An Analysis of the Heroines between Pride and Prejudice and Emma1

分析傲慢与偏见与爱玛的女主人公An Analysis of the Heroines between Pride and Prejudice and EmmaAbstract.1Key words.1I. Introduction.1II. Literature Review2 2.1 About the Author.2 2.2 The Authors Works.32.3 General Introduction to Pride and Prejudice.42.4 General Introduction to Emma4.The Analysis of Elizabeth Bennet.4 3.1 The Features of Elizabeth.4 3.2 The Feelings of Elizabeth.5IV. The Analysis of Emma.9 4.1 The Features of Emma9 4.2 The Feelings of Emma11. Conclusion13References14An Analysis of the Heroines betweenPride and Prejudice and Emma摘要： 简奥斯丁是一位非常著名的英国作者，而且她的作品受到人们的欢迎。傲慢与偏见和爱玛都是她写的非常流行的小说，并且在全世界被广泛流传阅读。傲慢与偏见告诉我们一个故事，在这个故事中伊丽莎白的偏见恰好匹配于达西的傲慢，而最后他们走到了一起。爱玛则讲了关于女主人公爱玛最终找到她的另一半的故事。众所周知，简奥斯丁的作品大多都是关注女性和婚姻的。在这篇文章里面，两部小说中女主人公的爱情和婚姻都用来作为典型，以此来分析爱情与婚姻。通过分析，使现代女性从中得到某些启示并学习如何对待爱情与婚姻。关键词：傲慢与偏见；爱玛；伊丽莎白与爱玛；爱情；婚姻Abstract： Jane Austen was a very famous English writer, and her works were popular with people. Pride and Prejudice and Emma are very popular novels written by Jane Austen and they are read widely all over the world. Pride and Prejudice told us a story in which Elizabeths “prejudice” is matched with Darcys “pride” and finally they married. Well Emma told the story of Emma Woodhouse, who finds her destiny in marriage. As we know, Jane Austens works almost concerned about women and marriage. In this paper, the marriage cases of the heroines in the two books were taken a typical to analyze love and marriage. And through the analysis, modern women may get some enlightment and learn how to treat love and marriage.Key words：Prideandprejudice； Emma； Elizabeth and Emma；Love；marriage. IntroductionI have read a lot of writings which were written by Jane Austen and have known much information about her. I m very interested in her and her works, especially Pride and Prejudice and Emma. So I determined to write this paper. At first, Jane Austen, the writer, is deserved research. There is a high study value and significance for todays society. The English author Jane Austen lived from 1775 to 1817. Her novels are highly prized not only for their light irony, humor, and depiction of contemporary English country life, but also for their underlying serious qualities. Today, women feel confused on the value of life. In my paper, I will analyse the most important thing for women to see from the heroines of Jane Austen. So this would prompt and lead modern womens life somewhere. And the heroines under Jane Austens pen who have many merits which todays women should learn. In my paper, I would conclude the information, and compare the heroines between Pride and Prejudice and Emma. I will focus on the merits and marriage of women, so that this paper would guide modern women at some place. Today, women feel confused on the value of life. For example, how do they deal with their love things and how do they get along with others, and whats their attitude towards their life. Elizabeth and Emma have a lot of similar points and also have different points. They are both honest and brave for the life. When Elizabeth found herself make some mistakes about Darcy, and then she saw through to her own heart and tell Darcy she had loved him. Look at Emma, she always told herself that she never married, but at last she found that she had loved Knightly, like Elizabeth, she admitted her love. Compare with them, todays young women might make an opposite decision, because they worry and fear something. So I write this paper that may give them some useful enlightenment. Literature review2.1 About the authorJane Austen, English writer, who first gave the novel its modern character through the treatment of everyday life. Although Austen was widely read in her lifetime, she published her works anonymously. The most urgent preoccupation of her bright, young heroines is courtship and finally marriage. Austen herself never married. Her best-known books include Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Emma (1816). Virginia Woolf called Austen “the most perfect artist among women.”Jane Austen was among the first English women to break the male monopoly of novel writing. Her brilliantly witty, elegantly structured satirical novels vividly described the life of the common people in the countryside. Her main literary concern is about human beings in their social relationships. Her novels reveal in a subtle yet determined manner the beauty of woman (not only physical beauty), and their longing for freedom in marriage life. Her unique sensitivity to human emotions, her careful observation of the hypocrisy of the middle-class Englishmen, and their male chauvinistic attitude towards women, made her one of the finest novelists of the age.Jane Austen was born in Steverton, Hampshire, where her father, Rev. George Austen, was a rector. She