试析《傲慢与偏见》中的婚姻观摘要爱情是生活和文学永恒的主体，爱情和婚姻几乎是女人生活的全部。
对女人生活关注和记录的文学作家让人敬爱。
18世纪最伟大的女性作家简奥斯汀的存在是英国文学史和整个世界的幸事。
她的作品主要关注乡绅家庭女性的婚姻和生活，以女性特有的细致入微的观察力和活泼风趣的文字真实地描绘了她周围世界的小天地。
特别擅长塑造人物和刻画性格的简奥斯汀给我们带来她那最成功和最具生命力和影响力的传世之作傲慢与偏见。
本文通过分析《傲慢与偏见》中四对青年人的婚姻故事，总结了奥斯汀的既屈从于世俗又超越于世俗的婚姻观：爱情是美满婚姻的先决条件，美满婚姻的产生又往往受财产、门第和人的性格等诸多因素的影响。
再分析现代社会婚姻因素，从而得出自己的见解：美满的婚姻一般是客观条件如财富，社会地位，机遇等和主观条件如道德品性，自我修养，用心追求等的结合。
其中主观因素占主导，因此我们都有能力努力提高自身修养，有权利和机会去追求理想的爱情婚姻。
本文希望通过这样一个话题的探究引发读者对爱情和婚姻观的思考。
尤其对于我们女大学生，在对婚姻生活的思考上，此小说此方面可以起到借鉴作用。
关键字：傲慢与偏见；女性；婚姻; 条件因An Analysis of the view on marriage in Pride andPrejudiceABSTRACTLove is a permanent theme in life as well as in literature，and marriage is a fixed convention in a society. love and marriage are nearly the whole part in a woman‟s life. For those writers who especially concerned about women' existence state and fate are really admirable and respectable. The greatest female English writer in 18th century Jane Austin is a fortune for both English literature and the whole world. Her greatest work The Pride and Prejudice is a gift to the world.Jane is always good at characters mould and portraying personality in her own view as a woman. This thesis try to reveal Jane' viewpoint of marriage by analyzing four different marriage situations to some degree summary her perception of marriage: Mutual Attraction and Mutual Understanding is the base of true love ; true love is important for marriage ; Material conditions is a necessary for marriage. A safe marriage should based on the combination between some external factors (wealth, social standing, opportunity) and internal factors （morality ,self-cultivation, self-pursuit). However, the later greatly outweigh the former. Everybody has the ability to be well cultivated, and he or she also has the right and chance to go after a happy marriage. This thesis gives a topic aboutwoman's marriage hope to motivate readers especially the young ladies to give sound thoughts about the value of marriage. It helps to guide we female college students in pursuing our love and marriage.Key words: pride and prejudice ; women; marriage；FactorCONTENTS摘要 (I)ABSTRACT (II)1INTRODUCTION (1)2 THE AUTHOR AND THE NOVEL (2)2.1.1Jane Austine (2)2.1.2 Pride and Prejudice (2)3 FPUR MARRIAGES IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (4)3.1 Collines and Charlotte (5)3.2 Lydia and Wikham (5)3.3Jane and Bingley (6)3.4 Darce and Elizabeth (6)4 VIEWS ON PRIDE AND PRIJUDICE (8)4.1Character and Self-Cultivation (8)4.2Attraction and True Love (9)4.3Financial Stability (8)5 CONCLUSION (12)BIBLIOGRAPHY (13)An Analysis of the Views on Marriage in Pride andPrejudice1 Introduction1.1 The BackgroundsJane Austen is one of the greatest and best loved novelists in English literature and one of the most important pioneers in the English realistic novel. In Austen‟s whole life, she writes six novels together. Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen‟s most successful and popular masterpiece. Its original name is First Impressions. It has been popular for nearly two hundred years with its intricate narrative structure, sparkling prose, witty dialogue and vivid as well as subtle description of inner thoughts.At the end of 18th century and the beginning of 19th century, English is centered on man. No equality between women and men. Women were in rather low status. Besides, legal rule showed that women had no rights in inheritance of property. It was widely accepted and acknowledged that women could not have a better choice than be a honored housewife. As a result, for a survival, a woman had to seek a way to ensure a safety in material. And obviously, marriage was the only hope and great opportunity.In the novel, the author mainly describes four marriages: intelligent Elizabeth and decent Darcy, mild Jane and pleasant Bingley, vulgar Collins and mediocre Charlotte, empty-minded Lydia and dissolute Wickham. By describing the four different marriages---The Despicable Marriage of Collins and Charlotte‟s, The Shallow Marriage of Wickham and Lydia‟s, The Happy Marriage of Bingley and Jane‟s, The Consummate Marriage of Elizabeth and Darcy‟s, Austin shows us how one‟s ch aracter reflects his or her different attitudes towards love and marriage in Britain during the early 19th century.1.2 The Objectives of This ThesisTo know Jane Austen and her literature style through an representative novel;To have a general impression on marriage life in 19th century of England;To learn to analyze and appreciate different characters in a novel;To get views on the object of love,marriage and life2 Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice2.1 Jane AustenJane Austen (1775-1817), a most well-known female writer in the history of English literature, was born in