傲慢与偏见中关于婚姻的论文

On the Marriage of Pride and Prejudice

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Date: June 7th ,2013

Abstract

This paper focus on the marriage in Pride and Prejudice, it mainly introduces E lizabeth’s views about marriage, which indirectly reflect the author’s attitude. It also concentrates on how affection, money and class influent people to choose their own marriage. Some people may think that marriage can provide a person with an opportunity to be a nobleman or to get away from poverty. Money and social position are closely related to their decision of marital partners. However, If marriage is a castle, the person like Darcy and Elizabeth would like to get rid of pride and prejudice for each other and ultimately are willing to be trapped in such a city. I’m glad to say that the power of love is great, but it doesn’t blind them to imperfection. Just like Jane said:”…Do anything rather than marry without affection…”in Pride and Prejudice, and “…Anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without affection…”Letter to her niece Fanny Knight, 18 November 1814，The Letters of Jane Austen.

Key words:marriage; money; affection; sense

1.Introduction

Jane Austen’s novels are witty, warm and ironic portraits of the privileged classes of 18th- and 19th-century England. Pride and Prejudice follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality,eduction , and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England. Elizabeth is the second of five daughters of a country gentleman living near the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, near London. She mostly takes after her father, sharing his keen wit and occasionally sarcastic outlook. The youngest, Lydia, mostly takes after Mrs. Bennet is a woman somewhat lacking in social graces and primarily concerned with her family's fortunes, and their five daughters. The eldest, Jane, is kind-hearted and proper; and the central character. Charlotte is Elizabeth's friend who, at 27 years old, fears becoming a burden to her family and therefore agrees to marry Mr. Collins, whom she does not love, to gain financial security. The novel are mainly talking about their marriage.

The opening line of the novel announces: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. This sets the marriage motif of the novel. It turns out that rather than the man being in want of a wife, the woman is in want of a husband who is "in possession of good fortune". Many critics take the novel's title as a starting point when analyzing the major themes of Pride and Prejudice; however, Robert Fox cautions against reading too much into the title because commercial factors may have played a role in its selection. Both Elizabeth and Darcy display pride and prejudice."

A major theme in much of Austen's work is the importance of environment and upbringing on the development of young people's character and morality. Social standing and wealth are not necessarily advantages in her world, and a further theme common to Jane Austen's work is ineffectual parents. In Pride and Prejudice, the failure of Mr. and Mrs. Bonnet as parents is blamed for Lydia's lack of moral