《傲慢与偏见》中的婚姻观与现代婚姻观的比较

杜美滢

摘 要：《傲慢與偏见》于1813年被出版，是简·奥斯汀的最著名的小说之一。小说描述了四桩婚姻。经过比较这四桩婚姻，让那时的人们了解了理想的婚姻是什么，也充分体现了作者的对爱情和婚姻的看法。历经二百多年，爱情与婚姻依然是人类最重要的事件。现代社会中的人们一味地享受着物质上的生活，却冲淡了对于爱情的美好追求，婚姻似乎已经和爱情没有任何关系。本文分析了《傲慢与偏见》中的婚姻观与现代的婚姻观，并将其进行比较，为现代人们指明正确的婚姻观。

关键词：《傲慢与偏见》;婚姻观;现代婚姻;社会地位

1. Introduction

Jane Austen was born in 1775， in Hampshire， in the Southern England， in which she spent many years of childhood and youth. After two failed aims to look for a good boarding school， Jane Austen returned home and was educated herself by getting the resources from their fathers extensive library， and completely with the leading from her father. When she was twelve years， Jane began writing down some short stories that she had shared with Cassandra when they lay on the bed. She separated the short stories into three handwritten books which she named “Volume the First”， “Volume the Second” and “Volume the Third”. The three books are known completely as the Juvenilia. At fifteen her writing is already marked by her characteristic neat stylishness， her crisp irony. Jane started to write “First Impression” in 1795. Pride and Prejudice is as the first draft of it.

2. Four different marriages in Pride and Prejudice

The marriage between Charlotte and Mr. Collins is the first one in Pride and Prejudice. Anyone who did not anticipate that they will get married and their marriage is fortunate and spontaneous. Charlotte is William Lucass daughter， who lives near by the Bennetts. She was born in a humble family which can give her little fortune. She was not married when she is twenty-six years old. She is a wise and intelligent woman like Elizabeth， but she dare not seek spiritual happiness is as bravely and strongly as that of Elizabeth. In her opinion， she has already become her parents a burden to. However， there are five daughters in Mr. Bennett home， the five girls have already grown up to the age for getting married. Mrs. Bennett is especially typical vulgar woman， who does not give birth to a boy but five girls. According to the common laws， the five girls couldnt get any property from their own family， and the family without a boy can give the property to the nephew. Thus Mr. Collins， a clergyman as one of Mr. Bennetts nephew can inherit the familys property. And then he goes to his uncles home， coming to try his luck here， because he has heard of lot about that how his uncle arrange “the five golden flowers” of his family.

3. About modern marriage

Today， we live in a new century， which the economy， science and technology are developing in a high speed. The rising economy leads people to live with money， that is to say， money has become of great importance in this new society. Only people possess enough money， can they get what they want and have an extravagant life. With the high speed of the development of society， more and more people focus on materials， no matter they are poor or not. Now， the world is a diversified one， which causes the cultural multiplicity， the economic multiplicity and the multiplex concept. It becomes more and more open， and the modern people also become open. They seek the different exciting things in this complex and materialistic society. As a new generation of the country and society， they have their own ideas and they are keeping seeking the happiness which belongs to them. Generally speaking， the modern young people are enjoying the convenient life and the extravagant substance which are brought by the industrial civilization. Such a material society has changed many peoples attitude to the love and marriage. There are many young people do not believe in true love any more， and their marriages are based on the matter or the money. Their marriages seem to be separated with the love. In brief， it is money that determines everyones life and fate， especially marriage.

4. Conclusion

“Pride and Prejudice is a novel about marriage as a market and about the female as marketable.” Brown wrote， “Austen decidedly unromantic and realistic perception of marriage as brutal economic fact in an essentially materialistic society” was fully expressed in the novel. Austen puts different marriages depicted in the novel into the real social and economic realities. Marriage was a union of economic and social status， not the combination of humans true feelings. Women frequently have to sacrifice feelings for the sake of financial security. To a large extent， women married money， not their husbands. Property plays a guiding role in a marriage. She fiercely criticizes this money-oriented marriage system. She puts the emphasis on the true love in marriage to show that a happy marriage should build on true love.

The issue concerning marriage was important in Austens time. Although Austens time had gone， her views on love and marriage have not fallen into disuse and they have become the encouragement to some young people to seek for the true love not just for money. Although Jane Austen and we live in a different era， her appoints of marriage in her Pride and Prejudice are still the leader for us to understand the real marriage.

Bibliography

[1] Brown， Lloyd W. Jane Austens Achievement[M]. London： The Macmillan Press. Ltd， 1976

[2] Irvine， Robert P. Jane Austen[M]. London： Routledge， 2005

[3] James Edward Austen-Leigh. Memoir of Jane Austen[M]. R. W Chapman. Oxford： Clarendon Press， 1926