英语专业论文 林黛玉和伊丽莎白两个女性文学形象分析

Acknowledge
This thesis originates from four years’ study at School of Foreign Languages at Qujing Normal University. Upon the completion of this thesis, I would like to express my great and heartfelt gratitude to all those who have contributed to this thesis either directly or indirectly.
My greatest debt goes to my supervisor Professor Huang Wei for his insightful suggestions that contribute to the framework of this thesis. He spared a lot of time from his busy schedule to read the different versions of the manuscript and gave advice for improvement. To him, I owe much more than words.
Special thanks go to all the other teachers at English Department of Qujing Normal University. During the four years’ study, I benefited a great deal from their teaching and enlightening lectures.
My gratitude also goes to my classmates and roommates. They gave me much encouragement and support. I would like to thank my family, for their spiritual and financial support.
Finally, my thanks go to those who have devoted much time to reading this thesis and given me much advice, which will benefit me in my future study and work.
Abstract
Elizabeth Bonnet and Lin Daiyu are two great famous females created in the masterpiece. They have much sameness, especially their view on the love and marriage.
Elizabeth Bonner is the heroin in novel Pride and Prejudice written by English famous female realistic novelist---Jane Austen. She lived at the end of 18th century and at the beginning of 19th century, Britain was at the period of transition from an early stage of Capitalism to Capitalist Industrialization. Austen’s writings are influenced by the social background. Elizabeth is lovely, intelligent and self-esteem women. Lin Daiyu is one of the central figures in the Chinese ancient novel---A Dream of Red Mansions, which is written by Cao Xueqin, who lived in the Chinese Qing Dynasty. Lin Daiyu is as beautiful as a fairy, and she is a talented poet.
As two great women, they are very famous in the literature. Because of some reasons, they have much sameness, especially their views on the love and marriage, they are rebellious and self-esteemed and they both pursue their true love.
Key words: Lin Daiyu; Elizabeth Bonnet; love; marriage
摘要
林黛玉和伊丽莎白作为文学作品中的两个女性文学形象，她俩有许多相似点，特别是她俩对爱情和婚姻的看法。

伊丽莎白是《傲慢与偏见》里的女主人公，这部小说由英国伟大的现实主义小说家奥斯丁创作，简·奥斯丁生活在十八世纪末二十世纪初，正处于英国由早期的资本主义社会向资本主义工业时代的转变时期，她的作品受社会背景因素的影响。

伊丽莎白聪慧、美丽、大方，在爱情和婚姻面前很有主见，她的身上寄托了作者在爱情和婚姻方面的观点。

林黛玉是《红楼梦》里曹雪芹重点描写的人物之一，她貌美如仙，她还是微极有天赋的诗人。

《红楼梦》是中国古代四大名著之一，它以贾宝玉和林黛玉的爱情悲剧为主线，其中林黛玉作为悲剧的主角，作者对其进行了极其深刻的描写，同时，她的身上也寄托了作者的思想。

作为两个文学上的女性，她们在爱情和婚姻上都追求真爱，她们自尊自爱且都具有反叛精神。

关键词：伊丽莎白-班内特；林黛玉；爱情；婚姻
Contents
Acknowledge (i)
Abstract .......................................................................................................................... i i 摘要 .............................................................................................................................. i ii Contents (iv)
1. Introduction (1)
1.1 A brief introduction of Pride and Prejudice and its writer (1)
1.2 A Brief Introduction to A Dream of Red Mansion and its Writer (1)
1.3 A brief introduction to Elizabeth Bonnet and Lin Daiyu (2)
2. Literature Review (4)
2.1 Abroad research on Elizabeth Bonnet and Lin Daiyu (4)
2.2 Domestic Research on Elizabeth Bonnet and Lin Daiyu (5)
2.3 Comments (6)
3. The sameness of Elizabeth Bonnet’s and Lin Daiyu’s view on the love and mar riage7 3.1 Their rebellious nature (7)
3.1.1 The rebellious nature of Lin Daiyu (7)
3.1.2 The rebellious nature of Elizabeth Bonnet (9)
3.2Their high self-esteem (10)
3.2.1 The high self-esteem of Lin Daiyu (10)
3.2.2 The high self-esteem of Elizabeth Bonnet (11)
3.3 The pursuit of true love (12)
3.3.1 The pursuit of true love of Lin Daiyu (12)
3.3.2 The pursuit of true love of Elizabeth Bonnet (13)
4. Conclusion (15)
References (16)
1. Introduction
1.1 A brief introduction of Pride and Prejudice and its writer
Pride and Prejudice is a great work of English famous writer---Jane Austen. It is always a favorite book for readers, just as it was a favorite of Jane Austen herself, her own daring children, which tells the story of how the young ladies choose the husband. With great iron and wit Austen shows how tender human feeling interact with and are influenced by financial considerations. The theme of this novel is the love and marriage between male and female youth; the thread of the novel is the entanglement of male and female heroines’ love. The novel is full of humor and wisdom.
