The Embodiment of Rationality and Sensibility in Pride and Prejudice

1、chapter one introductionjane austen is a great writer. for this evaluation, many commentators and scholars have given a lot of good reasons, and my reason is: she is an honest writer. how far her thinking can go, how far her penpoint. there is boisterous ball, relaxed coffee break, and interesting l

2、ove story in jane austens world. of the known world, she holds mild ridicule. of the unknown world, she will not hesitate to ask questions and try to answer them. the reason why a book becomes a classic, is not the praise of critic, not the interpretation of professor and not study in schools, but b

3、ecause of the large number of generations of readers, and they have access to enjoy the spiritual benefits.jane austen (1775-1817) was one of the great and best loved novelists in english literature and one of the most important pioneers in the english realistic novel. jane austen was an authoress w

4、hose brightness was beyond words. in 1950, edmund wilson wrote: she is the one writer apart from shakespeare, who seems impervious to shifts in fashion .david cecil also indicated that austens renown was the firmest of all british writers. these comments may be overdrawn, but they pointed out the as

5、certainment of austens position in the literary field. quiet and uneventful though her life was, it yet supplied her with material for half a dozen novels as perfect of their kind as any in the language. they were senseandsensibility (1811), pride and prejudice (1813), mansfield park (1814), emma (1

6、815), northanger abbey and persuasion(1818). jane austen works were mainly focused on three or four families in a country village .that was why some critics comment that austen worked on little bit (two inches wide) of ivory. jane austen lived in the end of the 18th century to the early 19th century

7、. it was the time that english literature changed from rationalism to romanticism. seen from the evolution history of english literature, jane austen brought us a fresh wind different from previous novel styles, such as, sentimentalism and gothic novels. in western countries, jane austen is never a

8、romantic writer but a realistic and sensible woman writer in the eyes of many rational critics such as fielding, reginald faller and charlotte bronte. her six thought-provoking masterpieces fully proved that without jane austen the climax of the english realistic novel was unimaginable. she was not

9、only a connecting link, but also she herself was unique.in austens novels, rationality and sensibility are a perpetual, interdependent and mutually repelling theme. the author not only expresses her own conflicting ideas in spiritual life but also use it in depiction of her protagonists. this paper

10、analyses the characters of jane austens novels and questions whether the balance of rationality and sensibility can be seen in pride and prejudice and persuasion.austens life conflicted of rationality and sensibility. she embodied the conflicted and coordination of rationality and sensibility above

11、her two-inch ivory. then, there were charlotte, mrs. croft, they were rational and standardized, but they gave people a sense of monotony; there was jane bennett, mrs. smith, they were kindness, enthusiasm, but they were lake of subjective impression. elizabeth and anne reflected the harmony of rati

12、onality and sensibility.through the analysis, we can find a great change on jane austens creative ideas. what is the change? how the change comes into being? the explanations are as follows.chapter two the embodiment of rationality and sensibility in pride and prejudiceamong jane austens six novels,

13、 pride and prejudice has been valued as the most successful and popular masterpiece. it talked about trivial matters of love, marriage and family life between country squires and fair ladies in britain in the 18th century. in this novel, jane austen mainly described the ordinary life of the bennets.

14、 she told us four different marriages to show the readers that different people have different attitudes towards love. and also she expressed her own viewpoints on marriage that a combination based on love and similar interests was a happy and perfect marriage. in her opinion, the money-oriented mar

15、riage and sex-oriented marriage are not successful although the people can live together.2.1 on behalf of rationality characters: charlotte lucasin pride and prejudice, charlotte lucas was a character who had many shining points. charlotte was sincere, generous and she possessed a spirit of persiste

16、nce and independence. she was a good girl with lots of personal qualities. through so many studies of pride and prejudice in resent years, rationality had become a symbol of charlotte. first of all, charlottes rationality was embodied in her choice on marriage. charlottes marriage was often criticiz

17、ed as an exchange of property and happiness. she married mr. collins who was silly and self-righteousness but had property and social status. however, if we listen to charlottes insights on marriage and love, we will understand the women. happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. if the

18、dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each others, or ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. they always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation, and it is better to know as little as possible of the defect

19、s of the person with whom you are to pass your life. (jane austen, 2008) her incisive analysis of marriage hit the nail on the head. whether at jane austen time, or in modern time, her viewpoint will be the truth which will never outdated. secondly, charlottes rationality was embodied in her underst

20、anding of human nature. her understanding of human nature was as good as elizabeths. for example, when everyone considered darcy to be too arrogant by everybody, charlotte held the view that he has the right to be pride of himself as he was handsome, had good personality and most importantly, he had