was the second daughter and seventh child in a family of eight. The Austens did not lose a single one of their children. Cassandra Leigh, Janes mother, fed her infants at the breast a few months, and then sent them to a wet-nurse in a nearby village to be looked after for another year or longer. Cassandra, Jane Austens sister, who was her closest friend. Jane Austen was mostly tutored at home, and irregularly at school, but she received a broader education than many women of her time. She started to write for family amusement as a child. Her parents were avid readers; Austens own favorite poet was Cowper. Her earliest-known writings dated from about 1787. Very shy about her writing, she wrote on small pieces of paper that she slipped under the desk plotter if anyone came into the room. In her letters she observed the daily life of her family and friends in an intimate and gossipy manner: “James danced with Alethea, and cut up the turkey last night with great perseverance. You say nothing of the silk stockings; I flatter myself, therefore, that Charles has not purchased any one, as I cannot very well afford to pay for them; all my money is spent in buying white gloves and pink persian.”(Austen in a letter to her sister Cassandra in 1796)Austens father supported his daughters writing aspirations and tried to help her get a publisher. After his death in 1805, she lived with her sister and hypochondriac mother in Southampton and moved in 1809 to a large cottage in the village of Chawton. Austen never married, but her social life was active and she had suitors and romantic dreams.2.2 The authors worksThe works of Jane Austen, well received from their publication onward, are very different in style from the romanticism favored by her contemporaries. With trenchant observation and in meticulous detail, she presented the quiet, day-to-day country life of the upper-middle-class English. Vivid character drawing became her distinctive style. Her characters, even the most minor ones, are lively portrayed in lucid language. Austens novels are mostly concerned with young womens social growth and self-discovery. Nearly all of them explore a consistent theme that maturity is achieved through the loss of illusions. Faults of character displayed by the people of her novels are corrected when, through various trials and misunderstandings, lessons are learned.2.3 General introduction to Pride and PrejudicePride and Prejudice is the most popular of her novels. The characters are remarkably portrayed and they come alive under her pen: the long-winded and match-making mother; the sycophantic clergyman; the clever and quick-minded Elizabeth, whose ”prejudice” is matched with Darcys “pride”; the empty-headed and flirtatious Kitty and Lydia; the modest, earnest and unselfish Jane; and the good-natured Mr. Bennet, whose dry humor adds poignancy to the novel. The conflict between two equally wrong views on peoples worth. Elizabeth is not the ideal woman to be Darcys wife at first sight because she does not have a pretty face. But a womans value should not be judged from the surface. Darcy will soon find her a woman with special charm and beauty that go beyond what is only skin-deep. He loves her for her intelligence and integrity. But his proposal is rejected. His pride is hurt, yet his lesson is learnt. Elizabeth finally discards her prejudice and accepts the man as her husband. She is a heroine who captivates her man with intellectual wit and her righteous personality instead of physical beauty. Thus Austen idealized a type of new heroine that was not common in previous English literature.2.4 General introduction to Emma Emma was written in comic tone. Austen began the novel in January 1814 and completed it in March of the next year. The book was published in three volumes. It told the story of Emma Woodhouse, who finds her destiny in marriage.Emma is a wealthy, pretty, self-satisfied young woman. She is left alone with her hypochondriac father. Her governess, Miss Taylor, marries a neighbor, Mr. Weston. Emma has too much time and she spends it choosing proper partners for her friends and neighborsblind to her own feelings. She makes a protegee of Harriet Smith, an illegitimate girl of no social status and tries to manipulate a marriage between Harriet and Mr. Elton, a young clergyman, who has set his sight on Emma. Emma has feelings about Mr. Westons son. When Harriet becomes interested in George Knightley, a neighboring squire who has been her friend, Emma starts to understand her own limitations. He has been her moral adviser, and secretly loves her. Finally Emma finds her destiny in marriage with him. Harriet, who is left to decide for herself, marries Robert Martin, a young farmer.The analysis of Elizabeth Bennet3.1 The features of ElizabethElizabeth Bennet, the