Jane Austen(1775-1817) is often considered as the greatest English women realistic novelist in the 19th century. Her greatness lies in her ability to stimulate reader to supply what is not there and expand a trifle in our mind and endow with the most enduring form of life scenes. The turns and twists of the dialogue between figures always make us in suspense. In her novels, she always leaves much for her readers’ imaginations. Jane Austen, who in her few novels reported chiefly in minute detail the everyday life of landed gentry, to the neglect of weighty social and political themes of her day.(Chen Jia, 1988: 4-5) She is a country clerg yman’s daughter and grows up in a big family; she is educated at home and remained unmarried. Her life experience gives her materials. Her self- contained life is often reflected in her novels, which, peopled as they are by impoverished clerical families,, eligible country squires, foolish snobs and husband-hunting women, seem to portray in miniature. (Annette, 1953: 411)
1.2 A Brief Introduction to a Dream of Red Mansions and its Writer
A Dream of Red Mansions is one of the most prominent Chinese ancient realistic novels. The background of the novel is the fall and rise of four great clans---Jia, Shi, Xue and Wang. The main thread of the novel is the tragic love between Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu. In the novel, the author portrays more than four hundred figures under his broad social background. With the writer’s great intelligence, centering on the love affair between Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu, the writer created a large number of lovely and picturesque females. Among them, Lin Daiyu is the most outstanding one.
Cao belonged to a Han Chinese clan of the Plain White Branch of the Manchu
Eight Banners. Honored into slavery to Manchu royalty in the late 1610s, his ancestors distinguished themselves through military service and subsequently held posts as officials.
When Cao Yin died in 1712, Kangxi, still in power, passed the office over to Cao Yin's only son, Cao Yong. Cao Yong died in 1715. Kangxi then allowed the family to adopt a paternal nephew, Cao Fu, as Cao Yin's posthumous son to continue in that position. Hence the clan held the office of Imperial Textile Commissioner at Jiangning for three generations.（Ying Bicheng, 1979:107-108）The family's fortunes lasted until Kangxi's death and the ascension of the Yongzheng Emperor to the throne. Yongzheng was much less tolerant of the debts the family chalked up in office. By 1727, after a series of warnings, he decided to confiscate the Cao clan's properties, including their mansion, and put Cao Fu under arrest. Many believe this purge was politically motivated. When Cao Fu was released a year later, the family, totally impoverished, was forced to relocate to Beijing. Cao Xueqin, still a young child then, followed the family in this odyssey.
1.3 A brief introduction to Elizabeth Bonnet and Lin Daiyu
Elizabeth Bonnet is the heroine of the novel; she lives in a big family with her parents and four sisters. “Lezzy has some of more quickness than her sisters.” her father says. (Jane Austen，2006) Like all the girls of ‘genteel’ class, under the influence of the truth universally acknowledge, Elizabeth goes to attend the dancing party held in Meriting, and is coldly treated by Darcy, but she used her health sense of humor to joke about rude behavior of Darcy. She is deeply aware that she must find a good husband if she wants to live a better life in her rest of life. However, her awareness dose not lead her to makes a hasty unwise choice. On the contrary, she will wait and watch with sense and sensibility for the right choice as she desires her marriage to compose both love and money. She is intelligent, vivacious, humorous, perceptive and quick-witted and she has a strong sense of personality and dignity. She despises her mothers’ rough manners and her younger sisters’ flirtatiousness and dissoluteness, but she is never ashamed of her amiable uncle and aunt Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner just because of their profession as merchants.
Lin Daiyu was born to a Suzhou scholar-official, Lin Ruhai, and Lady Jia Min of the Rongguo house, Daiyu was raised by her parents in her family's mansion in nearby Yangzhou, and she gets an excellent education. She had a natural affinity for academic studies and learned exceptionally well. Her childhood tutor was Jia Yucun.
