《傲慢与偏见》是简· 奥斯丁的代表作，是一部经典的小说。这部作品以日常生活为素材，一反当时社会上流行的感伤小说的内容和矫揉造作的写作方法，生动地反映了18世纪末到19世纪初处于保守和闭塞状态下的英国乡镇生活和世态人情。这部社会风情画式的小说不仅在当时吸引着广大的读者，时至今日，仍给读者以独特的艺术享受。 《傲慢与偏见》以婚姻嫁娶和家庭风波为题材，描写自己熟稔的乡间所谓体面人家的生活与交往，像在“二寸象牙”上“细细地描画”，看似平凡而琐碎，小天地却可映出大世界，因此始终能引起长盛不衰、雅俗共赏的兴趣，英国诗人和历史小说家司各特曾说，“在描写人们日常生活中各种错综复杂的琐事，内心情感和人物性格方面，这位姑娘很有才能。这种才能是我所遇到的最令人赏心悦目的。”正是简.奥斯丁炉火纯青的语言描写功力，使笔下的人物栩栩如生，耐人寻味。
傲慢与偏见[小说]-作者简介
简·奥斯汀简· 奥斯汀
简· 奥斯汀出生于1775年12月16日，是乔治·奥斯汀家的第七个孩子。简·奥斯汀一直过着安静平和的隐居生活，她一生未婚。英国文学史上出现过几次趣味革命，文学口味的翻新几乎影响了所有作家的声誉，唯独莎士比亚和奥斯汀经久不衰。而这位伟大的女性一生只走过了42个春夏秋冬。1817年7月8日，她死于温彻斯特，葬于当地大教堂。
她的父亲是斯蒂文顿的教区长，也是一位藏书颇丰的博学之土。她的母亲名叫卡桑德拉·李·奥斯汀，出身于贵族家庭。简只有一个姐姐，叫卡桑德拉，并一生都与她保持着密切的联系。简的同胞兄弟从事着不同的职业：有几个担任圣职，一个是银行家，其他的则在军队服役。尽管她的家庭不是名门望族，也没有富甲一方，但乔治·奥斯汀很重视教育，甚至对女儿也不例外。简和卡桑德拉上了几年学，之后就在家里学习，主要是广泛阅读各种书籍和资料，并从父兄们与辅导的学生之间有趣的讨论中获益。通过自己的努力，简熟知18世纪的英国文学。
简· 奥斯汀生前匿名出版了四部小说：《理智与情感》(1811)、《傲慢与偏见}》(1813)、《曼斯菲尔德庄园》(1814) 和《艾玛》(1815)。另外两部，《诺桑格修道院》和《劝导》是她去世后于 1817年出版的。她的这些小说以其对英国社会和风俗的讽刺性描述而闻名于世。
奥斯汀所处的英国社会是一个阶级等级分明的社会。而阶级的区分主要源于家族与财富。奥斯汀在她的作品中经常批评英国上层阶级的自负和偏见。简注意区分人的内在价值 (个人品德)和外在价值(地位和财产)。简虽然经常讽刺势利小人，但也嘲笑出身低微的人缺乏教养和举止不当。总的来说，奥斯汀是一个现实主义作家，她所描绘的英国是一个缺少变化但阶级意识强烈的社会。
从18世纪末到19世纪初，“感伤小说”和“哥特小说”充斥英国文坛，而奥斯汀的小说破旧立新，一反常规地展现了当时尚未受到资本主义工业革命冲击的英国乡村中产阶级的日常生活和田园风光。她的作品往往通过喜剧性的场面嘲讽人们的愚蠢、自私、势利和盲目自信等可鄙可笑的弱点。奥斯丁的小说出现在19世纪初叶，一扫风行一时的假浪漫主义潮流，继承和发展了英国18世纪优秀的现实主义传统，为19世纪现实主义小说的高潮做了准备。虽然其作品反映的广度和深度有限，但她的作品如“两寸牙雕”，从一个小窗口中窥视到整个社会形态和人情世故，对改变当时小说创作中的风气起了好的作用，在英国小说的发展史上有承上启下的意义，被誉为地位“可与莎士比亚平起平坐”的作家。 她最喜爱的作家是18世纪古典主义和理智的典范塞缪尔·约翰逊。奥斯汀的小说表现出一种情感上的模棱两可，以及对聪明才智与自然美的赞赏，这些特点使其作品和浪漫主义走到一起。遗憾的是，简·奥斯汀的小说在她生前并未受到好评。但是后来，尤其是在20世纪，她的小说越来越受欢迎。如今，简·奥斯汀已经跻身于英国真正伟大的作家之列。简·奥斯汀是世界上为数极少的著名女性作家之一，介于新古典主义和浪漫运动的抒情主义之间的“小幅画家”和“家庭小说”家，文学评论家眼里堪与莎士比亚在不朽性方面相提并论的英国作家。
傲慢与偏见[小说]-创作背景
《傲慢与偏见》是简·奥斯汀最早完成的作品，她在1796年开始动笔，取名为《最初的印象》，1797年8月完成。她父亲看后很感动，特意拿给汤玛·卡士德尔，请他出版，但对方一口回绝，使得他们十分失望。后来，她重写了《最初的印象》，并改名为“傲慢与偏见”于1813年1月出版。
傲慢与偏见[小说]-内容简介
女主角：：伊丽莎白
男主角：达西
重要配角：简（伊丽莎白的姐姐）、宾利（达西的好朋友）
内容提要
《傲慢与偏见》是描写伊丽莎白•贝内特和威廉•达西这对青年男女之间的爱情故事，起初他们俩人总是话不投机。故事发生在18世纪后期，距离英国伦敦，效外约50英里的赫特福德郡（位于英国英格兰东南部），书中生动地描绘了当时妇女生活的艰难，她们几乎都不能把握自己的命运。由于18世纪的英国社会十分看重社会地位和个人举止风度与才艺，女人们都竭尽所能去寻觅富有的丈夫。
详细内容
小乡绅班纳特有五个待字闺中的千金，班纳特太太整天操心着为女儿物色称心如意的丈夫。 新来的邻居彬格莱(Charles)是个有钱的单身汉，他立即成了班纳特太太追猎的目标。在一次舞会上，彬格莱对班纳特家的大女儿简(Jane)一见钟情，班纳特太太为此欣喜若狂。参加舞会的还有彬格莱的好友达西(Darcy)。他仪表堂堂，非常富有，许多姑娘纷纷向他投去羡慕的目光；但他非常骄傲，认为她们都不配做他的舞伴，其中包括简的妹妹伊丽莎白(Elizabeth)。伊丽莎白自尊心很强，决定不去理睬这个傲慢的家伙。可是不久，达西对她活泼可爱的举止产生了好感，在另一次舞会上主动请她同舞，却遭到伊丽莎白的拒绝，达西狼狈不堪。
彬格莱的妹妹卡罗琳(Caroline)一心追求达西，她发现达西有意于伊丽莎白，妒火中烧，决意从中阻挠。而遭到伊丽莎白冷遇的达西也鄙视班纳特太太及其小女儿丽迪亚(Lydia)的粗俗。在妹妹和好友达西的劝说下，彬格莱不辞而别，去了伦敦，但简对他还是一片深情。
班纳特没有儿子，他的家产将由远亲柯林斯(Collins)继承。柯林斯粗鄙无知，却善于趋炎附势，居然当上牧师。他向伊丽莎白求婚，遭拒绝后，马上与她的女友夏洛特(Charlotte)结婚。
附近小镇的民团联队里有个英俊潇洒的青年军官威肯(Wickham)，人人都夸他，伊丽莎白也对他产生了好感。一天，他对伊丽莎白说，他父亲是达西家的总管，达西的父亲曾给他一大笔遗赠，却被达西吞没了。伊丽莎白听后，对达西更加反感。
柯林斯夫妇请伊丽莎白去他们家作客，伊丽莎白在那里遇到达西的姨妈凯瑟琳(Catherine)，不久，又见到了达西。同时也认识了威廉少校，从他口中得知达西藏起她姐姐的信，使伊丽莎白对达西的讨厌达到顶峰。所以在达西无法抑制自己对伊丽莎白的爱慕之情，向她求婚的时候，但态度还是那么傲慢。伊丽莎白坚决地谢绝了。这一打击使达西第一次认识到骄傲自负所带来的恶果，他痛苦地离开了她，临走前留下一封长信作了几点解释：他承认彬格莱不辞而别是他促使的，原因是他不满班纳特太太的轻浮和鄙俗，并且认为简并没有钟情于彬格莱；威肯说的却全是谎言，事实是威肯自己把那笔遗产挥霍殆尽，还企图勾引达西的妹妹私奔。伊丽莎白读信后十分后悔，既对错怪达西感到内疚，又为母亲的行为羞愧，还对自己的偏见深深懊悔。她逐渐改变了对达西的看法。
第二年夏天，伊丽莎白随舅父母来到达西的庄园，与他再次相遇。她发现达西变了，不仅对人彬彬有礼，在当地很受人们尊敬，而且对他妹妹非常爱护。她对他的偏见消除了。正当其时，伊丽莎白接到家信，说小妹丽迪亚随身负累累赌债的威肯私奔了。这种家丑使伊丽莎白非常难堪，以为达西会更瞧不起自己。但事实出乎她的意料，达西得知上述消息以后，在舅父母的帮主下，不仅替威肯还清赌债，还给了他一笔巨款，让他与丽迪亚完婚。自此以后，伊丽莎白往日对达西的种种偏见统统化为真诚之爱。
彬格莱和简经过一番周折，言归于好，一对情人沉浸在欢乐之中。而一心想让自己的女儿安妮(Anne)嫁给达西的凯瑟琳夫人匆匆赶来，蛮横地要伊丽莎白保证不与达西结婚。伊丽莎白对这一无理要求断然拒绝。此事传到达西耳中。他知道伊丽莎白已经改变了对自己的看法，诚恳地再次向她求婚。到此，一对曾因傲慢和偏见而延搁婚事的有情人终成眷属。
傲慢与偏见[小说]-语言特色
《傲慢与偏见》是简·奥斯丁(Jane Austen)的代表作品，写于十八世纪九十年代，其影响经历两世纪而不衰，并对后代作家产生影响，其重要的原因之一就是小说的语言魅力。在语言中对话是文学作品塑造人物形象最基本的手段之一，简.奥斯丁笔下的人物对话鲜明生动，颇具个性，含义丰富，耐人寻味。本文用会话合作原则分析《傲慢与偏见》书中的人物对话风格，解开简·奥斯丁作品中人物对话语言风格机智幽默妙趣横生之谜。奥斯丁的语言是经过锤炼的，她在对话艺术上讲究幽默、诙谐风趣、讽刺，这种艺术创新使她的作品具有自己的特色，而这种富有特色的语言在《傲慢与偏见》中发挥得尤为淋漓尽致。
比如在写班纳特太太时，作者就这样写到：“只要碰到不称心的事，她就自以为神经衰弱。”又在班纳特太太与其丈夫的对话中写到：“我的好老爷，你怎么舍得这样糟蹋自己的亲生女儿？你是在故意叫我气恼，好让你自己得意吧。你半点也不体谅我的神经衰弱。”“你真错怪了我，我的好太太。我非常尊重你的神经。它们是我的老朋友。至少在最近二十年以来，我一直听到你郑重其事地提到它们。”活灵活现的语言，绝妙的嘲讽与诙谐，立刻使两个不同的人物形象在读者脑海中变得立体而清晰。
再如另一个片段的描写：咖苔琳夫人的马车路过门口，柯林斯牧师全家手忙脚乱出去迎接，伊丽莎白却说：“就是这么回事吗？我还以为是猪猡闯进了花园呢。”直率的挖苦，戳穿了咖苔琳夫人自己吹起来的唬人架势，也使伊丽莎白这个蔑视权贵的形象在人们脑海中留下了更深的印象，越发觉得她的可爱。奥斯汀还善于通过最普通的语言让人物自己暴露自己。例如小说开头时，班纳特太太曾说郎格太太“是个自私自利、假仁假义的女人，我瞧不起她。”而到故事的结尾，当其大女儿与彬格莱的婚事已成定局时，她又说“我觉得郎格太太这个人真是太好了。” 这两段截然相反的话，让读者不禁哑然失笑的同时，又多么生动地表现出班纳特太太的反复无常、自我中心。这样的例子在书中还有很多。一个曾充满偏见的伊丽莎白、一个曾浑身傲慢的达西、一对有趣的班纳特夫妇、一个可笑的柯林斯、众多出场人物、再加上喜剧效果和特殊写作技巧，这就是《傲慢与偏见》，却不是它的全部。奥斯汀的幽默是需要反复咀嚼的。
傲慢与偏见[小说]-评价
1、奥斯丁在这部小说中通过班纳特五个女儿对待终身大事的不同处理，表现出乡镇中产阶级家庭出身的少女对婚姻爱情问题的不同态度，从而反映了作者本人的婚姻观：为了财产、金钱和地位而结婚是错误的；而结婚不考虑上述因素也是愚蠢的。因此，她既反对为金钱而结婚，也反对把婚姻当儿戏。她强调理想婚姻的重要性，并把男女双方感情作为缔结理想婚姻的基石。书中的女主人公伊丽莎白出身于小地主家庭，为富豪子弟达西所热爱。达西不顾门第和财富的差距，向她求婚，却遭到拒绝。伊丽莎白对他的误会和偏见是一个原因，但主要的是她讨厌他的傲慢。因为达西的这种傲慢实际上是地位差异的反映，只要存在这种傲慢，他与伊丽莎白之间就不可能有共同的思想感情，也不可能有理想的婚姻。以后伊丽莎白亲眼观察了达西的为人处世和一系列所作所为，特别是看到他改变了过去那种骄傲自负的神态，消除了对他的误会和偏见，从而与他缔结了美满姻缘。伊丽莎白对达西先后几次求婚的不同态度，实际上反映了女性对人格独立和平等权利的追求。这是伊丽莎白这一人物形象的进步意义。在《傲慢与偏见》中，奥斯丁还写了伊丽莎白的几个姐妹和女友的婚事，这些都是陪衬，用来与女主人公理想的婚姻相对照。如夏洛特和柯林斯尽管婚后过着舒适的物质生活，但他们之间没有爱情，这种婚姻实际上是掩盖在华丽外衣下的社会悲剧。还有她的姐姐也是完美结局的。不过他们所经历的远远没有伊丽莎白和达西这样从讨厌误会到相爱的，一开始就相爱，有点像一见钟情的味道。从而看出，经历波折的爱情才是完美深刻的。
奥斯丁的小说尽管题材比较狭窄，故事相当平淡，但是她善于在日常平凡事物中塑造鲜明的人物形象，不论是伊丽莎白、达西那种作者认为值得肯定的人物，还是威肯、柯林斯这类遭到讽刺挖苦的对象，都写得真实动人。同时，奥斯丁的语言是经过锤炼的，她在对话艺术上讲究幽默、讽刺，常以风趣诙谐的语言来烘托人物的性格特征。这种艺术创新使她的作品具有自己的特色。
2、爱情是小说永恒的主题，《傲慢与偏见》以爱情和婚姻为主要内容，自然是吸引读者的。但描写爱情的小说不计其数（言情小说似乎就很多产），要像《傲慢与偏见》这样在世界文学中占有一席之地，也并不是一件容易的事。《傲慢与偏见》之所以称得上世界文学名著而不流俗于一般爱情小说，自有它的魅力所在。那么到底是什么使它脱颖而出呢？一部好的小说，内容、情节是非常重要的。《傲慢与偏见》的内容并不复杂，情节却引人入胜。读过本书的读者应该对小说开篇的一句话记忆犹新：“凡是有财产的单身汉，必定需要娶位太太，这已经成了一条举世公认的真理。(It is a true universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.) ” 在英文中in want of 是指客观需要，而不是主观想要；这简简单单的一句话却深深反映出资产阶级婚姻的实质无非是金钱交易与利益的结合，可见作者的目光之透彻犀利，也正应证了前面所说的细微之处却能反映大问题。小说开篇就这样牢牢抓住了读者，接着通过班纳特夫妇风趣的对话，把读者带进一个女儿多得发愁的中产阶级家庭中。这个家庭家道已经中落，却还有5个待嫁的女儿，而且不幸班纳特先生又没有儿子，其财产将由表亲柯林斯继承。在资产阶级社会，如果女孩没有丰厚的嫁妆，就是再有才貌，也难找到体面的丈夫，就像书中达西所说：“她们倘使想嫁给有地位的男人，机会可就大大减少了。”所以处在婚姻要权衡双方阶级地位和金钱利害的情况下，这五位姑娘的出嫁前景确实不太美妙。小说采用古典的现实主义笔法，描写了四对青年男女的结合，通过班纳特五个女儿对待终身大事的不同处理，表现出乡镇中产阶级家庭出身的少女对婚姻爱情问题的不同态度，也借此表达了作者本人的婚姻观，即为财产打算的婚姻是没有幸福的，结婚不考虑财产是愚蠢的，讲究门第的包办婚姻不堪忍受，把婚姻当儿戏毫不足取，理想的婚姻要以感情为基础。书中的女主人公伊丽莎白与达西不顾门第和财富的差距，真心相爱，美满结合，是作者所颂扬的幸福婚姻。从伊丽莎白的身上，我们可以看到女性对人格独立和平等权利的追求；作者虽然没有反映出她那个时代的阶级矛盾和阶级斗争，然而她的强烈的阶级意识却表现了出来，对经济、财产决定婚姻关系乃至生活命运的揭露也可谓入木三分。西方有位马克思主义批评家大卫•戴克斯曾半开玩笑的说，在“揭露人类行为的经济原因”方面，奥斯汀“从某种意义上可以说在马克思以前就是马克思主义者了。”
The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, moral rightness, education and marriage in her aristocratic society of early 19th century England. Elizabeth is the second eldest of five daughters of a country gentleman landed in the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, not far from London.
