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1. Introduction 2.Social background 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com From her work, we canknow, a good marriage is very important to a young woman in those days. It isinseparable from women’s situation in British society at that time. In the 18thcentury, women were not respected as now. Women and men were not equal. Womenwere not on equal terms with men in intelligence and abilities. The women centeredaround family. The function of women was to take charge of the household chores.People thought that women should obey their husband naturally. Women's virtueswere endurance and acquiescence. They had to admit that they had not abilitiesas men had, and they had to limit their abilities. Although women were sociallyinferior, nobody was against it. http://www.paper51.com Many young women ofmiddle class had three choices at that time: marriage, spinster, and governess.Governess was socially inferior, and it could hardly be changed. Spinster, evennow, nobody would like to be. Therefore, for the young women, particularly forthose who had not much property, marriage was the only choice for theacquisition of position and fortune. But what kind of marriage is happy, and whatis unhappy? Jane Austen shows her opinion in her novel: love and marriage were relatedclosely to property and position. She always lets her favorite protagonistmarry an ideal husband who is handsome and wealthy, and lets the badly behavedwoman marry badly or become spinster all her life. Under that condition, a womanwithout property can hardly marry anyone. But in Jane Austen’s novel, if awoman is clever, cultivated and has good behavior, she could marry her loverand live happily. paper51.com 3. Different marriage formationin the novel paper51.com
3.1Jane and Bingley 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com Jane is the eldestdaughter of the Bennets, who is beautiful and kind. Mr. Bingley, a single manof large fortune, is good looking and gentlemanlike. Jane admires Bingley atthe first ball, so does Bingley. They are immediately attracted to each other.Jane expresses to her sister Elizabeth how much she admires him after the ball.“He is just what a young man ought to be, sensible, good humored, lively; and Inever saw such happy manners! —so much ease, with such perfect good breeding” (JaneAusten, 1991:11). But she does not say anything about her affection because ofher reserved disposition until Mr. Bingley proposes marriage to her. Themarriage conforms to “rites” completely. It is the “model” of marriage thatpropertied class advocates: “free choice” and “ love”. http://www.paper51.com
3.2 Elizabeth andDarcy 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com In the novel, Elizabethis lively, uncommonly pretty and very agreeable. Austen emphasizes the marriagebetween Elizabeth and Darcy. She is the most beautiful girl in the author'sheart, and her marriage is the most successful ideal marriage. When Darcy givesup his pride, and Elizabethchange her prejudice, they fall in love with each other and marry happily atlast. Jane Austen emphasizes her points here again: the happy marriage mustbuild up on the foundation of love. “No love, no marriage.” Jane Austen praisesthe marriage. She sets up a model of ideal marriage for all people. http://www.paper51.com 3.3 Lydiaand Wickham 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com Lydia is a stout, well-grown girl offifteen, with a fine complexion and good- humored countenance. She is afavorite of her mother, whose affection had brought her into public at an earlyage (王惠君,王惠玲, 2001:51). Lydia inheritsher mother’s good looks, and also her birdbrain and vainglory. She is ignorant,idle, vain and absolutely uncontrolled. She elopes with Wickham, an officerwith a fine countenance and a good figure. In fact, he is idle and frivolousgallantry. They elope from Brighton without any engagement and are found out inLondon finally.Though under such situation, Wickham has no intention at all to marry Lydia. WithDarcy’s help they marry at last. But their feeling is not kept too long they married.His affection for her soon sinks into indifference. He often goes to enjoyhimself in London or Bath. Lydia retains all the claims forreputation that her marriage had given her (王惠君,王惠玲, 2001:432). But she still enjoys dancingwith handsome young boys. They spend money like water. Their income cannotcover outlay. They are always moving from place to place in quest of a cheapsituation (王惠君,王惠玲, 2001:432). Theirlives are exceedingly bad. Their marriage does not build up on respect and loveeach other. The author expresses her point clearly: the marriage without loveis not happy. http://www.paper51.com 3.4Charlotte and Collins 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com Charlotte is completelydifferent from Lydia. Sheis the eldest of the Lucas, a homely and plain young woman, about twenty-seven.She is Elizabeth’sclosest friend. As other low social status of the British women at that periodof time, she does not have any property. The only thing a young lady withoutproperty could do is to marry a man with a good fortune. Collins is a servileclergyman, a cousin of the Bennets. He is the heir of Mr. Bennet’s property. Charlotte marries him atlast just because of his property. They marry for money but not love. http://www.paper51.com 4. The reason of the different marriage formation copyright paper51.com