Stevenson on December 16 1775. And she lived peacefully in a small social circle all her life. She was the youngest of seven children in her family. She received most of her education at home. Her family members are all fond of reading books, which influenced her very much. Her reading extended little beyond the literature of the eighteenth century, and within that period she admired Dr. Johnson particularly. Later she was delighted with both the poetry and prose of Scott. She died on July 18 ，1817 and she never married. Austen was buried in the cathedralin Winchester.Jane Austen wrote only six complete novels, two of which were published after her death. Her best-known books include Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), and Emma (1816). Each is perfect, and there is no choosing between them for one who enjoys her quiet irony and her simple delicate analysis of character. There are neither heroic passions nor astounding adventures. Northanger Abbey is a gentle satire on the mystery tale of haunted castles. And in all her novels the love-making of her young people, though serious and sympathetic, is subdued by humor to the ordinary plane of emotion on which most of us live. She was the founder of the novel which deals with unimportant middle class people and of which there are many fine examples in latter English fiction. Her style is easy and effortless. In these novels the life of the gentry, land-owners and clergy at the end of the eighteenth and the early part of the nineteenth centuries is shown in detail.All Jane Austen's work shows a recognizable standard of values .Her father was a country vicar, so Jane took for granted that a person should be sincere, unselfish, disinterested and unworldly, and that virtue should be judged by good sense and good taste. These beliefs are fundamental to her work. Throughout her life Jane Austen had been guided by Christian principles, and she accepted the Church's teaching without question. Her faith is implicit in all her writing: the virtues of a disciplined life, a caring relationship between husband and loving upbringing, are reflected in her letters and in her novels. At her death she expected to appear before God and be judged. Jane Austen's interest revolved around people-their eccentricities, appearance and dialogue. From them she created the characters which give her novels universal and lasting appeal.2.2 Pride and PrejudicePride and Prejudice is the most enduringly popular novel written by Jane Austen. It is Jane Austen's second novel. Written between October 1796 and August 1799.The original name of the story is “First Impression”, because the appearances of the characters created the plot of the novel. The novel shows the foolishness of trusting first impressions which are corrected by understanding and reflection. The author fully expresses her views on marriage that an ideal marriage should be based on mutual affection and mutual understanding, and the successful marriage must be also based on true love and financial stability. In Pride and Prejudice the business of Mrs. Bennett‟s whole life was to get her five daughters married, for on the death of her husband the family's house would devolve by entail on to a cousin and she and the girls would be homeless. Consequently she heard with elation that Nether field Park, one of the great houses of the neighborhood, had been let to a London gentleman named Mr. Bingley. Gossip such as Mr. Bennet loved reported him a rich and altogether eligible young bachelor. Mr. Bennet heard the news with his usual dry calmness, suggesting in his mild way that perhaps Bingley was not moving into the country for the single purpose of marrying one of the Bennet daughters.In Pride and Prejudice，the four young couples' marriage can be categorized into two groups according to their different marriage foundation. Simply one just like Charlotte— Collins and Lydia —Wickham is called unhappy marriage based not on true love. The other one like Elizabeth — Darcy and Jane — Bingley is the opposite. It is their marriages that come to a real happy end. By analyzing the four marriages in this novel, we can see Jane Austen's views on marriage.2.1 International ReviewsAfter the publication of Jane Austen‟s Pride and Prejudice, the novel has aroused great waves from readers and people who have pondered it in the west, with reverence books emerging in larger numbers. Kenneth L. Moler, considers main characters as central targets to further exploration. Moler traces the evolution of Darcy's character. In Moler's view, the novel hinges on the central tension between Elizabeth Bennet's individualism and Darcy's faith in an established social order. (Moler, 1967),some critics think highly of