, as her lack of social graces alienates the very people (Darcy and Bingley) whom she tries desperately to attract. Austen uses her continually to highlight the necessity of marriage for young women. Mrs. Bennet also serves as a middle-class counterpoint to such upper-class such as Lady Catherine and Miss Bingley, demonstrating that foolishness can be found at every level of society.

2.1.2 Jane Bennet

Jane Bennet, which is a beautiful, kindhearted and restrained woman. She is the eldest of the Bennets' five daughters and the one considered the most beautiful. She has a reserved personality and tends to hide her feelings. She is incapable of suspecting the worst of people, preferring to see only the good.

Darcy thinks Jane do not fall in love with Bingley. Therefore, he persuades Bindley to leave her. It i s Jane’s attitude makes Darcy mistake her feeling of love to Bingley. That is why Mr. Bingley can accept Mr. Darcy and Miss Bingley’s advice of

going to London, and also the reason she makes herself heartbroken. Jane does not show her love easily because she is restrained. As an unmarried woman, her reserve really shows she is educated; but in front of her love, it almost makes her miss her true love.

In conclusion, Jane Bennet is a beautiful, kindhearted and restrained woman. Even she is not as smart as Elizabeth, she is still a welcome character in the novel. Jane Bennet is the one of the most vivid images in Pride and Prejudice.

2.1.3 Elizabeth Bennet

The second daughter in the Bennet family, and the most intelligent and quick-witted, Elizabeth is the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice and one of the most well-known female characters in English literature. Her admirable qualities are numerous—she is lovely, clever, and, in a novel defined by dialogue, she converses as brilliantly as anyone. Her honesty, virtue, and lively wit enable her to rise above the nonsense and bad behavior that pervade her class-bound and often spiteful society. Nevertheless, her sharp tongue and tendency to make hasty judgments often lead her astray; she (and her true love, Darcy) overcome all obstacles—including their own personal failings—to find romantic happiness. Elizabeth must not only cope with a hopeless mother, a distant father, two badly behaved younger siblings, and several snobbish, antagonizing females, she must also overcome her own mistaken impressions of Darcy, which initially lead her to reject his proposals of marriage. Her charms are sufficient to keep him interested, fortunately, while she navigates familial and social turmoil. As she gradually comes to recognize the nobility of Darcy’s character, she realizes the error of her initial prejudice against him.

2.2 Setting

2.2.1 Stage background

The story of Pride and Prejudice took place in the time of the Regency in Britain. At that time, Britain was at the period of transition from the earlier stage of

Capitalism to Capitalist Industrialization. In the countryside, the aristocratic family still held great power and right that country squires were likely to fawn upon them. However, as the development of Capitalism and the expand of the rank of rich people, the distinction between social strata was becoming smaller and smaller, while money was getting more and more important in people’s mind about social value.

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 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 with the family affairs, such as taking care of the children and serving for the husband.

People naturally thought that women should be submissive to their husbands. The virtues of women were patient and deferent. They must recognize their inherent inferiority to men, so they must restrict their abilities without conditions. Although the status of women was slow, few of them expressed dissatisfaction about their own destiny. At that time, many middle-class young women had three solutions: getting married; staying at home as old maids or working as the family female teachers. The income of 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, in terms of young women, especially those who don't have enough properties, to get married was the only way for them to gain respect, stability and social status.

III. The feminist consciousness reflected in Pride and Prejudice

When most of women still believe women are not as intelligent as men, Jane Austen has noticed many realistic problems which decide the existence of the unfair

social structure. The social structure decides that women can not work, thus they have no economic independence. And this decides that women have to depend on men for survival. Women do not receive the same education as men do, and this determines that the average intelligence and ability of women are inferior to men. These factors make women unable to engage in social affairs as men do, which makes men become the dominance of the society. These three factors all together determine the social structure—men control the decisions of social affairs. And the social structure in turn determines the three factors. They supplement each other. Jane Austen stands in front of her contemporaries. She realizes that economic independence, education and engagement in social affairs are the three important factors for women to strike for the same social status as men. She is not only aware of the unfair treatment women receive, but also understands the reasons which cause this situation. To some extent, she advocates that women should struggle for equality starting from these three factors, to become economically independent, get educated, and especially engage in social affairs.

Through Elizabeth, Jane Austen expresses her feminist consciousness that a woman should have an independent mind at the first place so that she will not be a victim of the ill society where women are in disadvantageous position. With an independent character, woman will not behave according to the social rules which are formed in the male culture. [1:24]

Conclusion

There are a lot of novels talking about marriage in Britain, but scarcely an author could be like Austen, exposing the money-essence of capitalism marriage system so deeply. In brief, it is money that determines everybody’s life and fate, especially marriage. As for its pragmatic meaning, it could be forceful and penetrating. No wonder that David Dax，a western Marxism critic said, in th e aspect of exposing “the

economics of human beings’ behavior”, Jane Austen, “to some extent, had been a Marxist before Marx’s being born.” [2:11]

Though Jane Austen does not bring about radical feminist statements due to the social circumstance’s restrict ion, she has played a significant role in the development of feminism. She put forward her feminist consciousness in a mild and moderate way so that it can be accepted by the whole society without arousing men’s scare. Jane Austen’s many admirers include Henry James and Virginia Woolf both of whom she influences, especially Woolf, who takes interest in her and gives high praise to her pioneer feminist consciousness. In Virginia Woolf’s eyes, “Of all great writers Jane Austen is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness” [3:231]

From what we have discussed above, we can safely come to a conclusion that love and marriage is closely associated with property and society, however, love and marriage can not only be decided by the property and social status. Social position and money can’t bring happy life. Aimless marriage and love are impracticable.

Austen fully expresses her views on love and marriage only by appreciating the marriage founded on the basis of mutual understanding and true love, but also by satirizing the marriage founded on the basis of origin and desire.

Bibliography

[1] Showalter Elaine, A Literature of Their Own [M], Beijing: Foreign Language

Teaching and Research Press (Princeton: Princeton University Press), 2004.

[2] Watt Ian (Editor) Jane Austen: A Collection of Critical Essays[A] P11.

[3] Edward Corpland & Juliet Mcmaster, The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen

[A], Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2001.

[4] Susan M. Shaw and Janet Lee, Women’s V oices, Feminist Visions[A], California:

Mayfield Publishing Company, 2001.

[5] Sampson George, The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature[M],

Cambridge University ,1988.

[6] 王守仁,英国文学选读[M],北京：高等教育出版社,2005年.

[7] 潘维新,《奥斯丁作品中的妇女群像》西南师范大学学报[J],1989年4月，

P89,91.

[8] 朱虹（编）,奥斯丁研究[M], 北京：中国文联出版公司，1985年.

[9] 朱虹（编）,英国小说的黄金时代[M], 北京：中国社会科学出版,1997年.

[10] 陈明瑶 ,《理性与情感》四川外语学院学报[J],2000年第1期.

[11] 李宏伟, 幸福，在高不可攀处吟唱——《傲慢与偏见》的婚姻透视，山西

大学师范学院学报[J],2000年02期.

[12] 敬东颉，简·奥斯汀《傲慢与偏见》的婚姻观，镇江师专学报（社会科学

版）[J]，2000年04期.

[13] 李冬芹，《傲慢与偏见》婚姻观点漫谈，殷都学刊[J]，1997年01期.

[14] 杨琴, 评简·奥斯汀在《傲慢与偏见》中的婚姻观，扬州职业大学学报[J]，

2004年02期.