I: Introduction

One of the world’s most popular novels, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has delighted many readers since its publication with the story of the protagonist, witty Elizabeth Bennet and her relationship with the hero, aristocratic Fitzwilliam Darcy. Being similar to Austen’s other works, Pride and Prejudice is a humorous portrayal of the social atmosphere of late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century England and it is principally concerned with courtship ritual of the English gentry. This novel is much more than a comedic story. Jane Austen is just called “The most perfect artist among women”. (http：//www.baogege.com/criticisms/J-Austen.htm) enjoys high prestige in English literature. However, by her subtle and ironic writing style and delicate precision and brisk description, Jane Austen addresses the economic, political, feminist themes, inspiring a great deal of diverse critical commentary on the meaning of the work. What’s more, she more or less scatters romanticism in the story of the work and her external rationalism and inner romanticism are well combined to develop the plots of the story in Pride and Prejudice.

II: Jane Austen and her Pride and Prejudice

2.1 Life of the author

Jane Austen is an outstanding female novelist in English literature in the 19th century. “She was born at Stenvensen in Hampshire of middle–class parents in 1775.”(蒋连杰等,1986:117) Her father was a country minister in Stevensen while her mother was a housewife who was interested in literature and could write stories and poems. Jane Austen, with her sisters, was educated at home and passed her life very quietly but cheerfully in the doing of small domestic duties “to which love lights the magic lamp that makes all things beautiful”. (James Edward, 1985: 231) As a teenager, Jane Austen showed wit and liveliness in her writing and her stories were shared by all her family and her earliest writing dates from about 1787. During the forty-two years of her life, Austen had completed six novels: Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma and left behind three fragments. In 1817, she died quietly as she had lived at Winchester and was buried in the cathedral.

2.2 The social background

There are so many social straits during Jane Austen’s period of time when people in each class had different destinies. Firstly there were no organized educational systems that the state supported. Therefore, women were not allowed to have the formal education. Secondly, in the countryside, the aristocratic class still held great power and right. At the same time, as the development of capitalism and the expansion of the rank of rich people, money was getting more and more important in people’s mind. So for those women who were poor and low in rank, they had little opportunities to get a satisfactory marriage.

2.3 Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen’s masterpiece. It was written during the period of October 1796 to August 1797 and first published in 1817. It was originally titled “First Impression” because the appearance of the characters created the novel. However, with the reason that the novel is also concerned with the effects of the characters’ first impressions, pride and prejudice, Jane Austen choosed “Pride and Prejudice” as the title. In this novel, Jane Austen portrays the life in genteel rural society of that day and tells us a story about love affairs between the main characters Elizabeth Bennet and Filtzwilliam Darcy. This novel begins with the famous proclaims, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want a wife.”(Jane Austen, 1978: 5) With this sentence as the core, Pride and Prejudice starts its story in which Darcy is a good man of integrity with pride and Elizabeth, an intelligent and sensible girl with great prejudice. But after many twists and turns, their misunderstandings disappear and they happily unite.

2.4 The Theme of the novel

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen mainly describes the daily life of the Bennet. She tells four different marriages to show the reader that different people have different attitudes towards love and marriage and she also tells us that a combination based on love and similarities is a happy and perfect marriage. In her opinion, the money-oriented marriage and sex-oriented marriage are not successful though people can live together. Although the theme of this novel is narrow, Jane Austen shows us with great talent of description a vivid tableau of England people in her own time.

III Jane Austen’s Romanticism in Pride and Prejudice

3.1 The four marriages

Through the novel Pride and Prejudice, we can see that Jane Austen, besides of mainly concentrating on modeling the characters Elizabeth and Darcy and portraying the complicated love and marriage between them; also pays much attention to depicting many other roles and three other marriages. In each of these marriages, properties, status, love, beautiful appearance exert different influence and these four marriages are combinations for profit, for moral, for lust and for love.

Firstly, let’s come to see the marriage for profit. In this novel, Mr. Collins and Chalotte Lucas is the first couple. In their marriage, property plays a decisive part for this marriage, which is a typical example of the very social marriage situation and has a practical significance. On the one hand, Chalotte is twenty-seven years old girl and somewhat homely. Even though she has a good education before, she has little property. And for her, to marry basing on a comfortable life is the best marriage. So when she notices that Mr. Collins, a minister with money and status makes an offer of marriage to her, she accepts his proposal immediately without thinking whether there is love and same tastes between them. On the other hand, for Mr. Collins, marriage just means a model for parish and in his mind marriage could add happiness for him and even marriage is what Mrs.Catherine(a sponsor of Mr.Collins) thinks he should find a wife with great ability to help him manage home. In their marriage, each of them takes what they want; yet only love is not needed. This marriage makes a good demonstration of Jane Austen's viewpoint that beyond love, romantic affair, a marriage is due to be a failure. On the contrary, a successful marriage should contain the element of love.

