A Game Theory Reading Of Pride And Prejudice And Sense And Sensibility

The concept of "game" was abstracted from the conflicts and cooperation in nature and in human relationships and could find its existence in ancient human wisdom.Game theory emerged as an independent mathematical theory in the twentieth century and soon became a fundamental theory in the study of economics,military and international relationships.Because of its special contribution to the study of human relationships and behavior motivations,it is connected with literature studies as a promising interdisciplinary research area.Jane Austen established a special fictional world in her novels,whose common theme is marriage between young men and women,whose plots unfold with various strategies for marriage,whose characters take strategic actions for different goals in marriage,providing a suitable context for marriage game studies of conflicts,cooperation and trade-offs.This thesis attempts to apply game theory in the interpretation of Jane Austen's novels,mainly two novels in her early period-Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility,about strategies in marriage games.In this thesis,key game concepts of 6egame players,strategies and payoffs,are employed in discussion:the characters are assessed by the criteria of game players,exploring the relationship between game ability and the position of characters in the novels;the plots are analyzed by strategy chains,discussing the relationship between moves of strategies and Jane Austen's arrangement of plots;the themes are interpreted by game payoffs,discovering Jane Austen's marriage morality.