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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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nbsp;most agreeable man she has ever met. But meanwhile, she thinks it is too imprudent to fall in love with him. She once says to her aunt, Mrs. Gardiner,
“I will take care of myself, and of Mr. Wickham too. He shall not be in love with me, if I can prevent it.”(19)
So when Wickham gets engaged with Miss King for her ten-thousand-pound property, she does not feel a little bit sad but free. Her two younger sisters, Kitty and Lydia are resentful about him, but she thinks
“They are young in the ways of the world, and not yet open to the mortifying conviction that handsome young men must have something to live on as well as the plain.”(20)
When Mrs. Gardiner expresses her idea about Wickham’s desertion later, Elizabeth says,
“Pray, my dear aunt, what is the difference in matrimonial affairs, between the mercenary and the prudent motive? Where does discretion end, and avarice begin?”(21)
Here, Austen brings up a complicated problem for discussion through Elizabeth — How shall we quantify the ratio between money and love in a marriage? Elizabeth could not accept Collins because there could be no possibility of love between them, nor Wickham since he has no property. (Though Wickham is short of not only money but also moral, she does not know it until the latter part of the story.) Darcy’s pride and her prejudice against him makes her refuse his first offer of marriage, but later on, she feels regretful for her own bias and rashness. There is a faint pity in her painful self-condemn and complex feelings. When she sees Darcy’s Pemberley Park, her feeling changes,
“She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste.” And at that moment, “She felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!”(22)
Apparently there is sort of pleasant sensation about substance based on money subconsciously. However, such kind of pursuit seems to be natural and reasonable accompanying with her elegant temperament. Elizabeth rejects a pride “Darcy”, but accepts a perfect-going “Darcy”. After she confesses her love for Darcy and their engagement to her elder sister, Jane asks her how long she has loved Mr. Darcy and she answers, “I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley….”(23) Though she is joking, we can see part of her feeling of pursuing money.
In Pride and Prejudice, there are also some description about other people’s different opinion on money and marriage. For instance, Lady Catherine wants her daughter Anne to marry her nephew, Mr. Darcy, to make a union of the two estates, and she believes it is&nb上一页 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] ... 下一页 >>
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