简.奥斯汀的婚姻观在《傲慢与偏见》和《理智与情感》.doc

简.奥斯汀的婚姻观在傲慢与偏见和理智与情感中的反映The Reflection of Jane Austens viewpoints on marriage in Pride and Prejudice and Sense and SensibilityContents Acknowledgements Abstract (in Chinese) Abstract (in English) Chapter . Introduction A. Significance of the study B. Thesis statement C. Organization of the paper Chapter . Literature review A. Introduction B. Literature review C. Summary Chapter . Jane Austens viewpoints on marriage as reflected in Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice A. Jane Austens views on marriage as reflected in Sense and Sensibility 1. Different characteristics between two sisters 2. Different attitudes towards love 3. The marriages of two sisters B. Jane Austens views on marriage as reflected in Pride and Prejudice1. Different characteristics among women 2. Different value in their marriages 3. The marriages of four women C. Jane Austens views on marriage Chapter . Causes for Jane Austens viewpoints on marriage A. Social background B. Family background C. Environmental influence D. Emotional experience Chapter. Conclusion Works Cited 摘要 每个人都渴望得到幸福美满的婚姻，简奥斯汀的小说一直被誉为爱情和婚姻的经典作品, 其中傲慢与偏见是她最具代表性的作品之一，一直以来深受欢迎。在这本小说中，作者以女主人公伊利莎白的口吻对四段中产阶级女性之间的姻缘进行描述，表明爱是一个幸福婚姻的基础，同时应具备一定的金钱实力。在她另一部非常有名的作品理智与情感中，她坚持这样的婚姻观，在经营一段婚姻时，爱是前提，是基础，同时理性和感性又是不可缺少的调剂。当然，如果她们同时得到了爱和金钱，但不懂的怎样去经营的话，婚姻之路也是不会长久的。因此，简奥斯汀告诉我们，幸福的婚姻要求是随时保持一个正确的婚姻观，在理性与感性之间取得平衡，用心经营，生活将会美满。关键词：简·奥斯汀；婚姻观；理智；情感；傲慢与偏见Abstract All of people are eager to get a happy marriage, Jane Austens novel are always praised as a classical works about love and marriage, especially the novel of Pride and Prejudice, which is one of the representatives and is very popular. In this work, the author describes four different marriages among young women of the middle class through Elizabeth, which reveals that love is the foundation for a happy marriage, and also should be based on a large amount of money. In Sense and Sensibility she insists that sense and sensibility is the indispensable factors when businessing a marriage while love is the foundation. Absolutely, if they get love and money at the same time, but have no idea how to business the marriage that it will not last long. Thus, Jane Austen tells us that the happy marriage demands us keep a right marital viewpoint at any time, make a balance between sense and sensibility and business heartedly. Then life will be happy.Keywords: Jane·Austen; marital viewpoint; sense; sensibility；sense and sensibilityChapter. IntroductionA. Significance of the studyJane Austen is a well known and much-loved English author, who first gave the novel its modern character through treatment of everyday life. Virginia Woolf called Austen “the most perfect artist among women.” The life of Austen and the time in which she lived directly reflected the works she produced. In all her works, Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice unfold before our eyes perfectly. Although Jane was widely read in her lifetime, she published her works anonymously. The most urgent preoccupation of her bright, young heroines is courtship and finally marriage. She has never been married in her life. Austen has been wandering up and down between sense and sensibility all the time, but finally emotion has overcome reason, the love has replaced money. It is perfect for young women to enter marriage if they will get love and money at the same time. What should we choose between love and money when we cant choose these two things at the same time, and which style of marriage is a more perfect one. What kinds of elements are required in a happy marriage?Jane Austens portrayed the quite, day to day life of members of the upper middle class, combining romantic comedy with social satire and psychological insight. Austens ideal marriage was that we can not marry for money or regard marriage as a game. We should keep a balance between sense and sensibility in the marriage. She advocated the marriage for both love and economic consideration with love playing the leading role. Walter Scott“That young lady had a talent for describing the involvement and feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with. The Big Bow-wow strain I can do myself like any now going, but the exquisite touch which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting from the truth of description and the sentiment is denied me. What a pity such a gifted creature died so early!”(qtd. in Gillie, 2005; 86) As the first novel of Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (1811) has never diminished its influence since its creation. It involved many characters whose personalities are depicted vividly by their conversations. “She is one of the greatest, one of the most accurate writers of dialogue of her own or any age,” as Dr. Chapman claims (Lascelles, 1995:96). Pride and Prejudice (1813) is perhaps Jane Austens best-known novel. She expressed well her view of marriage which considered as a banner that advocated people should get married for love instead of only for money. ( 15 褚爱平 杨健发) In my opinion, Austens view of marriage influenced by her biographical background, her class, her religion, her love and so on. These elements were very important in her marriage concept.B. Thesis statement This paper attempts to study Jane Austens viewpoints on marriage in Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. In these two novels, the author expresses her feelings and thoughts that a happy marriage should be composed of love, financial stability, physical attraction, mutual understanding, respect, sense, sensibility and responsibility. By providing an analysis of the authors viewpoints on marriage, this paper reveals sense and sensibility in these novels. In doing so it confirms Jane Austens reputation as one of the greatest novelists of the 19th and 20th centuries by her sensibility to universal patterns of human behavior.C. Organization of the paper This paper falls into five chapters. Chapter One gives a brief introduction to the significance of writing the paper, the thesis statement and the general organization of the paper. Chapter Two presents a literature review of previous studies of Jane Austens Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. Chapter Three, the main part of the paper, provides an analysis of Jane Austens viewpoints on marriage as reflected in Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. Chapter Four provides a brief account of the causes for Jane Austens viewpoints on marriage. Chapter Five is the natural conclusion of this paper.Chapter. Literature review A. IntroductionYoung women who have no economic or political power must attend to the serious business of contriving material security, Jane Austens sardonic humor lays bare the stratagems, the hypocrisy and poignancy inherent