During her childhood, a Buddhist monk once proposed to take her away as a sacrifice to save her from a tragic fate. This was of course, rejected. Having a naturally weak constitution she has been taking medicine and tonic from a very young age, and this resulted in her somewhat willowy build and ethereal beauty. At the age of six Daiyu lost her mother; shortly after she is summoned to the capital to be with her maternal grandmother, the powerful Jia Clan matriarch, Grandmother Jia. She immediately bonds with Jia Baoyu, her maternal cousin and her grandmother's favorite, and with the many girl cousins in the house. Daiyu's father dies a few years after her entry into the Rongguo House, leaving her a complete orphan. She is one of Grandmother Jia's most doted grandchildren.
Daiyu is an emotional girl, prone to extreme mood swings and melancholic spells. She is described as having been sickly since childhood; indeed, when she is first introduced, a couplet describes her "with a heart like Bi Gan's, yet even more intelligent; and with an illness like Xi Zi, yet even more beautiful". (Chao Xueqin, translated by Yang Xuanyi, 2006)
2. Literature Review
2.1 Abroad research on Elizabeth Bonnet and Lin Daiyu
Jane Austen is one of the greatest realistic novelists in English literature in the 19th century. During the forty-two years of her life, Austen had completed six novels and left behind three fragments. In her works, Austen vividly revealed the class relationships, social customs and social morals of her time by meticulously and humorously depicting the life of the rural gentry at that time. Austen’s careful craftsmanship has enabled her novels to be popular with readers in every generation since they were first produced. (Zhu Hong, 1985) During the past two hundred years, Austen’s artistic charm has remained unchanged in spite of the change of readers’ literary taste. Virginia Woolf once wrote that of all great writers Jane Austen "is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness". (Annette T. Rubinstein, 1953) In the twentieth century Jane Austen’s "greatness" has never been challenged. There are neither heroic passions nor astounding adventures in Austen’s novels, which ma ybe result from her limited life experiences. Her only concern is how a marriageable genteel-class woman could find a satisfactory husband. Austen delineates many kinds of love and marriage in her novels. The most obvious characteristic of Austen’s view of marriage is the predominant economic considerations. During Austen’s time, according to the British law, entailed property was usually inherited by the nearest male heir, to marry properly, a woman usually must have a handsome dowry ready, and as a result, many women could not marry owing to their poor economic conditions. However, if a woman managed to get married, not only would she obtain "the pleasantest preservative from want" for her later life, but her social status would also be raised. Austen’s ma sterpiece Pride and Prejudice fully embodies her view of marriage.
From 1813 up to now, the novel has been a special attraction to readers and enjoyed great popularity. Among these criticisms, critics have analyzed this novel from different angels: George Henry Lewes praise the construction and artistic economy of Pride and Prejudice; Virginia Woolf discusses Austen’s characterization, rang of subject matter and narrative viewpoint, comments on the social and physical restrictions of the environment in whi ch Austen writes it and assets that Austen’s “gift and her circumstances matches each other completely”(1950); Marvin Burdick
explored how the quality of irony functioned in Pride and Prejudice in 1952. Within the recent twenty years, a great deal of research about Jean Austen and her novels has been done and been very fruitful. For instance, David Monograms’“Jean Austen: Structure and Social Vision (1980), Michal William’s Jean Austen: Six novels and Their Methods (1986). In essay “Women, Power and Subversion”Judith Lewder Newton creates a variation in the argument that Elizabeth Bonnet is a bourgeois heroine by noticing that Austen has little respect for bourgeois men such as Mr. Wick ham and Mr. Collins. Elizabeth makes her career by being true to herself and saying what she believes. (Zhong Shuangyan, 2008)
In abroad, there is still appearing a large amount of people who are interested in the A Dream of Red Mansion.David Hawks translated it into English in 1973; Tambling. J. (2003) writes an essay about inside and outside the Dream of Red Mansion. In the paper, Tambling gives a deep analysis of this Chine’ greatest work, and also draws a picture of Daguanyuan in the westerners’ eyes. In 2004, Wu, Jinshe published a paper called “Dimensioned Spiritual Undercurrents”in the JOURNAL-SHANGQ TEACHERS COLLEGE.
2.2 Domestic Research on Elizabeth Bonnet and Lin Daiyu
The studies on Pride and Prejudice in China are not as popular as in western countries. Recent years only several domestic scholars engage in the study of Pride and Prejudice.