4.1 Combiningof rite and breeding 内容来自www.paper51.com
Jane is favored by Mr.Bingley at the first ball. She also admires him deeply. Jane’s fervent feeling,is displayed little. Becauseof her steady sense and sweetness of temper and the improprieties of her closerelations, she nearly loses Mr. Bingley. Mrs. Bennet has a talk about theadvantage of this wedding in the public. It is enough to take back Mr. Bingley.Of a situation so desirable in every respect, so replete with advantage, sopromising for happiness, Jane is nearly deprived by the folly and indecorum ofher own family (王惠君,王惠玲, 2001:245). Fortunately,love finds its way at last. It seems that only the marriage case ofJane-Bingley involves the purest love but without pursuing. http://www.paper51.com 4.2 Combining of the vaingloryand impulse 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com Lydia is wild giddiness. Nothing but love and flirtation has been inher mind. Wickham has every charm of a man and he dresses well so that he cancaptivate a woman, He is extravagant and always in debts. He does not want tomarry Lydiaeven though they have eloped. Though they marry finally, they live unhappy.They are distressed from money. Fortunately, Darcy gives Wickham much money.But Wickham still cherishes the hope of effectually making his fortune bymarriage to a lady in some other country (王惠君,王惠玲, 2001:432). The unhappy marriage results in theirvainglory and impulse. http://www.paper51.com Mr. And Mrs. Bennet is the only old couple described in the novel.Mr. Bennet was captivated by Mrs. Bennet’s youth and beauty. He married a womanwho is weak in understanding and illiberal mind. In their early marriage, heputs an end to all real affection to her. His respect, esteem, and confidencehave vanished forever. And all his views of domestic happiness were overthrown (王惠君,王惠玲, 2001:270).Obviously, the marriage is an unfortunatemarriage because of their imprudence. paper51.com 4.3 The trading of money paper51.com Though Mrs. Bennet isin great joy as a comic person in the novel, her word “a truth universallyacknowledged”—“a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want tomarry a wife” (刘存波, 2001:133), is certificatedright by facts. We can see from it that economy decides life, also decides themarriage relationship. copyright paper51.com Collins is refused by Elizabeth when he proposes marriage to her.Then, he gives his love to Miss Charlotte. Although the stupidity which Collinswas favored by nature, his proposal always cannot move the lady’s heart. But Charlotte promises immediately.Why? We can get the answer in the novel. “Mr. Collins, to be sure, was neithersensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome, and his attachment to Charlotte’s husband.Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always beenher object; it was the only honorable provision for well-educated young womenof small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be theirpleasant preservative from want”(Helen Lefory, 2002:166). We can understandeasily now, Charlottejust wants to acquire a storeroom of life. She does not love Collins actually.If Collins is not successful proposing to Elizabeth,he must be unwilling to propose marriage to such a woman as Charlotte who is without any property. A manin possession of a good fortune as Bingley needs a beautiful wife; a manwithout money as Wickham needs a wife with much dowry. It is really lucky thatpoor Charlottemarries Collins, although they are not happy at all. It is interesting that, insuch marriage based on sole money transaction, the woman without property doesmarry a single man with a good fortune, but the husband himself has nothing to dowith the enjoyment of the marriage (中国论文下载中心, 2006). Charlotte marries Collins for his fortune.She only gets a rich man and feels safe on economy from the marriage. She doesnot concern her husband. She encourages her husband to tidy up the garden more.She turns a blind eye and a deaf ear to him when Collins brings shame upon her.Is it not an excellent irony to the proposition at the beginning of the novelthe “truth universally acknowledged”? 