characterization in Pride and Prejudice as well as the novel's scenes of domestic life. Some other example about character study is Francis, she connects the historical background surrounding with both Jane Austen and the novel Pride and Prejudice, including a critique of Austen's treatment of both male and female characters. (Francis, 2005) Apart from these comments, some critics usually choose the relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy to represent their interpretations of what is ideal marriage. Stovel believes that Austen's novel introduces the interpretation that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy's relationship is an example of ideal love, as well as the view that it is an "immediate and magnetic attraction. (Stovel, 2005) Besides, some researches focusing on text itself which enable us have a good understanding of English history. For example, Brown talks over the issue that how Austen offers a powerful commentary on the changes in society, gender attitudes, and class structure in early nineteenth century England. (Brown, 2007)2.2 Domestic ReviewsComparing to the studies in the west, the domestic studies on Pride and Prejudice; have focused on several categories over twenty years.The first phase emphasis the ethics of marriage appeared in Pride and Prejudice. As is known to all of us, the novel has given the relatively significance of marriage, as in all Jane Austen novels, most of scholars and critics have a tendency to believe that the main business of Pride and Prejudice is the disposal of young woman marriages. Such subject criticisms of Pride and Prejudice, articles and essays that have probed Austen‟s work in relation to the typical four marriages represented in novel. Yi Wenqing, Y ang Guiqing, An Lina, Y an Junling are the examples in discussing the question. Yi Wenqing makes a comparison between Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice, two classics as the topic to explore a matter of attitudes focusing on marriages in later 18th century and early 19th century, thus to deem the conclusion that the marriages among the young women in Pride and Prejudice is resulted from the financial states, while Jane‟s marriage is established on the basic stone of spiritual equality.(Yi Wenqing, 2010) However, An Lina tries to select the heroine in Gone with the Wind as a object to compare with Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice, so as to reflect their personal responses toward love and marriages under the influence of their designed features in characters.(An Lina, 2009) Generally speaking, the variety of marriages are directly decided by their personalities and social values, basing on suchstatement, Y an Junling tends to analysis it with the special perspectives of marriage.(Y an Junling, 2008)With respect to the female characters, Elizabeth Bonnet, the heroine and other young single women in Pride and Prejudice, are always the key point of critiques, and Feminism is considered as a new tendency of literary theory shaping our views to analysis the female novels. Pride and Prejudice is the first attempt to describing the female history as a unforgettable experience, its relation to female‟s independence and equality has been widely studied by Liu Chang and Zhu Wanying, the former deems that Pride and Prejudice is a classic which used female perspective to reflect female experience and sentimental emotions.(Liu Chang, 2009) Later notes the essence of marriage in 19th century is the female‟s self-awareness in relation between the marriage and fortune, love , as the source of creation, is really a perspective quiet important in Austin‟s attitude toward ideal marriage.(Zhu Wanying, 2008).3 Four Marriages in Pride and PrejudiceThe 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 assis tant marriages. “Darcy and Elizabeth‟s love and marriage is the main theme of this work. After undergoing many setbacks, Darcy‟s arrogance and Elizabeth‟s prejudice eventually eliminates, the lovers finally get married. The marriage of Elizabeth‟s sister Jane and Darcy‟s friend Bingley is another clue. They deeply love each other, but they are multi—blocked, after their departure, Jane misses Bingley very much. The two marriages reflects the another point of view in positive way that marriage should be base d on true love, which is the ideal marry 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 is a negative example with the marriage between Lydia and Wickham, which help to make the plots more tortuous and richer.”3.1 Collins and CharlotteCharlotte Lucas 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. Though the novel stresses the importance of love and understanding in marriage (as seen in the anticipated