In March 2007, Hang Ling in her article “The consciousness of Female Subject of Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice” points out that the consciousness of female subject of Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice is closed though the relationship of the characters. In 2007, Kang Dan in her paper “on feminist Consciousness from the Perspective of the Relationship between Wealth and Marriage” values Jane Austen’s feminism embodied in Pride and Prejudice by analyzing the relationship between marriage and wealth.’ Tian Yuxia(2007) in her article “Awakening behind the Comedy- Jane Austen’s Feminist Consciousness Viewed from the Comic Perspective in Pride and Prejudice” points out that though the use of comic deices Jane Austen express wome n’s voice of her time and awakening the feminist consciousness. In 2007, Xu Lin’s paper “Self-realization and Self-finding: on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice” points out it is obvious that Jane Austen actually studies human spiritual experience with great sincerity.
In summary, studies on Pride and prejudice in China are not as profound as in the western countries. Moreover, most researches are done from the perspective of
linguistics, as far as I know, few studies are made from the perspective of feminism.
A Dream of Red Mansion is one of the four greatest ancient novels in China, it is also the most controversial one, because it has complicated and diverse theme, characters and plot. In the field of literature, there are thousands of scholars do some researches on the A Dream of Red Mansion.Liu Mengxi’s asking love in the red mansion, it focuses on the psychological process of love story between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu. In Mei Zhun (2010) writes a paper about Lin Daiyu’s character, Daiyu likes quiet. In1997，Wang Jinjin write a paper called a perspective of the different and same view on love and marriage of China and Western countries from A Dream of Red Mansion and Pride and Prejudice.
2.3 Comments
Both Pride and Prejudice and A Dream of Red Mansion are two great masterpieces in the world. As soon as they are published, they catch the attention of people, especially their main characters Elizabeth and Lin Daiyu. Both Lin Daiyu and Elizabeth are great persons in the great works, and they are the most representative females in the literature. Though they are living in different countries, as well as different times, we can see their same points, such as their true love, self-esteem and revolt spirit. It is a very valuable thing for them to have such conceptions at that time, so they are the forerunners of feminism.
However, there are some people still with many misunderstandings about them, so in this paper, the author gives a further analysis of them and lets readers get more understandings. In fact, they are two excellent females, because they are always brave enough to say, “No”.
3. The sameness of Elizabet h Bonnet’s and Lin Daiyu’s view on
the love and marriage
3.1 Their rebellious nature
3.1.1 The rebellious nature of Lin Daiyu
The rebellious nature in Lin Daiyu and Elizabeth Bonnet is embodied in their attitude toward love and marriage. They both pursue seemingly unattainable love and reach for their ideal marriage which they are not supposed to have in other peo ple’s eyes with their social status taken into consideration.
Lin Dayu is a revolt of feudalism society. Although she lives in a traditional feudal conservative family, she looks down the culture of feudalism and she considers that scholar of Paguwen is sham. When Xue Baocha persuades Baoyu should read some books about scholarly honor, Jia Baoyu says that Lin Daiyu never says such words to him. (Liu Mengxi, 2006: 15) Facing with her love, she pursues her own love freely. But this is not permitted in her living times. In the Chinese feudal society, marriage is not based on love between each other, but according to the consideration of family. They must follow their parents’ order. In the beginning of Lin Daiyu’s lives in her grandma’s home, there is any of them respect and love her, especiall y her grandma. However, as soon as she knew that Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu fall in love of each other, she said, “It i s natural for young people who’ve played together as children to be partial to each other; but now they are mature enough to know they should keep a certain distance, that is what a girl should to do, if she has improper ideas, I will do not love her any more.” (Cao Xueqin, translated by Yang Xuanyi, 1999) Though this we can see that grandma’s love for Daiyu is gone. In this clan, once it refers to feudal virtual, their true ugly appearances are seen. Their marriage is based on status, family foundation and family property. (Zhu Bing, 2009: 71) But Lin Daiyu is not following these principals. The cruel reality engulfed her love and life. In her times, monetary benefits are still in the marriage. Her characters of love reality and life run counter to the feudal society’s rules of feudal ethnics is also go against the family’s interest, so this fertile revolt only brings tragedy life.
