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《傲慢与偏见》英语论文开题报告
On the Relationship between Money and Marriage in Pride and Prejudice
《傲慢与偏见》中金钱与婚姻的关系
I. Literature Review
Pride and Prejudice is a very popular novel written by Jane Austen and it is read widely all over the world. It was written in 1813. That specific history time decided that people at that time took money much more seriously, even on their marriage. From the ancient times to the present, there are many studies about Jane Austen and her major works.
In 1813, Oxford World's Classics for the first time recorded and published the work Pride and Prejudice and aroused great repercussion around the world. Then, in 1826 after the work has been widely read, Sir Walter Scott analyzed Pride and Prejudice from an overall perspective. In his article “The Journal of Sir Walter Scott”, he summarized the features of Jane Austen, he said that “Jane Austen has a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful that I ever met with.”The background of Pride and Prejudice was reflected in his points that Pride and Prejudice was the description about the descent life and communication in her familiar country. The author Jane was born in a country clergyman’s family, she had six novels published all her life and six novels share a general writing style and show her viewpoints on love and marriage. Having a talent for describing trivial things of ordinary people, she was the first to write novels of realism in the 19th century.
Nowadays, we would like to pay more attention to the marriages in Pride and Prejudice. The first Chinese study on the marriage in Pride and Prejudice would be Zhu Aiping, and in her article “Attitude Toward Marriage in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice”, she expressed her point that“By the stories we can see, It mainly tells of the love story between a rich, proud young man Darcy and the beautiful and intelligent woman Elizabeth Bennet.” So we know that Pride and Prejudice is a story about the five Bennet sisters and their search for suitable husband, of which Darcy and Elizabeth only depend on the help of Lady de Burgh became a happy pair. Just before the conversation between Elizabeth and Lady de Burgh, both Darcy and Elizabeth dare not to have the wild wish of their love. Though they have cleaned up the misunderstanding between them and understood each other further, there are no earnest feeling, no loath to pant each other, no strong desire of living together between them. Instead of that, there is a little diffidence and a little caution. Only the Lady de Burgh’s tempting to break them up encourages them and helps to bring about their marriage. How passive of the pair youth to pursue love and happiness.
The author made a further analysis, “it is the inevitable result of the marriage concept, which in that time was based on the economic condition and affected by the family status.”Besides the main story of this happy pair, also told are the minor ones about the union between the rich bachelor Bingley and the beautiful mild Jane, another happy pair; about the servile clergyman Collins, who firs propose to Elizabeth and when refused, marries the plain 27-year-old Charlotte Lucas, through which we see the reality of marriage, not because of love, but a necessary step if a woman is to avoid the wretchedness of aging spinsterhood; and about the elopement of the thoughtless couple Lydia and Wickham, from which we are shown the dangers of feckless relationships unsupported by money.
At the same time, another scholar Huang Rong published a paper called “Thought of Marriage in Jane Austen’ Pride and prejudice”. The paper agreed that in the opening sentence of Pride and Prejudice, there are two important words “fortune” and “want”. “Fortune” is the basis of marriage, while “want” provides the marriage chance for those unmarried women. We can read “fortune” everywhere in the novel, and “money” played an important role in marriage. Because women had no economic ability and status, they usually got married conventionally when they were old enough, no other than they became one’s wife, just had their own status, and be acknowledged by society only after getting married. The seeming preoccupation with money in connection with marriage in Jane Austen’s work may mislead modern readers. While there is no lack of greed and shallow materialism on the part of some characters, even sensible people must devote serious thought to this topic, since it is rather foolhardy to marry without having a more-or-less guaranteed income in advance—not only was marriage for life, but there was no social security, old age pensions, unemployment compensation, health insurance, etc.
