浅析小说《傲慢与偏见》折射出的婚姻决定因素及其现实影响

中 南 大 学高等教育自学考试本科生毕业论文论文题目: 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学生姓名：考籍号：910108300488年级专业：2007级英语指导老师及职称：汤春华学 院：中南大学科培中心 湖南长沙提交日期：2010年4月1ContentsAbstract1Keywords1Introduction31、Jane Austen and the Background of Pride and Prejudice31.1 Jane Austen 31.2 The Background of Pride and Prejudice42、Four Marriages and Ideals on Love and Marriage Shown in Pride and Prejudice52.1 Four Marriages in Pride and Prejudice52.1.1 Collins and Charlottes Marriage52.1.2 Lydia and Wickhams Marriage72.1.3 Jane and Mr. Bingleys Marriage72.1.4 Darcy and Elizabeths Marriage83. Austens Concept about Love and Marriage124、Conclusion14References16Acknowledgements19AbstractPride and Prejudice is Austens masterpiece which described four different marriages and love .Until today, this novel is still very popular among many readers and arouses peoples observation and unlimited thinking of marriage .This paper aims to probe into the views on love and 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; Introduction Jane 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 Austens 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 novels 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 Austens 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 peoples 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 young women, 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 authors skillful arrangement. The work mainly described four marriages. Two of them were main and assisted by the other two assistant marriages. “Darcy and Elizabeths love and marriage was the main theme of this work. After undergoing many setbacks, Darcys arrogance and Elizabeths prejudice eventually eliminates, the lovers finally got married. The marriage of Elizabeths sister Jane and Darcys friend Bingley was another clue. They deeply loved each other, but they were multiblocked, 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 ideal marry in the authors 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 Charlottes 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 brothers home to be a spinster. When Kosslyn had been rejected by Elizabeth and turned to propose to Charlotte Lucas, 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 readers controversy, because they thought that it is too unrealistic to be true. Collins and Charlottes marriage made a brutal footnote for Elizabeths 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. Collinss 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. Collinss 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 todays 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 their false perhaps in real life love can not defeat the bread forever.2.1.2. Lydia and Wickhams Marriage The second marriage is between Bennetts 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 aimgetting 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 Bennetts 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. This marriage was one without love. They didnt 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. Bingleys 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 their characters, 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 didnt 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 didnt love Bingley. For Bingley, he yielded easily to criticism of Janes 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 didnt care the defects of their partners and even they didnt 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 Elizabeths 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 Collinss proposal of marriage because she did not love Collins and could not fall in love with him. Elizabeth was impressed by Wickhams elegant behavior and demeanor, but she still 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 true face of Wickham. It did not affect the principle of Elizabeth optional husband. Wickhams exposure to poverty let him outside the scope of Elizabeths 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 Darcys marriage 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 Darcys 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 Elizabeths 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 money was undesirable. So she visited Darcys luxurious Pember Lee Garden. After visiting the Manor, she felt that to be the Pember Lee Gardens hostess was quite good. From a psychological