On the View of Love and Marriage in Pride and Prejudice

Abstract：Pride and prejudice is Austins great work. Through the discussion of the different marriages and love， the writer demonstrates her concept about love and marriage： love and marriage is closely associated with property and society； however， love and marriage can not only be decided by the property and social status. An ideal marriage should be based on mutual affection and respect. She rejects the marriage based on wealth and stresses the element of emotion in a marriage.

Key words：Love； marriage； property； social status

【摘要】《傲慢與偏见》是奥斯汀的伟大著作，小说中的四段婚姻基本完全概括了当时社会中爱情和婚姻的状况.小说通过对四种不同婚姻和爱情的描写，解析和探讨，充分体现了作者的爱情和婚姻观。这篇论文就是通过对这四段婚姻的详细的分析，来探讨《傲慢与偏见》中的爱情观和婚姻观。那就是：恋爱婚姻与财产和社会地位相互关联，但恋爱婚姻不能仅取决于财产和社会地位，正确的婚姻应当建立在相互爱慕、相互尊重的基础上。她既反对为钱而结婚，也反对轻率结婚，强调婚姻中感情因素的重要性。

【关键词】爱情；婚姻；金钱；社会地位

1.Introduction

Pride and prejudice the book about commonplace things and ordinary people， is one of Jane Austens famous book， being the representative of realistic literature. It portrays， with special sensitive characteristic of female writers， the life and ideas of middle class who live in countryside. This novel makes an analysis of human nature and then stick up readers to think over social relations.

This novel takes young peoples marriage as the thread and it covers the inheritance of fortune， womens social status， ethics and customs. Being the masterpiece of Jane Austen， it comes to the extensive favor of literary lovers and experts at the same time.

This paper makes an analysis of four marriages in pride and prejudice and discusses the deep outlook for their love and marriage in the light of social back ground at the time.

2.The Background of Austin and Her Pride and Prejudice

（1）The Background of Austin

“Jane Austen （1775-1817） was born in Hampshire， a country priest family located in Hants， the village of Kingston， Sidemen in north England. She was a beautiful， talented middle class woman with extraordinary temperament and good cultivation. Her six novels-Sense and Sensibility， Pride and Prejudice， Northanger Abbey， Mansfield Park， Emma， Persuasion all describe more than marriage.”

However， her marriage just like a blank paper in her 42 years real lifetime. Going through the finest time， but eventually without meeting a comfortable partner， she gives up her love. Going through the sweet and bitter feeling that helps her to write the greatest work pride and prejudice.

（2）The Background of Pride and Prejudice

In this great book， the author amply demonstrates her point about love and marriage. Therefore， in order to analyze these points of views， we should firstly start from her great work.

“At that time， according to the social conditions in Britain， a good marriage for a young woman was critical. This phenomenon was closely associated with the British society and the status of women in the society. In the 19th century， women were not well respected compared with the ones in the present society. There was no equality between woman and man. Women were considered to be inferior to men in terms of intelligence and capacity. The central life of women was forced to be staying at home， their roles were to deal with the family affairs， such as taking care of the children and serving for the husband.”（Zhu Hong，P34，1995）

People naturally thought that women should be submissive to their husbands. The virtues of women were patient and deferent. They must recognize their inherent inferiority to men， so they must restrict their abilities without conditions. Although the status of women was slow， few of them expressed dissatisfaction about their own destiny. At that time， many middle-class young women had three solutions： getting married； staying at home as old maids or working as the family female teachers. The income of family female teacher was very low， and the status was low as well. It was very difficult for them to change or swap out of this status， no one would like to be a maid forever， therefore， in terms of young women， especially those who don't have enough properties， to get married was the only way for them to gain respect， stability and social status.

Austin fully critiqued some bad phenomenon in her work pride and prejudice， taking some perfect points about marriage and love to demonstrate her own view on love and marriage.

3. The Four Marriages and the Revealed Concept of Love and Marriage in Pride and Prejudice

（1）The Concept about Love and Marriage in the Society

The stories show the ordinary lives， feelings of the ordinary people. They were linked up in a harmonious order under the author's meticulous concepts. The work mainly describes four marriages. Two are the main and assisted by the other two assistant marriages.

“Darcy and Elizabeths love and marriage is the main theme of this work. After undergoing many setbacks， Darcys arrogance and Elizabeths prejudice eventually eliminates， the lovers finally get married. The marriage of Elizabeths sister Jane and Darcys friend Bingley is another clue. They deeply love each other， but they are multi—blocked， after their departure， Jane misses Bingley very much. The two marriages reflects the another point of view in positive way that marriage should be based on true love， which is the ideal marry in the authors opinion. The stories seem to be the ordinary lives， feelings and persons linked up in a harmonious order under the others meticulous concepts. However， the marriage between Charlotte and Collins is a negative example with the marriage between Lydia and Wickham， which help to make the plots more tortuous and richer.”（Zhu Hong，P12，1985）

