傲慢与偏见与红楼梦的婚姻观的对比研究

毕业设计(论文)课 题 名 称（英文）A Comparative Study of Marital Views in Pride and Prejudice and A Dream of Red Mansions （中文）傲慢与偏见与红楼梦中婚姻观的对比研究 学生姓名 罗小玄 学 号 1140501360 系 、 专 业 外语系2011级英语 指导教师 李 璐 2015 年 5月 26 日 A Comparative Study of Marital Views in Pride and Prejudice and A Dream of Red MansionsLuo XiaoxuanGrade 2011, Department of Foreign Studies, Shaoyang universitySupervised by Li LuAbstractPride and Prejudice and A Dream of Red Mansions are both the prestigious literary masterpieces in the world. There are much description of love and marriage in the two books. They were born in the 18th century, sharing some similarities and reveal their differences in the description. By comparing the marital views in Pride and Prejudice and A Dream of Red Mansions, the completely different endings revealed the different social systems and institution of marriage. Pride and Prejudice occurred in a time that the capitalism rapidly development, however, A Dream of Red Mansions occurred when a time that the people still bonded by the feudal ethics. In addition, the institution of marriage in feudal China was polygyny, but in capitalistic Britain was monogamy.This thesis is to apply text analysis, and from a perspective of feminist criticism to analyze the similarities and differences of marital views in these two books, and analyze main reasons for their differences.The thesis is consisted of five parts: the first part is the introduction, briefly introducing the contents of the two masterpieces and authors. The second part is to conclude the mainly marital views by interpretations of the four marriages in Pride and Prejudice. The third part is to reveal the marital views by analyzing several typical marriages in A Dream of Red Mansions. The fourth part is the comparative analysis of the two social backgrounds that tend to marital views. The last part is the conclusion of the above.Key words: marital views, compare, Pride and Prejudice, A Dream of Red Mansions傲慢与偏见与红楼梦中婚姻观的对比研究罗小玄邵阳学院外语系2011级指导老师：李璐摘 要傲慢与偏见与红楼梦都是在世界上享有盛誉的文学名著，书中都有大量的有关爱情和婚姻的描绘。这两本书都是于18世纪问世， 在对爱情和婚姻的描写上有许多相似之处，也展示了它们各自的特点。通过对傲慢与偏见和红楼梦的婚姻观的对比，书中完全不同的结局揭示了它们不同的社会制度和婚姻制度。傲慢与偏见诞生于英国资本主义迅速发展的时期，而红楼梦则诞生于人们仍然受到封建礼教束缚的封建社会。而且，当时的中国依旧是实行一夫多妻的婚姻制度，然而，在资本主义迅速发展的英国实行的是一夫一妻制。 本文从两部作品中体现的婚姻观出发，运用文本分析的方法，以女性主义文学批评的视角分析傲慢与偏见与红楼梦中婚姻观的异同，并且分析造成不同婚姻观的原因。本文由五个部分组成：第一部分：引言，结合背景对两部作品及其作者进行了简要的介绍；第二部分：通过对傲慢与偏见中四段婚姻的解读，对当时英国的婚姻观进行一个总结。第三部分：通过对红楼梦中几段典型的婚姻归纳出当时中国的婚姻观。第四部分：将傲慢与偏见和红楼梦中所体现的婚姻观进行对比，比较它们的异同，并分析造成它们不同的原因。第五部分：对以上四个部分的归纳总结。关键词：婚姻观；比较；傲慢与偏见；红楼梦ContentsAbstract. I中文摘要. IIIIntroduction. 11. A Brief Introduction of the Two Works. 11.1 Jane Austin and Pride and Prejudice .11.2 Cao Xueqin and A Dream of Red Mansions .22. Marital views in Pride and Prejudice. 32.1 Marriage For Physical Purpose by Charlotte and Collins32.2 Marriage on Compulsion between Lydia and Wickham.52.3 Marriage of Reason and Fancy between Elizabeth and Darcy62.4 Marriage of Shared Interest and Mutual Love between Jane and Bingley.72.5 The Marital Views in Pride and Prejudice3. Marital views in A Dream of Red Mansions.83.1 Marriage Based on Parents Interest or Family Status 83.2 Marriage Based on Appearance or Lust 104. A Comparative Analysis of the Social Background that Lead to Marital Views104.1 The Similarities of Marital Views . 114.2 The Differences of Marital Views. 124.3 The Reasons for the Differences13 Conclusion.14Bibliography 16Acknowledgements. 17A Comparative Study of Marital Views in Pride and Prejudice and A Dream of Red MansionsLuo XiaoxuanGrade 2011, Department of Foreign Studies, Shaoyang universitySupervised by Li Lu IntroductionAs we all know, love is the most holy human feeling, and marriage is the indispensable part of our social life. Marital views are the basic attitude toward love and marriage, which is an important constituent of social values, and a reflection of the society. In 18th and 19th centuries, China was in a historical period of the feudal autocratic dominated and slowly development of capitalism, while in Britain, capitalist rapidly grew up and out of feudalism gradually. A Dream of Red Mansions and Pride and Prejudice are the representative masterpiece almost in the same time in China and Britain respectively, which have much description in love and marriage. There are many similarities, but also differences between them. A Dream of Red Mansions is generally acknowledged as the highest peak of the classical Chinese novels. The study of A Dream of Red Mansions can date back to ancient times, and it has become a complete system at home and abroad. Hu Shi, and Chou Ruchang, represent the textual researchers. Huo Guoling elder sister and younger brother, and Liu Xinwu are the representatives