An Analysis of Women’s Social Status at Bourgeois Times fro(2)
2015-04-07 01:17
导读：All these marriages reflect people's life and fate of that time. The other young couples' marriages in the book are only comparison to Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy's ideal marriage. It indicates the
All these marriages reflect people's life and fate of that time. The other young couples' marriages in the book are only comparison to Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy's ideal marriage. It indicates their brave behavior that they dare to look down upon common customs-everything is decided by money; it highly praises that they have a correct knowledge of themselves and a sense of understanding the world around. It is considered that only this couple that attract each other by their own moral character and talent will get a happy ending.
3. Interpretation of women’s social status from marriages in Pride and Prejudice
3.1 The purposes of marriages in Pride and Prejudice
In Austen's fiction, the ultimate felicity of a woman is rooted in a happy marriage, hence marriage is always the focus of the author's attention, which is indicated at the beginning of the novel Pride and Prejudice, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." (Austen, 12) 论文网在线
In fact, the truth is just the opposite -- a lady without a good fortune must be in want of a husband. In this sense, Mrs. Bennet must be admitted as the wisest person on this problem -- "The business of her life was to get her daughters married" (Austen, 22) -- as in the 18th century, getting married was "the only provision for well-educated young women of small fortune" (Austen, 257) to gain financial security and decent life in the long future, otherwise they would either live in misery as a spinster or a governess, both of which were the objects of mockery and discrimination in society.