21、 large property. from this point, we could see that charlotte had her own ideas. she thought rationally. she also treated everybody and everything objectively. in charlottes opinion, the beginning of a love story was always casual, when a man showed his good feeling about a woman, if he could not ge

22、t response from the woman, the man will feel discouraged and he might give up his pursue for the woman. charlottes idea was quite practical. in fact, miss lucass idea coincided with mr. darcy, and became the rational justification to hamper her friends love.thirdly, charlottes rationality was embodi

23、ed in independent spirituality. she clearly knew i am not romantic, you know, i never was. i ask only a comfortable home; and considering mr. collins character, connections and situation in life, i am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as far as most people can boast on entering the m

24、arriage state. facing with marriage, she did not care about friends surprise and persuasion, but made her own rational choice. she did not care much about her husband company and encouraged him to take good care of the garden. as she wanted to achieve the dignity of a match of good status and materi

25、al comfort, she became mistress in her own house; she manipulated collins by making him think he was doing what he wanted. she could put up with loneliness and was brave to face her life. she controlled her own emotion to go against the unfair world. charlottes marriage was her own choice, but with

26、strong characteristics of the times. charlotte, 27-year-old girl, without property, pleasant appearance, she realized the helpless of life, she could not as young and charming as elizabeth to pursue ideal marriage. she only ask for a comfortable home, and did not want to be a woman without a positio

27、n in the society. at the age of 27, austen was also facing a situation like charlotte. but different from charlotte, jane austen pursued a marriage based on emotional foundation. through the rational characters, charlotte, she revealed the pathetic position of women in the marriage market.2.2 on beh

28、alf of sensibility characters: jane bennett jane was the first children in her family. she was a kind and mild girl who was the most beautiful one among her sisters. as an introverted girl, she was constant in her love but lack of strength and self-confidence. compared with other girls, she was the

29、mildest, kindest, modest and almost perfect girl in this novel. the author thought, she was a representative sensibility character in the novel. her character was vividly showed in many parts of the novel.first of all, janes sensibility was embodied in her choice on marriage. she met bingley at the

30、ball, and after then, she adored him very much. but with her introverted and tranquil disposition jane controlled her passion too much, which nearly consumed her felicity. although she loved mr. bingley after the ball, she had no courage to express it. she cherished her feelings towards him, but she

31、 chose to conceal it. she did not display her true feelings. on the contrary, she controlled her passion to the best of her ability, lest anyone find it. she only showed genteel pleasure and politeness although her heart was fluttering with romantic passion. in a sense, her attitude towards love was

32、 passive. she always concealed her true feelings, which gave others a illusion that she did not love bingley. she perceived the world though her rich emotional world, at the same time, she covered up her own perception. it was because of her quiet and introverted character. it almost made her miss h

33、er true love. secondly, janes sensibility was embodied in her understanding of human nature. jane bennet had a benevolent heart. sometimes it is a little innocent in her emotional world. in her eyes, everybody was perfect. she never saw the ugly fact of life even she was deceived. compliments always

34、 take you (jane) by surprise, and me (elizabeth) never (jane austen, 2008)oh, you (jane) are a great deal too apt you know, to like people in general, you never see a fault in anybody, all the world are too good and agreeable in your eyes. i (elizabeth) never heard you speak ill of a human being in

35、my life. (jane austen, 2008) according to this, readers can find that how kind and innocent jane was.we can say that jane and bingleys marriage was an ideal marriage: they loved each other so much, and also had substantial economic base. however, because of her overfull benevolence and lake of self-

36、confidence, mr. bennetts concerns can not be ignored. your tempers are by no means unlike .you are each of you so complying that nothing will ever be resolved on; so that every servant will cheat you; and so generous that you will always exceed your income.(jane austen, 2008) but in general, jane wa

37、s a lucky and happy woman. 2.3the balance of rationality and sensibility: elizabeth bennettwhen pride and prejudice was published in 1813, comments on elizabeth bennett mainly focus on the vividness of her characterization and the intelligence of her dialogue. later, they went further, d. w. harding

38、 presents it like this: elizabeth bennett became just a standard for good judgment and kindness, which came from good religious education. she suffered from the surrounding world, but never gave in. she was independent from her surrounding world. pride and prejudice was recognized as jane austens ma

39、sterpiece. elizabeth was one of the most outstanding figures in the novel. we can see the balance of rationality and sensibility on her.elizabeth was such a female protagonist of two sides. she was a ebellious girl and as intelligent and rational as man with a self-examining nature, which makes her

40、a mature woman in the patriarchal society. compared with her sisters, she was intelligent, lively, generous. compared with miss bingley, she had human dignity and spiritual superiority. in her world that was full of fools, she was the only reasonable person. she was a charming girl. darcy fell in lo