success of Elizabeth-Darcy relationship and failure of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet relationship), Austen never seems to condemn the decision of Charlotte to marry for money.William Collins, aged 25, is Mr. Bennet's clergyman cousin and heir to his estate. He is "not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society." Mr. Collins is obsequious, pompous, and lacking in common sense. Elizabeth's rejection of Mr. Collins's marriage proposal is welcomed by her father, regardless of the financial benefit to the family of such a match. Mr. Collins then marries Elizabeth's friend, Charlotte Lucas.In Pride and Prejudice, when the homely and plain Charlotte decided to marryCollins, Her reflections were in general satisfactory, without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object, it was the only honorable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune. In fact what Charlotte asks is only a comfortable shatter, a higher social position and a better wealth. Which she explains to Elizabeth, “I am not romantic you know. I never was. I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collins character, connections, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair, as most people can boast on entering the marriage state.” (Austen, 113) For Collins, he is a man who does not know what love is at all. When Mr. Collins first proposed to Elizabeth, much to her mother's displeasure and her father's joy her firmly and promptly rejected him. He almost immediately transferred his affections to Elizabeth's best friend, Charlotte Lucas, who, twenty-seven and somewhat homely, accepted at once his offer of marriage. Collins‟ decision to marry Charlotte is only because of Elizabeth‟s refusal to him. What he needs is just a wife who helps him not to be a bachelor any more.3.2 Lydia and WickhamLydia Bennet is the youngest Bennet sister, aged 15 when the novel begins. She is frivolous and headstrong. Her main activity in life is socializing, especially flirting with the officers of the militia. She dominates her older sister Kitty and is supported in the family by her mother. Lydia shows no regard for the moral code of her society, and no remorse for the disgrace she causes her family.George Wickham has been acquainted with Mr. Darcy since childhood, having been under the guardianship of Mr. Darcy's father. An officer in the militia, he is superficially charming and rapidly forms an attachment with Elizabeth Bennet. He spreads tales about the wrongs Mr. Darcy has done him, adding to the local society's prejudice, but eventually he is found to have been the wrongdoer himself. He runs off with Lydia and marries her.In the novel, we known Lydia, Mr. Bennett‟s third daughter, she was spoilt by her mother, so she was very conceited and arrogant, and behaves frivolously. Wickham, he has no other advantage except for his attractive physical appearance. In his opinion, love is lonely recreation. Due to he was trouble with a large debt, so he entices Lydia and get her love easily. When their love does not get the permission from the parents, then they elope. When Elizabeth hears the news, she believes that their love does not have happy end. Really, Wickham would not marry Lydia, because she was no charming and has nothing to attract him. He does not love her but the wealth of her family. The marriage was admitted on the condition of Darcy's help.3.3 Jane and BingleyJane Bennet is the eldest Bennet sister. Twenty-two years old when the novel begins, she is considered the most beautiful young lady in the neighborhood. Her character is contrasted with Elizabeth's as sweeter, shyer, and equally sensible, but not as clever; her most notable trait is a desire to see only the good in others. As Anna Quindlen wrote, Jane is "sugar to Elizabeth's lemonade."[7] Jane is closest to Elizabeth, and her character is often contrasted with that of Elizabeth. She is favored by hermother because of her beauty.Charles Bingley is a handsome, good-natured, and wealthy young gentleman of 23, who rents Netherfield Park near Longbourn. He is contrasted with his friend Mr. Darcy as being more kind and more charming and having more generally pleasing manners, although not quite so clever. He lacks resolve and is easily influenced by others.At the first ball, Jane has a good impression of Bingley, and it is the same to Bingley. They were attracted to each other at the first sight. After the ball,” Wh en Jane and Elizabeth were alone, the former, who had been cautious in her praise of Mr. Bingley before, and expressed to her sister how very much she admired him.”