Secondly, Jane Austen describes a lust marriage in the story. She views that a

marriage based on lust is immoral and unhappy. Mr.Whickham and Lydia Bennet are related by pretty appearance and lust. Lydia is pleasure-seeking and Whickham only likes her youth and health. At the same time, Lydia’s so-called love for Whickham is so superficial that after they marry, they would live on an unhappy life. It is mainly because no real love exists between them.

Thirdly, Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley’s marriage is full of admonition. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane is the embodiment of virtue and she is good at restraining her own passion. She pursues happiness under the condition that she must obey the moral standards. So, the author still arranges a happy marriage for her. After all, it is Austen’s view that love is the basis and the happiness is the destination of a marriage. In the novel we can find without any difficulty that Jane and Bingley love each other deeply. However, Jane is extremely in lack of courage to disobey the traditional love standard because Jane never shows her love to Bingley or others though she loves Bingley very much. And she does not seeks Bingley’s love positively even when she knows that Bingley will leave Nrtherfiled Park and will not come back again. Whereas, Bingley is too easy-minded to make sure his love and Jane’s love so that their happy combination is obstructed again and again. From their marriage, we can find clearly that Jane is dependent on her virtue to get a satisfactory marriage. The author encourages people to do well through Jane’s virtue and tells readers: a happy marriage must come from true love between lovers.

Undoubtedly, the last one is a perfect marriage. Jane Austen emphasizes the importance of this ideal marriage. She shows the opinion that the basis of the marriage is true love between men and women. Although Elizabeth loves Darcy, she still refuses him for her prejudice against him and for Darcy’s pride. And this kind of arrogance from Darcy indicates the reflection of discrepant status actually. Therefore, as long as arrogance exists, it is impossible for Elizabeth to be together with Darcy. First of all, the happy marriage between Elizabeth and Darcy reveals the characteristics of sensibility promoting a successful marriage. In the novel Elizabeth and Darcy are distant from each other in the first sight because of their prejudice and pride. Then they both experience a series of events that gives them the chance to understand each other and at last their pride and prejudice disappear. Thus their mutual understanding leads them to a happy and lasting marriage. Then, most importantly, there is true love between them. Different from Chalotte who just wants a comfortable home and disregards any other elements needed for a happy marriage, Elizabeth cares more about her inner feelings and longs for understanding and love. So we can say Elizabeth is romantic while Chalotte’s realistic. (杨琴，2004年02期) Elizabeth refuses Mr. Collins for she knows they do not share the same ideas and tastes, let alone that they will have love for each other. But she loves Darcy and he loves her and even they can exchange their ideas and thoughts freely and equally. The fact that they are both of a kind lays the foundation for their marriage and moves away every barrier. Elizabeth wants a marriage which is based on understanding and equality and wants a husband just as her father said: “I know that you could be neither happy nor respectable unless you truly esteemed your husband unless you look up him as a superior.”(Jane Austen, 1978:290)

The four marriages have four different endings. Chalotte gets money and status, but she has nothing to share with her husband, what’s more, she has to endure his foolish behaviors all her life. While, frivolous Lydia cannot obtain anything from her marriage except for lust. Both of these marriages are not what Elizabeth is longing for. Obviously, the marriage for money, status, lust but love, understandings, similarities is due to be a tragedy. However, Jane is a lucky one and she gets a good marriage with the foundation of property, status and even love. But compared with Elizabeth’s, Jane’s marriage seems lack of something. Certainly, Elizabeth gains a perfect love and marriage. From the two successful marriages, we can see, besides true love and virtue, equality and understanding both play an important role in a marriage.

3.2 The characters of Elizabeth

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen portrays Elizabeth with many vivid characteristics. Hence, Elizabeth, the protagonist of this novel has become one of the most well-known female character in English literature. Elizabeth is a pretty girl with bright wit, honesty, quickness of observation, vivaciousness and humorous and strong sense of personality and dignity. All of the features enable her to realize that a poor woman she is, she still has the equal right to seek happiness. So under the sense of being sensible, Elizabeth becomes the most outstanding person among her counterpart. “She was a young woman with really nothing but her prettiness and a certain sharp smartness of communication.” (瞿世镜译, 1981: 290) Elizabeth is sensible and values true love as something noble and never trade self-esteem and money with love. At the same time, with a romantic heart she has a dream of owning her romantic love. Indeed Elizabeth is full of pride and prejudice on her detachment of marriage. She would not accept a marriage unless it is on the basis of understanding, love and equalities. So she still rejects him at the first time because Darcy’s proposal seems to be a sacrifice to her by saying that she has not known him for a month before she feels that he is the last man in the world she could ever be prevailed upon to marry. (Jane Austen, 1978: 151) But she accepts Darcy when he gradually realizes that his pride is so ridiculous and shows his love for her whole-heartedly. In her opinion, such equal love is true love and is what she wants in her marriage.