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com From the descriptionof Charlotte’smarriage, it is clear that money is very important in the marriage conventionof such kind of society. Reflecting the women’s sad destinies at that time, theauthor has her tremendous pity on the women who marry for property. copyright paper51.com We can see some description about otherpeople’s different opinions on money and marriage. Mrs. Catherine wants herdaughter Anna to marry her nephew Darcy, to make a union of the two estates,and she believes it is Darcy’s duty and responsibility. Miss Bingley, who has afortune of twenty thousand pounds, is in habits of spending more than she oughtto. The rank of people shows her great interest to Darcy, who has ten thousanda year. She does not want her brother Mr. Bingley to marry Jane. She spares noeffort to prevent the love affair between them. She hopes her brother can marryGeorgiana, Darcy’s sister. Because when there is one intermarriage, she mayhave less trouble in achieving a second. Colonel Fitzwilliam, Darcy’s cousin,would like to marry a woman who should have a property of at least fiftythousand pounds, since he has inheritance as a younger son of an earl. He saysto Elizabeth: “Our habits of experience make us to dependant, and there are notmany in my rank of life who can afford to marry without some attention to money”(王惠君,王惠玲, 2001:211). Upon thewhole, there is no marriage that does not involve money. http://www.paper51.com 4.4Marrying for perfect love copyright paper51.com
Elizabeth is the ideal female image in thewriter’s heart, and is also the richest character image in the novel. She isthe second daughter of the Bennets. She is intelligent, humorous, perceptiveand quick-witted. She is born in a middle class family. She neither accepts regularnoble education nor has a thorough knowledge of music, singing, and drawing. Butshe reads many books. She is knowledgeable and shows excellent judgment. She isespecially dignified and cultivated. Darcy is tall, handsome and wealthy. He isan ideal husband for most girls. He grows up in a strong awareness of rank andpower since he was a child, which makes him proud and conceited. He does carefor anyone except his family members. When he comes to Longbourn, the personsthere and their manners are far different from what he is familiar with. Thoughthere are so many pleasant girls, there is not another woman in the room caninterest him. He makes up his mind not to care about Elizabeth at all. Then, he is attracted byher, especially as she is very lovely and full of fun. But he looks down on herhumble background. He cares for her deeply. He has never been so bewitched byany other woman. But his sense of her is inferiority. In his opinion, his lovefor her is against his will, against his reason, and even against hischaracter. He believes her to be wishing, expecting his proposal. So when heproposes marriage to Elizabeth,he is not eloquent on the subject. As a result, she firmly refuses him, andblames his pride indignantly. paper51.com Elizabeth’s reasonableness isexpressed by her awaking and calmness. She is cultured as her elder sister Jane,even superior to Jane in rationality. Compliments always take Jane but nevertake Elizabeth.She advises Jane to find the follies and nonsense of others. Elizabeth is different from others becauseshe understands the world thoroughly. In fact, she is highly sensitive tosituation of Darcy. Different from him, she does not have superiority for herrank and descent. She despises her mother’s dreadful mentality and unbearablyvulgar and also her younger sisters’ flirtatiousness and dissoluteness. She ismore clever when compared with Jane who is geniality and generous. She is awakefor her society status. According to this, she wants to make greatest effortsto resist Darcy’s arrogance and protect herself. Elizabeth refuses stupid cleryman Collins andtakes challenge to nobleman Darcy. It is in fact a fight against the marriagerule at that time. She wants to get a marriage with love. She firmly refusesMr. Collins proposal, and is against her mother’s expectation. She does notlove and will never love him, but she finally marries Darcy because sheconfesses her love for Darcy. 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com Darcy realizes hisshortage after his first offer for a marriage is rejected. He accepts hercondemnation, and corrects his weakness honestly. Darcy’s pride and Elizabeth’s prejudicethat is against him makes her refuse his first offer of marriage. Elizabeth does not changeher prejudice until she receives a long letter from Darcy .It shocks her heartstrongly. After painful thinking, she cries：“How despicably have I acted! —I, who have pridedmyself on my discernment!