of Index Faction/ the fact-searching researchers. Textual researchers main direction is the family of Cao Xueqin, the writing process of A Dream of the Red Mansion, the different versions of A Dream of Red Mansions, the author, the criticism in Chi Yan House as well as poetry, stories, medicine, research institutions and other details. However, the study mainly concerns about the women attitude to marriage limitedly.Pride and Prejudice, came out in 1813, it has been nearly 200 years. It has been well received both at home and abroad. Many critics analyzed from different angles and at different levels of artistic charm of the work. Austens writings had great influence on a number of writers throughout the century. Glimpses of Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins can be found in Dickens. Elizabeths sharp wit can be found in Thackeray, Eden, and Trollope. She helped to legitimize the novel as an art form. At the same time, she set an example for other women writers, showing them that even without the expansive education given to men, women could still make valuable contributions. But it is limited to be able to put Pride and Prejudice and A Dream of Red Mansions together in the comparison of womens attitude to marriage.This thesis tries to compare the marital views between A Dream of Red Mansions and Pride and Prejudice to analysis its similarity and differences, besides to found out the fundamental reasons for their differences.1. A Brief Introduction of the Two Works Pride and Prijudice and A Dream of Red Mansions are both the prestigious literary masterpieces in the world. There are much description of love and marriage in the two books. They were born in the 18th century, they share some similarities but also reveal their differences in the description.1.1 Jane Austin and Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen, the author of Pride and Prejudice, was a major English novelist, whose brilliantly intelligence, gracefully structured satirical novels marked the transition in English literature history from eighteenth century neo-classicism to 19th century romanticism. Jane Austen was born in 1775 and died in 1817, during the forty-two years of her short life, she wrote six full-length works: Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility. Jane Austin was unmarried in her lifetime. She lived with her family and friends, so her works full of narrow literary fields-stories of love and marriage. After all, for women in her age, the most significant thing was those little matters. She was deviated attention from the serious political to true life, showing how social class and privilege influenced the average English people. In addition, she focused on human nature, which devoted her novels going beyond the range of place and time. Pride and Prejudice is considered as the most successful and famous work of Jane Austen. It was originally entitled First Impression in 1796, and published in 1813 after revision. It tells several love stories, mainly describing the love story of Elizabeth and Darcy, a rich but arrogant gentleman, and Elizabeth, a beautiful and ingenious young woman. Considering Darcys pride, Elizabeth held prejudice against him and even rejected his first marriage proposal. After many twists and turns, Elizabeth and Darcy finally cleared up their misunderstanding and to be together. This work clearly shows the female views of Austin, and presents her conscious female consciousness. The heroine, Elizabeth set in Pride and Prejudice is able to make judgment independently, and gains respect from others. There is a sentence in Pride and Prejudice, “Do not consider me as now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.” Generally speaking, she thought love and sense should be blended, and sense and reality should be combined. Moreover, Marriage without love would have no life, and marriage should not be based on class and property, in contrast, it should be the product of mutual respect, understanding and admiration.1.2 Cao Xueqin and A Dream of Red MansionsA Dream of the Red Mansions is a masterpiece of Chinese literature and one of the Chinese Four Great Classical Novels. It was composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. It is granted as the highest peak of the classical Chinese novels. Cao Xueqin wrote this great book after the dynasty vicissitudes and political changes, reflecting the influence of individual fate between late Ming and early Qing Dynasty. The author did not limited to lament about his individual sentiment about his fate, in contrast, he expressed deep anxiety about the country. At the same time, he carefully perceived the human emotions and inner