《英语专业毕业论文-劝导的比较性研究》.doc

PAGE PAGE 14 In Comparison with Pride and Prejudice ——A Comparative study of Jane Austen’s Persuasion By Grant Mainz Tutor: Prof. Lambert Quintin Schenck Feburary 201* Abstract Jane Austen, a popular English novelist of late 18th and early 19th centuries, during her short span of life time, she completed 6 novels, with 4 of them published in life, Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1816), and the other 2, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published posthumously in 1818, Sanditon a novel she died before completing it. Yet, most of her works received only lukewarm attention at the time of their publication. Persuasion, a posthumously published novel which tells a love affair between Anne Elliot the heroine and Captain Wentworth, is a typical example, out of speculation of Jane Austen’s inability to produce quality prose for her deteriorating state of health, literary reviews and critics at the time viewed Persuasion as an “unfortunate performance” when compared to her previous works. A novel lacked invention and was merely viewed as a better version of her practice of story writing. However, through comparison with her earlier canons, especially Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion for the first time in history introduces a heroine who is attempting to value emotion over reason, individual happiness over propriety, and it marks Jane Austen’s final assertion of the validity and worth of female emotions that it is the right of woman to fulfill her own happiness instead of her duty to family and society. Through looking into the issues of first impressions, judgement for personal merits and the revolutionary influences. This comparative study proves that instead of being lowly credited as a mediocre performance of the author, Persuasion stands out as a revolt against Jane Austen’s usual ideas and perceptions of the worth of female emotions. In addition, by comparison of the allusive elements existing between Persu