Latter, a scholar called Xin Shulan from Langfang Teachers College raised an article from a totally new perspective on woman’s situation in Jane Austen’s age. The title of the article called “Women’s Happiness Secret—On Elizabeth’s Marriage Choice in Pride and Prejudice”. We can guess what the author wants to say in her article. The author said “a woman who did not marry could generally only look forward to living with her relatives as a “dependant” (more or less Jane Austen’s situation), so that marriage is pretty much the only way of ever getting out from under the parental roof—unless, of course, her family could not support her, in which case she could face the unpleasant necessity of going to live with employers as a dependant governess or teacher, or hired lady’s companion.” A woman with no relations or employer was in danger of slipping off the scale of gentility altogether and in general, becoming an “old maid” was not considered a desirable fate (so when Charlotte Lucas, at age 27, marries Mr. Collins, her brothers are “relieved from their apprehension of Charlotte’s dying an old maid”, and Lydia says “Jane will be quite an old maid soon, I declare. She is almost three and twenty!”). Given all this, some women were willing to marry just because marriage was the only allowed route to financial security, or to escape an uncongenial family situation. In Pride and Prejudice, the dilemma is expressed most clearly by the character Charlotte Lucas, whose pragmatic views on marrying are voiced several times in the novel: “Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honorable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want.” She is 27, not especially beautiful (according to both she herself and Mrs. Bennet), and without an especially large “portion”, and so decides to marry Mr. Collins “from the pure and disinterested desire of an establishment”.
Marriage and marriage-related activities in the Pride and Prejudice were a series of humorous descriptions; how man picks up his wife and how the young women and their mothers choose their future husband constitute many wonderful scenes of the novel. In this marital relationship study work the writer strives to portray several different marriage and love relationships. Although they have entered the marriage under siege, the degree of happiness of marriage is different. This is because in Jane Austen’s work, love is not the only reason for marriage, money is also closely related. For me I want to make a further study on this famous work; I want to make a study on the four marriages happened in the novel: Elizabeth and Darcy, Jane and Bingley, Lucas and Collins, and Lydia and Wickham. The different reasons, purposes and backgrounds make every marriage unique; how important money or economic status is in the marriage at that time; the women’s pursuit of marriage freedom and the future development of marriage.
II. Significance and Emphasis
In Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen created a realistic family image, by introducing some of the imperfections that many families encounter. The Bennet family, consisting of five daughters, a marriage obsessed mother, and an unhappily married father, contain many of these difficulties. Throughout the love, joy, heartache and pain, which evolved from the series of events the Bennet family encountered, one character in particular, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, viewed her family from another perspective. Elizabeth Bennet, though a very loving and respectable woman, had developed a rather poor opinion of her family: Had Elizabeth's opinion been all drawn from her own family, she could not have formed a very pleasing picture of conjugal felicity or domestic comfort.
As the second daughter of her family, Elizabeth had to deal with the many discomforts of being a daughter of five. Though Elizabeth loved her sisters dearly, she found it difficult not to see the differences between them, and in turn, each of their actions contributed to her perspective of her family. One sister in particular, Miss Lydia Bennet, caused Elizabeth the greatest concern. Lydia was a self-willed and careless individual that cared only about men and marriage. As one of the youngest sisters, Lydia felt neglected from the opportunities her eldest sisters received. In turn, Lydia became the flirt of the family, causing embarrassment not only to herself, but as well to her family. When Lydia eloped to London, Elizabeth feared that the source of her behavior was derived from the negative behavior of her parents.
Not only did Elizabeth fear for Lydia’s sake, she feared as well for her other sister, Catherine, who was under the direct influence of Lydia: Catherine, weak-spirited, irritable, and completely under Lydia’s guidance. While supported by their mother’s indulgence, the two ignorant, idle, and vain sisters, was a subject that Jane and Elizabeth often united to check the imprudence of Catherine and Lydia. Besides the poorly thought out actions of Catherine and Lydia, Elizabeth had no problems with her other sister Mary, who mainly kept to herself, and Jane, the eldest sister, whom she shared a very close friendship with. Besides the faults of some of Elizabeth's sisters, one of the biggest faults of their family was the relationship between her father, Mr. Bennet, and her mother, Mrs. Bennet: she had never felt as strongly as now, the disadvantages which must attend the children of so unsuitable a marriage. Though Elizabeth loved her father dearly, she was unable to be blind to the impropriety of her father's behavior as a husband.
