1、 1 Literature Review An Analysis of the Masculinity in Pride and Prejudice In this thesis, the author will strive to explore the masculinity in Pride and Prejudice. It seems that most of the critics only focus on the feminism in this novel but ignore some other information. As Wu Yueming states in h
2、er thesis: “In the patriarchal society, the social subject is only the male and the female is just the secondary. They are at the mercy of the male and used for proving the existence of the male.”(2002, p.60). So the author looks over some materials and wants to have a clear analysis on the masculin
3、ity in Pride and Prejudice. Also, the author has collected some references about the theory in order to have a better knowledge about the masculinity in Pride and Prejudice. So the following is the brief introduction of the materials. If people want to have a rough understanding about Pride and Prej
4、udice, they should focus on the Todays Most Popular Study Guides-Pride and Prejudice written by Ross Douthat published by Tianjin Science men and the violence; race, sexuality and masculinity; the cinema, performativity and fashion with the masculinity. It indicates the social and cultural theory of
5、 men and masculinities. It also mentions that masculinity is at once everywhere and yet nowhere, known and yet unknowable, had and yet un-have-able.(Edwards, 2006, p.1) It makes readers realize that masculinity exist everywhere, not only in daily lives, but also in the circle of entertainment, sexua
6、lity and other places. As readers all know, a good understanding of a novel should rely on the familiarity of the writer. It is the foundation to know the writer and the experiences of the writer. A Memoir of Jane Austen written by her nephew James Edward, published in Beijing Foreign Language Teach
7、ing and Research Press in 1997, introduces Janes birth, family, and the influence of them. Also it introduces Janes personality, character and taste. Her writing style, health, death and lots of information are also included. After reading this book, readers can have a good acquaintance with her. So
8、 as I see it, Jane was influenced by her father a lot, which means that Jane herself could not abandon the patriarchy, in other words, masculinity. So how could she write a book that has no masculinity in it? Also, when Jane wrote her novel, she always stayed in her room and stopped writing immediat
9、ely when others came in. So on the one hand, it is because of her personality; on the other hand, the society at that time was not so open to allow the writers to writer works that reflect feminism absolutely. So the novel Pride and Prejudice must have the embodiment of masculinity. 3 Some critics h
10、ave realized that it is not only feminism which embodies in the novel. The article of Feng Yans The Implicit Masculinity in Pride and Prejudice which was published on Journal of Qinzhou University in 2010, gives a brief introduction of Jane Austen. Then the writer analyzes the masculinity from four
11、aspects： the silly Mrs. Bennet and smart Mr. Bennet; three stupid sisters of Elizabeth; the plots which male dominates the importances and guides female and the relatively conservative marriage. In this article, the writer discusses the theory of masculinity in detail. It just provides my thesis wit
12、h some evidences and a general understanding for me to the theory. Because of the constraint of that age and the social background, Jane Austen could not create a book that gets rid of the masculinity absolutely. As Feng Yan considers, when we appreciate her creation of the feminism, we should not i
13、gnore the era of Jane Austen and the restrictions of herself. So it is inevitable that her works will embody the masculinity. Besides the materials mentioned above, other books and materials also provide strong support for the thesis. After reading a large number of relevant materials, I have a bett
14、er understanding with the masculinity in Pride and Prejudice. There is no doubt that this will help me to write this thesis. Meanwhile, I have found that the thesis demands more specific information, so I will try my best to explore more deeply on the topic and search for more knowledge. References:
15、 1Austen, Jane. Pride and PrejudiceM. Beijing: Central Compilation & Translation Press, 2008. 2Douthat, Ross. Todays Most Popular Study Guides-Pride and PrejudiceM. Tianjin: Tianjin Science & Technology Translation & Publishing Co., 2003. 3Edward, James. A Memoir of Jane AustenM. England: Oxford Uni
16、versity Press, 2002. 4Edward, Tim. Cultures of MasculinityM. England: Routledge, 2006. 5Lefroy, Helen. Jane AustenM. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 1997. 6Pang, Xiaopeng. The Binary Oppositions in Pride and Prejudice and Narrative Effects-Based on a Comparison between the Ori
17、ginal Text and the 1940 Film Adaptation D.Diss, Tianjin Normal University, 2006. 7罗瑟琳 科沃德 (Croward, Rosaline). 妇女小说是女性主义的 小说吗？ A张京媛 . 当代女性主义文学批评 C. 北京 : 北京大学出版社， 1995. 8冯雁 (Feng, Yan).傲慢与偏见中隐含的男权立场 J,钦州学院学报 ,2010(2):41-44. 4 9武月明 (Wu, Yueming). 傲慢与偏见的隐蔽故事 奥斯汀男性中心主义意识批判 A. 田智 ,姚 燚 ,孙茜 .终结与起点 : 新世纪外国文学研究 C.南京 : 译林出版社 , 2002(12):59-67. 10 朱虹 (Zhu, Hong). 奥斯丁研究 M . 北京 : 中国文联出版公司 ， 1985.
