《傲慢与偏见》中女性意识的体现

I 正文毕业论文题目(中文)： 傲慢与偏见中女性意识的体现 题目(英文)： The Feminine Consciousness That Reflected in Pride and Prejudice 学 院 外国语 专 业 英语 班 级 学 号 学生姓名 指导教师 二0一三 年 三 月 IAcknowledgementsThis thesis was completed due to the intellectual, emotional and material supports that I received from my teachers, classmates, friends and parents who I would like to thank here. First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Professor Shi Yujun, my respectable supervisor. She has offered great help in topic selection and given valuable suggestions constantly on the thesis revision. During the composition, his patient guidance and insightful advice gave me great encouragement. I am also very grateful to all the professors and teachers of the English Department of Foreign Languages School of Zhejiang Gongshang University. They have taught me during the past four years. And I am very grateful to my friends and classmates who have offered their constant encouragement to me in the course of my studies in their own ways.Finally, special thanks are directed to my parents who have always been giving me great supports all these years. The Feminine Consciousness That Reflected in Pride and PrejudiceAbstract: Jane Austen is regarded as one of the greatest women writers in the world. Jane Austen has created six great novels in her short life，among which Pride and Prejudice is the most popular one. Jane Austen，in this novel，portrays several pairs of marriage through which，she conveys her personal values of love, marriage，money，morality，and particularly shows her concerns for womens life and condition displaying her feminist consciousness. This thesis is intended to discussing the female characters in Pride and Prejudice. It consists of four parts: first, the brief introduction of Jane Austen and her Pride and Prejudice; second, analysis the typical female characters in the novel; third, the introduction of womens condition in Austens time; the forth is the conclusion.Key words: Pride and Prejudice womens condition feminine consciousness傲慢与偏见中女性意识的体现摘要：简奥斯丁被公认为世界文学史上最伟大的女作家之一。简奥斯丁在其短暂的一生中共创作了六部力作，其中傲慢与偏见是最受读者欢迎的一部作品。小说通过对几对婚姻关系的描写，表达了奥斯丁对爱情、婚姻、家庭的看法，尤其表达了她对妇女生活状况的关注，流露出强烈的女性意识。 本文主要研究傲慢与偏见中女性意识的体现。第一部分介绍奥斯丁的生平及其作品傲慢与偏见。第二部分分析作品中典型的女性角色，体现了强烈的女性意识。第三部分描述奥斯丁时期的女性状况。 关键字：傲慢与偏见 女性状况 女性意识CONTENTS1. Introduction.11.1Jane Austens Family Background and Her Education .1-21.2Jane Austens Love and Marriage.2-31.3Jane Austens Work3-61.3.1 Jane Austens Principle Work3-42. Austens Consciousness of Women Shown in The Creation of The Characters.2.1Elizabeth Bennet- the Brilliant Character in Pride and Prejudice2.1.1Elizabeths Intelligence2.1.2 Elizabeths Challenge of the Judging Standards of Perfect lady in Austens time.2.1.3 Elizabeths self-respect.2.1.4 Elizabeths Self-consciousness.2.2Mrs. Bennet2.3Charlotte Lucas3. Womens Condition in Austens Time.3.1 Womens Education and Job Opportunities.3.2 Womens Desire for Marriage4. ConclusionBibliography.The Feminine Consciousness That Reflected in Pride and Prejudices 1. Introduction1.1 Jane Austens Family Background and Her EducationJane Austen, the author of Pride and Prejudice, is one of the most important novelists of the nineteenth century. She was born in Steventon, England, in 1775.Her father, George Austen, was the rector o f the local parish. Jane was born in a happy and resourceful family. Her parents were never wealthy but they had aristocratic Connections and a recognized and respected place in society. Austens mother was a great reader of novels, which were borrowed from a circulating library and she had a gift for writing verse and choosing words to rhyme-the gift that was inherited by several of her children. Jane Austen was one of the seven children in the family. She had five brothers and one sister. In a family of so many boys, it may have been thought she should have the opportunity to acquire the feminine accomplishments of music, dancing and needlework. Yet, Jane, a nine-years old girl, insisted on accompanying Cassandra, her dear sister, to join Abbey School and learn Reading there. However after only eighteen months the two girls returned home because the family was not wealthy enough to afford all the childrens tuition each year. From then on, Jane educated herself from the resources of her fathers extensive library, and certainly with his guidance. At the age of twelve, Jane began to write down some stories she had probably told Cassandra in the bedroom they shared. She copied the stories into three manuscript books, which she labeled Volume the First, Volume the Second and Volume the Third. They are known as the Juvenilia. The stories are light-hearted, witty and amusing, and