Though the story's setting is uniquely turn of the 19th century, it retains a fascination for modern readers, continuing near the top of lists of 'most loved books' such as the Big Read. It still receives considerable attention from literary critics. This modern interest has resulted in a number of dramatic adaptations and an abundance of novels and stories imitating Austen's memorable characters or themes.
To date, the book has sold some 20 million copies worldwide.
Plot summary
The novel revolves around the Bennet family. The five marriageable daughters and mother will be without a home and income once Mr. Bennet dies: The terms on which Mr. Bennet inherited Longbourn ("fee tail male," now abolished by statute in England) prohibit women from inheriting it, with the effect that instead one of Mr. Bennet's collateral relatives will inherit the estate. The mother worries about this predicament, and wishes to find husbands for them quickly. The father doesn't seem to be worried at all, and Elizabeth, the heroine, has decided to only marry for love, even though she has no real ideas about how she will survive financially. She is of the opinion that her sister Jane, being kind and beautiful, will find a wealthy husband, and that she can then live with her. As the novel opens, Mr Bingley, a wealthy young gentleman, rents a country estate near the Bennets called Netherfield. He arrives in town accompanied by his fashionable sisters and his good friend, Mr Darcy. While Bingley is well-received in the community, Darcy begins his acquaintance with smug condescension and proud distaste for all the 'country' people. Bingley and Elizabeth Bennet's older sister Jane begin to grow close. Elizabeth's best friend Charlotte advises that Jane should be more affectionate to Bingley, as they are both shy, and he may not know that she is indeed interested in him. Elizabeth disregards her friend's opinion, saying that Jane is shy and modest, and that if Bingley can't see how she feels, he is a fool. With that, she never even tells Jane what Charlotte advised. Elizabeth is stung by Darcy's haughty rejection of her at a local dance and decides to match his coldness with her own wit.
At the same time Elizabeth begins a friendship with Mr Wickham, a militia officer who relates a prior acquaintance with Darcy. Wickham tells her that he has been seriously mistreated by Darcy. Elizabeth immediately seizes upon this information as another reason to hate Darcy. Ironically, but unbeknownst to her, Darcy finds himself gradually drawn to Elizabeth.
Just as Bingley appears to be on the point of proposing marriage to Jane Bennet, he quits Netherfield, leaving Jane confused and upset. Elizabeth is convinced that Bingley's sister has conspired with Darcy to separate Jane and Bingley.
Before Bingley leaves, Mr Collins, the male relative who is to inherit Longbourn, makes a sudden appearance and stays with the Bennets. He is a recently ordained clergyman employed by the wealthy and patronizing Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Though he was partially entreated to visit by his patroness, Collins has another reason for visiting: he wishes to find a wife from among the Bennet sisters. Mr Bennet and Elizabeth are amused by his self-important and pedantic behaviour. He immediately enters pursuit of Jane; however, when Mrs Bennet mentions her preoccupation with Mr Bingley, he turns to Elizabeth. He soon proposes marriage to Elizabeth, who refuses him, much to her mother's distress. Collins quickly recovers and proposes to Elizabeth's close friend, Charlotte Lucas, who immediately accepts him. Once the marriage is arranged, Charlotte asks Elizabeth to come for an extended visit.
In the spring, Elizabeth joins Charlotte and her cousin at his parish in Kent. The parish is adjacent to Rosings Park, the grand manor of Mr Darcy's aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, where Elizabeth is frequently invited. While calling on Lady Catherine, Mr Darcy encounters Elizabeth. She discovers from a cousin of Darcy that it was he who separated Bingley and Jane. Soon after, Darcy admits his love of Elizabeth and proposes to her. Insulted by his high-handed and insulting manner of proposing, Elizabeth refuses him. When he asks why she should refuse him, she confronts him with his sabotage of Bingley's relationship with Jane and Wickham's account of their dealings.
Deeply shaken by Elizabeth's vehemence and accusations, Darcy writes her a letter justifying his actions. The letter reveals that Wickham soon dissipated his legacy-settlement (from Darcy's father's estate), then came back to Darcy requesting permanent patronage; and that he became angry when rejected, accusing Darcy of cheating him. To exact revenge and to make off with part of the Darcy family fortune, he attempted to seduce Darcy's young sister Georgiana—to gain her hand and fortune, almost persuading her to elope with him—before he was found out and stopped. Towards Bingley and Jane, Darcy justifies his actions from having observed that Jane did not show any reciprocal interest in his friend; thus his aim in separating them was mainly to protect Bingley from heartache.
Darcy admits he was concerned about the disadvantageous connection with Elizabeth's family, especially her embarrassing mother and wild younger sisters. After reading the letter, Elizabeth begins to question both her family's behaviour and Wickham's credibility. She concludes that Wickham is not as trustworthy as his easy manners would indicate, that he had lied to her previously, and that her early impressions of Darcy might have been inaccurate. Soon after receiving the letter, Elizabeth returns home.
Elizabeth tells her father that Darcy was responsible for uniting Lydia and Wickham. This is one of the two earliest illustrations of Pride and Prejudice. The clothing styles reflect the time the illustration was engraved (the 1830s), not the time the novel was written or set.
Some months later, during a tour of Derbyshire with her aunt and uncle, Elizabeth visits Pemberley, Darcy's estate. Darcy's housekeeper, an older woman who has known Darcy since childhood, presents Elizabeth and her relatives with a flattering and benevolent impression of his character. Unexpectedly, Darcy arrives at Pemberley as they tour its grounds. He makes an effort to be gracious and welcoming to them, thus strengthening Elizabeth's newly favourable impression of him. Darcy then introduces Elizabeth to his sister Georgiana. He treats her uncle and aunt very well, and finds them of a more sound character than her other relatives, whom he previously dismissed as socially inferior.
