1、1A Study of Marriages in Pride and PrejudiceContentChapter IntroductionChapter Four marriages in the novel1. Mr. Bennet s moral marriage2. Fitzwilliam Darcys perfect marriage3. Charles Bingleys happy marriage4. George Wickhams sex-oriented marriageChapter Three Factors in Affecting a Marriage 1. Lov
2、e2. Property3. Personality. ConclusionAbstractThe author collected a considerable amount of information of discussing the formation of four different marriages in Jane Austens Pride and prejudice. The paper recommended the four marriages are happy marriage, sex-oriented marriage, moral marriage and
3、perfect marriage. It analyzes that ones character reflects his/her marriage and attitudes towards love and social morals. The emphasis of this study lies in the forth marriage (perfect marriage) that arrived at the combination of physical life and spiritual life. Finally the author concludes that th
4、e important factors of a successful marriage are fortune, love, status and knowledge. Keywords: marriage, love, social mores, status, fortune 2摘要通过收集大量的文献资料作者论述了奥斯丁傲慢与偏见中四种不同的婚姻形成过程，介绍了四种婚姻,幸福婚姻，情欲婚姻，道德婚姻和完满婚姻，并且分析了一个人的性格影响着他（她）对爱情和婚姻的看法，以及社会道德对婚姻形成的制约作用。这篇论文旨在说明第四种婚姻（完满婚姻）是物质生活和精神生活的完美结合，最后作者得出：财产，
5、地位，爱情可谓幸福的三大要素。关键词：婚姻，爱情，社会道德观，社会地位，财产3Chapter. IntroductionAmong all the novels written by Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice has been valued as most successful and popular masterpiece. The ladies and gentlemen in the landed gentry, the plots of this novel revolve around the intricacies of courtship
6、and marriage between members of her class, which is great attraction to many readers. In Austens Pride and Prejudice, I made an analysis of those four types of marriages and came to a conclusion that the formation of four different marriage. Nearly each marriage has a different flavor; each persons
7、character reflects his or her marriage and their attitudes towards marriage; each marriage was reflected by the society of those days and Austens personal experiences. The central role, marriage, is discussed in the famous opening line of this novel. It is truth universally acknowledged that a singl
8、e man in possession of a good fortune must be in want a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering the neighborhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or oth
9、er of their daughters. ( P.1 ) The first line also defines Janes book as a piece of literature that connects itself to the 18th century period. Pride and Prejudice is 18th century because of the emphasis on man in his social environment rather than in his individual conditions. And what factors coul
10、d affect a good marriage? What are the elements of marriage? In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen presents several different marriages to indicate that a happy and strong marriage takes time to build and must be based on mutual feelings, understanding, and respect; hasty marriage based on superficial
11、 qualities will not last long and will lead to unhappiness. This paper will firstly display some different marriages in the novel, such as the successful one, happy one, common one, sex-oriented one, etc. then in the third chapter, it will discuss the main factors that are made up of a successful an
12、d happy marriage. Finally, at the end of this paper, it tries to form a deeper idea of the marriage.Chapter. Four marriages in the novelThere are several different marriages presented in this novel. These marriages contrast each other to reveal Jane Austens opinions and thoughts on the subject of ma
13、rriage. In this paper, it shows several of these marriages through the personality analysis of men.1.Mr.Bennets moral marriageIn contrast to Elizabeth, her father, Mr. Bennet, is an example of living with ones mistakes. 4“He had married a woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind, had very e
14、arly in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her. Respect, esteem and confidence, had vanished for ever; and all his views of domestic happiness were overthrown” (P.209)Mrs. Bennets main interest in life is to find suitable husbands for her five daughters, while Mr. Bennet would like
