《傲慢與偏見》簡介&書評

“有錢的單身漢總要娶位太太，這是一條舉世公認的真理?！边@可能是英國文學史上最有名的小說開頭之一。1813年，簡·奧斯汀的《傲慢與偏見》在英國出版。如今，200多年過去了，《傲慢與偏見》依然是全世界讀者最愛讀的小說之一。

Many people know the famous opening sentence of the book: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” This is of course a very ironic remark. What is really true in the time of the novel is this: Single women from poorer families are very interested in a man with a good fortune, or even just a little money. Since they cannot pay their own way in life, they must find a husband.

Because of this, Mrs Bennet is desperate to find husbands for her daughters. They will then no longer be a burden on her.

然而，小說并不止于描繪浪漫，歌頌愛情。在奧斯汀筆下， 19世紀英國的社會百態也被生動地呈現出來。這也是一個以男性為中心的時代, 男女不平等, 女性的社會地位非常之低。按照當時法律的規定，女性不擁有財產繼承權, 她們必須依附于男性，家庭生活因此成為她們的全部。女性想要生存，要獲得生活上保障和“財政保證”，婚姻是唯一的途徑。于是，在那個時代，婚姻不僅僅是愛情的歸宿，也是女子“謀生”的手段。

Romances are among the most popular kinds of stories. It isn’t difficult to see why, as finding a man or woman to spend the rest of one’s life with is something almost all people want. Stories about relationships can be tragedies, like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. They can also be comedies, like Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813). This novel is certainly one of the funniest and most charming romances in world literature.

But Pride and Prejudice also has a sad message. In the novel there is a clear sense of the unequal opportunities men and women enjoy in life.

It is a story about the rich but snobbish Mr Darcy and the smart, but difficult and proud Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth is one of five daughters who live with their parents in respectable but rather poor conditions in Hertfordshire, near London. They belong to a class of people in England called the landed gentry. Members of the landed gentry can be rich, or they can be not so rich. The Bennets are not so rich. The money difficulties of the family drive the story of the novel.

金錢，究竟對戀愛和婚姻的影響有多大？對這個時下熱門話題，奧斯汀也給出了她的見解。書中她刻畫了幾種不同的婚姻和愛情關系。有盲目的激情之愛, 也有為了鞏固家庭的經濟或社會地位的實用之愛，當然，更有植根于個人內心情感、兩情相悅的真愛。 盡管新人們都走進了婚姻的殿堂, 但他們的幸福度卻各不相同。個中滋味，還需讀者慢慢品鑒。

In the end, Elizabeth and Darcy overcome the obstacles in their way to end up together. Elizabeth teaches Darcy to be less prejudiced, and she herself learns to be a little less proud. Jane, the oldest Bennet daughter, and her lover, Charles Bingley, also get engaged. Lydia finds herself a husband too – the good-for-nothing George Wickham. These marriages give Austen’s novel a happy ending.

But if this humorous entertainment ends with marriages, as all romances do, we should also not forget those who do not find husbands, like the Bennet daughters Kitty and Mary. Nor should we forget Charlotte Lucas, who marries the horrible William Collins simply because she has to and wants to help her parents financially.

Pride and Prejudice shows that for every lucky Jane and Elizabeth Bennet, who marry happily in the novel, there were a dozen other women in Austen’s time who lived without their contentment.

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