A Comparative Study Of The Marriage Patterns In Pride And Prejudice And Persuasion

The dominant theme of both Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion is love and marriage, yet the marriage patterns in the two works are widely divergent.Among the five marriage patterns in Austen's first novel Pride and Prejudice, the hero Darcy and the heroine Elizabeth's marriage is based on love, and secured by property. Their marriage pattern proves that a happy marriage cannot be separated from either love or property. What is more, love and economic considerations are of equal importance.In Persuasion, Austen's last and the most mature novel, the marriage pattern of Wentworth and Anne Elliot is vividly depicted. Quite different from patterns in Pride and Prejudice, however, true love without the consideration of property or social status plays a decisive part in Wentworth and Anne's marriage.From a perspective of feminist criticism, and applying text analysis method to analyze the different marriage patterns in Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion, the thesis demonstrates the progress of Persuasion in respect of marriage pattern from social cause, literary cause and personal cause, and thus concludes that, with changes of time and awakening of female consciousness, Austen's view on marriage has changed, which is not only progressive in the society of Austen's age, but also has practical significance in the money-oriented world nowadays. The dominant theme of both Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion is love and marriage, yet the marriage patterns in the two works are widely divergent.Among the five marriage patterns in Austen's first novel Pride and Prejudice, the hero Darcy and the heroine Elizabeth's marriage is based on love, and secured by property. Their marriage pattern proves that a happy marriage cannot be separated from either love or property. What is more, love and economic considerations are of equal importance.In Persuasion, Austen's last and the most mature novel, the marriage pattern of Wentworth and Anne Elliot is vividly depicted. Quite different from patterns in Pride and Prejudice, however, true love without the consideration of property or social status plays a decisive part in Wentworth and Anne's marriage.From a perspective of feminist criticism, and applying text analysis method to analyze the different marriage patterns in Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion, the thesis demonstrates the progress of Persuasion in respect of marriage pattern from social cause, literary cause and personal cause, and thus concludes that, with changes of time and awakening of female consciousness, Austen's view on marriage has changed, which is not only progressive in the society of Austen's age, but also has practical significance in the money-oriented world nowadays.