Pride and Prejudice is a novel written by the famous English writer, Jane Austen, who was the sixth children in a family of seven and was born in the village of steventon in Hampshire in 1775 and died of Addisons disease in 1817. The book first published on 28 January 1813 by the bookseller Thomas Egerton who had also published Sense and Sensibility, the original version of the novel was written in 1796-1797 under the title First Impressions 。
Pride and Prejudice is a love story, mainly tells the love between Elizabeth and Darcy. It divided into 2 volumes and is composed of 42 chapters altogether. The major characters are Mr. Darcy, A rich and proud young man. Elizabeth, the second eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. Mr. Bingley , A rich young bachelor. Jane, the first daughter of Mr. and Mrs.Bennet. The story begin with Bingleys arrival. One day when Mrs.Bennet hear Bingley has taken Netherfield, a house near hers. She is so happy and arranged one of her five daughters marriage with him. At a ball, luckly, Bingley and Jane fall in love at the first sight. Darcy, a friend of Bingleys , was attracted to Elizabeth, a lively and spirited girl. But Darcy greatly offends her by his supercilious behavior and this dislike is increased by Wickham, a dashing young militia officer of the unjust treatment he has met with at Darcys hands. One day when Darcy and Bingleys two sisters disgusted with the vulgarity of Mrs. Bennet and her two youngest daughters, effectively separated Bingley and Jane. Meanwhile, Collins, a cousin of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, married charlotte, a friend of Elizabeths, for Elizabeths refuse to marry him. But One day Darcy send Elizabeth a letter, in which he justifies the separation of his friend Bingley and Jane and make it clear that Wickham is. So Elizabeth changed her opinions and ideas toward him. Once when Elizabeth visited her uncle and aunt in the north of England, she met Darcy there and witnessed his changes through series of behaviors, no longer pride and become gentle and attentive, all these made their marriage arranged, and they also suitably provided for Bingley and Janes reunited and engaged. The story ends with both their happy marriages.
My point of view towards the masterpiece of Jane Austens is that this novel reflects the English human sentiment of the end of 18th century and the early of 19th century under the circumstance of conservative,and tells us the difference ways and attitudes to marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Bennets five daughters. Thereby reveal the author herself attitude towards marriage, that is love and marriage based on money, property and social status is not perfect, but it is also stupid Without considering all of these. There, the author emphasize the importance of ideal marriage, meanwhile, to be opposed to love & marriage based on money or property and to be opposed to peoples laugh love & marriage off. The author takes the affection/love as the cornerstone of ideal marriage between male and female. Elizabeth as the leading character in this novel, was born in the family of squireens, and is loved by Darcy. Darcy propose marriage to her in spite of difference in the possession of property and social status, but is refused by Elizabeth for his pride , the novel demonstrate that if the pride of Darcys existed , there will be no love and also happy marriage between Elizabeth and he, it is really nice that Elizabeth witness the changes of Darcys through series of behavior in the following days. viewing that he is no longer pride and then eliminating her prejudice to him, finally engaged with him and leading a happy marriage. The author described that female is in pursuit of independent personality and equal right through several different attitudes of Elizabeth for Darcys propose marriage. Meanwhile, demonstrate Elizabeths independent understanding for a happy marriage. In this article, the writer described several unperfect marriages of Elizabeths sisters and close friends, aimed at making a sharp contrast with Elizabeths beatific marriage and revealed that marriage without love but base on social status and property actually is a kind of public tragedies. Humorous, ironical, polished language and real storyline is also occurred in this article.
It is universally acknowledged that the eternal theme of Jane Austens novels is the choice people make for marriage partners, so is in Pride and Prejudice. Mrs. Bonnet had no other wish if her five daughters could get married as soon as possible with someone wealthy. At a dancing ball, it is obvious that Mr. Bingley could not help falling in love at the first sight with Miss Jane because of her stunning beauty. Mrs. Benne was so excited that she could not hold her manner and declared publicly she would ha一ve a daughter married soon, which frightened Mr. Bingley away. Mr. Collins, a distance nephew of Mr. Bennet, came to ask a marriage to one of his cousins before Mrs. Bennet was able to get clear why Mr. Bingley left suddenly.
