SubordinatingGentlemeninPrideandPrejudice-最新文档

1、Subord in ati ng Gen tleme n in Pride and Prejudice【】In Pride and Prejudice, Austen describes various ladies and several subord in at inggen tleme n. She shows morestupid male roles than female roles in the novel. The criticism of the male characters in the novel indicates that though a number of ch

2、aracters are laughably foolish, and some common mistakes made by both men and women in the pursuit of marital happiness. Austen thus demonstrates the equality of the sexes in all aspects of life.Austen was born in 1775, is one of the most important novelists of the nineteenth century. In her life, s

3、he wrote about six novels. Among them, Pride and Prejudice is the most popular and best one. Since it was published in 1813, achieved a popularity that has endured to this day. Many scholars study the novel from the view of value ofmarriage in this no vel, Many other scholars study the no vel from t

4、he description of the female characters in this novel, giving prominence to the heroine Elizabet h s in tellige nee, courage, independence and self-knowledge. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen describes various ladies and at the same time she also describes several subordinating gentlemen.She shows mor

5、e stupid male roles tha n female roles in the novel. Their idiosyncrasiesare not affected by gender, andthe male and female possess equal amounts of absurdity.Auste n thus dem on strates the equality of the sexes in all aspects of life.1 Jane Auste n and Her Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen, the autho

6、r of Pride and Prejudice, is one of the most important novelists of the nineteenth century. She was born in Steve nton, En gla nd, i n 1775. Her father, George Austen, was the rector of the local parish. Jane was born in a happy and resourceful family. Her pare nts were never wealthy but they had ar

7、istocratic connections and a recognized and respected place in society. Austen smother was a great reader of no vels, which were borrowed from a circulat ing library and she had a gift for writ ing verse and choos ing words to rhyme-the gift that was inheritedby several of her children. At the age o

8、f twelve,Jane began to write down some stories. She copied the stories into three manuscript books, which she labeledVolume the First , Volume the Second and Volumethe Thi rd . They are known as the Juvenilia. The stories are light-hearted, witty and amusing, and were read aloudto the family in the

9、evenings. She also had a high-spirited taste for nonsenseAt fiftee n her writ ing is alreadymarked by her characteristic n eat stylish ness, her crisp irony (Cecil 1967: 273) By 1795, Ja ne had grow n intoattractive and lively young womenand becamepopular guests at private parties, and country house

10、 balls. There they would meet their friends and dancing partners. In the next year, 1796, Jane bega n work ing on the firstvers ion of Prideand Prejudice, which she called“firstImpressions ” . Sheread it aloud to her family and it impressed her father so deeply that he wrote to ThomasCadell, a Londo

11、n publisher, offering to send the manuscript.However Declined by Return of Post was written on the top of the letter, though it is true that ThomasCadell himself had not seen or read the manuscript.Not bediscouraged, Jane began revising another manuscript, provisi on ally en titled Eli nor and Maria

12、 nne . But shefound this too restricti ng and later tran sformed the text into Sense and Sen sibility, the first of her books was published, i n 1811. Pride and Prejudice was published in January 1813, two years after her firstnovel, and achieveda popularity that has endured to today. Austen publish

13、edfour more novels: Mansfield Park, Emma,Northanger Abbey,and Persuasion. The last two were published in 1818, a year after her death. As the most popular novel of Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice has won her the highest reputation.“ It is a truth uni versallyack no wledged that a si ngle manin poss

14、ession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. ”(Chapter I P1 ) Beginning with these words, Pride andPrejudice leads us to a beautiful love world of the 19th century shaped by Jane Austen.2 The male characters in Pride and Prejudice2.1 Fitzwilliam Darcy : The readers attentionis firstdrawn to M

15、r. Darcy as a tall, handsome and noble feature.His annual income of ten thousand pounds makes him even more of a talk ing point for the ladies of Meryt on. Despite his wealth, however, he is contrasted with his popular friendBin gley and is found to be arroga nt and proud, “ his manners gave a disgu

16、st which turned the tide of his popularity for he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased ”( P8) Darcy s image as a proud manis further emphasized with his offensive rejection ofElizabeth by pronouncing her “not han dsomee no ugh to tempt me (P9) to dance with. D

17、arcy is haughty and biased againstElizabeth s family, at first conspicuously represented by her flighty youn ger sisters, her mother and Mr. Colli ns.Initially his strong prejudices and first impressions stop him from pursuing Elizabeth, but eventuallyhe gives in tohis imp ulses. In deed, Elizabeth

18、s less ons to Darcy con sist largely in teach ing him behavior which would traditionally be assigned to her. In one such lesson she uses the piano as a metaphor to demonstrate that social discoursethat presumably female tale nt is n otinherent but learned.“ My fin gers do not move over this in strum

19、e nt in the masterly manner which I see so many women s do.But then I have always supposed it to be myown fault because I would not take the trouble of practic ing”In another scene, she repeats the lesson by rebukinghis silence during a dance:“ It is your tur n to say someth ing now, Mr. Darcy. Ihav