central character in Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice, is a riveting character because she behaves like a regular, common person. Elizabeth Bennet-spirited, independent, and one of five unmarried sistersis determined to play by her own rules and weds for love, not money or privilege. She is a witty and often jaded observer of her environment. She, like everyone, experiences extremes: she is wise enough to decline a marriage offer from a man she finds execrable (Darcy) but foolish enough to be temporarily courted by a rascal (Mr. Wickham).Although she places little worth in the customs of the world around her (a world where accomplishment for a woman is marrying well), she is finally reduced to adhering to those customs. Whatever Elizabeth feels, she feels it strongly; in response to Darcys proposal for marriage, she replies, “Do not consider me now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.” When she first tells her sister she is engaged to Darcy, Jane thinks she is joking: not only Mr. Bennet has been convinced of her dislike of the man. Elizabeth insists, urgently but comically, I must confess that I love him better than I do Bingley, so Jane begins to doubt herself, and says, Do be serious, I want to talk very seriouslyWill you tell me how long you have loved him? When Elizabeth replies, I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley. Elizabeths joking is a habit of mind: on the parallel occasion of Janes engagement, she carries on a similar dialogue all by herself, which the narrative modulates into free indirect speech to render: Not a word passed between the sisters concerning Bingley; but Elizabeth went to bed in the happy belief that all must speedily be concluded, unless Mr. Darcy returned within the stated time. Seriously, however, she felt tolerably persuaded that all this must have taken place with that gentlemans concurrence. Unwilling to tease her sister, Elizabeth pleases by teasing herself. Taking herself not quite seriously, she is making sport of herself as if she were one of her neighbors. This is Elizabeth.3.2 The feelings of ElizabethThe second daughter in the Bennets family, and the most intelligent and quickwitted, Elizabeth is the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice and one of the most well-known female characters in English literature. Her admirable qualities are numerousshe is lovely, clever, and, in a novel defined by dialogue, she converses as brilliantly as anyone. Her honesty, virtue, and lively wit enable her to rise above the nonsense and bad behavior that pervade her class-bound and often spiteful society. Nevertheless, her sharp tongue and tendency to make hasty judgments often lead her astray; Pride and Prejudice is essentially the story of how she (and her true love, Darcy) overcomes all obstaclesincluding their own personal feelingsto find romantic happiness. Elizabeth must not only cope with a hopeless mother, a distant father, two badly behaved younger siblings, and several snobbish, antagonizing females, she must also overcome her own mistaken impressions of Darcy, which initially lead her to reject his proposals of marriage. Her charms are sufficient to keep him interested, fortunately, while she navigates familial and social turmoil. As she gradually comes to recognize the nobility of Darcys character, she realizes the error of her initial prejudice against him.Elizabeth The most exceptional quality of the central character in Pride and Prejudice is her perspicacity. Elizabeth has a gift for seeing through nonsense and she has a deep interest in observing and understanding people. She is also an exceptionally self-possessed young lady who is not intimidated by the self-importance that people like Mr. Darcy or Lady Catherine impute themselves. She is well bred in the sense that she would never throw herself at a man. She is also pretty to look at, with exceptionally fine eyes, but, in the novel, it is her mental and psychological qualities that first attract Darcys attention, after which her appealing looks, which he initially dismisses as merely tolerable enough, I suppose, grows on him. In this new adaptation, very little of Elizabeths intelligence or refinement comes through. Very few of her pithy insights into human nature survive in the novel. In fact, overall, shes basically as much of a twit as her younger sisters. Her courage now seems to arise from sassiness more than confidence in her own perceptiveness. Instead of being self-possessed, she races from a room yelling, Leave me alone for once in your lives! Instead of the pride of refinement, we see her snooping about at Pemberley, peering in on Georgiana playing the piano. In the novel, her foremost dread in going to Pemberley is that she may run into Darcy and she is mortified