(Austen, 11) For Bingley, he had an easily-led temper. He was so modest and pliable that he had no opinion about his own marriage. No matter how obvious his attachment to Jane was, he believed Darcy‟s representation of Jane‟s indifference was true. Because Mr. Bingley‟s two sisters didn‟t like Jane, they thought Mr. Bingley should choose Georgiana，she is Darcy‟s sister as his wife. So they also disagree with Bingley about his marriage with Jane. Under the influences of his sisters and Mr. Darcy, Bingley began to doubt Jane,s affection to him. Finally, he thought Jane didn‟t love him, so he left her without saying good-bye. Later, when all the misunderstandings clarified, he came back to Jane at Darcy‟s assistance. Bingley‟s indecisive character determines his happiness and results that his life was controlled by others. Later on a visit to Bingleys, Jane‟s love affair with Bingley is advanced. Even Bingley is apparently on the point of proposing to Jane. Actually Bingly is attracted by Jane‟s tenderness and beautiful appearance, while Jane is attracted by his gentle manner. They loved with each othe r.3.4 Darcy and ElizabethElizabeth Bennet is the protagonist of the novel. The reader sees the unfolding plot and the other characters mostly from her viewpoint. The second of the Bennet daughters, she is 20 years old and is intelligent, lively, attractive and witty but with a tendency to judge on first impression (the "prejudice" of the title) and perhaps to be a little selective of the evidence upon which she bases her judgments. As the plot begins, her closest relationships are with her father; her sister, Jane; her aunt, Mrs Gardiner; and her best friend, Charlotte Lucas. As the story progresses, so does her relationship with Mr. Darcy, who belongs to a higher social class than herself. The course of Elizabeth and Darcy's relationship is ultimately decided when Darcy overcomes his pride, and Elizabeth overcomes her prejudice, leading to them both surrendering to the love they have for each other.Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy is the male protagonist of the novel. Twenty-eight years old and unmarried, Mr Darcy is also the wealthy owner of the famous family estate of Pemberley in Derbyshire, and is rumored to be worth at least ten thousand pounds a year. In 2013, this amounts to almost eight hundred thousand dollars a year, although even this calibration fails to properly demonstrate Darcy's wealth. Such an income would have put him among the 400 wealthiest families in the country.[5]Handsome, tall, and intelligent, but rather antisocial, his aloof decorum and rectitude are seen by many as an excessive pride. He makes a poor impression on strangers, such as thelanded gentry of Meryton, but is valued by those who know him well. Throughout the progression of the plot, Darcy and Elizabeth are forced to be in each other's company, causing each character to see the other in a different light. At the end o f the work, both overcome their differences and judgments to fall in love with each other They are the heroine and hero of this novel. At the beginning, Elizabeth refused to accept Darcy…s pursue. Because in Elizabeth's eyes, Darcy is very cold and extr emely arrogant, he is rich and has high social status, and he look down upon the middle-class girls. In particular, he insulted Elizabeth Bennet, a girl of spirit and intelligence and her father's favorite. He refused to dance with her when she was sitting down for lack of a partner, and said in her hearing that he was in no to prefer young ladies slighted by other men. But on future occasions, however, Darcy began to admire Elizabeth in spite of himself. At a later ball Elizabeth had the satisfaction of refusing him a dance. Bingley's sister Caroline, who was eager to marry Darcy and shrewdly aware of his growing admiration for Elizabeth, was especially loud in her ridicule of the Bennet family. Later, Elizabeth herself became Caroline's particular target. Darcy admitted to himself that he would be in some danger from the charm of Elizabeth, if it were not for her interior family connections. When Wickham spoke ill of Darcy, making Elizabeth have deeper antipathy and hostility towards him. When Lydia and Wickham eloped, Darcy fined them and helps them. When Lydia came home, she told Elizabeth that Darcy had attended her wedding. Elizabeth, suspecting the truth, learned from Mr. Gardiner that it was indeed Darcy who brought about the marriage by giving Wickham money. Finally, Elizabeth changed her impression of Darcy, she was more favorably inclined to him than ever before, hoped his coming meant that he still loved her, but he gave no sign. Soon afterward Lady Catherine paid the Bennets an unexpected call. Hoping her own daughter to Darcy, she had charged down with characteristic bad manners to order Elizabeth not