Views on love and marriage in “Pride and Prejudice”分析《傲慢与偏见》中的爱情观和婚姻观

Views on love and marriage in ―Pride and Prejudice‖分析《傲慢与偏见》中的爱情观和婚姻观ContentsAbstract (1)Keywords (1)Introduction (3)1、Jane Austen and the Background of Pride and Prejudice (3)1.1 Jane Austen (3)1.2The Background of Pride and Prejudice (4)2、Four Marriages and Ideals on Love and Marriage Shown in Pride andPrejudice (5)2.1Four Marriages in Pride and Prejudice (5)2.1.1 Collins and Charlotte’s Marriage (5)2.1.2 Lydia and Wickham’s Marr iage (7)2.1.3 Jane and Mr. Bingley’s Marriage (7)2.1.4 Darcy and Elizabeth’s Marriage (8)3. Austen’s Concept about Love and Marriage (12)4、Conclusion (14)References (16)Acknowledgements (19)Abstract"Pride and Prejudice" is Austen's masterpiece which described four different marriages and love .Until today, this novel is still very popular among many readers and arouses people's observation and unlimited thinking of marriage .This paper aims to probe into the views on love an d marriage in ―Pride and Prejudice‖. That is: love and marriage are associated with, but not totally lie on the property and social status. The marriage which is based on the love, mutual understanding and mutual respect is a true happy marriage. Austen not only opposes marriage for money, but also is against the hasty marriage. She attaches great importance to ideal marriage and regards the feelings between men and women as the cornerstone of the ideal marriage.Keywords―Pride and Prejudice‖; viewpoint of love; viewpoint of marriage;摘要《傲慢与偏见》是奥斯汀的代表作，小说以讽刺为基调描写了四种不同形态的婚姻观和爱情观，时至今日，这部小说仍然吸引着众多读者，引发了人们对婚姻的观察和无限思考。

本文就是通过对这四段婚姻的详细的分析，来探讨《傲慢与偏见》中的爱情观和婚姻观。

笔者认为：爱情婚姻与财产和社会地位相互关联，但绝不能仅取于它，以爱情、相互理解及相互尊重为基础的婚姻才是幸福的婚姻。

奥斯汀既反对为金钱而结婚，也反对草率结婚。

她强调理想婚姻的重要性，并把男女双方感情作为缔结理想婚姻的基石。

关键词《傲慢与偏见》；爱情观；婚姻观;IntroductionJane Austen humorously described the marriage in the "Pride and Prejudice" and a series of marriage-related activities in a relaxed manner. The novel consisted of how man picking their wives, how the young women choosing their future husbands and how their mothers selecting their son-in-low in many wonderful scenes. By studying the marital relationship, the authors strive to portray several different marriage and love relations. Although they had got married, the happiness of marriage is differs. This was because Austen's novels the marriage was involving not only the feelings, but also social status and money. "The bachelor who own property must marry a wife, it has become a universally recognized truth." [6], But that really is a truth? In this paper, the novel's four marriages vividly reflected the British town life and the world state of human of 18 century to the early 19th century in a conservative and isolated state.1. Jane Austen and the Background of Pride and Prejudice1.1. Jane AustenJane Austen (1775 – 1817，) was one of the most outstanding writer who described the middle-class in the south of England with realism. From a unique female perspective, she left six immortal works .Her works were full of rich comedy conflicts in humorous and satirical style, so they were regarded as "the art of simplicity". In Jane Austen's works, the content was not very wide and all were related to the life of a few middle-class families. The theme was about love and marriage between men and women. In the "Simple" works of Jane Austen, they showed us, truly and accurately, the social life and interrelationship and described the social state, marriage as well as political and economic relations between middle-class women at that time.And she expressed her views on marriage, directly or indirectly, by analyzing these phenomena. She believed that marriage just for money was wrong, but marriage of no money was stupid. She also frankly disclosed the inseparable relationship between marriages, property and family status. In her novel, as long as a woman who was intelligent, decent,educated, and patient could overcome social barriers, she would receive the ideal happy marriage.Austen was born in a middle-class family of a small village in England, so the people and things in her works were all connected with this environment which was very familiar to her. It is difficult for readers to find the sufferings of those working people who lived at the bottom of the society at that time. At the same time, the important events, such as the French Revolution and Industrial Revolution, were little. Her narrative was always inseparable from the party, walk, talk, dance ... ...Although this written style received some people's criticism, she still stick to it. She once said that she was ―sculpt on two inches of ivory‖. Austen was never married, but the marriage is the eternal theme of her writings. In her works, the marriage status of middle-class people was alive.1.2. The Background of Pride and PrejudiceIn this great book, the author amply demonstrated her view on love and marriage. In order to analyze these points of view, we should firstly start from the background of her great works. ―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.‖(Zhu Hong, P34, 1995)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 they 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 teachers. 