Elizabeth and Darcy's renewed acquaintance is cut short when news arrives that Elizabeth's younger sister Lydia has run away with Wickham. Initially, the Bennets believe that Wickham and Lydia have eloped, but soon it is surmised that Wickham has no plans to marry Lydia. Lydia's antics threaten the family's reputation and the Bennet sisters with social ruin. Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle hurriedly leave Derbyshire, and Elizabeth is convinced that Darcy will avoid her from now on.
Soon, thanks to the intervention of Elizabeth's uncle, Lydia and Wickham are found and married. After the marriage, Wickham and Lydia make a visit to Longbourn. While bragging to Elizabeth, Lydia comments that Darcy was present at the wedding. Surprised, Elizabeth sends an inquiry to her aunt, from whom she discovers that Darcy was responsible for both finding the couple and arranging their marriage at great expense to himself.
Soon after, Bingley and Darcy return to the area. Bingley proposes marriage to Jane, and this news starts rumors that Darcy will propose to Elizabeth. Lady Catherine travels to Longbourn with the sole aim of confronting Elizabeth and demanding that she never accept such a proposal. Elizabeth refuses to bow to Lady Catherine's demands. When news of this obstinance reaches Darcy, it convinces him that her opinion of him has changed. When he visits, he once again proposes marriage. Elizabeth accepts, and the two become engaged.
The final chapters of the book establish the future of the characters. Elizabeth and Darcy settle at Pemberley where Mr Bennet visits often. Mrs Bennet remains frivolous and silly; she often visits the new Mrs Bingley and talks of the new Mrs Darcy. Later, Jane and Bingley move from Netherfield to avoid Jane's mother and Meryton relations and to locate near the Darcys in Derbyshire. Elizabeth and Jane manage to teach Kitty greater social grace, and Mary learns to accept the difference between herself and her sisters' beauty and mixes more with the outside world. Lydia and Wickham continue to move often, leaving their debts for Jane and Elizabeth to pay off. At Pemberley, Elizabeth and Georgiana grow close, though Georgiana is surprised by Elizabeth's playful treatment of Darcy. Lady Catherine stays very angry with her nephew's marriage but over time the relationship between the two is repaired and she eventually decides to visit them. Elizabeth and Darcy also remain close with her uncle and aunt.
Main characters
[show]Character genealogy
Mr Hurst
Mrs Hurst
Mr Philips
Caroline Bingley
Mrs Philips
Mr Charles Bingley
Mrs Gardiner
Jane Bennet
Mr Gardiner
Elizabeth Bennet
Mrs Bennet
Mary Bennet
Mr Bennet
Catherine "Kitty" Bennet
Mr William Collins
Lydia Bennet
Charlotte Lucas
Mr George Wickham
(Old) Mr Darcy
Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy
Lady Anne Darcy
Georgiana Darcy
Lady Catherine De Bourgh
Anne De Bourgh
Lord ——
Colonel Fitzwilliam
* Elizabeth Bennet is the main character and protagonist. The reader sees the unfolding plot and the other characters mostly from her viewpoint. The second of the Bennet daughters at twenty years old, she is intelligent, lively, attractive, and witty, but with a tendency to judge on first impressions and perhaps to be a little selective of the evidence upon which she bases her judgments. As the plot begins, her closest relationships are with her father, her sister Jane, her aunt Mrs Gardiner, and her best friend Charlotte Lucas.
* Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy is the main male character. Twenty-eight years old and unmarried, Darcy is the wealthy owner of the famous family estate of Pemberley in Derbyshire. Handsome, tall, and intelligent, but not convivial, his aloof decorum and moral rectitude are seen by many as an excessive pride and concern for social status. He makes a poor impression on strangers, such as the gentry of Meryton, but is valued by those who know him well.
* Mr Bennet has a wife and five daughters, and seems to have inurred himself to his fate. A bookish and intelligent gentleman somewhat withdrawn from society, he dislikes the indecorous behaviours of his wife and three younger daughters; but he offers little beyond mockery by way of correcting them. Rather than guiding these daughters to more sensible understanding, he is instead content to laugh at them. He relates very well with his two elder daughters, Jane and Elizabeth, showing them much more love and respect than his wife and younger daughters.
* Mrs Bennet is the wife of her social superior Mr Bennet, and mother of Elizabeth and her sisters. She is frivolous, excitable, and narrow-minded. She is susceptible to attacks of tremors and palpitations; her public manners and social climbing are embarrassing to Jane and Elizabeth. Her favourite daughter is the youngest, Lydia.
Lady Catherine confronts Elizabeth about Darcy, on the title page of the first illustrated edition. This is the other of the first two illustrations of the novel.
* Jane Bennet is the eldest Bennet sister. Twenty-two years old when the novel begins, she is considered the most beautiful young lady in the neighbourhood. Her character is contrasted with Elizabeth's as sweeter, shyer, and equally sensible, but not as clever; her most notable trait is a desire to see only the good in others. Jane is closest to Elizabeth, and her character is often contrasted with that of Elizabeth.
* Mary Bennet is the only plain Bennet sister, and rather than join in some of the family activities, she reads, although is often impatient for display. She works hard for knowledge and accomplishment, but has neither genius nor taste. At the ball at Netherfield, she embarrasses her family by singing badly.
* Catherine "Kitty" Bennet is the fourth Bennet sister, aged seventeen. She is portrayed as a less headstrong but equally silly shadow of Lydia.
* Lydia Bennet is the youngest Bennet sister, aged fifteen. She is repeatedly described as frivolous and headstrong. Her main activity in life is socialising, especially flirting with the military officers stationed in the nearby town of Meryton. She dominates her older sister Kitty and is supported in the family by her mother. After she elopes with Wickham and he is paid to marry her, she shows no remorse for the embarrassment that her actions caused for her family, but acts as if she has made a wonderful match of which her sisters should be jealous.
* Charles Bingley is a young gentleman without an estate. His wealth was recent, and he is seeking a permanent home. He rents the Netherfield estate near Longbourn when the novel opens. Twenty-two years old at the start of the novel, handsome, good-natured, and wealthy, he is contrasted with his friend Darcy as being less intelligent but kinder and more charming, and hence more popular in Meryton. He lacks resolve and is easily influenced by others.
* Caroline Bingley is the snobbish sister of Charles Bingley. Clearly harbouring romantic intentions on Darcy herself, she views his growing attachment to Elizabeth Bennet with some jealousy, resulting in disdain and frequent verbal attempts to undermine Elizabeth and her society.
* George Wickham is an old acquaintance of Darcy from childhood, and an officer in the militia unit stationed near Meryton. Superficially charming, he rapidly forms a friendship with Elizabeth Bennet, prompting remarks upon his suitability as a potential husband. He spreads numerous tales about the wrongs Darcy has done to him, colouring the popular perception of the other man in local society. It is eventually revealed that these tales are distortions, and that Darcy was the wronged man in their acquaintance.
* William Collins, aged twenty-five, is Mr Bennet's clergyman cousin and, as Mr Bennet has no son, heir to his estate. Austen described him as "not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society." Collins boasts of his acquaintance with — and advantageous patronage from — Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Mr Bennet, Jane, and Elizabeth consider him pompous and lacking in common sense. Elizabeth's rejection of Collins' marriage proposal is welcomed by her father, regardless of the financial benefit to the family of such a match. Elizabeth is later somewhat distressed — although understanding — when her closest friend, Charlotte Lucas, consents to marry Collins out of her need for a settled position and to avoid the low status and lack of autonomy of an old maid.
* Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who has wealth and social standing, is haughty, domineering and condescending. Mr Collins, among others, enables these characteristics by deferring to her opinions and desires. Elizabeth, however, is duly respectful but not intimidated. Darcy, whilst respectful of their shared family connection, is offended by her lack of manners, especially towards Elizabeth, and later — when pressed by her demand that he not marry Elizabeth — is quick to assert his intentions to marry whom he wishes.
* Mr Gardiner is Mrs Bennet's brother, and a businessman. He is quite sensible and gentleman-like. He tries to help Lydia when she elopes with Wickham. His wife has close relationships with Elizabeth and Jane. Jane stays with the Gardiners in London for a while, and Elizabeth travels with them to Derbyshire, where she again meets Darcy.
* Georgiana Darcy is Mr Darcy's quiet and amiable younger sister, aged sixteen when the story begins. In a letter from Mr Darcy to Elizabeth, he describes that Wickham tried to persuade her to elope with him and inherit her 30,000 pounds. Later on, Elizabeth meets her at their home at Pemberly, where she is amiable and sweet. She is very happy with her brother's choosing of Elizabeth and maintains an extremely close relationship to both of them.
Interrelationships
A comprehensive web showing the relationships between the main characters in Pride and Prejudice
Major themes
Many critics take the novel's title as a starting point when analysing the major themes of Pride and Prejudice; however, Robert Fox cautions against reading too much into the title since commercial factors may have played a role in its selection. "After the success of Sense and Sensibility, nothing would have seemed more natural than to bring out another novel of the same author using again the formula of antithesis and alliteration for the title. It should be pointed out that the qualities of the title are not exclusively assigned to one or the other of the protagonists; both Elizabeth and Darcy display pride and prejudice."
A major theme in much of Austen's work is the importance of environment and upbringing on the development of young people's character and morality. Social standing and wealth are not necessarily advantages in her world, and a further theme common to Jane Austen's work is ineffectual parents. In Pride and Prejudice, the failure of Mr and Mrs Bennet (particularly the latter) as parents is blamed for Lydia's lack of moral judgment; Darcy, on the other hand, has been taught to be principled and scrupulously honourable, but is also proud and overbearing. Kitty, rescued from Lydia's bad influence and spending more time with her older sisters after they marry, is said to improve greatly in their superior society.
Style
Pride and Prejudice, like most of Jane Austen's works, employs the narrative technique of free indirect speech. This has been defined as "the free representation of a character's speech, by which one means, not words actually spoken by a character, but the words that typify the character's thoughts, or the way the character would think or speak, if she thought or spoke". By using narrative which adopts the tone and vocabulary of a particular character (in this case, that of Elizabeth), Austen invites the reader to follow events from Elizabeth's viewpoint, sharing her prejudices and misapprehensions. "The learning curve, while undergone by both protagonists, is disclosed to us solely through Elizabeth's point of view and her free indirect speech is essential ... for it is through it that we remain caught, if not stuck, within Elizabeth's misprisions."
Publication history
Modern paperback editions of Pride and Prejudice
The novel was originally titled First Impressions by Jane Austen, and was written between October 1796 and August 1797. On 1 November 1797 Austen's father gave the draft to London bookseller Thomas Cadell in hopes of it being published, but it was rejected. The unpublished manuscript was returned to Austen and it stayed with her.
Austen made significant revisions to the manuscript for First Impressions between 1811 and 1812. She later renamed the story Pride and Prejudice. In renaming the novel, Austen probably had in mind the "sufferings and oppositions" summarized in the final chapter of Fanny Burney's Cecilia, called "Pride and Prejudice", where the phrase appears three times in block capitals. It is possible that the novel's original title was altered to avoid confusion with other works. In the years between the completion of First Impressions and its revision into Pride and Prejudice, two other works had been published under that name: a novel by Margaret Holford and a comedy by Horace Smith.
Austen sold the copyright for the novel to Thomas Egerton of Whitehall in exchange for £110 (Austen had asked for £150). This proved a costly decision. Austen had published Sense and Sensibility on a commission basis, whereby she indemnified the publisher against any losses and received any profits, less costs and the publisher's commission. Unaware that Sense and Sensibility would sell out its edition, making her £140, she passed the copyright to Egerton for a one-off payment, meaning that all the risk (and all the profits) would be his. Jan Fergus has calculated that Egerton subsequently made around £450 from just the first two editions of the book.