to accept his proposal. Unluckily for her own purpose, repeated to Darcy the substance of her conversation with Elizabeth, and he knew Elizabeth well enough to surmise that her feelings to ward him had greatly changed. He returned to Netherfield Park, they fell in love with each other and became engaged. They have a happy life.4 Views on Marriage in Pride and PrejudiceThis thesis focuses on marria ge in British women writer Jane Austen‟s novel, Pride and Prejudice. The topic is elicited out by the first sentence of this novel, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” (Jane Austen, 2003: 1) Firstly, state what does a marriage mean to a woman with analyzing on what was the social status of women at Jane Austen‟s time. Secondly, give a detail introduction about four marriages in this novel and finally analyze these marriages and reach the conclusion that a marriage should be based on true love, financial stability, mutual attraction, and happiness.4.1 Self-Cultivation and CharacterThe rational aspect of the heroine Elizabeth shows her clear, calm and actually stressful personality. Compared with her stupid mother, the smooth and lazy father, theshallow-minded, self-willed sister with feather head, Elizabeth is one with ideal mind. She is elegant like her sister Jane, but more intellectually superior unlike her sister being easy to be favorable. She also advises her sister to see through the stupidity and nonsense of those camouflage honest persons. Elizabeth is unique, because she has a deep understanding of all the things around her. In fact both she and Darcy are extremely sensitive to the social status. Different from Darcy, Elizabeth doesn‟t have superiority about her family background and status. Instead, she feels deeply ashamed for her sister‟s being lack of fairly education and her mother's rudeness and stupidity. Compared with her moderate and generous sister Jane, she is smarter and even more profound. All the Bennett's girls don't receive normal education. They are not good at drawing, playing piano, reading richly. They never have governors to train them, including the outstanding Elizabeth. However, she excels Darcy' well-trained cousin who is really well and professionally educated and far more intelligent and witty than Bingley ' sister who seems so a elegant charming upper class young lady. So it stimulate us to ponder that why Eliza is so unique compared with her sisters. We all know that they are from the same environment and the same parents. The answer is obvious. She loves reading, so she is thoughtful and wisdom. She knows how to defeat her dignity. Since she knows she is not the upper class lady, lack of advantageous material condition. She chooses to pursue mind and spiritual stuff. It results in a mature, minded and independent character. Elizabeth and Darcy were not born a great match. It is through their interactions and their critiques of each other that they recognize their faults and work to correct them. Elizabeth meditates on her own mistakes thoroughly in chapter 36: "How despicably have I acted!” she cried; “I, who have prided me on my discernment I, who have valued me on my abilities, who have often disdained the generous candor of my sister and gratified my vanity in useless or blamable distrust. How humiliating is this discovery! Y et, how just a humiliation! Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind. But vanity, not love, has been my folly. Pleased with the preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other, on the very beginning of our acquaintance, I have courted prepossession and ignorance, and driven reason away, where either was concerned. Till this moment I never knew myself." In the end she wins romantic love. She wins Prince Charming Mr. Darcy.4.2 Attraction and True LoveMutual attraction is the most important in the author‟s views. One who betrays his or her heart will never own true love that is beyond money and social position. This element is what Austen puts a great deal of emphasis on. The heroine in the fiction, Elizabeth, is a loyal follower of her own affection. She encourages Jane to pursue true love with Bingley, and has disgust for Caroline's overflowing flattery of Darcy for the purpose of marrying the latter whose fortune and position are a great appeal to herself, regardless of the young gentleman's affection. In face of Mr. Collins's proposal, Elizabeth refuses him without hesitation, for her cousin wants to marry her just because he thinks Elizabeth is fit to be his wife and this union is his bestowment to the Bennett‟s. Elizabeth is committed to her true feelings, because there is no mutu al attraction between them. She believes happiness marriage is grounded upon mutual。
