Relationship Development Between Elizabeth And Darcy In Pride And Prejudice-From The Perspective Of Appraisal Theory

Pride and Prejudice is the masterpiece of Jane Austin. The theme of the novel is the marriage of four couples, with its focus on the love story between Darcy and Elizabeth. Since its publication in 1813, Pride and Prejudice has been one of the best selling novels in Britain. Scholars at home and abroad have done researches on the novel from different perspectives since then, most of which focused on the historical background and cultural implications of the novel, neglecting the characteristics and features of the language itself. The present study carries out a practical analysis of the selected dialogues between Elizabeth and Darcy under the guidelines of Appraisal Theory to find out how appraisal resources and appraisal features can reveal the relationship development between them.Appraisal Theory is proposed by Professor Martin which is concerned with how language is used to evaluate, to adopt stances, to construct textual personas and to manage interpersonal positioning and relationship. Under Appraisal framework are three subsystems, attitude, engagement and graduation based on which the present study conducts its analysis and discussion.The novel Pride and Prejudice is divided into three stages according to the theme of the story. First, dialogues are selected and appraisal resources from each stage are labeled and categorized, followed by analysis which is based on the number and distribution of different appraisal resources. Then selected examples are further analyzed to find out how appraisal features of different resources can reveal the relationship development between Darcy and Elizabeth. The method the author adopts is a descriptive and analytical one. Based on analysis and exploration, the major findings of the present study can be summarized as follows:Attitude resources can reveal the emotional changes of Darcy and Elizabeth. By attitude resources, unpleasant and negative relationship in stage one, Elizabeth's emotional changes in stage two and their mutual admiration in stage three can be clearly displayed. Engagement resources in their dialogues can reflect the speakers'stance and the room for negotiation, which can be featured as argument and conflict in stage one, Elizabeth's hesitation and intention of negotiation in stage two and frankness and friendliness in stage three. The involvement of graduation resources can reflect the degree of speakers'feelings invested in the proposition he or she proposes. The three stages of inharmonious relationship, Elizabeth's self-regret and mixed feelings of grief and joy can also be revealed by the graduation resources they resort to.Based on the analysis of the appraisal resources in the dialogues between Elizabeth and Darcy, the features of relationship development between them can be clearly presented to the readers, which can improve readers'understanding of the main characters, theme and linguistic features of the novel from the perspective of Appraisal Theory. Meanwhile, the present study has proved that Appraisal Theory is an effective tool to explore literal works which can provide us a unique perspective for better understanding and appreciating classical literal works.