What’s more, Elizabeth’ independence helps make her a unique woman in pursuing marriage. At the beginning in the novel, she firmly refuses Mr. Collins’s proposal against her mother’s expectation. It is mainly because that she thinks she dose not and will never love him. And though she once holds good feelings for Whickham, considering him to be the most agreeable man she has ever met, but meanwhile, she thinks it is too imprudent to fall in love with him. After all, it is the fact that Whickham is a bad man. Then when she knows the truth about Darcy, she shows great sympathy on him and loves him. Elizabeth makes all her choices under her independence that gives her more courage to gain great happiness—perfect love and marriage in the manner of romanticism but realism.

3.3 Elizabeth’s attitudes towards love and marriage

Elizabeth’s view on marriage is different from those of Chalotte and Lydia. Lydia is interested in facial qualities and lust while Chalotte is more interested in the property and status, both of which are the traditional viewpoint on marriage. But Elizabeth is far different from them and she is sensible while Lydia’s vivacious and even she is romantic while Chalotte’s realistic. She likes to make free choice, free from economic pressure. So when she finds that Mr. Collins has nothing in common with her, she refuses him firmly. However, both of her and Darcy loves each other. In the process of their pursuing love in the novel, Elizabeth shows us her sensibility and romanticism from the beginning to the end. Firstly, she declines to put her hand to Mr. Collins for the lack of love, and then she still refuses Darcy because he is so proud that she has prejudice against him and the love is not equal. Gradually, Darcy comes to realize his arrogance and comes to appreciate the independence of Elizabeth at lower status. Finally, Elizabeth deserts her prejudice and accepts Darcy.

3.4 Elizabeth’s romanticism in Pride and Prejudice

Reading the novel, maybe many people regard the main role Elizabeth as only a perfect woman beyond romance: she is sensible, lovely, humorous: “proud and independent anything but not romantic.” (朱虹,1985: 168) However, romanticism does exist under her outer sensibility. We can see in the novel, especially in the plot of her marriage with Darcy. Being an independent and sensible girl, she has her own view about love and marriage different from conventional ones. In her opinion, love must be based on understanding and mutual interest and marriage would be a happy one only if there is love and same tastes, which is a kind of representation of romanticism.

What’s more, Elizabeth’s romanticism appeares in Jane’s marriage. In pride and prejudice, Jane is a traditional girl with virtues. She does not have courage to pursue her love with Bingley even though she loves him so much. Differently, Elizabeth is a more courageous girl in seeking true love and marriage so she comforts and encourages Jane to show her love and gain her own happiness. Finally, Jane marries Bingley happily.

3.5 Jane Austen’s outer sensibility and inner romanticism

In Pride and Prejudice, Austen’s portrayal of four marriages contributes to the theme that it takes time to build a happy and strong Marriage and it must be based on mutual feeling, understanding, love and respect. Hasty marriage acting on impulse and on facial qualities will not survive and will lead to inevitable unhappiness. Simultaneously, Jane announces those old-fashioned indispensable elements for a successful marriage for women. To a great extent, Jane Austen satires the conventional views on love and marriage by inverting that expectation of “love at first sight” and the celebration of passion and physical attractiveness, and even marriage on property and status without true love. Jane Austen advocates a new kind of romanticism in this novel, which stands in opposition to the conventional one. The first indication of Jane Austen’s inversion of the accepted romantic convention is Elizabeth and Darcy’s mutual dislike on first sight. Then Jane Austen arranges for both of them to experience some events together. At last, their misunderstandings disappear, then, they come to love each other. In the whole process of Elizabeth’s marriage, Jane Austen proposes that Elizabeth’s sensibility and virtue make her possible to obtain a romantic love and a happy marriage. Meanwhile, Jane Austen puts Elizabeth’s marriage into the best one among the four marriages to indicate that only the marriage based on true love could become a perfect one and the love would develop in a romantic manner. So that we can say that Jane Austen is romantic inspite of her outer sensibility.

MSN空间完美搬家到新浪博客!