when it happens. Here, in the novel, it follows from her initiative toward the end of the novel, she twice takes the initiative to indicate her interest in Darcy. For example, when Darcy mentions that hell be going away in a few days, Elizabeth says, So soon? She is reduced to begging for a renewal of his affection, which Austens Elizabeth would never have allowed herself to do. In short, Elizabeth is reduced to just another pretty girl in the novel.I prefer this marriage to the other ones, as it is a great inspiration to us and an ideal one we are looking for. Darcy first appears to us as a handsome but very proud person, cold and ill-mannered. “Darcy soon draws the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome feature, and noble mien.” And “he was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, or above being pleased!” (Wu Weren 125) As a matter of fact, he is a good man, a man of integrity, with the somber attractiveness of a wicked one. His love to Elizabeth, nourishes by day-to-day encountering with her, grows steadily and quickly. He admires Elizabeth for her intelligence and disposition, tries to understand her by every possible means. The more he understands, the more he loves her. His first proposal to Elizabeth is the culmination of the whole novel. Darcy. Sufferes by his long-suppressed feeling, decides to make a proposal to Elizabeth. It is no easy thing for him to court her regardless of her humble family and her inferior position. But his ardent admiration for Elizabeth beats his consciousness and social position. While his arrogance spoils the chance of being accepted. He chooses to tell her that he likes her against his character, against his will and reason. His sense of her inferiority, of its being a degradation, of the family obstacles seriously offends Elizabeth. So she indignantly hurls his proposal back in his face. Embarrassed and ruffled, he doesnt lose the control of himself, he acts like a real gentleman, he asks Elizabeth to forgive him for having taken up so much of her time, and accepts his best wishes for her health and happiness. His love to Elizabeth, undoubtedly, is ardent and sincere, even Elizabeth herself is quite astonished at his court and sorry for the pain he has suffered. “Her astonishment, as she reflected on what had passed, was increased by every review of it. That she should receive an offer of marriage from Darcy! That he should have been in love with her for so many months! So much in love as to wish to marry her in spite of all the objection which had prevented his friend marrying her sister, and must appear at lease with equal force in his own case, was almost incredible!” (Jane Austen 174)Darcys steady character and noble minds determine that his love is not mere overnights impulse. After having been accused of arrogance and selfish of the feelings of others, Darcy decides to make a change of himself. In order to win the favorable impression of Elizabeth, he invites Elizabeth, her aunt and uncle to visit his Pemberley. No efforts are spared on the part of Darcy, we can find his manners remarkably improve and his behavior strikingly alters! Never in her life has she seen his manners, so little dignified, never has he spoken with such gentleness as to this unexpected meeting. What a contrast does it offer to his last address in Rosings park, when he puts his letter into her hand! She doesnt know what to think or how to account for it! Of course, she can account for it! Love is the real cause of all those amazing alternations.Elizabeth is my favorite heroine. “She was a young woman very much addicted to making speeches, very pert often, fond of having the last word, and prone to hasty judgments, with really nothing but her prettiness and a certain sharp smartness of talk to recommend her.”(Margaret Oliphant 290) She is self-dignified and sensible, values true love as something noble and lofty, but never trades self-esteem with love, never trades money with love. Her refusal of Collins pompous proposal is a mirror, which reflects, for the first time, her perception and character, and her attitudes towards love. Elizabeth lives in an acquisitive society, a society which treats a penniless old maid not only as a joke but also as an exasperating burden upon her family. Elizabeth, if she were not lucky enough to marry a rich man, would have not enough money to support her future life, which she is fully aware. Nevertheless, she turns down Collins proposal against her mothers will. Because no love ever exists between them. Collins foolishness and falseness sicken her. We have already observed the insistent significance of the entail and Collins, who would inherit the estate when Bennet died. In proposing to Elizabeth, the magnanimous Collins says that he knows that she will, after her