Marriage in feudal times was not based on love, but on consideration of family advantage. The jias, although they have been a distinguished clan for generations, are in decline. The income from their estates is no longer sufficient to support their lavish
lifestyle. In this situation, the Jias determine to marry Baoyu, who shoulders all the hope for their future prosperity to Xue Baochai, who comes from a noble and very proper family. They see her as the very person not only to assist them with money but also to steer Baoyu back onto the road of feudal rectitude. However, Daiyu stands in the way of the ‘Perfect Marriage of gold and jade’. As an orphan, Lin Daiyu has no family connections that can help the Jia family financially; more importantly, she aids and abets Baoyu in his rebellion against feudal mores, leading him down a path that spells ruin for the family. Thus the Lady Dowager, head of the household, regards her as completely unsuitable as a marriage partner for Baoyu and gives a hint of the bond of Baoyu and Baochai on several occasions to cast away Daiyu’s illusions. Daiyu is familiar with the talk of gold and jade, and she is well aware of the Lady Dowager’ inclination but her rebellious nature would not let her give up her true love under harsh feudal oppression. (Zhu Bing, 2009: 89)
She pushes Baoyu to make clear his denial to the vicious talk about gold matching jade again and again to comfort her and give her confidence to stand up to the feudal thinking. Daiyu had confidently expected that this night would give her an opportunity of deploying her talents to the full and amazing every one with her genius this is what Daiyu is thinking when she attends a poem competition with the Lady Dowager present. She is really eager to outshine the other girls before the Lady Dowager, Baochai in particular to prove her a woman just as excellent as Baochai. It is her rebellious nature that has her go all out to make people feel that she is able to make a better match with Baoyu than Baochai. (Xu Ziyu, 1987: 141-142) And even Jia Baoyu said that the reason for him to love Lin Daiyu is that Daiyu never talked him with some scholarly honors. This personality of Daiyu is very valuable at that time. What’s more, her living surrounding is filled with heavy feudal conceptions; this is closely related to her growing experience. Lin Daiyu lost her mother when she was very young, so she was not cultivated with traditional feudal conservatives; she is only one child of her father, so when she was very small her father educated her as a boy. In a word, Lin Daiyu is growing more freely than the other children at that time.
As we know, the thinking of author is always represented by the protagonist of works; Cao Xueqing is not an exception. The rebellious nature of Daiyu is the rebellious nature of the author---Cao Xueqin. Cao Xueqin was living at the falling of Qing Dynasty; he is a forerunner of acknowledging the putrid. He considers that is the feudal conceptions bondage the whole people. His rebellious thinking is showed by
Lin Daiyu.
3.1.2 The rebellious nature of Elizabeth Bonnet
Elizabeth’s situation is somewhat similar. In 19th century England, marriage is only supposed to happen between the rich and the richer, the poor and the poorer. People marry on the basis of equal property and social status instead of mutual love. “the love and marriage is not based on true love, but based on the consideration of money, power and material condition.”(Lv Yumei, 2008: 36-39) Elizabeth seems to have very feminist views which is odd for a women to have such ideas at that times. She is not flabby and she is always on her own so that she has her own opinions about marriage, happiness and morality. Although her mother she can get married quickly, she dose not come to terms her mother’s pres sure and public opinion. The words that she told her disliked person provided that she owns her own spirit and she is independent.
Elizabeth is by no means a worshiper of this unwritten law. She encouraged Jane to pursue her love with Mr. Bingley regardless of the gap of their family background and wealth. She tries to dissuade Miss Lucas from her scheme of marrying Mr. Collins because she believes marriage is built on understanding, care and support between two soul mates not the then prevailing mutual interests. She trifles with Lady Catharine fearlessly to protect her belief that two people can fall for each other and tie the knot even if they have very different life experience. Elizabeth’ rebellious nature functions to its fullest with her progressive ideas toward love and marriage which are so different from the generally-acknowledged values in her time.
In the novel Mr. Collin is an ugly man that he regards his marriage with Mrs. Bonnet as an economic compensation for the Bonnet. When he asked Elizabeth to get married whit him, Elizabeth refused and she said, “You forget that I just made no answer. Let me do it without further loss of time. Accept my thinks for the compliment you are paying me, I am very sensible of your proposals, but it is impossible for me to do otherwise than to decline them.” (Jane Austen, 2003) We can see she express her own opinion very bravely. In fact, the different responses to the Darcy’s proposal reflect that Elizabeth pursues the independence and equality. (Yang Guiqin, 2009:143-144)
When Elizabeth visited Darcy’s aunt at first time, Darcy’s aunt wants to make Elizabeth shame, but Elisabeth uses her own intelligence response to Darcy’s aunt. Darcy’s aunt is very proud wealthy woman, she wants her ill daughter marry to D arcy, because of Elizabeth’s low statue, she hopes Elizabeth leave Darcy, but Elizabeth did
not agree with her. From this we can see Elizabeth’s rebellious nature. From this we can also see the author’s opinion of love and marriage; she considered that the relationship of marriage should be based on the mutual respect. (Zhu Hong, 1985: 337)
3.2Their high self-esteem
3.2.1 The high self-esteem of Lin Daiyu
Lin Daiyu and Elizabeth Bonnet are very high self-esteemed and they believe that they are entitled to the equal rights with man or any other women and they long for respect from other people in a very obvious way.