Egerton published the first edition of Pride and Prejudice in three hardcover volumes in January 1813, priced at 18s. Favourable reviews saw this edition sold out, with a second edition published in November that year. A third edition was published in 1817.
Foreign language translations first appeared in 1813 in French; subsequent translations were published in German, Danish and Swedish. Pride and Prejudice was first published in the United States in August 1832 as Elizabeth Bennet or, Pride and Prejudice. The novel was also included in Richard Bentley's Standard Novel series in 1833. R. W. Chapman's scholarly edition of Pride and Prejudice, first published in 1923, has become the standard edition from which many modern publications of the novel are based.
Reception
The novel was well received, with three favourable reviews in the first months following publication. Jan Fergus calls it "her most popular novel, both with the public and with her family and friends", and quotes David Gilson's A Bibliography of Jane Austen (Clarendon, 1982), where it is stated that Pride and Prejudice was referred to as "the fashionable novel" by Anne Isabella Milbanke, later to be the wife of Lord Byron. However, others did not agree. Charlotte Brontë wrote to noted critic and reviewer George Henry Lewes after reading a review of his published in Fraser's Magazine in 1847. He had praised Jane Austen's work and declared that he, "... would rather have written Pride and Prejudice, or Tom Jones, than any of the Waverley Novels". Miss Brontë, though, found Pride and Prejudice a disappointment, "... a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but ... no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck."
Modern popularity
* In 2003 the BBC conducted the largest ever poll for the "UK's Best-Loved Book" in which Pride and Prejudice came second, behind The Lord of the Rings.
* In a 2008 survey of more than 15,000 Australian readers, Pride and Prejudice came first in a list of the 101 best books ever written.
Adaptations
Film, television, and theatre
Pride and Prejudice has engendered numerous adaptations. Some of the notable film versions include that of 1940 starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, that of 2003 starring Kam Heskin and Orlando Seale (which placed the characters of Pride and Prejudice in a Mormon university, and was directed by Andrew Black and that of 2005 starring Keira Knightley (in an Oscar-nominated performance) and Matthew Macfadyen. Notable television versions include two by the BBC: the 1995 version starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, and a 1980 version starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul. A 1936 stage version was created by Helen Jerome played at the St. James's Theatre in London, starring Celia Johnson and Hugh Williams. First Impressions was a 1959 Broadway musical version starring Polly Bergen, Farley Granger, and Hermione Gingold. In 1995, a musical concept album was written by Bernard J. Taylor, with Peter Karrie in the role of Mr Darcy and Claire Moore in the role of Elizabeth Bennet. A new stage production, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, The New Musical, was presented in concert on 21 October 2008 in Rochester, New York with Colin Donnell as Darcy. The popular film Bridget Jones's Diary is a contemporary retelling, starring Renee Zellweger as a modern day Elizabeth, and Colin Firth, once again, as Mr Darcy.
Bride and Prejudice, starring Aishwarya Rai, is a Bollywood adaptation of the novel, while Pride & Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy (2003) places the novel in contemporary times. The off-Broadway musical I Love You Because reverses the gender of the main roles, set in modern day New York City. The Japanese comic Hana Yori Dango by Yoko Kamio, in which the wealthy, arrogant and proud protagonist, Doumyouji Tsukasa, falls in love with a poor, lower-class girl named Makino Tsukushi, is loosely based on Pride and Prejudice. A 2008 Israeli television six-part miniseries set the story in the Galilee with Mr Darcy a well-paid worker in the high-tech industry.
Pride and Prejudice has also crossed into the science fiction and horror genres. In the 1997 episode of science fiction comedy Red Dwarf entitled "Beyond a Joke", the crew of the space ship relax in a virtual reality rendition of "Pride and Prejudice Land" in "Jane Austen World". The central premise of the television miniseries Lost in Austen is a modern woman suddenly swapping lives with that of Elizabeth Bennet. In February 2009, it was announced that Elton John's Rocket Pictures production company was making a film, Pride and Predator, based on the story, but with the added twist of an alien landing in Longbourne.
Literature
The novel has inspired a number of other works that are not direct adaptations. Books inspired by Pride and Prejudice include: Mr. Darcy's Daughters and The Exploits and Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy by Elizabeth Aston; Pemberley: Or Pride and Prejudice Continued and An Unequal Marriage: Or Pride and Prejudice Twenty Years Later by Emma Tennant; The Book of Ruth (ASIN B00262ZRBM) by Helen Baker; Jane Austen Ruined My Life and Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart by Beth Pattillo; Precipitation - A Continuation of Miss Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice by Helen Baker; Searching for Pemberley by Mary Simonsen and Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife and its sequel Darcy & Elizabeth: Nights and Days at Pemberly by Linda Berdoll. In Gwyn Cready's comedic romance novel, Seducing Mr. Darcy, the heroine lands in Pride and Prejudice by way of magic massage, has a fling with Darcy and unknowingly changes the rest of the story. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding, which started as a newspaper column before becoming a novel and a film, was inspired by the then-current BBC adaptation; both works share a Mr. Darcy of serious disposition (both played by Colin Firth), a foolish match-making mother, and a detached affectionate father, as well as the protagonist overhearing Mr. Darcy speaking about her disparagingly, followed by the caddish character gaining the protagonist's affections by telling lies about Mr. Darcy. The self-referential in-jokes continue with the sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.
In March 2009, Quirk Books released Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which takes Austen's actual, original work, and laces it with zombie hordes, cannibalism, ninjas, and ultra-violent mayhem. Scheduled for publication in March 2010, Quirk Books has announced that it will produce a prequel which deals with Elizabeth Bennett's early days as a zombie hunter, entitled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls.