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 youngwomen, especially those who did not have enough properties, getting married was the 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 and loved to demonstrate her own view on love and marriage.2. The Four Marriages and the Ideas on Love and Marriage shown in Pride and PrejudiceThe story showed the ordinary life, feelings of the ordinary people. They were organized in a harmonious order under the author's skillful arrangement. The work mainly described four marriages. Two of them were main and assisted by the other two assistant marriages. ―Darcy and Elizabeth’s love and marriage was the main theme of this work. After undergoing many setbacks, Darcy’s arrogance and Elizabeth’s prejudice eventually eliminates, the lovers finally got married. The marriage of Elizabeth’s sister Jane and Darcy’s friend Bingley was another clue. They deeply loved each other, but they w ere multi—blocked, after their departure, Jane missed Bingley very much. The two marriages reflected the other point of view in positive way that marriage should be based on true love, which was the idealmarry in the author’s opinion. The stories seem to be the ordinary lives, feelings and persons linked up in a harmonious order under the others meticulous concepts. However, the marriage between Charlotte and Collins was a negative example with the marriage between Lydia and Wickham, which helped to make the plots more tortuous and richer.‖(Zhu Hong, P12, 1985)2.1. Four Marriages in Pride and Prejudice2.1.1. Collins and Charlotte’s MarriageThe article mentioned little of Charlotte, however, her image was very full .Charlotte was woman who is well-educated, intelligent and admired much by Elizabeth. But she was in financial difficulties. If she did not get married, she could only live in her brother's home to be a spinster. When Kosslyn had been rejected by Elizabeth and turned to propose toCharlotte • Luca s, She agreed without the least hesitation and still stick to marry him though she knew that Collins was a man who was neither wise nor pleasant, and very boring and that Mr. Collins did not love her and his so-called love for her was imaginary because for her " the marriage may not make the women to be too happy, but it is always the best safe for the women, and it can ensure them not to be affected by cold and hunger." In "Pride and Prejudice" Austen described mostly happy marriage, which often aroused the reader's controversy, because they thought that it is too unrealistic to be true. Collins and Charlotte’s marriage made a brutal footnote for Elizabeth’s romantic and happy love .Indeed we can learn that Austen was on a critical opinion of the society at that time from the fate of Charlotte: In the male-dominated society, unmarried women had no future. Elizabeth was an idealist, she would not marry a fool for money (Kosslyn)and also not to marry a man she did not love (such as the Darcy at the beginning of the story); however Charlotte who was six years older than Elizabeth and had little property was a pragmatist. In order to avoid becoming a spinster, who would suffer gossip in the society, she must make full use of any possible opportunity to get married. As Austen said, the reason that Charlotte was willing to marry him was completely for the purpose of property. She also confessed to Elizabeth: "You know I am not a romantic. Moreover I had never been this kind of person. I only ask for a comfortable home. As with Mr. Collins's character, family relations and social status, I am convinced that my chance of happiness is as fair as most people can boast on entering them marriage state "(... ... I am not romantic you know. I never was. I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collins’s character, connections, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness is as fair as most people can boast on entering them marriage state.) And even after their marriage, Charlotte always felt that "If forget Mr. Collins, the inside and outside of the house is indeed a very comfortable place ". This was their marriage, which was held together through a pure relation of money and wealth. To some extend, this kind of marriages is actually a social tragedy that is concealed under the gorgeous cover. Through describing such a marriage, Jane• Austen wanted to tell the readers a common point in British society at that time that the most critical factor in marriage is not love, but money. Actually, it was more than in the United Kingdom at that time, even in today's society, this view is very popular, and can be accepted by most people. That was an era in which love was exiled. We could not blame Charlotte and the vast majority of"Charlottes" too much because it was not entirely theirfalseperhaps in real life love can not defeat the bread forever.2.1.2. Lydia and Wickham’s MarriageThe second marriage is between Bennett’s third daughter Lydia and Wickham, the son of the housekeeper. Originally he was well-treated by his family and friends. However, he came down in the world because of his misbehavior. He got into debt, so he wanted to get money, became rich and changed his social status through marriage which was also a way to approach the talents. He was a man without any responsibility. He does