TheanalysisofPrideandPrejudice_开题报告

Pride and Prejudice is a world-famous novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. She began writing this novel in 1796 at the age of twenty-one, under the title "First Impressions". Her novels all described the lifestyle and social communications of families in England as what she is familiar with. The novel Pride and Prejudice is the typical one that fully expressed Jane Austen's viewpoint on marriage and emphasized that the benefit on economic exerts a great influence on marriage. 

From ancient times until now, there are many studies about Jane Austen’s view of marriage in Pride and Prejudice. Such as Dr.Mitchell Kalpakgian, he is a native of New England , the Professor of English. Dr. Kalpakgian analyzed Pride and Prejudice from an overall perspective. In his article “Austen’s Pride and Prejudice”, he summarized the features of Jane Austen, he said that “ Jane Austen’s genius comprehends the subject of marriage and the book of love in all its intricacy, practicality, goodness, and mystery. Her novels center on the importance of marriage as one of life’s most important choices and life’s greatest source of happiness.” 

In his opinion, many people choose marriage for its social benefits and image of respectability. To take Charlotte and Collins’s marriage as an example. firstly, Mr.Collins is attracted by Jane’s beauty and gentle. But when Mrs Bennet told he that Jane is going to engaged, he quickly shifts his attention to Elizabeth and propose to her. Therefor, it is clear that the starting point of marriage in Mr.Collin’s eyes is not true love. Conversely, he just wants to use his marriage as an assurance for his life. Finally, Mr.Collins choosing Charlotte who accepts his proposal because, as she explains to Elizabeth, “I should be as happy with him as any other. Not all of us can afford to be romantic. I have been offered a comfortable home and protection. There's a lot to be thankful for.” We can see that Charlotte’s desire for economic security and her wish to escape the stigma of old maid move her to accept Collins’ idea of marriage as a mere social arrangement based exclusively upon financial independence and popular approval.

In recent years, there are many Chinese scholars would like to pay more attention to the marriages in Pride and Prejudice. for instance, He Xiaohua, the prestigious English teacher of foreign language college of Yan'an university. In her article “On Marriage Standards in Pride and Prejudice”, she expressed her point that “Jane Austen draws us a picture of people's attitudes toward marriage. In order to show different notions held by people in getting married, the whole novel is organized by centering on the viewpoint held by Mrs. Bennet and four young pairs. ” By her  article we can see, it mainly tells of the five marriages in Pride and Prejudice. In the first place, in Mrs.Bennet’s case, marriage is only means of social and economic acquisition. Therefor, she tries every means to let her daughter to marry a rich man. As for Mr.Bennet, he married his wife just because he was captivated by her youth and beauty. It seems that they do not have a happy marriage. In the author's opinion, The marriage between Charlotte and Collins is also unhappy. On the other hand, Lydia and Wickham’s marriage is thoughtless and irresponsible. Compared with above mentioned pairs, thought Jane and Mr.Bingley were inspired by physical attraction at first, they eventually fall in love. In contrast, the first impression between Mr.Darcy and Elizabeth is unpleasant. Although Mr.Darcy is a good marriage partner, his behavior at the dancing party makes everyone think that he is an arrogant man. Obviously, his manner and words prejudiced Elizabeth against him. Fortunately, Mr.Darcy gets rid of his pride to speak his love to Elizabeth. Meanwhile, Elizabeth changes her first impression upon Mr.Darcy and accepts him. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s marriage is base on true love, and they may have a happy and long lasting relationship.

By analyzing their viewpoints towards the marriages in Pride and prejudice, we can know that we may take other things into consideration when get married, but we should always regard love as the most important thing. Only this type of marriage usually brings happiness. However, a few scholar present the social background of Pride and prejudice. The reason why I am writing this thesis is to analysis the effect factors of marriages in Pride and Prejudice. Firstly, I will put forward the background of the novel. In the second place, I will study the mainly four marriages in Pride and prejudice, there are Mr.Darcy and Elizabeth, Jane and Mr.Bingley, Charlotte and Collins, Lydia and Wickham. After all, I will also indicate what can we take inspiration from Pride and Prejudice.

Outline 

Introduction

1.1 About the Author: Jane Austin

1.2 The Social Background of Pride and Prejudice

2. The Four Marriages in Pride and Prejudice

2.1  Jane and Mr. Bingley

2.2  Darcy and Elizabeth

2.3  Charlotte and Collins

2.4  Lydia and Wickham

3. The Different Understandings about Love and Marriage in Pride and Prejudice

3.1 The Marriage Based on Feelings of Love

3.2 The Marriage Based on Vanity and Physical attraction

3.3 The Marriage Based on Money or Benefit

3.4 The Marriage Based on True Love

Conclusion

5. References

References

Jane Austen:PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, 北京：人民日报出版社，2017年3月第1版

Jane Austen:PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, From EVERYMAN’S LIBRARY, September 26,1991.

Mitchell Kalpakgian, Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, From CRISIS MAGAZINE, August 16,2012.

刁克利：《英美文学欣赏》（第二版），北京：中国人民大学出版社，2011年2月第1版，第40-54页

(英)奥斯丁著、张经浩译：《傲慢与偏见》（全译本），北京：中国文联出版社，2015年9月第1版

刘丹：《英美文学选读》，北京：知识产权出版社，2004年9月第1版

（英）简·奥斯汀著、方华文译：《傲慢与偏见》，北京：译林出版社，2011年9月第1版

宋佳红：《近代早期英国婚姻观念的变迁》，北京：中国出版集团/世界图书出版公司，2015年5月第1版

（美）德布拉·蒂奇曼 著：《傲慢与偏见》解读，北京：中国人民大学出版社，2008年1月第1版

He XiaoHua, On Marriage standards in Pride and Prejudice, From Overseas English, August 1, 2010.

Zhuang Ping, Marriage in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, From JOURNAL OF LIAONING PROVINCIAL COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATIONS, June.2004.