were read aloud to the family in theevenings. As a pastime, the Austens frequently read aloud. Jane excelled at this, and as an adult, read aloud for Cassandras pleasure. The family also took pleasure in drama, and the Austen brothers staged plays in the family barn when Jane was young. The practice continued, and before long, the entire family was involved. The production often became quite elaborate and they increased in popularity among the friends and family who attended the performance.Although reading was their primary form of education, the girls cultivated other talents. Jane learned to play piano. She practiced regularly and performed for her small circle of acquaintance. She also loved to dance. Cassandra took up drawing.1.2Jane Austens Love and MarriageIn 1795, Austen, who was now twenty years old, fell in love with Thomas Lefroy. A young graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, Lefroy was in Steventon to visit relatives who happened to be friends of the Austen, when Lefroys aunt sensed her nephews affection for Jane, she feared that marriage to the youngest daughter of a poor churchman might ruin his career in the law. She insisted that he leave Steventon immediately, and thus put an end to Austens first romance.In 1800, Austens father suddenly resigned his position in the church and announced he was moving the family to the city of Bath in southwestern England. Austen is reported to have fainted when she received the news. Bath-built by the Romans as a spa around natural hot springhad become a fashionable resort for the English gentry. Austen quickly recovered from the initial shock of the move, and, for a while at least, enjoyed the company of the familys new circle of social acquaintances. The following year Austen embarked on the second of her three ill-fated romances. While away from Bath on a family vacation, Austen fell in love with a young churchman, who it was expected would propose marriage to her. He had received permission from the family to join them later in their holiday, but as they were awaiting his arrival, they received news that he had died unexpectedly.While visiting friends in 1802, Jane briefly accepted the marriage proposal of Harris Bigg-Wither, Who stood to inherit his familys estate Manydown Park, Hampshire. Although she did not love Bigg-Wither, a wedding would deliver her from Bath, which she was beginning to find intolerable. Moreover, as the lady of an estate, Austen would be able to support her mother and sister in the event of her mother and sister in the event of her fathers death. The morning after accepting Bigg-Withers proposal, however, Austen called off the engagement. she would rather remain single, Laura Dabundo concluded in Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography, than enter a loveless union with a man who was not her intellectual equal.Jane Austen remained unmarried until she died on July 18th, 1817 in Winchester, Hampshire, England.1.3Jane Austens Work1.3.1 Jane Austens Principle Work Jane Austens career can be divided into two periods: the early and the late period. The former encompassing the juvenilia, as well as Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Northanger Abbey, the latter including Emma, Mansfield Park and Persuasion.Austens first major novel was Sense and Sensibility, whose main characters are Elinor Dashwood and her sister Marianne. The first draft was written in 1795 and titled Elinor and Marianne. In 1797 Austen rewrote the novel and titled it Sense and Sensibility. After years of polishing, it was finally published in 1811.In 1796, when Austen was 21 years old, she wrote the novel First Impressions. the next year her father George Austen attempted to have it published by Thomas Cadell and William Davies of London, but the manuscript was refused. The work was rewritten and published under the title Pride and Prejudice in1813. During 1797-1798 Austen wrote Northanger Abbey, which was published posthumously in 1818. It is a fine satirical novel, making sport of the popular gothic novel of terror, but it does not rank among her major works. In 1811 Jane Austen began Mansfield Park, which was published in 1814, it is her most severe exercise in moral analysis and presents a conservative view of ethics, politics, and religion. Shortly before Mansfield Park was published, Austen began a new novel, Emma, and published it in 1816. There is much evidence to support the contention of some critics that Emma is Austens most brilliant novel. The saturation of a narrow human situation with the authors satirical wit and psychological penetration is here carried to its highest point.Persuasion, begun