Yet another angle was introduced by Monica Fairview, who wrote about Miss Caroline Bingley in The Other Mr Darcy, published in October 2009. Pride and Prejudice has also inspired many scholarly articles and books including: So Odd a Mixture: Along the Autism Spectrum in 'Pride and Prejudice' by Phyllis Ferguson Bottomer, Forewords by Eileen Sutherland and Tony Attwood.
Marvel has also published their take on this classic, releasing a short comic series of five issues that stays true to the original storyline. The first issue was published on 1 April 2009 and was written by Nancy Hajeski.
Author Amanda Grange wrote Mr. Darcy's Diary in 2007 that tells the original story of Pride and Prejudice from the view of Mr Darcy. In 2009, she wrote Mr. Darcy, Vampyre which reimagines Darcy as a vampire after he has married Elizabeth. Following the same premise is Regina Jeffers' "Vampire Darcy's Desire", which retells Pride and Prejudice on the basis that Darcy is a dhampir (part-human, part-vampire) joined by his lover Elizabeth to fight the evil vampire George Wickham.
傲慢与偏见[小说]-作者简介
简·奥斯汀简· 奥斯汀
简· 奥斯汀出生于1775年12月16日，是乔治·奥斯汀家的第七个孩子。简·奥斯汀一直过着安静平和的隐居生活，她一生未婚。英国文学史上出现过几次趣味革命，文学口味的翻新几乎影响了所有作家的声誉，唯独莎士比亚和奥斯汀经久不衰。而这位伟大的女性一生只走过了42个春夏秋冬。1817年7月8日，她死于温彻斯特，葬于当地大教堂。
她的父亲是斯蒂文顿的教区长，也是一位藏书颇丰的博学之土。她的母亲名叫卡桑德拉·李·奥斯汀，出身于贵族家庭。简只有一个姐姐，叫卡桑德拉，并一生都与她保持着密切的联系。简的同胞兄弟从事着不同的职业：有几个担任圣职，一个是银行家，其他的则在军队服役。尽管她的家庭不是名门望族，也没有富甲一方，但乔治·奥斯汀很重视教育，甚至对女儿也不例外。简和卡桑德拉上了几年学，之后就在家里学习，主要是广泛阅读各种书籍和资料，并从父兄们与辅导的学生之间有趣的讨论中获益。通过自己的努力，简熟知18世纪的英国文学。
简· 奥斯汀生前匿名出版了四部小说：《理智与情感》(1811)、《傲慢与偏见}》(1813)、《曼斯菲尔德庄园》(1814) 和《艾玛》(1815)。另外两部，《诺桑格修道院》和《劝导》是她去世后于 1817年出版的。她的这些小说以其对英国社会和风俗的讽刺性描述而闻名于世。
奥斯汀所处的英国社会是一个阶级等级分明的社会。而阶级的区分主要源于家族与财富。奥斯汀在她的作品中经常批评英国上层阶级的自负和偏见。简注意区分人的内在价值 (个人品德)和外在价值(地位和财产)。简虽然经常讽刺势利小人，但也嘲笑出身低微的人缺乏教养和举止不当。总的来说，奥斯汀是一个现实主义作家，她所描绘的英国是一个缺少变化但阶级意识强烈的社会。
从18世纪末到19世纪初，“感伤小说”和“哥特小说”充斥英国文坛，而奥斯汀的小说破旧立新，一反常规地展现了当时尚未受到资本主义工业革命冲击的英国乡村中产阶级的日常生活和田园风光。她的作品往往通过喜剧性的场面嘲讽人们的愚蠢、自私、势利和盲目自信等可鄙可笑的弱点。奥斯丁的小说出现在19世纪初叶，一扫风行一时的假浪漫主义潮流，继承和发展了英国18世纪优秀的现实主义传统，为19世纪现实主义小说的高潮做了准备。虽然其作品反映的广度和深度有限，但她的作品如“两寸牙雕”，从一个小窗口中窥视到整个社会形态和人情世故，对改变当时小说创作中的风气起了好的作用，在英国小说的发展史上有承上启下的意义，被誉为地位“可与莎士比亚平起平坐”的作家。 她最喜爱的作家是18世纪古典主义和理智的典范塞缪尔·约翰逊。奥斯汀的小说表现出一种情感上的模棱两可，以及对聪明才智与自然美的赞赏，这些特点使其作品和浪漫主义走到一起。遗憾的是，简·奥斯汀的小说在她生前并未受到好评。但是后来，尤其是在20世纪，她的小说越来越受欢迎。如今，简·奥斯汀已经跻身于英国真正伟大的作家之列。简·奥斯汀是世界上为数极少的著名女性作家之一，介于新古典主义和浪漫运动的抒情主义之间的“小幅画家”和“家庭小说”家，文学评论家眼里堪与莎士比亚在不朽性方面相提并论的英国作家。
傲慢与偏见[小说]-创作背景
《傲慢与偏见》是简·奥斯汀最早完成的作品，她在1796年开始动笔，取名为《最初的印象》，1797年8月完成。她父亲看后很感动，特意拿给汤玛·卡士德尔，请他出版，但对方一口回绝，使得他们十分失望。后来，她重写了《最初的印象》，并改名为“傲慢与偏见”于1813年1月出版。
傲慢与偏见[小说]-内容简介
女主角：：伊丽莎白
男主角：达西
重要配角：简（伊丽莎白的姐姐）、宾利（达西的好朋友）
内容提要
《傲慢与偏见》是描写伊丽莎白•贝内特和威廉•达西这对青年男女之间的爱情故事，起初他们俩人总是话不投机。故事发生在18世纪后期，距离英国伦敦，效外约50英里的赫特福德郡（位于英国英格兰东南部），书中生动地描绘了当时妇女生活的艰难，她们几乎都不能把握自己的命运。由于18世纪的英国社会十分看重社会地位和个人举止风度与才艺，女人们都竭尽所能去寻觅富有的丈夫。
详细内容
小乡绅班纳特有五个待字闺中的千金，班纳特太太整天操心着为女儿物色称心如意的丈夫。 新来的邻居彬格莱(Charles)是个有钱的单身汉，他立即成了班纳特太太追猎的目标。在一次舞会上，彬格莱对班纳特家的大女儿简(Jane)一见钟情，班纳特太太为此欣喜若狂。参加舞会的还有彬格莱的好友达西(Darcy)。他仪表堂堂，非常富有，许多姑娘纷纷向他投去羡慕的目光；但他非常骄傲，认为她们都不配做他的舞伴，其中包括简的妹妹伊丽莎白(Elizabeth)。伊丽莎白自尊心很强，决定不去理睬这个傲慢的家伙。可是不久，达西对她活泼可爱的举止产生了好感，在另一次舞会上主动请她同舞，却遭到伊丽莎白的拒绝，达西狼狈不堪。
彬格莱的妹妹卡罗琳(Caroline)一心追求达西，她发现达西有意于伊丽莎白，妒火中烧，决意从中阻挠。而遭到伊丽莎白冷遇的达西也鄙视班纳特太太及其小女儿丽迪亚(Lydia)的粗俗。在妹妹和好友达西的劝说下，彬格莱不辞而别，去了伦敦，但简对他还是一片深情。
班纳特没有儿子，他的家产将由远亲柯林斯(Collins)继承。柯林斯粗鄙无知，却善于趋炎附势，居然当上牧师。他向伊丽莎白求婚，遭拒绝后，马上与她的女友夏洛特(Charlotte)结婚。
附近小镇的民团联队里有个英俊潇洒的青年军官威肯(Wickham)，人人都夸他，伊丽莎白也对他产生了好感。一天，他对伊丽莎白说，他父亲是达西家的总管，达西的父亲曾给他一大笔遗赠，却被达西吞没了。伊丽莎白听后，对达西更加反感。
柯林斯夫妇请伊丽莎白去他们家作客，伊丽莎白在那里遇到达西的姨妈凯瑟琳(Catherine)，不久，又见到了达西。同时也认识了威廉少校，从他口中得知达西藏起她姐姐的信，使伊丽莎白对达西的讨厌达到顶峰。所以在达西无法抑制自己对伊丽莎白的爱慕之情，向她求婚的时候，但态度还是那么傲慢。伊丽莎白坚决地谢绝了。这一打击使达西第一次认识到骄傲自负所带来的恶果，他痛苦地离开了她，临走前留下一封长信作了几点解释：他承认彬格莱不辞而别是他促使的，原因是他不满班纳特太太的轻浮和鄙俗，并且认为简并没有钟情于彬格莱；威肯说的却全是谎言，事实是威肯自己把那笔遗产挥霍殆尽，还企图勾引达西的妹妹私奔。伊丽莎白读信后十分后悔，既对错怪达西感到内疚，又为母亲的行为羞愧，还对自己的偏见深深懊悔。她逐渐改变了对达西的看法。
第二年夏天，伊丽莎白随舅父母来到达西的庄园，与他再次相遇。她发现达西变了，不仅对人彬彬有礼，在当地很受人们尊敬，而且对他妹妹非常爱护。她对他的偏见消除了。正当其时，伊丽莎白接到家信，说小妹丽迪亚随身负累累赌债的威肯私奔了。这种家丑使伊丽莎白非常难堪，以为达西会更瞧不起自己。但事实出乎她的意料，达西得知上述消息以后，在舅父母的帮主下，不仅替威肯还清赌债，还给了他一笔巨款，让他与丽迪亚完婚。自此以后，伊丽莎白往日对达西的种种偏见统统化为真诚之爱。
彬格莱和简经过一番周折，言归于好，一对情人沉浸在欢乐之中。而一心想让自己的女儿安妮(Anne)嫁给达西的凯瑟琳夫人匆匆赶来，蛮横地要伊丽莎白保证不与达西结婚。伊丽莎白对这一无理要求断然拒绝。此事传到达西耳中。他知道伊丽莎白已经改变了对自己的看法，诚恳地再次向她求婚。到此，一对曾因傲慢和偏见而延搁婚事的有情人终成眷属。
傲慢与偏见[小说]-语言特色
《傲慢与偏见》是简·奥斯丁(Jane Austen)的代表作品，写于十八世纪九十年代，其影响经历两世纪而不衰，并对后代作家产生影响，其重要的原因之一就是小说的语言魅力。在语言中对话是文学作品塑造人物形象最基本的手段之一，简.奥斯丁笔下的人物对话鲜明生动，颇具个性，含义丰富，耐人寻味。本文用会话合作原则分析《傲慢与偏见》书中的人物对话风格，解开简·奥斯丁作品中人物对话语言风格机智幽默妙趣横生之谜。奥斯丁的语言是经过锤炼的，她在对话艺术上讲究幽默、诙谐风趣、讽刺，这种艺术创新使她的作品具有自己的特色，而这种富有特色的语言在《傲慢与偏见》中发挥得尤为淋漓尽致。
比如在写班纳特太太时，作者就这样写到：“只要碰到不称心的事，她就自以为神经衰弱。”又在班纳特太太与其丈夫的对话中写到：“我的好老爷，你怎么舍得这样糟蹋自己的亲生女儿？你是在故意叫我气恼，好让你自己得意吧。你半点也不体谅我的神经衰弱。”“你真错怪了我，我的好太太。我非常尊重你的神经。它们是我的老朋友。至少在最近二十年以来，我一直听到你郑重其事地提到它们。”活灵活现的语言，绝妙的嘲讽与诙谐，立刻使两个不同的人物形象在读者脑海中变得立体而清晰。
再如另一个片段的描写：咖苔琳夫人的马车路过门口，柯林斯牧师全家手忙脚乱出去迎接，伊丽莎白却说：“就是这么回事吗？我还以为是猪猡闯进了花园呢。”直率的挖苦，戳穿了咖苔琳夫人自己吹起来的唬人架势，也使伊丽莎白这个蔑视权贵的形象在人们脑海中留下了更深的印象，越发觉得她的可爱。奥斯汀还善于通过最普通的语言让人物自己暴露自己。例如小说开头时，班纳特太太曾说郎格太太“是个自私自利、假仁假义的女人，我瞧不起她。”而到故事的结尾，当其大女儿与彬格莱的婚事已成定局时，她又说“我觉得郎格太太这个人真是太好了。” 这两段截然相反的话，让读者不禁哑然失笑的同时，又多么生动地表现出班纳特太太的反复无常、自我中心。这样的例子在书中还有很多。一个曾充满偏见的伊丽莎白、一个曾浑身傲慢的达西、一对有趣的班纳特夫妇、一个可笑的柯林斯、众多出场人物、再加上喜剧效果和特殊写作技巧，这就是《傲慢与偏见》，却不是它的全部。奥斯汀的幽默是需要反复咀嚼的。
傲慢与偏见[小说]-评价
1、奥斯丁在这部小说中通过班纳特五个女儿对待终身大事的不同处理，表现出乡镇中产阶级家庭出身的少女对婚姻爱情问题的不同态度，从而反映了作者本人的婚姻观：为了财产、金钱和地位而结婚是错误的；而结婚不考虑上述因素也是愚蠢的。因此，她既反对为金钱而结婚，也反对把婚姻当儿戏。她强调理想婚姻的重要性，并把男女双方感情作为缔结理想婚姻的基石。书中的女主人公伊丽莎白出身于小地主家庭，为富豪子弟达西所热爱。达西不顾门第和财富的差距，向她求婚，却遭到拒绝。伊丽莎白对他的误会和偏见是一个原因，但主要的是她讨厌他的傲慢。因为达西的这种傲慢实际上是地位差异的反映，只要存在这种傲慢，他与伊丽莎白之间就不可能有共同的思想感情，也不可能有理想的婚姻。以后伊丽莎白亲眼观察了达西的为人处世和一系列所作所为，特别是看到他改变了过去那种骄傲自负的神态，消除了对他的误会和偏见，从而与他缔结了美满姻缘。伊丽莎白对达西先后几次求婚的不同态度，实际上反映了女性对人格独立和平等权利的追求。这是伊丽莎白这一人物形象的进步意义。在《傲慢与偏见》中，奥斯丁还写了伊丽莎白的几个姐妹和女友的婚事，这些都是陪衬，用来与女主人公理想的婚姻相对照。如夏洛特和柯林斯尽管婚后过着舒适的物质生活，但他们之间没有爱情，这种婚姻实际上是掩盖在华丽外衣下的社会悲剧。还有她的姐姐也是完美结局的。不过他们所经历的远远没有伊丽莎白和达西这样从讨厌误会到相爱的，一开始就相爱，有点像一见钟情的味道。从而看出，经历波折的爱情才是完美深刻的。
奥斯丁的小说尽管题材比较狭窄，故事相当平淡，但是她善于在日常平凡事物中塑造鲜明的人物形象，不论是伊丽莎白、达西那种作者认为值得肯定的人物，还是威肯、柯林斯这类遭到讽刺挖苦的对象，都写得真实动人。同时，奥斯丁的语言是经过锤炼的，她在对话艺术上讲究幽默、讽刺，常以风趣诙谐的语言来烘托人物的性格特征。这种艺术创新使她的作品具有自己的特色。
2、爱情是小说永恒的主题，《傲慢与偏见》以爱情和婚姻为主要内容，自然是吸引读者的。但描写爱情的小说不计其数（言情小说似乎就很多产），要像《傲慢与偏见》这样在世界文学中占有一席之地，也并不是一件容易的事。《傲慢与偏见》之所以称得上世界文学名著而不流俗于一般爱情小说，自有它的魅力所在。那么到底是什么使它脱颖而出呢？一部好的小说，内容、情节是非常重要的。《傲慢与偏见》的内容并不复杂，情节却引人入胜。读过本书的读者应该对小说开篇的一句话记忆犹新：“凡是有财产的单身汉，必定需要娶位太太，这已经成了一条举世公认的真理。(It is a true universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.) ” 在英文中in want of 是指客观需要，而不是主观想要；这简简单单的一句话却深深反映出资产阶级婚姻的实质无非是金钱交易与利益的结合，可见作者的目光之透彻犀利，也正应证了前面所说的细微之处却能反映大问题。小说开篇就这样牢牢抓住了读者，接着通过班纳特夫妇风趣的对话，把读者带进一个女儿多得发愁的中产阶级家庭中。这个家庭家道已经中落，却还有5个待嫁的女儿，而且不幸班纳特先生又没有儿子，其财产将由表亲柯林斯继承。在资产阶级社会，如果女孩没有丰厚的嫁妆，就是再有才貌，也难找到体面的丈夫，就像书中达西所说：“她们倘使想嫁给有地位的男人，机会可就大大减少了。”所以处在婚姻要权衡双方阶级地位和金钱利害的情况下，这五位姑娘的出嫁前景确实不太美妙。小说采用古典的现实主义笔法，描写了四对青年男女的结合，通过班纳特五个女儿对待终身大事的不同处理，表现出乡镇中产阶级家庭出身的少女对婚姻爱情问题的不同态度，也借此表达了作者本人的婚姻观，即为财产打算的婚姻是没有幸福的，结婚不考虑财产是愚蠢的，讲究门第的包办婚姻不堪忍受，把婚姻当儿戏毫不足取，理想的婚姻要以感情为基础。书中的女主人公伊丽莎白与达西不顾门第和财富的差距，真心相爱，美满结合，是作者所颂扬的幸福婚姻。从伊丽莎白的身上，我们可以看到女性对人格独立和平等权利的追求；作者虽然没有反映出她那个时代的阶级矛盾和阶级斗争，然而她的强烈的阶级意识却表现了出来，对经济、财产决定婚姻关系乃至生活命运的揭露也可谓入木三分。西方有位马克思主义批评家大卫•戴克斯曾半开玩笑的说，在“揭露人类行为的经济原因”方面，奥斯汀“从某种意义上可以说在马克思以前就是马克思主义者了。”
The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, moral rightness, education and marriage in her aristocratic society of early 19th century England. Elizabeth is the second eldest of five daughters of a country gentleman landed in the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, not far from London.