After receiving the hint from Mrs. Bennet that Jane already had an admirer, Mr. Collins turned to Elizabeth without wasting a minute and to Miss Charlotte Lucas two days later after refused by Elizabeth. It was difficult for Mrs. Bennet to recover herself as a result of the“deadly stupid” decision made by Elizabeth until she got the news that Lydia finally married Mr. Wickham, though the marriage was built on the basis of ten thousand pounds. Mr. Darcy offered the money and did everything departing from his will just because he loved Elizabeth so much. He could not hide his feelings any more and showed his affection to Elizabeth at last, who, because of a series of misunderstandings towards him, rejected him without hesitation. This plot is the climax of the novel as the prejudice of Elizabeth to Mr. Darcy was exposed and removed since then. And the combination of the two young couples, Jane and Bingley, Elizabeth and Darcy came at last.
伟大的文学作品有其非常独特的魅力所在,并且发现自己在读文学小说的时候非常地投入,不知所倦。有时竟然抹去睡意,读至深夜。
《傲慢与偏见》中的两位姐妹的性格我个人感受类似于《乱世佳人》中两位女性的性格。
书中的两位男主人公,达西表面傲慢,思想固守,源于童年时期的环境熏陶。而我们每个人又何尝不是呢,从小的环境和家庭教育,已经给了我们对世界和自己的看法,自然也就固守着这些偏见一直活着下去,当然或许也会随时间的变化而发生一些变化。威克姆,一个伪君子,我想也是由于从小生长在高贵主人家对命运不认可的造成的吧,其实世间也是如此啊,大家同为同龄人,却生为一主一仆的关系,从某种程度上讲,伪君子的形成也有其特殊的原因的吧。
另外,世事不外乎经济,不外乎感情,这本小说也同样是如此,人类都爱富欺贫,爱情始终是摆脱不了经济的。
Many people simply regard Pride and Prejudice as a love story, but in my opinion, this book is an illustration of the society at that time. She perfectly reflected the relation between money and marriage at her time and gave the people in her works vivid characters.
The characters have their own personalities. Mrs. Bennet is a woman who makes great efforts to marry off her daughters. Mr. Bingley is a friendly young man, but his friend, Mr. Darcy, is a very proud man who seems to always feel superior. Even the five daughters in Bennet family are very different. Jane is simple, innocent and never speaks evil of others. Elizabeth is a clever girl who always has her own opinion. Mary likes reading classic books. (Actually she is a pedant.) Kitty doesnt have her own opinion but likes to follow her sister, Lydia. Lydia is a girl who follows exotic things, handsome man, and is somehow a little profligate. When I read the book, I can always find the same personalities in the society now. That is why I think this book is indeed the representative of the society in Britain in the 18th century.
The family of gentleman in the countryside is Jane Austens favourite topic. But this little topic can reflect big problems. It concludes the stratum situation and economic relationships in Britain in her century. You can find these from the very beginning of this book.
The first sentence in this book is impressive. It reads: “It is a truth well known to all the world that an unmarried man in possession of a large fortune must be in need of a wife”。 The undertone is very clear: the foundation of the marriage at that time is not emotion but《》 possession.
People always think that Austen was an expert at telling love stories. In fact, the marriage in her book is not the result of love, but the result of economic needs. After reading this book, I know the truth is that a poor woman must be in need of a husband, a wealthy man.
I couldnt forget how eager Mrs. Bennet wants to marry off her daughters. If you want to know why she is so crazy about these things, I must mention the situation in Britain at that time. Only the eldest son had the privilege of inheriting his fathers possessions. Younger sons and daughters who are used to luxurious lives have no choice but marry a man or woman in possession of a large fortune to continue their comfortable lives. Thus, we can see that getting married is a way to become wealthier, particularly for women without many possessions. Jane Austen told us that money and possession determined everything, including marriage and love in her century.
In “Pride and Prejudice”, the sister of Mr. Bingley strongly opposed his plan of marrying Jane because the Bennets dont have many possessions and their social positions are much lower than them. From this, we can see there are a lot of obstacles for a not very rich woman to marry a wealthy husband. The society, the relatives would not allow them to get married.
In modern society, although the marriages of economic needs have decreased rapidly, the concept of “money determines everything” is still rooted in some peoples mind. A lot of parents try hard to interfere their childrens marriages. Education background, possessions, jobs remains the main reason that may influence ones marriage. Marry for money is still a big problem in our society. We cant help thinking: can money determine everything?
Austen left this problem for us to think. The genius of Jane Austen lies in this perfect simplicity, the simplicity that reflects big problems. Although Austen was only 21 when she wrote “Pride and Prejudice”, her sharp observation of social lives makes the style of this book surprisingly mature and lively. The plots in her works are always very natural. The development of the plot is as inevitable as a problem in mathematics. I think the depth of Pride and Prejudice is the reason that makes this book prominent and classic. Today, her book still can be the guide telling us the economic relationships both at her time and in modern time.