nothing except assailing a woman with obscenities. In his opinion, love was only recreation. For his purpose, he enticed Lydia and got her love easily, for she was young, innocent and vainglorious, and loved to go ease and hated to work hard, and was spoilt by her mother. Getting love and praise of a boy was her dream. So when Wickham wanted to attain to his aim－getting wealth by love and exalting her beauty hypocritically, she forgot who she was and felt she was the most beautiful and happiest girl in the world. Their love did not get the permission from the parents, so then they eloped. When Elizabeth heard the news, she believed that their love was a false. Wickham would not marry Lydia, because she is not charming and had nothing to attract him, who did not love her but loved the wealth of her family. The marriage was admitted with the help of Darcy. Their marriage was considered to be a scandal in Bennett’s family. But Mrs. Bennet was not disgraceful to this marriage. When Collins got the news, he was very angry and reacted to the marriage to revenge his early failure of proposal to her. Thi s marriage was one without love. They didn’t have the real meaning of marriage. They only wanted to satisfy their aspiration. So we can say this is a kind of impromptu love and marriage without true love and responsibility. Such couples only seek the experience of marriage but not everlasting and unchanging one. Of course, such kind of marriage is doomed to be a tragedy.2.1.3. Jane and Mr. Bingley’s MarriageIn the novel, Bingley and Jane never stopped pursuing their true love although there were so many obstacles between them. Fortunately, with the help of Darcy and Elizabeth, they finally got married and had a happy life. Bingley and Jane had many similarities in theircharacters, which was the main reason to the success of their marriage. They possessed personal attractiveness and dignity, social graces, and a measure of good sense. They all had good breeding, but lacked insight, strength, and self-confidence. They didn’t show their insides easily to the public because they cared the social criticism too much. For Jane, she always concealed her true feelings, which gave others an illusion that she didn’t love Bingley. For Bingley, he yielded easily to criticism of Jane’s social position and easily accepted the suggestions of his sisters and Darcy, which almost consumed the felicity between Jane and him. Frankly speaking, the outside forces facilitated their marriage.According to the relationship between Bingley and Jane, love and respect were the basic factors of their successful and happy marriage. With many similarities in character, people can understand each other easily. Most important of all, the couple with common interest can live together in a happy life.Because they understand, help and support between them. They didn’t care the defects of their partners and even they didn’t see any faults in each other. Just as the old saying goes, ―Birds of a feather flock together, people of a mind fall into the same group.‖2.1.4. Darcy and Elizabeth’s MarriageElizabeth was the actress in the "Pride and Prejudice". Her love and marriage was the main thread running through the entire novel. At the beginning of the "recognized the truth" mentioned in the novel, all the girls in the middle-class families wanted to marry a good man. But Elizabeth had a different interpretation for a"good husband". She believed that a husband not only need have certain number of family property but also must respect women, and at the same time there must be mutual understanding between them. Mr. Collins was the first suitor to Elizabeth. Elizabeth was surprised at first, but soon turned down Collins's proposal of marriage because she did not love Collins and could not fall in love with him. Elizabeth was impressed by Wickham’s elegant behavior and demeanor, but she sti ll did not want to choose him to be her husband. She told her aunt that she could handle the relationship between her and Wickham and she would not fall in love with Wickham.Collins was secular cavity too, but smart without a common language with Elizabeth. Wickham is not rich man and lack of morality. Despite later Elizabeth discovered the trueface of Wickham. It did not affect the principle of Elizabeth optional husband. Wickham's exposure to poverty let him outside the scope of Elizabeth's choice of husband. But later why did Elizabeth reject Darcy who is a handsome wealthy man? Elizabeth clearly stated her answer: "Why, with so evident a design of offending and insulting me, you choose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character? Was not this some excuse for incivility, if I was uncivil? "(Austen, 2004:139).Of course, she had prejudice for Darcy and Wickham fabricated lies about Darcy, which had a certain impact on Elizabeth’refusal to Darcy's mar riage proposal, but the most important reason was that Elizabeth hated Darcy for their arrogant attitude.Elizabeth rejected the arrogant Darcy, but Darcy accepted the humble. Their marriage was based on Darcy's property and their love. The composition of property and the love marriage was the two indispensable important factors. When her sister Jane asked Elizabeth t how long she