Abstract： Though Austen is unmarried， courtship and marriage are her natural concerns and the major subjects of her novels. While the novel Pride and Prejudice， mainly talks about four different viewpoints of marriage among young women of the middle class， it also reflects Jane Austin"s marital viewpoint and ideal.
Key words： Jane Austen； marriage； Pride and Prejudice
中图分类号： I106 文献标识码： A 文章编号： 1009-8631（2012）01-0115-01
ⅠThe biography of Jane Austen
Although Austen was widely read in her lifetime， she published her works anonymously. The most urgent preoccupation of her young， well-bred heroines is courtship， and finally marriage. Austen"s best-known books include Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Emma (1816). Virginia Woolf called her "the most perfect artist among women. “Jane Austen was born in Steventon， Hampshire， where her father was a rector. She was the second daughter and seventh child in a family of eight. The first 25 years of her life Austen spent in Hampshire. She was tutored at home. Her parents were avid readers and she received a broader education than many women of her time. On her father"s retirement， the family moved to Bath.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." This famous quotation， the opening sentence of Pride and Prejudice， demonstrates not only her inimitable style and ironical humor， but also her typical subject matter. Austen depicted with a sympathetic imagination the lives of minor landed gentry， country clergymen， and families in various economic circumstances struggling to maintain or enhance their social position. The most urgent preoccupation of her young， well-bred heroines and heroes is courtship and marriage. Her interest lay in life"s little conundrums of sentiment and conduct.
Austen exercised her dramatic and humorous skills in a faithful and sympathetic rendering of the life she knew -- provincial family life of the middling-rich English gentry. Virginia Woolf called her "the most perfect artist among women." Macauley idolized her genius， considering Mansfield Park to be her greatest novel. Sir Walter Scott described her as having "the exquisite touch which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting， from the truth of the description and the sentiment." And Disraeli was reported to have read Pride and Prejudice seventeen times.
For a woman of such genius， Austen lived a remarkably quiet life. She did not marry， nor did she allow her literary work to interfere with her domestic duties. Indeed， she seldom left home at all， except on short visits， chiefly to Bath. Nevertheless， although largely restricting her dramatic and humorous capabilities to a searching observation of the manners of provincial English society， she is considered an English classic and one of the greatest novelists of all time. She died on July 18， 1817， and was buried in Winchester Cathedral. At the time of her death， she was working on an unfinished novel， Sanditon， which was published in 1925. Austen focused on middle-class provincial life with humor and understanding. She depicted the life of minor landed gentry， country clergymen and their families， in which marriage mainly determined women"s social status. In all of Austen"s novels her heroines are ultimately married. Pride and Prejudice described the clash between Elisabeth Bennet， the daughter of a country gentleman， and Fitzwilliam Darcy， a rich aristocratic landowner. Their -relationship starts from dislike but at last they fall in love and are happily united.
ⅡAusten’s viewpoint about marriage
Austen criticizes the morally pernicious equation of female virtue with passivity， or masculinity with aggression. She rejects stories in which women simply defend their virtue against male sexual advances. Because she realizes that writers like Richardson and Byron have truthfully represented the power struggle between the sexes， however， she does seek a way of telling their story without perpetuating it. In each of her novels， a seduced-and-abandoned plot is embedded in the form of an interpolated tale told to the heroine as a monitory image of her own problematic story".
Let us see Austen’s viewpoint of marriage from social and political history: "Because she cared deeply and primarily about young women， because she suffered from a rooted disrespect for parents， especially fathers， because she saw the only act of choice in a woman"s life as the making of a marriage upon which alone depended her spiritual and physical health， Austen turned a severe and serious eye (for here she was rarely satirical) on the economic life of her heroes. Heroes were potential husbands， a momentous role. What I am suggesting is that Austen"s realism in the matter of money was in her case an essentially female phenomenon， the result of her deep concern with the quality of a woman"s life in marriage".
Ⅲ The Analysis of Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice， similar to other Jane Austen novels， is written in gentle or Horacian satire. The main object of Jane satire in the novel is the mercenary and the ignorance of the people， a common criticism of the 18th century. Characters in the novel which best carries these qualities are Mrs. Bennet， a foolish woman who talks too much and is obsess with getting her daughters married; Lydia Bennet， the youngest of the Bennet daughter who is devoted to a life of dancing， fashions， gossips and flirting; and Mr. Williams Collins， the silly and conceited baboon who is completely stupify by Lady Catherine in every aspect of his life that he has forgotten his own morals and duty. The tone of the novel is light， satirical， and vivid. Scenes such as Mr. Collins proposal to Elizabeth， and Lady Catherine visits to Lizzy at Longbourn， provide comic relief to the reader while at the same time revealing certain characteristics of the characters. For example， Lydia is lack of common sense and responsibility is revealed when she takes pride in being the first Bennet girl to be married. Lydia does not take into consideration the circumstance of her marriage， the personality of her husband， or the prospects of their marriage for the future. Elizabeth Bennet’s ability to laugh off her misfortunate and to continue to be optimistic， considering her situation， also contributes to the tone of the novel.
The main subject in the novel is stated in the first sentence of the novel: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." In this statement， Jane has cleverly done three things: she has declared that the main subject of the novel will be courtship and marriage， she has established the humorous tone of the novel by taking a simple subject to elaborate and to speak intelligently of， and she has prepared the readers for a chase in the novel of either a husband in search of a wife， or a women in pursuit of a husband. Thus，Jane Austen had allowed personal feelings of the characters to be expressed in her work， she can also be classified as Romantic. In the figure of Elizabeth， Jane Austen shows passion attempting to find a valid mode of existence in society. Passion and reason also comes together in the novel to show that they are complementary of marriage.
Bibliography：
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