world, especially focusing on the observation of life value, the expression of human desire and the significance of life. Besides, it also presents us the daily life, romantic entanglements and cultural taste of the patrician family in eighteenth centurys Chinese feudal society. A Dream of Red Mansions shows us stories based on the main line about love marriage tragedy among JiaBaoyu, LinDaiyuandXueBaochai under feudalist social system. It described Rong mansions rise and fall, which represents all kinds of complicated contradictions of the feudal family in love, marriage, morality, and culture. In addition, it created a series images from nobles, civilians, slaves to the tragic women, and extremely broad reflecting the living environment of the feudal society, besides, it implied that the feudal society will inevitably be collapse. The masterpiece also praised the rebels against the feudal moral codes of noble love, which is the preliminary ideas of democracy, and deeply reveals the tragedy of love and marriage among JiaBaoyu, LinDaiyuandXueBaochai under the feudal moral codes. However, because of the historical limitations, Cao Xueqin described the downfall of feudal family, at the same time, he showed sorrow and pity, which make it covered with a layer of the fatalism and nihilism.2. Marital views in Pride and Prejudice There are several kinds of typical marriages in Pride and Prejudice, which not only shows the marital views of Austin, but also a representative of that era. By interpreting the four typical marriages in Pride and Prejudice, we can understand Austins marital view well.2.1 Marriage for Physical Purpose by Charlotte and Collins “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife”, which is the first sentence of the novel. It is the revelation of viewpoint of common people and implication that every single woman wants to marry a rich man, as a matter of fact, and was a popular view of marriage among public people in that society. Marriage of Charlotte and Collins is the first reflection of the truth. Their marriage is based on sense and property instead of true love or appearance.Charlotte, the eldest child of Sir William Lucas, is Elizabeths best friend. In the book, when she meets Collins, she already was a 27-year-old older female, no property, and looks mediocre, but Elizabeth praises her sensible, intelligent, and objective wisdom. However, such a smart women eventually chose Collins who is either reasonable or unpleasant as her partner.Collins, a parish priest, and the inheritor of the estate of Longbourn, is foolish, pompous, and supercilious. He wants to choose one of daughters of Mr. Bennet as his wife. His first look at the amazing Jane, but Mrs. Bennet told him that Jane soon to engage, then he turns the aim to Elizabeth at once. When he proposes to Elizabeth, he explains the motivation of their marriage:“My reasons for marrying are, firstly, that I think it a right thing for every clergyman in easy circumstances (like myself) to set the example of matrimony in his parish. Secondly, I am convinced it will add very greatly to my happiness; and thirdly, which perhaps I ought to have mentioned earlier, that it is the particular advice and recommendation of the very noble lady whom I have the honor of calling patroness.”3P139In his view, marriage is just a business, an exchange between wealth and marriage, which has nothing link with love, even his plan to get married is from his patronesss advice. His royal patroness, Lady Catherine asks him to choose a gentlewoman as his wife. She said, “choose property, choose a gentleman for my sake; and for you own, let her be an active, useful sort of person, not brought up high, but able to make a small income go to a good way.” Thus, after his refusal of proposal to Elizabeth, he quickly ignites the enthusiasm for Charlotte and meets Lady Catherines expectation for his wife. Obviously, it is not significant for Collins to marry whom or whether he loves.As for Charlotte, she is intelligent, but she has no better choice but accept Collins. Even though Collins is unreasonable, boring and do not love her at all, she still wants to marry him. Charlotte is a sensible woman, she thinks that marriage life is not important, but to marry is her consistent goal. After all, she is not young any more, neither does she own a large fortune, nor does she has a high social status. Hence, marriage seems a guarantee for her to get a financial security and to improve her social position. The marriage of Charlotte and Collins is based on money. It is realistic but their marriage life is not happy. For Charlotte, she obtains a good preservative; for Collins, he gets a decent wife. It