had fallen in love with Darcy, she replied: "It has been coming on so gradually that I hardly know when it began, but I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberly . "(Austen, 2004:275) On the one hand, it revealed Elizabeth’s mockery. On the other hand, it also reflected her inner thoughts. It was this statement which reflected her attitude for money, marriage and life: The marriage based on no moneywas undesirable.So she visited Darcy’s luxurious Pember Lee Garden. After visiting the Manor, she feltthat to be the Pember Lee Gardens hostess was quite good. From a psychological sense, it was a direct reflection of her inner thoughts.She was Bonnet’s second daughter, an active, intelligent and smart girl. She had a middle-class family background and had not been affected by the formal education belonging to those aristocratic young girls, so she was not good at music and painting, but she had read many books which made her knowledgeable and perceptive. The most important aspect was that she was a lady with dignity and upbringing. Darcy was a tall man with good manner. He was handsome, rich and powerful. So he was the ideal husband of most girls. He had grown up in the surroundings with strong sense of power, so he was always selfish and arrogantand had a critical look at each individual, except the family members. He was not concerned about anyone else, and looked down upon anyone else. Therefore, when he first arrived in the village, he found all the persons werebeyond his imagination.Although every girl was young and lovely, he has no interest in younggirlsexcept Elizabeth. But actually, at first he didn’t put an eye on Elizabeth. Gradually, he had to admit that Elizabeth was beautiful, distinct and popular, although he insisted that Elizabeth hadn't the same social status as him. Darcy was rational because he has a strong sense of power, which agreed on the reality at that time. Although he expressed his love to Elizabeth, he couldn't help showing his arrogance, which made Elizabeth have misconception and prejudice on Darcy. Darcy loved Elizabeth, but looked down upon her social status. He considered that he had been lowing himself and doing something against his will, personalities and even moral standard. He thinks that his marriage would certainly succeed and Elizabeth was waiting for him to propose marriage.Therefore, even he was irresistible to the flooding feelings, and condescends to Elizabeth.He still remembered the gap between them. Clearly, the rational aspect of Darcy’s personality performed on the realities of society. When he talked about his feelings of love, he alsoexpressed the arrogance of these fully feelings, which resulted in the arousing resentment of Elizabeth; she rejected his marriage proposal, and angrily accused his insolence. The rational aspect of the heroine Elizabeth showed her clear, calm and actually stressful personality. Compared with her stupid mother, the smooth and lazy father, the shallow-minded, self-willed sister with feather head, Elizabeth was one with ideal mind. She was elegant like her sister Jane, but more intellectually. She also advised her sister to see through the stupidity and nonsense of those camouflage honest persons.Unconsciously, they were fascinated by each other for the physical attraction, and this led to the experience of passion in a loving relationship. In regard to Darcy, he initially did not think Elizabeth was beautiful enough, and scorned her low relatives and vulgar family members despite his later passion for Elizabeth. Darcy loved Elizabeth’s charming appearance and intelligence. His admiration for Elizabeth was obvious in the following details. When Elizabeth went to look after her sister Jane on foot, Miss Bingley made fun of her and her family at the back. Even Miss Bingley said to Darcy,―I am afraid…. that this adventure has rather lessened your admiration for her fine eyes‖.But Darcy replied: ―Not at all, they are brightened by the exercise‖.At Pemberley when Miss Bingley noticed that Darcy admired Elizabeth, she intended to confuse Elizabeth and made her show some feeling that might harm her in Darcy’s opinion. But it meant nothing t o Darcy. She continued to criticize Elizabeth’s appearance, behavior and dress. Darcy could no longer control himselfand said:―For many months I have considered her as one of the best looking women I have consider her as one of the best looking women in m y acquaintance‖.The intimacy component was formed after the prejudicewas relieved. For Elizabeth, there are three elements causing her prejudice against Darcy—Darcy’s humiliation of her at the Meryton assembly by his aloof manner and superiority; and her suspicion of his responsibility for Mr. Bingley’s sudden migration to London which would ruin her sister’s chance of happiness. So when he made his proposal to Elizabeth, he heard her say:―I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be induced to marry‖. Shocked and humiliated by Elizabeth’s refusal, the arrogant Darcy finally learned his lessons from Elizabeth. Upright as he actually was, Darcy wrote letter to Elizabeth, reveals the true character of Wickham and his true perception of Jane’s manner to Bingley. It was at this moment that