15、to isolate himself from his family and find refugee in his library or in mocking his wife. Mr. Bennet also can be considered as an irresponsible father because he lacks of responsibility towards his family and he encourages his younger daughters to elope with Wickham. So from every point of view, th
16、eir marriage is just a common one, like hundreds of thousands couples. 2.Fitzwilliam Darcys perfect marriageIt is clear that Jane Austen does not believe falling in love at the first sight, before they open their love and get married, Elizabeth and Darcy have to understand and overcome their own pri
17、de and prejudice before they can appreciate each other. On their first meeting, the two major characters make a bad start. They do not fall in love at the first sight. On the contrary, the rich and handsome Darcy is too proud to lower himself, and offends the lively and intelligent girl Elizabeth. W
18、hen he thinks he is rich and owns a large estate in Derbyshire, he says: “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me.” On the other hand, Darcy is so proud of his social class that he is prejudiced against the Bennet familys improper manner and connections to the working class (Elizabeths
19、 aunts and uncles). Later, after a series of events, Darcy does have a strong sense of honor and virtue, and he begins to fall in love with Elizabeth. At last, he proposes with great condescension. Thinking that Darcy dislikes her, Elizabeth dose not really notice when Darcys attitude toward her beg
20、ins to change. Later Darcy writes a letter to Elizabeth to explain his feelings. After reading this letter, Elizabeths view towards him begins to change, when Darcy proposes again, Elizabeth accepts. And for their true love, the pride has been weakened and prejudice disappeared.3.Charles Bingleys ha
21、ppy marriageThis is a parallel love story. The marriage between Jane Bennet and Bingle is also an example of successful marriage. Elizabeths sister Jane is the eldest in the family. Beautiful, good-tempered, sweet, amiable, and modest, she is universally well liked. She refuses to judge anyone badly
22、. Mr. Bingley, much like Jane, is an amiable and good-tempered person. He is not concerned with class differences, and Janes poor family connections cannot stop him from falling in love with Jane. Jane Austen expresses her opinion of this through Elizabeth in the novel,“Really believed all his Bingl
23、ey expectations of felicity to be rationally founded, because they had for basis the excellent understanding, and super- excellent disposition of Jane, and a general similarity of feeling and taste between her and himself.” (P.308) However, unlike Darcy and Elizabeth, there is a flaw in their relati
24、onship both characters are too innocent and too good-hearted to act heavily against the external force that may attempt to separate them. As to Jane, she never thinks ill for any body 5and she shows her warm sympathetic feelings in an easy manner. Her character is vividly showed in many parts of the
25、 novel. And no doubt that Janes father says, “Your tempers are by no means unlike. You are each of you so complying, that nothing will ever be resolved on; so easy, that every servant will cheat you; and so generous, that you will always exceed your income” (P.309)4.George Wickhams sex-oriented marr
26、iageObviously, Lydia and Wickhams marriage is an example of a bad marriage. Lydia Bennet, the youngest of the Bennet daughters, is devoted to a life of dancing, fashions, gossips and flirting. Wickham is an officer in the regiment stationed at Meryton. Wickham is quickly judged to be a perfectly goo
27、d and amiable man because of his friendliness and the ease of his manners. However, he is mean and wicked. “A curious degree of sexual attraction often goes with a lively, unreliable disposition, which may either be somewhat superficial but perfectly well-meaning, or driven by circumstance which it
28、has not the strength to withstand, become that of a scoundrel.” He elopes with Lydia with no intention of marrying her and is just only made to do so by Darcys intervention. Lydia also does not take into consideration her marriage, the personality of her husband, or the prospects of their marriage.