Though the story's setting is uniquely turn of the 19th century, it retains a fascination for modern readers, continuing near the top of lists of 'most loved books' such as the Big Read. It still receives considerable attention from literary critics. This modern interest has resulted in a number of dramatic adaptations and an abundance of novels and stories imitating Austen's memorable characters or themes.
To date, the book has sold some 20 million copies worldwide.
Plot summary
The novel revolves around the Bennet family. The five marriageable daughters and mother will be without a home and income once Mr. Bennet dies: The terms on which Mr. Bennet inherited Longbourn ("fee tail male," now abolished by statute in England) prohibit women from inheriting it, with the effect that instead one of Mr. Bennet's collateral relatives will inherit the estate. The mother worries about this predicament, and wishes to find husbands for them quickly. The father doesn't seem to be worried at all, and Elizabeth, the heroine, has decided to only marry for love, even though she has no real ideas about how she will survive financially. She is of the opinion that her sister Jane, being kind and beautiful, will find a wealthy husband, and that she can then live with her. As the novel opens, Mr Bingley, a wealthy young gentleman, rents a country estate near the Bennets called Netherfield. He arrives in town accompanied by his fashionable sisters and his good friend, Mr Darcy. While Bingley is well-received in the community, Darcy begins his acquaintance with smug condescension and proud distaste for all the 'country' people. Bingley and Elizabeth Bennet's older sister Jane begin to grow close. Elizabeth's best friend Charlotte advises that Jane should be more affectionate to Bingley, as they are both shy, and he may not know that she is indeed interested in him. Elizabeth disregards her friend's opinion, saying that Jane is shy and modest, and that if Bingley can't see how she feels, he is a fool. With that, she never even tells Jane what Charlotte advised. Elizabeth is stung by Darcy's haughty rejection of her at a local dance and decides to match his coldness with her own wit.
At the same time Elizabeth begins a friendship with Mr Wickham, a militia officer who relates a prior acquaintance with Darcy. Wickham tells her that he has been seriously mistreated by Darcy. Elizabeth immediately seizes upon this information as another reason to hate Darcy. Ironically, but unbeknownst to her, Darcy finds himself gradually drawn to Elizabeth.
Just as Bingley appears to be on the point of proposing marriage to Jane Bennet, he quits Netherfield, leaving Jane confused and upset. Elizabeth is convinced that Bingley's sister has conspired with Darcy to separate Jane and Bingley.
Before Bingley leaves, Mr Collins, the male relative who is to inherit Longbourn, makes a sudden appearance and stays with the Bennets. He is a recently ordained clergyman employed by the wealthy and patronizing Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Though he was partially entreated to visit by his patroness, Collins has another reason for visiting: he wishes to find a wife from among the Bennet sisters. Mr Bennet and Elizabeth are amused by his self-important and pedantic behaviour. He immediately enters pursuit of Jane; however, when Mrs Bennet mentions her preoccupation with Mr Bingley, he turns to Elizabeth. He soon proposes marriage to Elizabeth, who refuses him, much to her mother's distress. Collins quickly recovers and proposes to Elizabeth's close friend, Charlotte Lucas, who immediately accepts him. Once the marriage is arranged, Charlotte asks Elizabeth to come for an extended visit.
In the spring, Elizabeth joins Charlotte and her cousin at his parish in Kent. The parish is adjacent to Rosings Park, the grand manor of Mr Darcy's aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, where Elizabeth is frequently invited. While calling on Lady Catherine, Mr Darcy encounters Elizabeth. She discovers from a cousin of Darcy that it was he who separated Bingley and Jane. Soon after, Darcy admits his love of Elizabeth and proposes to her. Insulted by his high-handed and insulting manner of proposing, Elizabeth refuses him. When he asks why she should refuse him, she confronts him with his sabotage of Bingley's relationship with Jane and Wickham's account of their dealings.
Deeply shaken by Elizabeth's vehemence and accusations, Darcy writes her a letter justifying his actions. The letter reveals that Wickham soon dissipated his legacy-settlement (from Darcy's father's estate), then came back to Darcy requesting permanent patronage; and that he became angry when rejected, accusing Darcy of cheating him. To exact revenge and to make off with part of the Darcy family fortune, he attempted to seduce Darcy's young sister Georgiana—to gain her hand and fortune, almost persuading her to elope with him—before he was found out and stopped. Towards Bingley and Jane, Darcy justifies his actions from having observed that Jane did not show any reciprocal interest in his friend; thus his aim in separating them was mainly to protect Bingley from heartache.
Darcy admits he was concerned about the disadvantageous connection with Elizabeth's family, especially her embarrassing mother and wild younger sisters. After reading the letter, Elizabeth begins to question both her family's behaviour and Wickham's credibility. She concludes that Wickham is not as trustworthy as his easy manners would indicate, that he had lied to her previously, and that her early impressions of Darcy might have been inaccurate. Soon after receiving the letter, Elizabeth returns home.
Elizabeth tells her father that Darcy was responsible for uniting Lydia and Wickham. This is one of the two earliest illustrations of Pride and Prejudice. The clothing styles reflect the time the illustration was engraved (the 1830s), not the time the novel was written or set.
Some months later, during a tour of Derbyshire with her aunt and uncle, Elizabeth visits Pemberley, Darcy's estate. Darcy's housekeeper, an older woman who has known Darcy since childhood, presents Elizabeth and her relatives with a flattering and benevolent impression of his character. Unexpectedly, Darcy arrives at Pemberley as they tour its grounds. He makes an effort to be gracious and welcoming to them, thus strengthening Elizabeth's newly favourable impression of him. Darcy then introduces Elizabeth to his sister Georgiana. He treats her uncle and aunt very well, and finds them of a more sound character than her other relatives, whom he previously dismissed as socially inferior.
Elizabeth and Darcy's renewed acquaintance is cut short when news arrives that Elizabeth's younger sister Lydia has run away with Wickham. Initially, the Bennets believe that Wickham and Lydia have eloped, but soon it is surmised that Wickham has no plans to marry Lydia. Lydia's antics threaten the family's reputation and the Bennet sisters with social ruin. Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle hurriedly leave Derbyshire, and Elizabeth is convinced that Darcy will avoid her from now on.
Soon, thanks to the intervention of Elizabeth's uncle, Lydia and Wickham are found and married. After the marriage, Wickham and Lydia make a visit to Longbourn. While bragging to Elizabeth, Lydia comments that Darcy was present at the wedding. Surprised, Elizabeth sends an inquiry to her aunt, from whom she discovers that Darcy was responsible for both finding the couple and arranging their marriage at great expense to himself.
Soon after, Bingley and Darcy return to the area. Bingley proposes marriage to Jane, and this news starts rumors that Darcy will propose to Elizabeth. Lady Catherine travels to Longbourn with the sole aim of confronting Elizabeth and demanding that she never accept such a proposal. Elizabeth refuses to bow to Lady Catherine's demands. When news of this obstinance reaches Darcy, it convinces him that her opinion of him has changed. When he visits, he once again proposes marriage. Elizabeth accepts, and the two become engaged.
The final chapters of the book establish the future of the characters. Elizabeth and Darcy settle at Pemberley where Mr Bennet visits often. Mrs Bennet remains frivolous and silly; she often visits the new Mrs Bingley and talks of the new Mrs Darcy. Later, Jane and Bingley move from Netherfield to avoid Jane's mother and Meryton relations and to locate near the Darcys in Derbyshire. Elizabeth and Jane manage to teach Kitty greater social grace, and Mary learns to accept the difference between herself and her sisters' beauty and mixes more with the outside world. Lydia and Wickham continue to move often, leaving their debts for Jane and Elizabeth to pay off. At Pemberley, Elizabeth and Georgiana grow close, though Georgiana is surprised by Elizabeth's playful treatment of Darcy. Lady Catherine stays very angry with her nephew's marriage but over time the relationship between the two is repaired and she eventually decides to visit them. Elizabeth and Darcy also remain close with her uncle and aunt.
Main characters
[show]Character genealogy
Mr Hurst
Mrs Hurst
Mr Philips
Caroline Bingley
Mrs Philips
Mr Charles Bingley
Mrs Gardiner
Jane Bennet
Mr Gardiner
Elizabeth Bennet
Mrs Bennet
Mary Bennet
Mr Bennet
Catherine "Kitty" Bennet
Mr William Collins
Lydia Bennet
Charlotte Lucas
Mr George Wickham
(Old) Mr Darcy
Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy
Lady Anne Darcy
Georgiana Darcy
Lady Catherine De Bourgh
Anne De Bourgh
Lord ——
Colonel Fitzwilliam
* Elizabeth Bennet is the main character and protagonist. The reader sees the unfolding plot and the other characters mostly from her viewpoint. The second of the Bennet daughters at twenty years old, she is intelligent, lively, attractive, and witty, but with a tendency to judge on first impressions and perhaps to be a little selective of the evidence upon which she bases her judgments. As the plot begins, her closest relationships are with her father, her sister Jane, her aunt Mrs Gardiner, and her best friend Charlotte Lucas.
* Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy is the main male character. Twenty-eight years old and unmarried, Darcy is the wealthy owner of the famous family estate of Pemberley in Derbyshire. Handsome, tall, and intelligent, but not convivial, his aloof decorum and moral rectitude are seen by many as an excessive pride and concern for social status. He makes a poor impression on strangers, such as the gentry of Meryton, but is valued by those who know him well.
* Mr Bennet has a wife and five daughters, and seems to have inurred himself to his fate. A bookish and intelligent gentleman somewhat withdrawn from society, he dislikes the indecorous behaviours of his wife and three younger daughters; but he offers little beyond mockery by way of correcting them. Rather than guiding these daughters to more sensible understanding, he is instead content to laugh at them. He relates very well with his two elder daughters, Jane and Elizabeth, showing them much more love and respect than his wife and younger daughters.
* Mrs Bennet is the wife of her social superior Mr Bennet, and mother of Elizabeth and her sisters. She is frivolous, excitable, and narrow-minded. She is susceptible to attacks of tremors and palpitations; her public manners and social climbing are embarrassing to Jane and Elizabeth. Her favourite daughter is the youngest, Lydia.
Lady Catherine confronts Elizabeth about Darcy, on the title page of the first illustrated edition. This is the other of the first two illustrations of the novel.
* Jane Bennet is the eldest Bennet sister. Twenty-two years old when the novel begins, she is considered the most beautiful young lady in the neighbourhood. Her character is contrasted with Elizabeth's as sweeter, shyer, and equally sensible, but not as clever; her most notable trait is a desire to see only the good in others. Jane is closest to Elizabeth, and her character is often contrasted with that of Elizabeth.
* Mary Bennet is the only plain Bennet sister, and rather than join in some of the family activities, she reads, although is often impatient for display. She works hard for knowledge and accomplishment, but has neither genius nor taste. At the ball at Netherfield, she embarrasses her family by singing badly.
* Catherine "Kitty" Bennet is the fourth Bennet sister, aged seventeen. She is portrayed as a less headstrong but equally silly shadow of Lydia.
* Lydia Bennet is the youngest Bennet sister, aged fifteen. She is repeatedly described as frivolous and headstrong. Her main activity in life is socialising, especially flirting with the military officers stationed in the nearby town of Meryton. She dominates her older sister Kitty and is supported in the family by her mother. After she elopes with Wickham and he is paid to marry her, she shows no remorse for the embarrassment that her actions caused for her family, but acts as if she has made a wonderful match of which her sisters should be jealous.
* Charles Bingley is a young gentleman without an estate. His wealth was recent, and he is seeking a permanent home. He rents the Netherfield estate near Longbourn when the novel opens. Twenty-two years old at the start of the novel, handsome, good-natured, and wealthy, he is contrasted with his friend Darcy as being less intelligent but kinder and more charming, and hence more popular in Meryton. He lacks resolve and is easily influenced by others.