Though made up of an odd mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humor, reserve, and caprice, he was a man of few words and was clearly unable to make his wife understand his character. In the decade of the Bennets, marriage was clearly seen through beauty and fortune. It became evident, after resentment had settled in, that Mr. Bennet had married for other reasons besides love: Her father captivated by youth and beauty/ had married a woman whose weak understandings and illiberal mind, had very early in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her. Mr. Bonnet's poor decision making had indeed hurt Elizabeth and impacted her opinion of her family, but by respecting his abilities, and being grateful for his affectionate treatment of herself, Elizabeth knew that her father was a man of good intentions. Besides the impression Mr. Bonnet’s faults had on Elizabeth, her mother’s faults as well, contributed much to Elizabeth’s poor opinion. Mrs. Bennet had not made marriage between her and Mr. Bennet any easier as her ignorance and folly had contributed to his amusement. She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper. Elizabeth found it difficult to deal with her mother's improper judgment and nervous behavior. Mrs. Bennet often over exaggerated small incidents and was very demanding in her ways. As a mother of five daughters, it was acceptable for her to be concerned for her daughters’ future. But Mrs. Bonnet’s entire business of her life was to get her daughters married. Elizabeth loved her mother and was appreciative of her mother’s concerns, but Elizabeth was also not blind to her mother’s intentions. After Mrs. Bonnet’s desperate attempt to get her to marry Mr. Collins, Elizabeth became fully aware of her mother’s self indulgent intentions, fore Mrs. Bennet was seeking a man who would either allow her to remain at Longbourn or would bring fortune into the Bennet family. Elizabeth on the other hand was nothing like her mother; fore Elizabeth sought love and romance as her basis of marriage. Therefore, through her and her mother’s differences, Elizabeth was left with disappointment. Through the series of events the Bennet family encountered, Elizabeth began to perceive each member of her family from a different angle, and in turn, began to accept her family’s faults. After this realization, she was not only able to start accepting the faults of her family, but she was able to start accepting her own faults as well.
III. Brief Statement
Jane Austen (1775--1817) is a famous English novelist. In 18th century England, an important concern of conventional marriage is property, which is closely related to the social conditions. Another concern is status, which is decided by the social traditional values. She has her personal view on marriage: Though a considerable fortune is necessary for a happy marriage, love is the most fundamental condition. In addition, in choosing a suitable spouse, class hierarchy or social lineage should be taken into consideration. Among her works, Pride and Prejudice is the most outstanding one representing her view toward love and marriage.
This thesis intends to probe into the four couple’s love and marriages in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice through analyzing Maslow’s theory of Hierarchy of Needs in Humanistic Psychology: The combination of Wickham and Lydia is absolute an impulse of “Physiological Needs”. Marriage of Collins and Charlotte mainly meets “Physiological Needs” and “Safety Needs” while embodies little “Love Needs”. The process of the love and marriage of Darcy and Elizabeth is an integration of “Love Needs” and “Esteem Needs”. Furthermore, it reflects “Self-actualization Needs”.
This thesis falls into five parts. Through introducing the background of Jane Austen and using Maslow’s theory of Hierarchy of Needs, the thesis analyzes the four couples’ love and marriages in the novel Pride and Prejudice. In a word, a marriage for love is a happy one; a marriage either for money or lust is an unhappy one; property and social status play an important role in marriage; it is opposed to be married simply for money.
IV. Outline
1. Introduction
1.1 The Background of Jane Austin
1.2 The Background of Pride and Prejudice
2. The Four Marriages in Pride and Prejudice
2.1 Charlotte and Collins
2.2 Lydia and Wickham
2.3 Jane and Mr. Bingley
2.4 Darcy and Elizabeth
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 Carelessness
3.3 The Marriage Based on Money or Benefit
Biography
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