—I, who have valued myself on my abilities! Who haveoften disdained the generous candor of my sister or blamable distrust, —How humiliation isthis discovery! —Had I been in love, Icould not have been more wretchedly blind. But vanity, not love, has been myfolly. —Pleased with thepreference of one, and offered by the neglect of the other, on the verybeginning of our acquaintance, I have courted prepossession and ignorance, and drivenreason away, where either were concerned. Till this moment, I never knew myself”(王惠君,王惠玲, 2001:239). Here, shefeels regret for her own bias and rashness. She knows she has been deceived.There is a faint pity in her painful self-condemn and complex feelings. Then,she gives up prejudice and read Darcy seriously. So she accepts his change andfalls in love with him. In another word, Darcy realizes that it was his pridethat made him arrogant and insensitive. He corrects and wins her heart. Elizabeth, in turn,accepts his offer with the knowledge that her prejudice caused her to mistakehis real character. When they join their hands together, they find happinessand a better understanding of each other. It is imaginable, if Darcy was proudand impolite as before, they could not unite. 内容来自www.paper51.com 5. The apocalypse of the views of the marriage in the presentsociety http://www.paper51.com We can get the point fromthe novel that an unhappy marriage is the result of vainglory and impulse. If aperson has love, also has money, he would acquire a happy marriage, he wouldlive a happy life. Love is the most important thing in the marriage. We can seethe importance of love in marriage everywhere in the novel. Love is thefoundation of marriage. 内容来自www.paper51.com As Collins thinks thathe is rich, and will be the heir of Elizabeth’sfather’s property, he takes it for granted that Elizabeth will accept his proposal cheerfullyand readily. He does not expect that Elizabethwill refuse him. On his viewpoint, every woman is interested in becoming hiswife. Elizabethrefuses him just because they do not love. Elizabeth also refuses Darcy because she doesn’tlove him for his pride at first, although Darcy loves her. Then Darcy changeshis bad habits silently. So when Darcy proposes to Elizabeththe second time, Elizabethaccepts gladly. Elizabethfinally gets married with Darcy and her marriage is considered as an ideal one,for it consists of money and love. http://www.paper51.com
To Austen, love is the most basic condition in marriage, sois money. Austen does not enjoy the persons who do not care money. Austen has alittle snobbish about it. Critics accuse Jane Austen of being obsessed withmoney and rich relation. But both were a necessity in the society to which shebelonged. As the younger daughter of a country person she knew from an earlyage that without a dowry she would be unlikely to find a husband (Helen Lefroy,2002:2-4). It is clear that the novel has been influenced by the opinion. Sheproves the importance of money in marriage. The first affair concerning toBingley is: he is a young person who owns much property. Mrs. Bennet plans tolet him to be her daughter's husband. Even the protagonist Elizabeth alsothinks that Darcy has ten thousand pounds a year. Elizabethfeels that to be mistress of Pemberley might be good when she goes to Pemberley Park. In other marriage cases in thenovel, we can see that if money and love cannot be hold together in onemarriage, love is always made a concession to money (中国论文下载中心, 2006). In the whole book, the importance of money inmarriage shows everywhere, it also proves money is important in marriage. copyright paper51.com Manygirls chose husbands with more consideration of money in present society. Amagazine reported that a young beautiful girl marries an old rich man. Shekills her husband in order to get his property. It is a connection imprudent asto fortune. Another example, a couple spares no effort to prevent the loveaffair between their daughter and her boyfriend. They let their daughter marrya rich man. They get a rich son-in–law, but their daughter may live unhappilyall her life. There are many cases like them in the society. It is necessary toread the novel Pride and Prejudice again and again. Austen’s views ofmarriage are old, but are popular all the time. She tells us, money is noteverything in marriage. Love is most important in marriage. copyright paper51.com 6.Conclusion paper51.com Marriages of the four womenshow four kinds of different marriages. From the praise or blame about the fourmarriages in Austen’s novel, we can see the author's views on marriage:composing money and love, as Elizabeth and Darcy, is the ideal marriage peopleshould have. Love and marriage are related to property and social position, butlove and marriage cannot only be decided by property and position. Goodmarriage should be built up on the base of love and respect. She is opposed to themarriage for money. She emphasizes the importance of love in marriage. paper51.com
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