pride and prejudice英美文学讲解.pptVIP

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. Jane?Austen?(1775-1817)? English writer, who first gave the novel its modern character through the treatment of everyday life. Although Austen was widely read in her lifetime, she published her works anonymously. The most urgent preoccupation of her bright, young heroines is courtship and finally marriage. Austen herself never married. Her best-known books include PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (1813) and EMMA (1816). Virginia Woolf called Austen the most perfect artist among women. List of works Sense and Sensibility (1811) Pride and Prejudice (1813) Mansfield Park (1814) Emma (1815) Northanger Abbey (1818) Persuasion (1818) Short fiction Main characters Character is an expression of what people value.  Traditional ideas about status and class distinctions are beginning to give way to money as a dominant value.  The remaining five marriages contrasts each other to reveal Austen’s opinions and thoughts on the subject of marriage. SUMMARY: 1. Criteria of marriage: These five marriages contribute to the theme that a happy and strong marriage takes time to build and must be based on mutual feeling, understanding, and respect. Hasty marriages acting on impulse, and based on superficial qualities will not survive and will lead to inevitable unhappiness. 2. Be serious and cautious when facing marriage. Don’t be taken in by superficial qualities eg. Wickham. 3. Instead of being an individual problem, marriage is a social problem. One hasty decision may lead a difficulty to the whole family. eg. Lydia The tone of the novel is light, satirical, and vivid. The point of view in Pride and Prejudice is limited omniscient; The story is told through Elizabeth, but not in first person. As a result, the mood of the novel lacks dramatic emotions. The atmosphere is intell