* Caroline Bingley is the snobbish sister of Charles Bingley. Clearly harbouring romantic intentions on Darcy herself, she views his growing attachment to Elizabeth Bennet with some jealousy, resulting in disdain and frequent verbal attempts to undermine Elizabeth and her society.
* George Wickham is an old acquaintance of Darcy from childhood, and an officer in the militia unit stationed near Meryton. Superficially charming, he rapidly forms a friendship with Elizabeth Bennet, prompting remarks upon his suitability as a potential husband. He spreads numerous tales about the wrongs Darcy has done to him, colouring the popular perception of the other man in local society. It is eventually revealed that these tales are distortions, and that Darcy was the wronged man in their acquaintance.
* William Collins, aged twenty-five, is Mr Bennet's clergyman cousin and, as Mr Bennet has no son, heir to his estate. Austen described him as "not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society." Collins boasts of his acquaintance with — and advantageous patronage from — Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Mr Bennet, Jane, and Elizabeth consider him pompous and lacking in common sense. Elizabeth's rejection of Collins' marriage proposal is welcomed by her father, regardless of the financial benefit to the family of such a match. Elizabeth is later somewhat distressed — although understanding — when her closest friend, Charlotte Lucas, consents to marry Collins out of her need for a settled position and to avoid the low status and lack of autonomy of an old maid.
* Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who has wealth and social standing, is haughty, domineering and condescending. Mr Collins, among others, enables these characteristics by deferring to her opinions and desires. Elizabeth, however, is duly respectful but not intimidated. Darcy, whilst respectful of their shared family connection, is offended by her lack of manners, especially towards Elizabeth, and later — when pressed by her demand that he not marry Elizabeth — is quick to assert his intentions to marry whom he wishes.
* Mr Gardiner is Mrs Bennet's brother, and a businessman. He is quite sensible and gentleman-like. He tries to help Lydia when she elopes with Wickham. His wife has close relationships with Elizabeth and Jane. Jane stays with the Gardiners in London for a while, and Elizabeth travels with them to Derbyshire, where she again meets Darcy.
* Georgiana Darcy is Mr Darcy's quiet and amiable younger sister, aged sixteen when the story begins. In a letter from Mr Darcy to Elizabeth, he describes that Wickham tried to persuade her to elope with him and inherit her 30,000 pounds. Later on, Elizabeth meets her at their home at Pemberly, where she is amiable and sweet. She is very happy with her brother's choosing of Elizabeth and maintains an extremely close relationship to both of them.
Interrelationships
A comprehensive web showing the relationships between the main characters in Pride and Prejudice
Major themes
Many critics take the novel's title as a starting point when analysing the major themes of Pride and Prejudice; however, Robert Fox cautions against reading too much into the title since commercial factors may have played a role in its selection. "After the success of Sense and Sensibility, nothing would have seemed more natural than to bring out another novel of the same author using again the formula of antithesis and alliteration for the title. It should be pointed out that the qualities of the title are not exclusively assigned to one or the other of the protagonists; both Elizabeth and Darcy display pride and prejudice."
A major theme in much of Austen's work is the importance of environment and upbringing on the development of young people's character and morality. Social standing and wealth are not necessarily advantages in her world, and a further theme common to Jane Austen's work is ineffectual parents. In Pride and Prejudice, the failure of Mr and Mrs Bennet (particularly the latter) as parents is blamed for Lydia's lack of moral judgment; Darcy, on the other hand, has been taught to be principled and scrupulously honourable, but is also proud and overbearing. Kitty, rescued from Lydia's bad influence and spending more time with her older sisters after they marry, is said to improve greatly in their superior society.
Style
Pride and Prejudice, like most of Jane Austen's works, employs the narrative technique of free indirect speech. This has been defined as "the free representation of a character's speech, by which one means, not words actually spoken by a character, but the words that typify the character's thoughts, or the way the character would think or speak, if she thought or spoke". By using narrative which adopts the tone and vocabulary of a particular character (in this case, that of Elizabeth), Austen invites the reader to follow events from Elizabeth's viewpoint, sharing her prejudices and misapprehensions. "The learning curve, while undergone by both protagonists, is disclosed to us solely through Elizabeth's point of view and her free indirect speech is essential ... for it is through it that we remain caught, if not stuck, within Elizabeth's misprisions."
Publication history
Modern paperback editions of Pride and Prejudice
The novel was originally titled First Impressions by Jane Austen, and was written between October 1796 and August 1797. On 1 November 1797 Austen's father gave the draft to London bookseller Thomas Cadell in hopes of it being published, but it was rejected. The unpublished manuscript was returned to Austen and it stayed with her.
Austen made significant revisions to the manuscript for First Impressions between 1811 and 1812. She later renamed the story Pride and Prejudice. In renaming the novel, Austen probably had in mind the "sufferings and oppositions" summarized in the final chapter of Fanny Burney's Cecilia, called "Pride and Prejudice", where the phrase appears three times in block capitals. It is possible that the novel's original title was altered to avoid confusion with other works. In the years between the completion of First Impressions and its revision into Pride and Prejudice, two other works had been published under that name: a novel by Margaret Holford and a comedy by Horace Smith.
Austen sold the copyright for the novel to Thomas Egerton of Whitehall in exchange for £110 (Austen had asked for £150). This proved a costly decision. Austen had published Sense and Sensibility on a commission basis, whereby she indemnified the publisher against any losses and received any profits, less costs and the publisher's commission. Unaware that Sense and Sensibility would sell out its edition, making her £140, she passed the copyright to Egerton for a one-off payment, meaning that all the risk (and all the profits) would be his. Jan Fergus has calculated that Egerton subsequently made around £450 from just the first two editions of the book.
Egerton published the first edition of Pride and Prejudice in three hardcover volumes in January 1813, priced at 18s. Favourable reviews saw this edition sold out, with a second edition published in November that year. A third edition was published in 1817.
Foreign language translations first appeared in 1813 in French; subsequent translations were published in German, Danish and Swedish. Pride and Prejudice was first published in the United States in August 1832 as Elizabeth Bennet or, Pride and Prejudice. The novel was also included in Richard Bentley's Standard Novel series in 1833. R. W. Chapman's scholarly edition of Pride and Prejudice, first published in 1923, has become the standard edition from which many modern publications of the novel are based.
Reception
The novel was well received, with three favourable reviews in the first months following publication. Jan Fergus calls it "her most popular novel, both with the public and with her family and friends", and quotes David Gilson's A Bibliography of Jane Austen (Clarendon, 1982), where it is stated that Pride and Prejudice was referred to as "the fashionable novel" by Anne Isabella Milbanke, later to be the wife of Lord Byron. However, others did not agree. Charlotte Brontë wrote to noted critic and reviewer George Henry Lewes after reading a review of his published in Fraser's Magazine in 1847. He had praised Jane Austen's work and declared that he, "... would rather have written Pride and Prejudice, or Tom Jones, than any of the Waverley Novels". Miss Brontë, though, found Pride and Prejudice a disappointment, "... a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but ... no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck."
Modern popularity
* In 2003 the BBC conducted the largest ever poll for the "UK's Best-Loved Book" in which Pride and Prejudice came second, behind The Lord of the Rings.
* In a 2008 survey of more than 15,000 Australian readers, Pride and Prejudice came first in a list of the 101 best books ever written.
Adaptations
Film, television, and theatre
Pride and Prejudice has engendered numerous adaptations. Some of the notable film versions include that of 1940 starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, that of 2003 starring Kam Heskin and Orlando Seale (which placed the characters of Pride and Prejudice in a Mormon university, and was directed by Andrew Black and that of 2005 starring Keira Knightley (in an Oscar-nominated performance) and Matthew Macfadyen. Notable television versions include two by the BBC: the 1995 version starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, and a 1980 version starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul. A 1936 stage version was created by Helen Jerome played at the St. James's Theatre in London, starring Celia Johnson and Hugh Williams. First Impressions was a 1959 Broadway musical version starring Polly Bergen, Farley Granger, and Hermione Gingold. In 1995, a musical concept album was written by Bernard J. Taylor, with Peter Karrie in the role of Mr Darcy and Claire Moore in the role of Elizabeth Bennet. A new stage production, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, The New Musical, was presented in concert on 21 October 2008 in Rochester, New York with Colin Donnell as Darcy. The popular film Bridget Jones's Diary is a contemporary retelling, starring Renee Zellweger as a modern day Elizabeth, and Colin Firth, once again, as Mr Darcy.
Bride and Prejudice, starring Aishwarya Rai, is a Bollywood adaptation of the novel, while Pride & Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy (2003) places the novel in contemporary times. The off-Broadway musical I Love You Because reverses the gender of the main roles, set in modern day New York City. The Japanese comic Hana Yori Dango by Yoko Kamio, in which the wealthy, arrogant and proud protagonist, Doumyouji Tsukasa, falls in love with a poor, lower-class girl named Makino Tsukushi, is loosely based on Pride and Prejudice. A 2008 Israeli television six-part miniseries set the story in the Galilee with Mr Darcy a well-paid worker in the high-tech industry.
Pride and Prejudice has also crossed into the science fiction and horror genres. In the 1997 episode of science fiction comedy Red Dwarf entitled "Beyond a Joke", the crew of the space ship relax in a virtual reality rendition of "Pride and Prejudice Land" in "Jane Austen World". The central premise of the television miniseries Lost in Austen is a modern woman suddenly swapping lives with that of Elizabeth Bennet. In February 2009, it was announced that Elton John's Rocket Pictures production company was making a film, Pride and Predator, based on the story, but with the added twist of an alien landing in Longbourne.
Literature
The novel has inspired a number of other works that are not direct adaptations. Books inspired by Pride and Prejudice include: Mr. Darcy's Daughters and The Exploits and Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy by Elizabeth Aston; Pemberley: Or Pride and Prejudice Continued and An Unequal Marriage: Or Pride and Prejudice Twenty Years Later by Emma Tennant; The Book of Ruth (ASIN B00262ZRBM) by Helen Baker; Jane Austen Ruined My Life and Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart by Beth Pattillo; Precipitation - A Continuation of Miss Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice by Helen Baker; Searching for Pemberley by Mary Simonsen and Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife and its sequel Darcy & Elizabeth: Nights and Days at Pemberly by Linda Berdoll. In Gwyn Cready's comedic romance novel, Seducing Mr. Darcy, the heroine lands in Pride and Prejudice by way of magic massage, has a fling with Darcy and unknowingly changes the rest of the story. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding, which started as a newspaper column before becoming a novel and a film, was inspired by the then-current BBC adaptation; both works share a Mr. Darcy of serious disposition (both played by Colin Firth), a foolish match-making mother, and a detached affectionate father, as well as the protagonist overhearing Mr. Darcy speaking about her disparagingly, followed by the caddish character gaining the protagonist's affections by telling lies about Mr. Darcy. The self-referential in-jokes continue with the sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.
In March 2009, Quirk Books released Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which takes Austen's actual, original work, and laces it with zombie hordes, cannibalism, ninjas, and ultra-violent mayhem. Scheduled for publication in March 2010, Quirk Books has announced that it will produce a prequel which deals with Elizabeth Bennett's early days as a zombie hunter, entitled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls.
Yet another angle was introduced by Monica Fairview, who wrote about Miss Caroline Bingley in The Other Mr Darcy, published in October 2009. Pride and Prejudice has also inspired many scholarly articles and books including: So Odd a Mixture: Along the Autism Spectrum in 'Pride and Prejudice' by Phyllis Ferguson Bottomer, Forewords by Eileen Sutherland and Tony Attwood.
Marvel has also published their take on this classic, releasing a short comic series of five issues that stays true to the original storyline. The first issue was published on 1 April 2009 and was written by Nancy Hajeski.
