Pride and Prejudice读后感

Different People, Different MarriagesAbstract: Love is an eternal theme in 1itemture. In Pride and Prejudice, love stories are the main point. And there are four different marriages described in the story. By comparing these eight people’s characters and their four marriages, we can understand Jane Austen’s view towards marriage and imagine their life style at that time as well. Key words: Love marriage money social positionJane Austen had written many novels about love and marriage, and Pride and Prejudice is the most famous one. Pride and Prejudice is well known for Austen’s exploration of the ways in which a person’s self-concept and accompanying pride can color her or his understanding of the motives and merit of others. (Benditt 2003: 27) In this novel, Jane described 4 different kinds of marriages: Elizabeth and Darcy, Jane and Bingley, Charlotte and Collins and Lydia and Wickham. Through these four marriages, we can know that it is the four people’s different characters that lead to their different marriages. Different people had different attitudes towards marriages. So some people gained happiness while others’ marriages were just trades.Elizabeth and Darcy’s perfect marriageElizabeth and Darcy’s marriage is a perfect one. At the beginning of Pride and Prejudice, a sentence reads “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”It not only reflects Austen’s opinion towards marriage that money is very important, but also reflects the reality of the British society at that time: money was at the first place, men played an important role in the society, but women had no position in the society. (Lu Yuna 2008: 27)In Austen’s opinion, a marriage that both had money and love is a perfect one. Elizabeth and Darcy’s marriage just coincided with Austen’s basic requirements.Elizabeth was a clever and smart girl, although she was not the most beautiful one. She was also an independent girl and always had an individual opinion, because Elizabeth was an educated girl, although she learned by herself. So education is very important to women. (Chen Chong 2009: 103)Darcy was handsome man and he seemed very noble. He was very wealthy, but he was very proud and rude in other people’s eyes. Because of the education he had in his childhood, he first ignored Elizabeth’s merits because of the social position she was in and the relatives she had. But later, he realized Elizabeth’s smart and beauty and proposed to her. But Elizabeth refused at the first time. From this, we can know that what Elizabeth valued most was the true love between people. At last, through Darcy’s efforts, Elizabeth agreed to his proposal.It was Elizabeth’s optional marriage based on her personal value that made her get the final happiness and curbed Darcy’s arrogant as well. They thus established an equal relation based on mutual understanding and respect. So their marriage was the most harmonious one in the novel.Jane and Bingley’s tortuous marriageJane was the oldest in Bennet’s family. She was the most beautiful one among her sisters. But she was shy and lack of self confidence. So she was afraid to speakout that she loved Bingley.Bingley was also very wealthy, but he was more approachable than Darcy. Similar to Jane, he was lack of courage and had no definite views of his own on his marriage.They were met on a ball. Jane was attracted by Bingley’s handsome appearance, and Bingley also indulged in Jane’s beauty. So they fell in love with each other at the first sight. Although Jane loved Bingley very much, as a lady, she never showed her love. And she was within an inch of losing such a good man. Bingley was also not a strong-minded person. Influenced by his friend Darcy and family, he left Jane. But fortunately, this couple got married at last.But in my opinion, their marriage was just based on the attraction between each other. Actually, they were lack of confidence and understanding with each other. Although this marriage appeared a happiness one, some crisis was hidden. Charlotte and Collins’s utilitarian marriageCollins was a vulgar and flashy person. In fact, he had a certain amount of servility and arrogant. Floating in the upper class, he could only see social profits in his eyes. He didn’t love anyone.Charlotte was an ordinary girl. She was a little vainglorious, that’s why she decided to marry Collins. What she wanted was just a home and a wealthy life. I think she was a representative of most women at that time. Women had no position in the society, and what they wished for was marrying a good husband and depending on their husbands.There was no love in their marriage. It was just a kind of trade. Both of them got what they want but neither of them loved their partner. The novel didn’t tell us whether their marriage was happy or not. However, there was no problem for Charlotte living a life with no worry about money.Lydia and Wickham’s ridiculous marriageLydia was the little daughter of the Bennets. She was not beautiful and clever. But she was favor in coquetting.Wickham was a low-down villain. Although he was handsome, his behavior was really bad. He used his so-called elegant demeanor to attract Lydia. In fact, he just regarded marriage as a tool to be wealthy.It quickly showed the drawbacks of the marriage without a solid foundation. Gradually, Wickham had no interest in Lydia. And Lydia could only get comfort from her sisters. Even their life had to rely on the sisters’ help. So Lydia’s marriage was just a big joke.Their marriage was totally founded on basis of passion and pleasure. In Austen’s mind, it’s a kind of unfortunate marriage. Austen thought whether the marriage was happy or not had nothing to do with people’s appearance. The most important was the characters of people. The marriage between Lydia and Wickham was just a representative one of Austen’s opinion.In Pride and Prejudice, besides the four marriages mentioned above, Jane Austen had also portrayed as Mr. Bennett, his wife and Bingley’s sister’s marriage, and Darcy's aunt Mrs. Catherine’s and his sister's view of choosing a partner. Throughthese descriptions, we can understand Austen’s attitude towards marriage. She didn’t oppose the opinion that money is very important in marriages. But at the same time, she insisted that love was the basic element for a happy marriage. Her attitude towards marriage still has some positive influence in today’s life.Work cited:[1]Benditt, Theodore M. “The Virtue of Pride: Jane Austen as Moralist”. The Journalof Value Inquiry, 2003.6, No 37: 245-257.[2]陈冲：“《傲慢与偏见》中的女性主义角色分析”，《和田师范专科学校学报》57（2009）：102-103。