Money and Marriage----The matrimonial value orientation in Pride and Prejudice.
[Abstract] Pride and prejudice, the most popular of Jane Austen's novels, deals with the five Bennet Sisters and their search for suitable husbands. It is read widely all over the world and was written in 1813. That specific history time decided that people at that time took money more seriously. Marriage, a specific relationship, is also based on money. In this paper, the marriage cases of most characters in the book we taken as typical to analyze how money influenced their matrimonial value orientation. We all know that love is the basis of marriage, but at that time, a good economic situation is necessary.
[Key words] Pride and prejudice, marriage, money.
Introduction.
First published in 1813, Pride and prejudice is a very 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. A gentle but witty satire of courtship an marriage, tells the story of how the young ladies choose their husbands. Through analyzing the marriage of various characters, it reveals the effect of the economic status in people's marriage, life and destiny. From the viewpoint of Austen, Elizabethe's marriage, who finally marries Darcy, as well as Jane-Bingley's, composing money and live, 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 background. After reading 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 Elizabethe Bennet. With great irony and wit Austen shows how the tenderest human feelings interact with and are influenced by financial considerations.