5。 Conclusion 14

    5。1 Austen’s view of Marriage and Marlow’s Needs Theory 14

5。2 Research Significance 14

5。3Researchlimitaion……。14

References 15

1。 Introduction

1。1: The Summary of Pride and Prejudice论文网

Pride and Prejudice, the magnum opus of Jane Austen first published in 1831, is a love story about English middle class during the Romantic age。 As a great love novel, the first sentence of this book —“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife。” (Austen, 2009) clearly expresses its main theme—marriage and money。 The main character Elizabeth is the second daughter of Mr。 Benet who is a common country gentleman living at Hertfordshire with his overbearing wife and other four daughters: the charming Jane, the bookish Mary, the childish Kitty and the frivolous Lydia。 What is unfortunate for the Benet is that they do not have a son, which means that after the death of Mr。 Benet, his property will be inherited by a distant cousin Mr。 Collins whom they have never met。 So the family's happiness and security in the future are largely associated with whether the five daughters can manage to get good marriages or not。 There finally occurs something special in their quiet life until a rich and handsome gentleman Mr。 Bingley arrives, who rents Netherfield to spend summer。 Mr。 Bingley comes with his snobbish sister and Mr。 Darcy, a dashing but proud nobleman。 The eldest of the Benet sisters Jane and Mr。 Bingley fall in love at the first sight in the ball, while the smart Elizabeth might have plunged into a hasty prejudice against Mr。 Darcy。 The marriage of Charlotte and Mr。 Collins make the situation of the Benet even worse。 More unexpected, Lydia and Wickham secretly run away and have to get married hastily。 With the unfolding of some misunderstanding, Jane and Mr。 Bingley, as well as Elizabeth and Mr。 Darcy gain the happiest marriage in the end。 Jane Austen depicts various marriages out of different reasons in her novel which reflects her view of marriage。 

1。2: Jane Austen’s Life 

It was a mystery that Jane Austen has never married and stayed with her family all her life, but marriage was always the major theme of her novels。 Why a seemingly inexperienced young lady could manage to penetrate so deep into marriage and love? Born in 1775 at Steventon, Hampshire in south England, Jane Austen was the sixth child of a clergyman。 Halpern (1988) fond that Jane Austin has experienced an unsuccessful love because of the short of money, which served an important reason why most of her work emphasized the necessity of money in marriage。 And the letters with her sister gave away some clues。 Jane’s parents picked a wealthy and noble husband, Samuel for her, but the promising young man only received her refusal。 Then, Jane came across her soul mate, a lawyer intern, Tom。 He was handsome and smart enough to be attractive to her but his arrogance kept him away from the uneventful country life。 They still fell in love when they found much in common。 Unfortunately, their mutual love was in vain in front of economic conditions at last。 Jane Austen could not make do with a marriage without either love or security for her inclination to perfection, as a result, she created a perfect marriage of Elisabeth and Mr。 Darcy based on both love and money in Pride and Prejudice。 It was obvious that there were many similarities between the protagonists of this novel and the real ones whom Jane encountered。 Therefore, the emotional experience of Jane Austen has much to do with the plot of Pride and Prejudice and also has significant effects on her view of marriage。 Through probing into this work, we could not only figure out the author’s view of marriage, but also could get knowledge of the local customs and practices of England at that time。 Austen’s view of marriage will still shed lights on today’s marriage。