41、ve with her. the process that they went to marriage was the process of self-knowledge. in the process of self-knowledge, elizabeths feeling was getting mature. elizabeth was depicted vividly. she was lively and witty and had brought vitality to the novel. other characters funny, cute was seen throug

42、h her eyes, such as lovely collins pastor, or repugnant miss bingley. the readers emotions were always with her feelings ups and downs. in this sense, elizabeth was the authors spokesman.first of all, elizabeths flawless was embodied in her choice on marriage. elizabeth and mr. darcys marriage, not

43、only had rational choice, but also had deep emotional foundation. she was clever, courageous, visionary and good at thinking. she had a strong self-esteem. facing of emotion, she did not like her little sister to make a decision with impulse, maintained human dignity. it reflected the rationality fo

44、rces. facing reality, she did not like charlotte to give up the pursuit of emotion. elizabeth dared to face everything in their power to block her and defended bravely her distingue and stainless love. in particular admiration, she insisted the sincere feelings of both men and women as the cornersto

45、ne of an ideal marriage. she opposed to property, money and status of marriage, which at that time women had no rights and marriage was the only way to survive in the society. her point of view was extremely progressive. in addition, elizabeths flawless was embodied in her process of self-awareness.

46、 elizabeth embodied the true value of marriage and the pursuit of the times. her different attitudes towards mr. darcys personals had showed womens pursuit of independence and equal rights. their love began with the prejudice caused by pride. after reading mr. darcys sincere letter, all the grudges

47、fade away. elizabeth soberly looked at herself again, she recognized first i, who have prided myself on my discernment! i, who have valued myself on my abilities! who have often disdained the generous candour of my sister, and gratified my vanity in useless or blameable distrust. how humiliation is

48、the discovery! yet how just humiliation!(jane austen, 2008)the new and correct understanding of her herself, helped elizabeth out of the wrong region, and eliminated the prejudice against mr. darcy. when we saw her heartfelt remorse, we saw her shortcomings, and also saw her courage to face herself.

49、 this was not only the hackling of rationality, but also the reveal of the sensibility. jane austen devoted a great love to elizabeth. she was intelligent, smart, self-esteem, confidence and was similar to the author. but her lucky in love and happy married life, was a dream of austen that she could

50、 not find and an ideal that she failed to realize in real life. jane austen through the novel pride and prejudice gave us a very important lesson that was the problem of rationality. to improve awareness, we needed to use rationality to correct the impression caused by sensibility. in addition, in a

51、ustens novels, rationality and sensibility are a perpetual, interdependent and mutually repelling theme. they form a contradictory, interdependent and interwoven complex. as far as austen is concerned, such mutual complement between rationality and sensibility was the perfect mingling with men and w

52、omen. marriage was both rationally and in-depth understanding of each other and was the compromise of rationality and sensibility, rather than material, and superficial needs.chapter three the embodiment of rationality and sensibility in persuasionpersuasion is jane austens last completed novel. it

53、was first published posthumously, in 1818. jane austen began persuasion soon after she had finished emma, and completed it in august, 1816. it was regarded as austens most mature novel, in which austen created anne, a new woman, who was quite different from those in former novels and conceived an id

54、eal marriage and family model for her. whether the novel was creative thinking, character shape, or expression, with the austen, compared to the other works there are many different characteristics. it can be said that it is an alternative of austens novel.3.1 on behalf of rationality characters: mr

55、s. croftin persuasion, jane austen realized that long-term restrictions on women lives, had now become the source of contusion of their complete personality. so she set out a new range of womens activities again, so that a completely new type of women came into being. it was mrs. croft.mrs. croft, a

56、s a wife of an admiral, was a unique woman. in marriage she was not in a subordinate status, she was an independent and full of rationality glorious image of new woman.she was confident, determined, her views would never be ignored by her husband. since marriage, she had followed her husband to acro

57、ss the atlantic for four times, and had been once to the east indies, as well as cork, lisbon and the strait of gibraltar, which were a lot of women can not go at that time. she not only supported her husbands career but also actively dealing with the family on the important things. she joined the r

58、ent negotiations with her husband. on negotiators eyes, she was a very well-spoken, genteel, shard lady who asked more questions about the house, the terms and the taxes than his husband. when the couple droved carriages together, on the way home, their carriage once had a narrow escape from a post

59、due to mrs. crofts coolly giving reins a better direction herself and soon afterwards avoiding another danger of falling into a rut or running foul of a dung-cart by judiciously putting out her hand all by herself. mrs. croft versus her husband gave us a strong feeling that mrs. croft was an excellent person with intell