29、Therefore, their marriage is based on appearance and youthful impulse. Once these qualities can no longer be seen by each other, and once strong relationship slowly fades away, problems rise as a result. As in the novel, Lydia and Wickhams marriage gradually disintegrates; Lydia becomes a regular vi
30、sitor at her two elder sisters homes when” her husband was gone to enjoy himself in London or Bath” Through their relationship, we can see they are “a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue” and “affection for her soon sunk into indifference; her
31、 lasted a little longer.” In their marriage, Jane Austen shows that hasty marriage based on superficial qualities quickly wither and lead to unhappiness.Chapter . Three Factors in Affecting a Marriage In this novel, Jane Austen, by describing seven different marriages, expressed her viewpoint. To su
32、m up, there are three main factors that affect marriage in the eighteenth century.1. LoveIn Jane Austens novel, the theme of love and marriage makes her as a different writer with romanticism. Once an anonymous reader comments love in this novel as follows, “Love is holding hands in the street, and
33、marriage is holding arguments in the street. Love is a universal feeling, and it can make you happy but often it hurts, but loves only special when you give it to someone who is really worth it”.In the novel, with regard to marriage, unlike Charlotte, Elizabeth chooses to remain true love to her bes
34、t by her heart and her own good sense. She believes that marriage should be based on mutual understanding and feelings. Some readers may think that Elizabeth does not really love Mr. Darcy, only Mr. Darcy loves her. Its not quite so. Jane Austen seems to appreciate Elizabeths feelings to Darcy becau
35、se 6“gratitude and esteem are good foundations of affection.“ On the visit of Pemberley, as Elizabeth stood before the canvas, “a more gentle sensation“ arises. When she met Darcy unexpectedly and walked with him, all that in her mind was “whether she was still dear to him.“ After Lydias run- away,
36、when Darcy had got the news and left the room, Elizabeth recalled their mutual experience and hoped that they could continue their mutual feelings. All these, as well as Elizabeths later inner struggle to Darcy indicate that she really loves Darcy. Therefore, her marriage is founded on her own feeli
37、ngs, affection and understanding.As a result, the relationship between Jane and Bingley is undoubtedly true love. Jane Austen suggests that love is an important factor to a successful marriage. Marriages that lack of true love are destined to have a bad result. In this novel, Lydia and Wickhams rela
38、tionship is an unsuccessful marriage. Therefore, Jane Austen implies her theme through Janes words, “do anything rather than marry without affection.”2. PropertyProperty in a marriage is the subject matter of the whole novel, and it plays an important role in marriage at that time. In different marr
39、iage, there are mainly four types of marriage in the novel: the perfect marriage of Elizabeth and Darcy, sex-oriented marriage of Lydia and Wickham utilitarian marriage of Charlotte and Collins as well as moral marriage of Mr. Bernnet and Miss. Bernnet. All these marriages involve money. The happy m
40、arriage is partly based on property, and Lydias marriage is especially affected by money.In the novel, Jane Austen uses number words to suggest money. For example, Bingley has an income of between 4,000 and 5,000 pounds a year, while Darcy has an income of 10,000 pounds a year. And the women in 18th
41、 century in Britain lawfully owned nothing. The only way to financial security for many women of that time was to marry to a richer man. It seems that this novel considers marriage as a market, and the female as marketable. Charlotte is just an example in the marriage market where personal attractio
42、ns are weighed against financial considerations. “Marriage had always been her object; it was the only honorable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune.“ According to common sense, people who regard marriage as a matter of arranging an equal alliance between families cannot at the
43、same time see it as a romantic thing between two individuals. This is not always the case in this novel. We can find some examples of such conflict. Darcy knows that marriage with Elizabeth Bennet would not be an equal alliance from his point of view, and he spends a long time in making up his mind,
44、 but eventually he comes down on the side of romance, “In vain have I struggled, It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed!“ Mr. Bennet is worried when he knows Elizabeth has accepted Darcys Proposal, “I know your disposition. Lizzy. I know that you could be neither happy nor respectable, un
45、less you truly esteemed your husband.“ Marriage is the main subject in the novel, and there are four marriages in it. So many marriages brings us the topic to discuss-the financial considerations in marriage in eighteenth century. Throughout the novel Austen uses the sentences as 7follows: “Words th
46、at suggest number or money, physical size or material value. .When moral and emotional situations are persistently expressed in economic figures, we can hardly escape the recognition that this is a novel about marriage as a market, and about the female as marketable.” “It is a truth universally ackn
47、owledged that a gentleman in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife!” This sentence clearly shows the connection between finance and marriage. A blunt restatement of this sentence might been read, “it is an acknowledged truth in our particular society that a single woman without a fo
48、rtune must need a husband who has one.” In the world of this novel, marriage is a market, and the young women are its merchandise. For various reasons Elizabeth and her four sisters operate under a considerable disability on the marriage market. Elizabeth, however, rejects mercenary and crude class
49、considerations and scorns subterfuge and design; her intention is to remain true to her best self by being guided by her heart and by her good sense. In choosing (or rather accepting) a husband, she will remain true to her feelings and her considerable intelligence. Jane Austins point, however, is that the heart and the feelings must be educated. The course of the novel presents the education of Elizabeths feelings as she negotiates the marriage market. “Single women have a propensity for being poor, which is one very str
