Title：The Study of Utopian Complex in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility

董玲仙

Abstract： Jane Austen is a great realist woman writer in the history of English literature， and her works are more about marriage. In the novel Sense and sensibility， Jane Austen uses fairy-tale plot structure， isolated utopian space， and women Utopia of sisterhood to show the ideality of love and marriage. From the point of view of Utopia， this paper tries to analyze why Austin has a “Utopia complex” in the light of Austins personal experience and social background， and how she used the “Utopia complex” in her book Sense and sensibility to find happiness for her heroine as well as for herself and for women in the patriarchal society like herself.

Key words： Jane Austen， Sense and sensibility， Utopian Complex

1 Introduction

Jane Austen is one of the greatest novelists in the history of English literature. Most of her works are set in the English countryside， showing the leisure life of the middle class， talking about the topic of marriage and ending quite well. The latter are highly utopian in nature. In 1793，Jane began to write Eleanor and Marianne，a novel later reworked into Sense and Sensibility， which expressed the utopian complex a lot. Taking the patriarchal society as the background， Austen depicted in this novel that generations of property had been acquired by male heirs only. Thus， women were able to obtain the subsistence and a decent social status they wanted only by marrying a rich man. Under such unbearable society， Austen used utopian complex to depict the two sisters （Eleanor and Marianne）struggled to find their true love and get their happy marriages finally.

As one of Jane Austens most representative works， Sense and Sensibility has been studied by many experts from home and abroad.They focus on the view of marriage displayed in the novel，the contrary aspect of the two sisters and the analysis of the main characters . In Jane Austens View on Marriage from the Perspective of sense and sensibility， Zhang Qian assumed that Austen revealed to the reader her concept of marriage： sense should be with sensibility， and sensibility must be under the guidance of sense. Both of them are indispensable to a h-appy marriage. Besides this， people were also interested in the contrary aspect of the two sisters. According to Gao Fengs Opposition and Harmony of Austens View on Love in Sense and Sensibility ， he insisted that Eleanors sense is realism ， Mariannes sensibility is idealism and sensibility guided by sense is the perfect way to obtain happiness. These kinds of studies failed to mention why and how Austen express her theme. In Zhao Ajuans opinion， she thought that in Austens real life， the cruel society forced her to give up what she want（true love and happy marriage） ， so she looked for material and sweet marriage for her protagonists through her novels. The utopia she created can bring soul solace to herself and to countless women like her. In sense and sensibility， Austen depicted Eleanor and Mariannes love and marriage from an utopian perspective.

2 The utopian complex in Sense and Sensibility

2.1 The reality and the utopian society

2.1.1 The reality

With the advent of the industrial revolution in the 19th century，British capitalism developed rapidly， which led to great changes in the contents and personal experience Of British women at that time. However， in the patriarchal society at that time，the value of human beings was based on the ownership of property.Women are at a disadvantage to inherit the properties.So they can get good living condition and decent social status only by marrying a rich man .

2.1.2 The utopian society in Sense and Sensibility

After Mr. Dashwood dying. all his property had been left to his son John because of the social background， while three daughters and wife received only a small cost of living. John finally drove four women out of the estate under his wifes claim that his stepmother and younger sisters would fight with him for the property.

Mrs. Dashwood started a new life in remote rural area of Barton with her three daughters bravely. Although Bartons living condition was not as rich as the estate，  they lived a comfortable life they wanted without thinking about social statues and property. According to Austens depiction， the story took place in the beautiful English countryside： the old house under the tree was rejuvenated in the laughter of the girls， and the four-wheeled carriage creaked and ran in the country stone road， and the century-old castle stood on the lakeside of the soft waves， which bring peace and beauty to readers. we can recognize that Barton was a small utopian society Austen created for her leading characters.

2.2 Jane Austens life and the sisters

2.2.1 Jane Austens life

After her fathers death， Austen led a hard life. Although she had published 4 novels before ， she had not been able to gain much wealth， so she longed for a good marriage to ease her financial burden. Once， She and Tom Leveuil love each other， but eventually failed to hold hands for a lifetime for financial reasons. And she also had a brief engagement with Bugewesser. Unfortunately， she chose to escape that marriage When she realized she didnt love him. Throughout， Austen didnt gain a marriage that had both an economic base and a affair of love.

2.2.2 Eleanor and Mariannes life

Eleanors and Mariannes love affairs and marriage are the main plots of the novel. The author arranged a graceful Edward for Eleanor， who appeared as a savior and instantly turned Eleanor into an enviable princess. However， Eleanors love for Edward went through the test of Edwards former lover， economic crisis and so on. But at the end of the story， the author arranged for Mrs. Fellers to confess Eleanors marriage to Edward and give Edward 5，000 pounds of property. And Marianne was cheated by Willoughby， a love-rat ， which let Marianne go through a life-and-death test before forming a knot with Brandon. At the end of the novel， the two sisters met their Mr. rights and were happy to live together， which expressed the utopian nature of the story perfectly.

3 conclusion

From the analysis above， it is obvious that Austen felt tired about the reality and her unchangeable life. In order to gain spiritual comfort， she created perfect love and marriage for the leading characters. In Sense and Sensibility， Austen put her feelings on Eleanor and Marianne. By depicting the struggling love process and the final happy ending of the sisters， Austen showed us the cruel differences between the reality and the idealism. At the same time， we can enjoy the artistic technique of utopia in Austens writing style.

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