Elizabeth contemplated the whole thing and she turned ―absolutely ashamed of herself‖, and the prejudice was relieved. Elizabeth at this point moved from strong hospita lity to benevolent neutrality, but ―she could not approve him; or refusal, or feel the slightest inclination ever to see him again‖.The commitment component was formed after Elizabeth accept Darcy’s proposal. Only on the condition that Elizabeth saw the altered new Darcy, could she accept him as her man, who she respected and who respected her and her family. When Darcy meets Elizabeth at Pemberly unexpectedly, he entered into conversation with Mr.Gardiner. Elizabeth’s uncle, and asked permission for his sister to call upon Elizabeth. When Elizabeth told him that Lydia has run away with Wickham, he didn’t despise her but brought about the marriage by giving Wickham money. He started to stand on the level of equality to propose Elizabeth and he succeeded. After dispelling all misunderstandings, all three components of love——intimacy, passion, and commitment are formed.3. Austen’s Concept about Love and MarriageJane Austen is a writer who regards novel writing as a sophisticated art. With a cool hand, she always has her imagination and passion under control. With great details drawn from everyday life and activities, the pictures of her characters are vividly portrayed and everyone comes alive. With simple language and conversing dialogues, her novels are surprisingly realistic. When she converted the disorderly reality into an orderly artistic unity, she pays much attention to the formal qualities of composition, to the design, and to the subordination of the parts to the whole. Her plots appear natural, unforced. They were developed easily and unhurriedly under the author’s perfect control. All the characters have their place in the plot and contribute to the main story. At her best, she keeps balance between facts and form as no other English novelist has ever done. Jane Austen is one of the few novelists who have managed fully to satisfy the requirements in the art of novel writing.Compared with other writers, Jane Austen defined hers stories within a narrow sphere. The subject matters, the character range, the social setting and plots are all restrict to the late 18th century England. Everything in her novels reminds us of a quiet, uneventful and contented life of the English country.Jane Austen believed that a man’s relation to his wife and children i s at least as important a part of his life as his belief and career, and reveals him fundamentally, so she characterizes readers a human being not at moments of crisis, but in the most trivial incidents of everyday life, such as their personal relations, human beings with their families and neighbors, etc. As a result, her novels have a universal significance.Jane Austen’s main concern is about human beings in their personal relationship. As a result her novels have a universal significance. From her point of view, life is made up of small things and human nature reveals itself in them as fully as in big ones and a man’s relationship to his wife and children is at least as important a part of his life as his concerns about his belief and career, which reveals his moral quality more accurately and truthfully. So when Jane Austen writes she would describe human being in the most trivial incidents of everyday life rather than at moments of crisis. She wrote within a narrow sphere. The subject matter, the character range, the social settings and plots are all restricted to the provincial life of the late 18th century England. Her attention would go to three or four landed gentlefamilies with their daily routine life: relationships with members of their own family and with their friends, dancing parties, tea parties, picnics, barbecues and gossips. As a realistic writer, she considers it her duty to express in her words a serious criticism of life and toexpose the weakness and illusions of mankind. In her style she is a neoclassicism advocator, upholding those traditional ideas of order, reason, proportion and graceful in novel writing.The interest of Jane Austen is to study human being in their relations with other people in daily life, so her novels concern about the relationship between men and women in love. Stories of love and marriage provide the framework for all her novels and in which women are always taken as the major characters. In their pursuit of a happy marriage, they could be grouped into three categories: those who marry for money, position and property, those who marry just for passion and those who marry for love which is based on consideration of both the person’s personal merit and his economical and social status.So in her novels the point that money is not the only thing in the consideration of marriage but it plays a very important role found best reflection there.Austen’s this view towards marriage is still very popular nowadays.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 it was pragmatic meaning, it could be forceful and penetrating. No wonder that David Dax，a western Marxism critic said, in the aspect of exposing ―the economics of human beings’ behavior‖, Jane Austen, ―to some extent, had been a Marxist before Marx’s being born.。