in 1815 and published posthumously, together with Northanger Abbey, is Jane Austens last complete novel and is perhaps most directly expressive of her feelings about her own life. The predominant tone of Persuasion, however, is not satirical but romantic. It is, in the end, the most uncomplicated love story that Jane Austen ever wrote and the most beautiful to some tastes.2. Austens Consciousness of Women Shown in The Creation of The Characters2.1Elizabeth Bennet- the Brilliant Character in Pride and PrejudiceIn the novel, Austen describes ladies and several subordinating gentlemen, giving prominence to the Elizabeths intelligence, self-knowledge, courage, and independence. Austen presents her heroine as an active speaker to tell womens own stories and their own feelings. Through Elizabeth, Austen tells us her own standards of a perfect lady, and shows her consciousness of women.2.1.1Elizabeths Intelligence In spite of the prevailing idea that women is intellectually inferior to man by nature, Jane Austen in her Pride and Prejudice shows that women are at least as intelligent and capable as men. There was a rooted bias toward womens brain since the18th century. However, Austen went against convention by creating intelligent female characters in her novels, who are with a good sense of judgment and sound rationality. Readers are offered a symbol of this ideal from the depiction o f Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. She proves to be a woman of insight with the evidence that she can see through the noble appearance of Miss Bingley to her despicable innate character, that she takes a firm stand in defending her right to attain the ultimate felicity and unhesitatingly rejects M r. Collins kind offer of marriage.Although she is not always correct in judging people (misjudging Wickham for instance), she can be seen as a representative of those female characters with a new image different from the stereotypes of angel or monster in the traditional patriarchal works. In Pride and Prejudice, to stress the acute observation and judgment of Elizabeth, Austen specially compares Elizabeth with her elder sister-Jane. The following is one dialogue between Jane and Elizabeth when they receive the letter from Miss Bingley, in which she praises the beauty and charm of Darcys sister, and considers Jane is too low to marry her brother and even suggests that her brother may marry Darcys sister.Elizabeth is very upset by this letter and complains about Bingley to Jane:“Im far from attributing any part of Mr. Bingleys conduct to design, but without scheming to do wrong may be misery . Thoughtlessness, want of attention to other peoples feelings, and want of resolution, will do the business. ( P122)However Jane doesnt agree with Elizabeth as she argues that:“.Dear Lizzy, not to pain me by thinking that person(M r. Bingley) to blame, and saying your opinion of him is sunk. We must not be so ready to fancy ourselves intentionally injured. We must not expect a lively young man to be always so guarded and circumspect. It is very often nothing but our own vanity that deceives us. Women fancy admiration means more than it does. (P122)In the following chapters, Elizabeths supposes and judgments are proved to be right. From the dialogue between Jane and Elizabeth, readers are impressed by Janes good heart and gentle nature. However, what impresses us most is Elizabeths acute observation and judgment. Another example is that Elizabeth doesnt reveal to Jane, her sister and closest confidante her changed feelings about Darcy until he has actually proposed again and she has accepted. Thus she makes her own decisions more or less independently, and she believes her own judgment .Elizabeth, despite her youth and the limitations of a rural society, is an acute studier of character. It is Elizabeths intelligence that enables her to reveal the pretension of the Bingley sisters and make a right judgment of Charlotte and Collins. She is obviously superior to the other people in her environment.Elizabeth is Austens wittiest and cleverest heroine. It is her consciousness of her own superiority that permits her stand up proudly to lady Catherine and to reject Darcys insulting proposal. Moreover, Elizabeth is good at reflection and self-analysis, it is her self-discovery that helps her shed the prejudice and begins to be completely honest with herself.Elizabeth is proud of her ingenuity and prejudiced against Darcy because he has pronounced her not handsome enough(P.59) to dance with on their first meeting. And Elizabeth is at her least caution to Wickham, ready to believe his long, unsolicited tale of being wronged by Darcy