in the struggles of two very different sisters to achieving respectability. Sense and Sensibility is a delightful comedy of manners in which the sisters Elinor and Marianne represent these two qualities. Elinors character is one of Augustan detachment, while Marianne, a fervent disciple of the Romantic Age, learns to curb her passionate nature in the interests of survival. Sense and Sensibility, the first of Austens novels to be published, remains as fresh a cautionary tale today as it ever was.Since its immediate success in 1813, Pride and Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen called this brilliant work "her own darling child" and its vivacious heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print." The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and her proud beau, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized sparring. And Jane Austens radiant wit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England.B. Literature Review “It is truth universally acknowledge that a single man in possession of good fortune must be in want of a wife.” This first sentence in Pride and Prejudice determines the tone of the whole novel, which tells us that all the stories told are based on marriage. Sense and Sensibility was the first novel Jane Austen published. Though she initially called it Elinor and Marianne, Austen jettisoned both the title and the epistolary mode in which it was originally written, but kept the essential theme: the necessity of finding a workable middle ground between passion and reason. Jane Austen was one of the greatest realistic novelists in English literature in the 19th century. During the forty-two years of her life, Austen had completed six novels and left behind three fragments. In her works, Austen vividly revealed the class relationship, social customs and morals of her time by meticulously and humorously depicting the life of the rural gentry an that time. During the past two hundred years, Austens artistic charm has remained unchanged in spite of the change of readers literary taste. Virginia Woolf once wrote that of all great writers Jane Austen was the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness. (Woolf 15) In the twentieth century Jane Austens “greatness” has never been challenged. Marriage of Austens time actually was a kind of foundation stone and its function was mainly the key to the connection of fortune, the decision of relation and the right of inheritance. (Wilkes 84) What it valued was to be matched for marriage. Nowadays the marriage for love is different from Jane Austens time. It needs equality and freedom in any aspect. A happy marriage should be based on true love. In modern peoples view of marriage is that a marriage either for money or for lust is an unhappy one, though property and social status play an important role in marriage. It is opposed to be simply for money and she insisted that there should be a balance between sense and sensibility in the marriage. Her ideal marriage was that we can not marry for money or regard marriage as a game. She advocated the marriage for both love and economic consideration with love playing the leading role. Meanwhile, she also exposed that the essentials of bourgeois marriage were a deal of money and a combination of benefit under the patriarchy. In Sense and Sensibility, Jane reveals that marriage is based on love, but just romantic love is not enough in marriage, for people need money to support their lives. On the other hand, money plays an important role in marriage. In her opinion, it is the combination of love and money that can be perfect and bring people real happiness. Jane Austens sensible view on marriage is closely related to womens low social status at that time and her own love experience. In her eyes, it is not ethical that people marry for the status purely, and regard the marriage as a deal. At that time, the entire Europe was experiencing a big transformation; the young people have to receive the infection from the revolutionary. They turn a deaf ear to the prejudice from the tradition, and pursue ideal love. In Pride and Prejudice, all theses marriages reflect peoples life and fate of that time. They reflect the society of the day. The other young couples marriages in the book are only comparison to Elizabeth and Darcys marriage. It indicates their brave behavior that they dare to look down upon common customs-everything is decided by love and money; Tony Tanner once said: Jane Austen, as well as other authors, is very clear that no feeling could be extremely pure and no motive could be definitely single. But as long as it is possible, we should make it clear that which feeling or motive plays the leading role. (Tanner 20)C. SummaryThe above-mentioned studies have contributed much to the study of the text of Jane Austens works from a variety of approaches. There is a great need to explore further understanding of viewpoint of marriage in Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice.Chapter . Jane Austens viewpoints on marriage as reflected in Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice A. Jane Austens views on marriage as reflected in Sense and Sensibility In Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen well described most of the unmarried girls pursuits and ideas about marriage in her own time. Of course, these descriptions had brought her a great fame as well as some criticisms. Whatever she was considered as, in my opinion, she had a sensible view on marriage. Maybe her view is not advanced nowadays. However, in the past, especially in the eighteenth century in England, she undoubtedly possessed a far liberal attitude towards marriage beyond her contemporaries. At that time, womens social status was very low. Living in a confined circle, they couldnt find any job unless they would like to become a governess. As a result, to assure their everyday life, it was very important for them to marry a wealthy man. So, at that time, for most marriageable girls, marriage was just a way to live a stable life. Money became the most important factor in conditioning a marriage. With a keen sense of humor, Austen expressed a critical view on this money-oriented marriage. As to the union of man and woman, Jane Austen believes that there should be a balance between sense and sensibility in love, equal need of property and love in marriage, and domestic equality in personalities.1. Different characteristics between two sisters Elinor and Marianne are sisters with opposite temperaments. Traditionally, it has been viewed that 19-year-old Elinor, the elder daughter, represents “sense” of the title, and Marianne, who is 17, represents “sensibility” (emotion). However this view is a very restricting one. On close inspection of th