Lin Daiyu manages to keep her self-respect in the midst of the grand and snobbish Jias, warding off slights and bulling with her candid and carping tongue. The first time when Daiyu enters the Grand View Garden; she decides to watch every step she takes and weigh every word she says. She tells herself repeatedly on her way to her grandmother’s home: guard every moment so as not to be laughed at for any foolish blunder. Most readers think this is supposed to demonstrate how sensitive Daiyu is. However, it is also supposed to show that stroke by the magnificence of her grandmother’ home though, Daiyu does not think she is less noble than anybody and also she believes that she does not deserve to be looked down upon. (Zhang Jinchi, 1982:204) There are many other evidences to prove Daiyu’ high self-esteem. In chapter 7 of A Dream of Red Mansions, Cao Xueqin conceived a plot of Zhou Rui’ wife gives Daiyu two artificial flowers. They are beautiful flowers exquisitely fashioned by Palace craftsmen out of silk gauze. Daiyu takes a look at them and says, “am I the only one getting these, or have the others had some too?(David Hawks, 1973: 174) After hearing that all the other girls have been given their flowers, she smiles sneeringly and says,” Get the leavings when every one else has had their pick”.(David Hawks, 1973: 174). Daiyu knows that she does not take the side of Jia family as some other girls like Tan-chun, Ying-chun do, but she strives for equality and the same status with them. When her demands are not fulfilled, she feels bitter and brings what she has in mind out to remind people of the equality. Sometimes her self-esteem reached a point that she gets very upset and furious when Xiang Yun says she looks exactly like a child actress with making up who belongs to the low rank of the society.
A careful reading of A Dream of Red Mansions turns out that Daiyu does not only demand equality among girls, but also wants it between males and females which
were practically impossible in her time. There is a time when Baoyu presents the precious scented beads given him by the prince of Beijing and offers to give it to Daiyu. The prince of Beijing is recorded as a very powerful and royal official then, normally people would feel honored to have his gift, but it is a total different story when it comes to Daiyu. She flings it back at Baoyu disdainfully saying, what; carry a thing that some coarse man has pawed o ver? I don’ want it! (Cao Xueqin, translated by Yang Xianyi, 1989). As a result, Baoyu is compelled to take it back. This shows that Daiyu sees herself not only inferior to a man and it is a perfect case of her sprout of feminine awareness. (Zhang Jinchi, 1982)
3.2.2 The high self-esteem of Elizabeth Bonnet
Elizabeth’ high self-esteem detected from rejections to two proposals. The first man proposal to her is Mr. Collins. Mr. Collins was not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been little assisted by education. The subjection in which his father had brought him up had given him originally great humility of manner; but it was now a good deal counteracted by the self-conceit of a weak head, living in retirement, and the consequential feelings of early and unexpected prosperity. (Jane Austen 2003:54) It could be deferred from this statement that Mr. Collins is not an attractive gentleman. Furthermore, he is foolish enough to give himself credits for the idea of marrying one of the Bonnet daughters as his plan of amends for inheriting their father’s estate. Thus when such a man makes a proposal to Elizabeth, she does not say yes. For Elizabeth, this proposal is absolutely insulting and humiliating. She sees herself much more than an attachment of a house and of course she believes as a respectable individual she will end up with a better man. Even his father knows that well and his father said, “I know your disposition, Lezzy. I know that you could be neither happy nor respectable unless you truly esteemed your husband?-Your lively talents would place you in the greatest danger in an unequal marriage.” (Jane Austen, 2003:277)
Mr. Darcy is the second man proposing to Elizabeth. He is fine, tall, in a word, a very glamorous man. His handsome features, noble men, and his ten thousand annually draw the attention of other people everywhere he goes. Literally he would make a good match for Elizabeth. However during his proposal, he spoke well, but there were feelings besides those of the heart to be detailed, and he was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride. His sense of her inferiority, of its being a degradation, of the family obstacles which judgment had always opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to the consequence he。