seems that both of them have got what they want through their marriage. However, it is apparently that their marriage involves no love, no understanding, even equality. Marriage without love is just like a business transaction, which doom an unhappy one.2.2 Marriage on Compulsion between Lydia and WickhamIf the author has taunted the marriage of charlotte and Collins, then to the marriage of Lydia and Wickham is the stark critique. Their marriage is sex-oriented, and exclusive of love and money, just for a compulsion.Lydia is the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, she get the most favor from Mrs. Bennet, but she is ignorant, lazy, vain, frivolous, and stupid, who is devoted to a life of dancing, fashions, flirtation and gossips, and puts the married as the only target in her life. At the same time, she is the first to get married among her sisters. Whats worse, she elopes with Wickham before marriage, which puts all her family members into shame. Austin describes Lydia in this way:“Lydia was a stout, well-grown girl of fifteen, with a fine complexion and good humored countenance; a favorite with her mother, whose affection had brought her into public in an early age. She had high animal spirits, and a sort of natural self-consequence, which the attention of the officers, to whom her uncles good dinners and her own easy manners recommended her, had increased into assurance.”3P57Lydia has none sense of virtue, nor fine judgment. Ill-educated by her mother, she considered marriage as a game of her life, thus she never regards love or marriage as a serious matter. She falls in love with Wickham, a handsome and personable young officer at the first sight. It cant deny that love at first sight may be a true love, but even if there is love, that is just a kind of sensual and vanity impulse of passion without deliberation.Undoubtedly, Wickham is a handsome, friendly, courteous, and charming young soldier. Wherever he is, almost every womans eyes are focus on him. Unfortunately, it turns out Wickham a hypocrite who desires to make fortunes by marrying a rich woman. As the son of the housekeeper, he is fond of Darcys father, which provides him with a higher education, but he does not cherish the opportunity and does many wicked deeds. Wickham always wants to use marriage to obtain property and status. To begin with, he tried to seduce Darcys sister to elope with him, he run away after his plan failed. Then, he shows his admiration for Elizabeth and defamed Darcy to Elizabeth, which also is one of the reasons for Elizabeth prejudice against Darcy. Later, Wickham runs after Miss. Kim in that she has ten thousand pounds property. When he meets Elizabeth, he shows his affection, but Elizabeth just is a young lady, who has no property. So she definitely is not his aim, neither does Lydia. He elopes with Lydia just because he needs a female friend on the defaulted way. So even after their elopement, he does not any intention to marry Lydia. Finally, they get married after Darcy offers him to pay the debt and give him a sum of money. The marriage of Lydia and Wickham is based on passion, appearances and lust. Once these elements disappeared, their strongly relationship will gradually fade away. 2.3 Marriage of Reason and Fancy between Elizabeth and Darcy The marriage of Elizabeth and Darcy is one of the most appreciated and respected by Austin, their love and marriage is based on full understanding of each other, mutual appreciation, struggle together, and ultimately to a happiness marriage. Elizabeth is the authors favorite character, Austin once mentioned her in a letter to a friend: I must confess that I think her ( Elizabeth ) as delightful a character as ever appeared in print ,and how I shall be able to tolerant those who do not like her at least, I do not know. Elizabeth is a smart, pretty nifty, lovely middle class woman, who has an independent thinking, and keen observation, as well as self-esteem. She always has her own ideas, and bravely to pursue her love. All these qualities are not common for women in those days. Elizabeth and Darcy meet at a ball the first time, but they do not fall in love with each other at the first sight. In contrast, Elizabeth slighted by Darcys unwillingness to dance with her, the result is that his first impression on Elizabeth is pretty, arrogant and pride. Darcy, a wealthy noble, Austin depicts him with that: “ Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome feature, noble mien-and the report which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance of his having ten thousand a year.” 3P12Nevertheless, people soon find he is “to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbi