Money and Marriage——The matrimonial value orientation in Pride and Prejudice
[Abstract] Pride and prejudice is a very popular novel written by Jane Austen and it is read widely all over the world. It was written in 1813. That specific history time decided that people at that time took money much more seriously, even on their marriage. In this paper, the marriage cases of most characters in the book were taken as typical to analyze how money influenced their matrimonial value orientation.
[Key words] Pride and prejudice, money, matrimonial value orientation, marriage
[摘要] 简·奥斯丁的《傲慢与偏见》写于1813年，一直以来很受欢迎，并被广泛阅读。特定的历史时代决定了那个时候的人们对金钱特别看重，影响波及婚姻观念。在这篇文章里面，书中大部分人物的婚姻选择都用来作为典型，证实金钱体现他们的婚姻价值取向。
Introduction
Pride and Prejudice is the most enduringly popular novel written by Jane Austen. It talks about trivial matters of love, marriage and family life between country squires and fair ladies in Britain in the 18th century. The plot is very simple. That is how the young ladies choose their husbands. Someone said that “Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of the novel, flatly rejected William Collins’ proposal, who is the heir of her father’s property and manor, and refused the first proposal from the extremely wealthy nobleman Fitzwilliam Darcy later,”(1) all this makes it clear that Elizabeth “seeks no fame nor fortune, but self-improvement and high mental outlook.”(1) It’s right. From the view point of Austen, Elizabeth’s marriage, who finally marries Darcy, as well as Jane-Bingley’s, composing money and love, is the ideal marriage people should after. But in other marriage cases in this novel, we can see that if money and love can’t be held together in one marriage, love would always make a concession to money because of the special social background. After reading through the whole book, we will find that money acts as the cause of each plot and the clue of its development. It affects everybody’s words and deeds, even Elizabeth Bennet. Tony Tanner once said, “Jane Austen, as well as other authors, is very clear that no feeling could be extremely pure and no motive could be definitely single. But as long as it is possible, we should make it clear that which feeling or motive plays the leading role.” (2)
Social Background
The story of Pride and Prejudice took place in the time of the Regency in Britain. At that time, Britain was at the period of transition from the earlier stage of Capitalism to Capitalist Industrialization. In the countryside, the aristocratic family still held great power and right that country squires were likely to fawn upon them. However, as the development of Capitalism and the expand of the rank of rich people, the distinction between social strata was becoming smaller and smaller, while money was getting more and more important in people’s mind about social value. A western literature critic once said that “ even David Ricardo (a British economist) had a unlikely clearer understanding about the function of money in daily life as Jane Austen had.”(3) It is exactly because of the secure pledge in finance that the country squire society could be existing strongly and solidly.
The first sentence of the whole novel proclaims, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”(4) Here, “a good fortune” and “in want of” are two key phrases. “in want of” means it is needed objectively, but not subjectively. Such kind of wording makes the proposition have more objectivity of “truth”. In Pride and Prejudice, the Bennets are taken as the typical to test the “truth universally acknowledged”.
Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have five daughters, living at Longbourn. Mr. Bennet’s property consists almost entirely in an estate of two thousand pounds a year, which, unfortunately for his daughters, is entailed, in default of heirs male, on a distant relation. That means there will be no other guarantee for their daughters’ future lives, but their perspective marriages. Therefore, it is no wonder that Mrs. Bennet takes Mr. Bingley as “the rightful property”(5) for their daughters when she hears about that he has one hundred thousand pounds property, though she has not even seen him – “A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!”(6) That is the beginning of the novel. The implicit marriage mentioned here obviously concerns no feeling but only financial condition and subsistence. To those husband-hunting ladies, Mr. Bingley is an abstract signal. The most important thing is that he has “a good fortune”. So we can say, to opposite with the proclamation at the beginning, so-called “ a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife” is not at all “ a truth universally acknowledged”, but only Mrs. Bennet’s own wishful thinking. We can also say that, as Zhu Hong pointed out, in Pride and prejudice, the real “truth universally acknowledged” is “ a woman without property must be in want of a husband with a good fortune.”(7)
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Pride and Prejudice - 傲慢与偏见
傲慢与偏见」(Pride and Prejudice)，这本写于约200年前的英国小说，到了今天仍然位列英语系读者最喜爱的作品龙虎榜上。
人与人之间, 常常都会因为一些表面的刻板印象, 沟通上的误解, 而产生各种各样不必要的误会。尤其在两性之间，身理结构上的不同， 思维的差异， 更是容易产生误解和冲突，也因此， 建立一段人际关系， 变的复杂和困难。
《Pride and Prejudice》-《傲慢与偏见》 是改编自Jane Austin的经典文学名著的一部文学电影。说是文学电影， 因为与文学小说扯上了关系，基本上， 电影本身拍出了属于本身的格调，节奏虽缓慢， 却时不时的表现出了英国式的幽默感，并不会让观众有种曲高和寡的印象。
影片的故事主线， 当然就是围绕在Bennett家的其中两位漂亮女儿的爱情发展上。 大女儿，Jane， 美丽，温柔含蓄，气质淡雅； 二女儿， Elizabeth （Lizzi）， 漂亮， 活泼， 乐观有主见， 勇敢。
在母亲的积极安排部署之下， 两人在一场舞会里， 邂逅了两个英俊，富有的年轻贵族男子，从而产生了两段截然不同的爱情：Jane 和 Mr.Bingley, Lizzi 和 Mr. Darsey。
既然名以傲慢与偏见， 故事里的爱情， 当然就是围绕在这个主题推进。傲慢？ 谁傲慢？为什么傲慢？ 傲慢的， 是年轻而富有的 Mr. Darsey。他的傲慢， 也许来自他那显赫的出身背景，所受过的高深的教育和修养 （傲慢的人， 还谈的上修养？）。在 Lizzi 第一次与他的见面里， 他就显示了那无比的冷漠与傲慢， 永远一幅高高在上的姿态，对周围的人不屑一顾，令人难以亲近。
与他的好友， Mr.Bingley的亲切友善， 笑容可掬，落落大方相比，那份落差更为显著。
这一切， 看在活泼亲切， 观察力敏锐的Lizzi眼里， 成就了Lizzi对Darsey的讨厌， 偏见也由此产生。再加上之后， 第三者的蓄意中伤，使Darsey在Lizzi心目中更是成为了一个傲慢自私， 不可一世， 自以为是的无聊家伙。他的被动含蓄的情感， 他的修养深度，他的聪明才智，在偏见中， 完全被扭曲， 被漠视， 甚至被全盘否定了。
而在Darsey眼中， 因为Mrs Bennette的热情为女儿们追求多金女婿的举动中， 认定Lizzi也跟一般的只想钓个金龟婿的女子一样肤浅。但是Lizzi对他的不屑， 和言语上的讽刺嘲弄， 让他看到了这女子的独特。 不经意间， 他被Lizzi的果敢特质深深的吸引着。
故事的渐续发展，也稍微的为观众揭开了Darsey的内心世界： 他与父亲之间的矛盾， 与父亲养子间的竞争，父亲养子对姐妹的感情伤害， 或多或少造成了他对人的不信任， 也导致他不善于表达自己， 而利用傲慢， 作为自我保护的屏障。 那屏障逐渐变成了他向他人敞开心扉的一个阻碍。
事实上，Darsey也不是一个完全冷漠无情的人。小说和电影也渐渐让观众， 也让Lizzi发现了他情感的一面: 对唯一的妹妹的爱护。
Darsey 和 Lizzi， 可以说， 其实是一见钟情的， 两人在第一次邂逅的舞会中， 就开始留意到彼此， 爱情悄悄的扣了两人的心门。只是， 傲慢与偏见， 变成了爱情滋长的绊脚石。此后的接触， 让两人常在一些无谓小争执和冲突中，使的两人的关系象火星撞地球般不和谐。而Darsey的不善表达和过分的矜持， 更使的爱情波折重重。当然， 外在因素， 比如身份背景的差异， Darsey家族亲人的阻绕， 也使的原本是浪漫美丽的爱情， 变的复杂。
不论是小说， 或者是电影， 其实剧情并没有太多的高潮起伏， 也没有荡气回肠的爱情， 而只是在人际关系上，转圈圈。但是， 却很直接的带出了沟通上的问题和重点。而故事的处理， 没有一般文学名著的大时代 背景作衬托， 没有沉重的氛围让人觉的窒息， 反而对人性做了许多幽默性的描述， 为故事增添了阅读或观赏的趣味性。虽说故事发生在19世纪的英国旧社会，但如果将故事中发生的一切关于人际关系， 沟通的问题放诸现代社会，你可以发现， 其实， “沟通” 所产生的种种问题， 古今皆如此，恒古不变，并没有太大的不同或进步。
这也是这部文学名著的“经典”所在。
参考资料：http://paper.lzstu.com/html/ymwx/20060311160332352.html