20、e talked about the dance, and you ought to make somekind of remark on the size of the room, or the nu mber of couples. ”Here the heroine is teaching the hero and reversing the traditi onal mode of male teacher/ female stude nt.And Darcy also reverses the conven ti onal rule that women s role is to “

21、 please men ” by declaring that the motive for his tran sformati on resides in his desire“ toplease a womarworth of being pleased ” . Darcy dem on strates his continued devotion to Elizabeth, when he rescues ludia and the entire Bennet family from disgrace, and whenhe goes aga inst the wished of his

22、 haughty aunt, Lady Catheri ne de Bourgh, by con ti nuing to pursue Elizabeth.Eve ntually, Darcy proves himself worthy of Elizabeth.2.2 Charles Bingley : Mr. Bingley is a wealthy, un attached, young man. He is in troduced as“ good look ingand gen tlema nlike ” . Bin gley s character is not at all in

23、 tricate. Much like Jane, he is an amiable and good-tempered pers on.Un like Darcy, Mr. Bin gley is not overly concerned with class differences, and Jane s poor and embarrassing family connections are not a serious deterrent to his attachme nt to her. Bin gley s lack of prete nsions andhon est dispo

24、siti on make his feeli ngs for Jane obvious to all people. However, his dist in guish ingtrait is read in essto yield to the persuasi on of a friend. So Bin gley is somodest and easily swayed by the advice of his sisters and Darcy that he is susceptible to the pressure from them to leave Netherfield

25、 for London, and his relati on ship with Jane is only re- established with Darcy s approval.2.3 Mr. Bennet : Mr. Bennet is the patriarch of the Bennet householdthe husba nd of Mrs. B ennet and thefather of the five daughters. His humour is largely employed in teas ing his wife.“ Mr. Bennet was so od

26、d a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve and caprice that the experience of three and twenty years had been insufficientto make hiswife understand his character. ”( P3)Having ruined his life by a foolish marriage, He takes refuge in his books and seems to want nothing morethan tobe both

27、ered as little as possible by his family. His in dole nee leads to the n eglect of the educatio n of daughters. Even when Elizabeth warns him not to allow Lydia to go to Bright on because of the moral dan ger of the situation, he does not listen to her because he does not want to be bothered with Ly

28、dia complaints. He neglects his duties as a father. I n particular, his foolish indulgenee of Lydia s immature behavior nearly leads to the family s disgrace when Lydia elopes with Wickham. Detached from his family, he is not a good father, and loses respect from the readers.2.4 Mr. Colli ns : Mr. C

29、olli ns is a comic and satiricalfigure who is not a sen sible man. His air was“ grave andstately, and his manners were very formal” .( Vol. OneChapter 15) With the help of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, he becomes a clergyman, and the respect which he felt for his patr on ess min gles with a very good op

30、inion of himself. He is a man who believes wholeheartedly in class, even though he gains only the sec ond help ings of its ben efits. And in order to receive those ben efits, he must toady himself to Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Rather than feel embarrassment at his behavior, he believes so strongly in

31、 the value conferred upon a person by class. He is full of self-importance because he has a noble woman as his patroness.The shallowness of his Christianity is expressed in his critical letter to Mr. Bennet, which shows no compassion or forgiveness towards Lydia. He desires a wife only for the sake

32、of appearances, and his shallow nature allows him to switch his attentions from Jane to Elizabeth, and thenfin allyto Charlotte. His absurdity in creased as the storyprogresses, and whe n he proposes to Elizabeth, he represe nts the ki nd of marital compromise that trades all natural feelings for ec

33、onomic security. It s Mr.Collins s arrogant stupidity that makes his proposal to Elizabeth the most comical sce ne in Pride and Prejudice.2.5 George Wickham : Wickham is one of the male characters, which is an officer in the regiment stationed at Meryton. George Wickham s first impression is very fa

34、vorable for he has a“ most gen tlema nlike appeara nee ”and “ had all the best part of beauty, a fine countenance, a good figure, and very pleasing address.”（ P64） He isquickly judged to be a perfectly good and amiable man because of his frien dli ness and the ease of his mann ers.Ironi cally, Wickh

35、am has the appeara nee of good ness and virtue, yet this appearance is deceptive, and hides an un scrupulous and calculat ing mind. He in itially shows a preference for Elizabeth, and she is pleased by his atte ntio ns and in cli ned to believe his story about Darcy. But for the sake of mon ey, Wick

36、ham quickly tur ns his atte ntio n to Miss King, concerning whom the“ sudde nacquisition of ten thousand pounds was the most remarkable charm” . Wickhamis a trickster wholeaves a series of debts in Meryt on and Bright on. He is evil, quite willi ng tocorrupt others to involve them in public disgrace if he can thereby assure his own security. Wickham is also anabsolute scoundrel.He has attempted to seduce Miss Darcy,and finally, he succeeds in luri