and even to imagine herself falling in love with him. She never casts a doubt upon his testimony because of her prejudice against Darcy.2.1.2 Elizabeths Challenge of the Judging Standards of Perfect lady in Austens time As the writer have mentioned in Chapter One, in Jane Austens day, for women of the genteel class, the goal of their education was thus often the acquisition of accomplishments. And the standards of a perfect lady must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing dancing, and besides all these, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking ,the tone of her voice, her address and expressions. It is not surprising that the female education of that time put focus on cultivating artistic accomplishments and genteel manners, and the purpose for such accomplishments was often only to attract a husband or to be prepared for the girls future married lives. However, it is obvious that Jane Austen is not satisfied with such notions on female accomplishments. She emphasizes much on developing womens rationality by means of teaching them adequate knowledge.Her favorite heroine- Elizabeth never takes pains in her piano practice but is still regarded as the most sparkling girl, whereas her younger sister Mary-the most accomplished girl in the neighbourhood (Chapter P9) is more or less teased by others, including by the author herself. Elizabeths charm consists mainly in her wisdom, which is clarified by Darcys remarks on female accomplishments,All this she must posses a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, all the modern languagea certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions.an d to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.”(Chapter P34)With what Darcy says, it seems that Austen proposes new moral criteria for the female-women must try to attain new understanding and respect of the opposite sex by showing their intellectual ability. In the relationship between the sexes, Austen alters the convention that women simply please men with artistic accomplishments into the fact that women are as likely to be the instructor as man.This alter is shown in the novel by Elizabeth, who successfully changes Darcys manners as well as his mind.From the eighteenth century, some books for ladies reminded all women that they should be angelic, and enjoin them to those eternal feminine virtues of modesty, gracefulness, purity, delicacy, civility, compliancy, reticence, chastity, affability, politeness. According to the judging standards of a perfect lady at that time,Elizabeth is far from the perfect lady who should be with soft character and elegant bearing and definitely she has too many defects, especially in gracefulness, delicacy and reticence. In this great novel there are many other manifestations ofElizabeths challenge of the judging standards of a perfect lady. She once ignored decorum and went across muddy fields to visit th e sick Jane, who caught a cold and thus was staying at Netherfield Park. This behavior seemed so incredible that her younger sister Mary reminded her every impulse of feeling should be guided byreason; and exertion should always be in proportion to what is required.According to the judging standards of a perfect lady at that time, it is not surprising that when Elizabeth arrived with a spattered dress, she was convinced that they( Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley) held her in contempt for most country town indifference to decorum.2.1.3 Elizabeths self-respectIt is herself-respect that makes her feel embarrassed at the vulgarity of her family, and distinguish her from Longbourn. It is also her self-respect that permits her to reject Darcys insulting proposal and stand up proudly to Lady Catherine.Darcy allows his pride to guide him in his first proposal to Elizabeth. He begins his proposal like this way: “In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”(P168)And he spends more time emphasizing Elizabeths lower rank than actually asking her to marry him. He was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride. As a result, Darcys sense of “her (Elizabeth) inferiority-of its (proposal) being a degradation- of the family obstacles which judgment had always opposed to inclination” irritates Elizabeth. She rejects his proposal:It is natural that now thank you. But I cannot- I have never desired your good opinion, and you have certainly bestowed it most unwillingly. .the feelings which, you tell me, have little difficulty in overcoming it after this explanation.”(P169)One evident example to show Elizabeths self-respect is Elizabeths confrontation with t he arrogant and despotic lady Catherine