简奥斯汀的婚姻观(英文)

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Jane Austen’s Outlook on Marriage

----My idea after reading Emma

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Having reading Jane Austen’s famous novel Emma, which is considered as her most classic work, I lost myself in pondering one word—marriage.

This novel is composed by some marital stories which are connected by Emma, the matchmaker. Through the novel, we can see people’s outlook on marriage in England at that time. In the 18th century, women craved for marrying a gentleman who possessed considerable wealth and high social status. Love, seemed of no significance. This was because at that time, women had no right to inherit the possession. Their only way to live a desirable life after their fathers’ death was to marry a wealthy man who also possessed high social status. That is why in Pride and Prejudice Mrs. Bonnet was crazy to marry her daughters off.

In the novel Emma, we can see that this outlook had great influence on Jane Austen on the grounds that almost all marriages created by her are on the basis of wealth and social status. However, Austen had her own idea. She also emphasized love. From her point of view, happy marriage= love + wealth + equal social status. In the novel, Austen narrated different kinds of marriages to express her idea, but all of them had relations with wealth, social status and love. Now, we will perceive how her marital outlook was embodied in the novel.

In Emma, what impresses me most is not Emma and Knightly’s combination, but Jane and Frank’s story. When I was reading the novel, their strange behaviors aroused my interest. They didn’t unveil their relationship until Frank’s aunt’s death. Why? That was because Mrs. Churchill, frank’s aunt wouldn’t agree their marriage at all. It was reasonable at that time. Jane was an orphan who was brought up by her father’s friends. She had no noble background and no possession, which would not match the noble Churchill family. Even though Jane was elegant and well-educated, she still would not be accepted by rich family. This was a cruel phenomenon in English. Therefore, I guess, when Frank showed his attachment to Jane, she accepted willingly. I guess that she was eager to marry a rich and noble man to avoid herself of becoming a governess, whose life was just like a slave. Did they love each other? Maybe, but not very deeply. To some extent, Frank was just a little gentle. He had no capacity to match Jane if not considering the factors of wealth and social status. Anyhow they married for God’s sake. Here Austen pointed that wealth and social status attached great importance in marriage. Austen cast her criticism to the sad fact that people’s eye was only on wealth and high social status.

Compared with Jane, Harriet’s marriage was not that successful. Harriet, the miserable girl, even didn’t know who her father was. Her position was so inferior that she had no choice but to rely on her so-called best friend—Emma. Under Emma’s matchmaking, Harriet thought she should fell in love with Mr. Elton. However, it was impossible because she was too obscure to match the rich and prestigious vicar.


Failing in love with Elton, Harriet turned her goal to Knightly, but it was unrealistic too. On one hand, it was by virtue of the disparity of wealth and social status; on the other hand, Knightly loved Emma. In Austen’s eyes, marriage without love was contemptuous. At the same time, Emma was under an illusion that Harriet would fell in love with Frank. Actually, at first, Harriet’s experience was a tragedy. Austen criticized the scornful phenomenon of marriage on society by the example of Harriet.

To draw a shot conclusion, in Jane and Harriet’s cases, I don’t think Austen appreciated them very much. She just wanted to unveil England’s outlook on marriage at that time. Obviously, Austen gave her criticism to it. However, she didn’t deny this kind of marriage absolutely since she gave Jane and Frank love and they married at last; Harriet also found her happiness with Martin (we will mention it later). This illustrated that Austen didn’t think marriage without enough money and social status was possible. Then, we will ask, what kind of marriage did Austen prefer?

Well, let us take Harriet as an example again. Constant failure in love led to Harriet’s realization of her mistake. Finally, she found her Mr. Right—Mr. Martin. As a matter of fact, at the beginning we can see that Harriet and Martin loved each other. Just because of Emma’s luring that Harriet should look for a better man to match her, they did not get together. I figure that according to Austen’s standard of marriage, Harriet and Martin matched very much. Martin was a peasant who was industrious and good hearted. He had the ability to support the family. At last, Harriet’s identity was also discovered. She was the illegitimate daughter of a trade person. Both of them had low social status .The most important point was that they loved each other. Therefore, marriage with wealth and equal social status as well as love was preferred by Jane Austen.

Another example is Mrs. Weston and Mr. Weston’s marriage. We know that Mr. Weston married Miss Churchill at first, but their marriage caused hardship to both. Miss Churchill came from a wealthy and noble family who was obviously superior to Mr. Weston, who was only a trade man. His second marriage was happier because their social status was more equal---Mrs. Weston was a governess before marriage. What’s more, they loved each other and respected each other. Comparatively speaking, they lived a happy and comfortable life.

From these two cases, we can fathom what kind of marriage Jane Austen preferred--- love is the basis; enough wealth and equal social status are necessary. These two examples are nice explanation on Austen’s outlook on marriage, but not the best one. In her mind, Emma and Knightly are the best combination of Marriage.

Emma was the richest lady in Austen’s writing. She owned an income of 30,000 dollars every year. As the leading role of this novel, she possessed distinct characteristics, but the most important point that she was the one who preferred to be single rather than marry one she didn’t love at all. This paved the way for Emma and Knight’s love. Finally she realized her true love and dared to pursue it owning to her character. As to Knightly, he had been the guidance of Emma and loved Emma from heart. Knightly was a respected landowner and enjoyed high reputation. Considering all the factors, from sentiment, wealth and social status, they were appropriately matched. Therefore, I figure, this was what Austen appreciated the most. With the

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