（2） Four Marriages in Pride and Prejudice

①Collins and Charlottes Marriage

In pride and prejudice， the first part is the marriage of Charlotte and Collins， their marriage is lucky and natural. They get married without any expectation. Charlotte is William Lucass daughter， who is the neighbor of Lizzy Bennett. She was born of humble parentage and very mediocre in every aspect. So she has not got married even until she is 26 years old. She may be a typical questionable girl. However， there are 5 daughters in the Bennetts， the five daughters are gradually growing up to the age for marriage. So both of the two families rival mutually， especially in the eyes of the vulgar women， such rivalry was particularly tedious. Bennetts wife was especially typical； she does not give birth to a boy but five girls. The familys property couldn't be given to a daughter according to the custom at that time， and the family without a son can grant the wealth to the nephew. Thus， one of Bennett nephew-Collins can inherit the family wealth. Therefore， Mrs. Bennett has great expectations on her nephew. Though the family is not very rich， he is the final owner of Bonnet family's wealth. With this， Mrs. Bennett felt at ease， and then she has great hope on Collins and likes him. Catherine Collins， with the help of one of his relatives， becomes a priest. And then he goes to the home of his uncle， wanting to be home complement of Bennett. Because he has heard a lot about the arrangement of the five golden flowers of his uncle's family， he is coming to try his luck here. In his mind， if he could be one son-in-low of his uncles， then he could get the property of the family. He stays at home for a long time to repay his uncle's heritage and gets sympathy by the family. Informed that the eldest daughter Jane has a boyfriend， he aims at the second daughter Elizabeth Bennett in spite for his aunts interesting sake， Elizabeth has been tired of him. Eventually， she refuses him with sharp tongue. But Collins quickly finds comfort from Charlotte who desires to get love from a male and believes marriage is the elegant way for a girl with some education， and then they get married as quickly as the lightning. A mediocre love， a dull marriage has been established effortlessly. Such marriage without love is too practical， so it is a kind of superficial marriage without happiness.

②Lydia and Wickhams Marriage

The second marriage is between Bennetts third daughter Lydia and Wickham， the son of the housekeeper. Originally he is well-treated by the family and the friends. However， he comes down in the world because of his misbehavior. He gets into debt. So， he wants to get money and become rich and change his social status through marriage， marriage is also a way to approach the talents， he is a man without any responsibility. He does nothing except assailing a woman with obscenities. In his opinion， love is only recreation. For his purpose， he entices Lydia and gets her love easily， because she is young， innocent and vainglorious， and loves to go ease and hates to work hard， and is spoilt by her mother. Getting love and praise of a boy is her dream. So when Wickham wants to reach his aim-getting wealth by love and exalts her beauty hypocritically， she forgets who she is and feels she is the most beautiful and happiest girl in the world. Their love does not get the permission from the parents， and then they elope. When Elizabeth hears the news， she believes that their love is false， Wickham would not marry Lydia， because she is no charming and has nothing to attract him， He does not love her but the wealth of her family. The marriage is admitted on the condition of Darcy's help. Their marriage is considered to be a scandal in Bennetts family. But Mrs. Bennet is not disgraceful to this marriage. When Collins gets the news， of course， he is very angry and reacts to the marriage to revenge his early failure of proposal to her. This marriage is one without love. They dont the real meaning of marriage， they only want to satisfy their aspiration. So we can say this is a kind of impromptu love and marriage without true love and responsibility. Such couple only seek having had the experience but not everlasting and unchanging. Of course， such kind of marriage is doomed to be a tragedy.

③Jane and Mr. Bingleys Marriage

The third marriage is of the eldest daughter Jane and Mr. Bingley. Bingley is a friend of Darcy. Bingleys sister loves Darcy very much. She wants Bingley to get married with Darcys sister Georgiana， because she wants to get love from Darcy by this way， which also reflects the selfishness the sister. The marriage of the able man- Bingley and the beautiful girl-Jane is ideal in most peoples eyes. Of course， the couple meets many setbacks， such as the misunderstanding of Darcy and Bingley's selfish sister. At last， the lovers get married as the misunderstanding between Elizabeth and Darcy has been solved.

④Darcy and Elizabeths Marriage

The fourth marriage is the main theme of the works. That is Darcy and Elizabeths marriage. At the beginning， Elizabeth rejects the pursuer-Darcy， because she does not like him， even looks down upon him though Darcy loves her very much. In Elizabeths eyes， he is arrogant and unreasonable because he is rich and has high social status. Realizing that， Darcy begins to get rid of those bad habits quietly to crate her taste and get good impression and love of her. Because of Darcys perfect behavior and good education， Elizabeth gradually eliminates the bias on Darcy. Then they spontaneously fall in love. So when Darcys second suitor is sent to Elizabeth， Elizabeth readily agree with， and they get married and have happy family lives.

4. Austins Concept about Love and Marriage

The author embodies four different marriages in the novel. From the analysis of the marriages， we can find the author's idea about marriage： marriage and property and social status are interconnected. But marriage could not only depend on the property and the social status. The happy marriage should be based on the mutual respect， mutual admiration. She objects the marriage for money and opposes the thoughtless marriage， but stresses the importance of emotional factors.

5. Conclusion

By description and discussion of the four marriages in the novel， we can see that Austen fully expresses her views on love and marriage only by appreciating the marriage founded on the basis of mutual understanding and true love， but also by satirizing the marriage founded on the basis of origin and desire.

The marriage based on social position and money cant bring happy life. Aimless marriage and love are impracticable.

Austens views on marriage and love are also suitable for our real social. We youth should make right marriage and love views to orient our lives.

【Bibliography】

[1] BU.Ya-Yun， Irony In Pride and prejudice. HuZhou： Journal of HuZhou Teachers Collage， 2001.

[2] HeShenYing， A Perfect Marriage Wants True love as well as Money. Yuxi： Journal of YuXi Teacher Collage， 2001.

[3] Rubinstein Annette， 1967 Great Tradition in English Literature from Shakespeare to Austen， Monthly Review Press.

[4] Thornley G. C. and Roberts Gwyneth， An Outline of English Literature， Longman World Publishing Corporation， 1984.

[5] Sampson George， The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature， Cambridge Universit， 1988.

【作者簡介】

王震宇，男，河南郑州人，郑州财经学院文化与传播学院讲师，主要研究方向：英美语言文学与翻译。