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Money and Marriage——The matrimonial value orientation in Pride and Prejudice |
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时间：2009-8-8 16:59:05 来源：不详
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mily to a house about a mile from Meryton, denominated from the period Lucas Lodge, where he could think with pleasure of his own importance, and unshackled by business, occupy himself solely in being civil to all the world.”(10)
Then what attitude does these rich country squires hold to the low-class people surrounding them? Let’s look at another paragraph of description about Lady Catherine de Bourgh:
“Elizabeth soon perceived, that though this great lady was not in the commission of the peace for the county, she was a most active magistrate in her own parish, the minutest concerns of which were carried to her by Mr. Collins; and whenever any of the cottagers were disposed to be quarrelsome, discontented, or too poor, she sallied forth into the village to settle their differences, silence their complaints, and scold them into harmony and plenty.”(11)
Lady Catherine de Bourgh is a model of her rank, arrogant and conceited. Her manners to the inferiors are dictatorial and insolent. She has the reputation of being remarkably sensible and clever. But all this, together with her ability of administrating the county, derives from her rank and fortune. That is to say, good fame and exceeding power would certainly come to a person as long as he/she has money and is in high social position.
The great impact of money on marriage
In Pride and Prejudice, we can always see country squires’ leisurely life with calls, walks, picnics, conversations, parties, balls and marriages. But seeing through the surface, there is a world of struggling for existence determined by economic base. The whole book is filled with digit. Mr. Bennet’s property consists almost entirely in an estate of two thousand pounds a year. Mrs. Bennet’s father ... leaves her four thousand pounds. Each of their five daughters can get one thousand pounds in the 4 per cents after their mother dies. Mr. Bingley inherits property to the amount of nearly an hundred thousands pounds from his father and he has four or five thousand a year. Miss Bingley has a fortune of twenty thousand pounds. Mr. Darcy has ten thousand pounds a year while his sister, Georgiana has a property of thirty thousand pounds. Wickham wants to get ten thousand from Darcy, otherwise he will not marry Lydia even though they are in elopement. Colonel Fitzwilliam, Darcy’s cousin, would like to marry a woman who should have a property of at least fifty thousand pounds, since he has no inheritance as a younger son of an earl. Mr. Collins claims that he must make such an agreement for tithes as may be beneficial to himself and not offensive to his patron. Even the chimney-piece in one of Lady Catherine’s drawing&nb上一页 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] ... 下一页 >>
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