StubbornSoul

高莉

【Abstract】Jane Austen （1775—1817），the famous writer in the early 19th century，she was well-known and regarded as one of female novelists，her work “Pride and Prejudice”，is one of most popular one among her novels.This paper mainly discusses about the feminism reflected in “Pride and Prejudice” and also analyses the reason.

【Key Words】feminism； Pride and Prejudice； class； economic

Introduction

Although Jane Austen was born poor，humble，and even has been to London only twice during her lifetime，but her creation of “Pride and Prejudice” is becoming more and more popular and gaining more reputation when the years went by.Jane Austen has also been regarded as “Women Shakespeare”and someone called“the first woman”of British classicalism and realism.In Jane Austen's novels，it mainly shows the village life，the content is more about the life of middle class or some gentlemen，the love and emotional entanglements or marriage and funerals among young people，and the novels also shape and focus on the love，trouble，joy，conflict and feelings between young women and men.In the late 18th century，the novel in English literature is in a very secondary position while the serious scholars only write poems，plays and essays and even reading novel also is viewed as an entertaining way for people of lower class.The significance of Austins work is that she admitted classicalism and Romanism，and opened up a precedent for the British realist novel.In recent years，people have considered her as an early feminist writer by finding her feminism of her works.

1.Feminism

In the 18th and 19th century，the traditional view was that，“there is no equality between men and women at all，in order to improve the human social organization，the men would be more intellectual and they should be the legislators，we must consider this as the general base.”Therefore，the concept of discrimination against women permeates all spheres of society.In“Pride and Prejudice”，Austin made it clear that the mind alert，intelligent features developed are not just for men，and stupid，clumsy，mental retardation are not unique to women.Like men and women，are all “people”and also have the humans strengths and weaknesses.

“Pride and Prejudice”，taking Austens appreciated heroine “Elizabeth” as the clue line，describes the advantages and disadvantages，the irony and good points of the different life of two types of people.Elizabeth，Darcy and Charlotte are no doubt clever，resourceful and flexible，but Mrs.Bennet，Collins，pastor，Mary，etc.belong to the lower exposure and stupid people.In this work，Austin did not blindly praise the advantages of smart people，nor those who blindly belittle the weakness of the stupid，but rather a dialectical view of both.For example，Austin described the hero Darcy as burly figure，delicate features and he was proud and looking down on people，so he gave people a feeling of disgusting.Pride makes the smart Darcy think superior to others and claim that he was the man with the real value of human beings，which makes him supercilious，arrogant and look down on others.For this，he offended every person in contact with him，and he turned into a lonely，arrogant person at last.Of course，he eventually was attracted and influenced by Elizabeth.According to Austin，it seems that the arrogance can make smart people drown their nature which causes people become petty and vain，and that is still ridiculous and shameful.Austin did not make comments on people from the usual view of sex，property，social status，etc.，but to evaluate people with a completely new perspective beyond these boundaries.

2.The CIass Distinction

Elizabeths marriage to Darcy，which has often been seen as romantic and out of true 1eve，is the greatest match in the hove1.However，c1ass distinction still plays some part in their decisions.Darcy conceals his affection for her perfectly at the beginning mostly out of the consideration of her connections.Even in his initial proposal to Elizabeth.Darcy still does not forget to mention “his sense of her inferiority一of its being a degradation”.In their marriage，“manners” plays all important ro1e.Darcy is attracted by E1izabeths good manners，while her prejudice feeds on Darcys pride manners.Later，Elizabeth is moved by Darcys improvement in his manners.Darcy a1so finds that not a1l her relatives are inferior.Nevertheless，“manners” does not work beyond c1ass.They are in fact signs of social status.Basically speaking，Darcy and Elizabeth belong to the same class.In Lady Catherines eyes E1izabeth is nobody with “upstart pretensions”，a woman shrewdly on the make，who wil1 pollute “the shades of Pember1ey”.Elizabeth herself，however，is not overwhe1med by the socia1 difference.

3.The Economic status

In Pride and Prejudice，Char1otte Lucass marriage is typical of material a11iance.She chooses to marry the pompous and inept Mr.Collins，not for 1ove，but because her on1y a1ternative is to 1ive as a spinster on the charity of her younger brother.What is ironic is that E1izabeth finds at Hunsford “when Mr.Co11ins cou1d be forgotten，there was rea1ly a great air of comfort throughout，and by Char1ottes evident enjoyment of it，E1izabeth supposed he must be often forgotten”.A lady with no fortune marries “a single man in possession of a good fortune”，but there is no room for the husband in the wifes enjoyment out of marriage.

Austin also did a deep analysis on the status of women .She pointed out that women's economic status determines the status of women in society in some way，which brings out the problem of women's economic independence.In the early 19th century，the United Kingdom is a developed capitalist country whose economy is developing fast and the economic factors are in almost all areas of society.However，due to the special political situation in Britain，the nobles still retain their social status although under the impact，but still guarded.In this complex situation，the traditional division of social status simply based on family and lineage wavered，which has an impact on people.However，this effect for men and women is different.For men，even the son who has no inheritance rights can still marry the new bourgeois with the nobility of birth.While women are different，if there is no inherit from family，they must choose to marry a rich husband to make a living； if there is no money for a base，even the most beautiful girl can find it hard to get married.Therefore，the situation of women is very sad at that time.

Conc1usion

There is no denying that Pride and Prejudice is romantic.It deals with a comparatively affluent society，but just as mentioned above，from the understanding of a human and analysis on the passive social status and economic status of women，Jane Austin expressed her unique opinion of the male world.She is starting on“human”，study of women，denying the intellectual differences between men and women to express the concept of gender equality.In “Pride and Prejudice”，Austen expressed her helplessness and attacked the real and rational male-dominated world，and as well as a profound reflection on the ideal love.This thinking is rare in her contemporary writers works，and for all this makes Jane Austens status not ignored in the literary world.

References：

[1]卢玉娜.奥斯丁《傲慢与偏见》中女性意识和男性声音的和谐[J].贵州师范大学学报，2007.

[2]裘因.奥斯丁与英国女性文学[J].上海大学学报，1996.