Author Amanda Grange wrote Mr. Darcy's Diary in 2007 that tells the original story of Pride and Prejudice from the view of Mr Darcy. In 2009, she wrote Mr. Darcy, Vampyre which reimagines Darcy as a vampire after he has married Elizabeth. Following the same premise is Regina Jeffers' "Vampire Darcy's Desire", which retells Pride and Prejudice on the basis that Darcy is a dhampir (part-human, part-vampire) joined by his lover Elizabeth to fight the evil vampire George Wickham.
简·奥斯汀（Jane Austen）于1818年(作者去世后第二年）出版的小说，并署上了真名。
《劝导》是作者最后一部完整的小说，比以前的作品写得更有思想和感情深度，被许多评论家视为奥斯丁最好的作品。书中作者以幽默和讽刺的笔调对中产阶级的虚伪和势利进行了鞭挞。如果说奥斯汀在《理智与情感》中强调理智应该战胜情感，认为只有在这种情况下人们才能获得幸福，那么，在她这最后一部小说中，奥斯丁却用较长的篇幅描述了“谨慎”给女主人公带来的多年的痛苦。《劝导》肯定人物性格从谨慎到浪漫的演变，无疑反映了作者本人创作思想的变化。这也是对当时传统观念的一种挑战。 本书结构严谨、笔法细腻，小说中有许多细节描写，乍看平淡无奇，可是细细体会，却感到余味无穷。人们常把奥斯丁的小说比作“二寸牙雕”，经过此般精雕细琢的《劝导》，完全当得起这一美称。
劝导-《劝导》
描写了一个曲折多磨的爱情故事。贵族小姐安妮·埃利奥特同青年军官温特沃思倾心相爱,订下了婚约。可是,她的父亲沃尔特爵士和教母拉塞尔夫人嫌温特沃思出身卑贱,没有财产,极力反对这门婚事。安妮出于“谨慎”,接受了教母的劝导,忍痛同心上人解除了婚约。八年后,在战争中升了官、发了财的温特沃思上校休役回乡,随姐姐、姐夫当上了沃尔特爵士的房客。他虽说对安妮怨忿未消,但两人不忘旧情,终于历尽曲折,排除干扰,结成良缘。
Persuasion is connected with Northanger Abbey not only by the fact that the two books were originally bound up in one volume and published together two years later, but also because both stories are set partly in Bath, a fashionable health resort with which Jane Austen was well acquainted, having lived there from 1801 to 1805.
Plot introduction
More than seven years prior to the events in the novel, Anne Elliot falls in love with a handsome young naval officer named Frederick Wentworth, who is intelligent and ambitious, but poor. Sir Walter, Anne's father and lord of the family estate of Kellynch, and her older sister Elizabeth are dissatisfied with her choice, maintaining that he is not distinguished enough for their family. Her older friend and mentor, Lady Russell, acting in place of Anne's deceased mother, persuades her to break off the match.
Now, aged 27 and still unmarried, Anne re-encounters her former fiancé when his sister and brother-in-law, the Crofts, take out a lease on Kellynch. Wentworth, now a captain, is wealthy from wartime victories in the Royal Navy and from prize-money for capturing enemy ships. However, he has not forgiven Anne for her rejection of him.
The self-interested machinations of Anne's father, her older sister Elizabeth, Elizabeth's friend Mrs. Clay, and William Elliot (Anne's cousin and her father's heir) constitute important subplots.
Title as variation on a theme
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2010)
Readers of "Persuasion" might well infer Jane Austen intended 'persuasion' as the working theme of the story, and that she applied the novel's title to reflect this conceit. Certainly that theme is repeated several times, with vignettes within the story as variations on that theme. But there is no known source for Austen pronouncing her own title for this work. (Some critics believe Austen intended to name the novel "The Elliots", but that, in fact, she died without titling it.)
On the other hand, the literary scholar Gillian Beer documents that Jane Austen had profound concerns about the levels and applications of 'persuasion' employed among individuals of her society, especially as it influenced the choices and moral suasion made upon the young women of her day. Beer reports that, for Austen and her readers, persuasion was indeed "fraught with moral dangers"; she notes particularly that Austen personally was appalled by the misdirection of her own intentions in advising a beloved niece (Fanny Knight) on the very question of accepting a particular suitor entailing with a long engagement. Beer writes:
Jane Austen's anxieties about persuasion and responsibility are here passionately expressed. She refuses to become part of the machinery with which Fanny is manoeuvering herself into forming the engagement. To be the stand-in motive for another's actions frightens her. Yet Jane Austen cannot avoid the part of persuader, even as dissuader.
Thus, Beer explains, Austen was keenly aware that, still, the human quality of persuasion—to persuade or to be persuaded, rightly or wrongly—is fundamental to the process of human communication; and that, in her novel "...Jane Austen gradually draws out the implications of discriminating 'just' and 'unjust' persuasion". Indeed, the narrative plays through a number of variations of people swaying, or attempting to sway, other people—or themselves. Finally, Beer describes Austen's work as: "...the novel's entire brooding on the power pressures, the seductions, and also the new pathways opened by persuasion".
Plot summary
Anne Elliot is the overlooked middle daughter of the vain Sir Walter Elliot, a baronet who is all too conscious of his good looks and rank and spends excessive amounts of money. Anne's mother, a fine, sensible woman, is long dead, and her elder sister, Elizabeth, resembles her father in temperament and delights in the fact that as the eldest daughter she can assume her mother's former position in their rural neighborhood. Anne's younger sister, Mary, is a nervous, clinging woman who has made an unspectacular marriage to Charles Musgrove of Uppercross Hall, the heir to a bucolic but respected local squire. None of her surviving family can provide much companionship for the elegant-minded Anne, who, still unmarried at 27, seems destined for spinsterhood.
After she met and fell in love with Wentworth, at age nineteen, Anne had been persuaded by her mother's great friend —and her own trusted confidante, the widow Lady Russell— to break the engagement. Lady Russell had questioned the wisdom of Anne marrying a penniless young naval officer without family or connections and whose prospects were so uncertain. Wentworth is left bitter at Lady Russell's interference and Anne's own want of fortitude.
Wentworth re-enters Anne's life when Sir Walter is forced by his own profligacy to let the family estate to none other than Wentworth's brother-in-law, Admiral Croft. Wentworth's successes in the Napoleonic Wars resulted in his promotion and enabled him to amass the then considerable fortune of £25,000 (around £2.5 million in today's money) from prize money awarded for capturing enemy vessels. The Musgroves, including Mary, Charles and Charles's younger sisters, Henrietta and Louisa, are delighted to welcome the Crofts and Wentworth to the neighborhood. Both Musgrove girls are attracted to Wentworth, though Henrietta is informally engaged to clergyman cousin Charles Hayter. Hayter is viewed as a merely respectable match, being a bit beneath the Musgroves, socially and financially. Charles, Mary, and the Crofts continually speculate as to which one Wentworth might marry. All this is hard on Anne, due to her regret at breaking off the engagement and Wentworth's constant attention to the Musgrove girls. She tries to escape their company as often as she can, preferring to spend time with her nephews.
Captain Wentworth's visit to a close friend, Captain Harville, in nearby Lyme Regis results in a day-long outing being organized by those eager to see the resort. While there, Louisa Musgrove sustains a concussion in a fall brought about by her own impetuous behaviour. This highlights the difference between the headstrong Louisa and the more sensible Anne. While onlookers exclaim that Louisa is dead and her companions stand around dumbfounded, Anne administers first aid and summons assistance. Wentworth's admiration for Anne reawakens as a result.
Louisa's recovery is slow and her self-confidence is severely shaken. Her newfound timidity elicits the kind attention and reassurance of Wentworth's friend Captain Benwick, who had been mourning the recent death of his fiancée. The couple find their personalities to be now more in sympathy and they become engaged.
Meanwhile, Sir Walter, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's scheming friend Mrs. Clay, the widowed daughter of Sir Walter's agent, have relocated to Bath. There they hope to live in a manner befitting a baronet and his family with the least possible expense until their finances are restored to a firmer footing. Sir Walter's cousin and heir, William Elliot, who long ago slighted the baronet, now seeks a reconciliation. Elizabeth assumes that he wishes to court her, while Lady Russell more correctly suspects that he admires Anne.
Although William Elliot seems a perfect gentleman, Anne distrusts him; she finds his character disturbingly opaque. She is enlightened by an unexpected source when she discovers an old school friend, Mrs. Smith, living in Bath in straitened circumstances. Mrs. Smith and her now-deceased husband had once been Mr. Elliot's closest friends. Having encouraged them into financial extravagance, he had quickly dropped them when they became impoverished. Anne learns, to her great distress, of his layers of deceit and calculated self-interest. In addition, her friend speculates that Mr. Elliot wants to reestablish his relationship with her family primarily to safeguard his inheritance of the title, fearing a marriage between Sir Walter and Mrs. Clay. This helps Anne to understand more fully the dangers of persuasion—in that Lady Russell pressed her to accept Mr. Elliot's likely offer of marriage—and helps her to develop more confidence in her own judgment.
Ultimately, the Musgroves visit Bath to purchase wedding clothes for their daughters Louisa and Henrietta (who has become engaged to Hayter). Captain Wentworth and his friend Captain Harville accompany them. Anne and Harville discuss the relative faithfulness of men and women in love, while Wentworth writes a note within earshot of the discussion. This causes him to write a note to Anne detailing his feelings for her. In a tender scene, Anne and Wentworth reconcile and renew their engagement. The match is now more palatable to Anne's family — their waning fortunes and Wentworth's waxing ones have made a considerable difference. Also, ever overvaluing good looks, Sir Walter is favorably impressed with his future son-in-law's appearance. Lady Russell admits she has been completely wrong about Captain Wentworth, and she and Anne remain friends.
Main characters
Sir Walter Elliot, Bt. — A vain, sycophantic self-satisfied baronet, Sir Walter's extravagance since the death of his prudent wife 13 years before has put his family in financial straits. These are severe enough to force him to lease his estate, Kellynch Hall, to Admiral Croft and take a more economical residence in Bath.
Elizabeth Elliot — The eldest and most beautiful daughter of Sir Walter, who encourages her father's imprudent spending and extravagance. She and her father routinely put their interests ahead of Anne's, regarding her as inconsequential.
Anne Elliot —
The second daughter of Sir Walter is 27 years old and unmarried. She is very intelligent and was very pretty but lost her bloom after breaking off her engagement with Wentworth. Now nearly eight years ago, she fell in love with Captain Wentworth but was persuaded by her mentor Lady Russell to reject his proposal because of his poverty and uncertain future.
Mary Musgrove — The youngest daughter of Sir Walter, married to Charles Musgrove. She is attention-seeking, always looking for ways she might have been slighted or not given her full due, and often claims illness when she is upset. She greatly opposes sister-in-law Henrietta's interest in marrying Charles Hayter, who Mary feels is beneath them.
Charles Musgrove — Husband of Mary and heir to the Musgrove estate. He had wanted to marry Anne and settled for Mary (much to the disappointment of the Musgrove family, and to his misfortune) when Anne refused him due to her continued love for Wentworth.
Lady Russell — A friend of the Elliots, particularly Anne, of whom she is the godmother. She is instrumental in Sir Walter's decision to leave Kellynch hall and avoid financial crisis. Years ago, she persuaded Anne to turn down Captain Wentworth's proposal of marriage. While far more sensible than Sir Walter Elliot, she shares his concern for rank and connections, and did not think Wentworth good enough for Anne because of his inferior birth and financial status.
Mrs. Clay — A poor widow, daughter of Sir Walter's lawyer, and intimate 'friend' of Elizabeth Elliot. She aims to flatter Sir Walter into marriage, while her oblivious friend looks on.
Captain Frederick Wentworth — A naval officer who was briefly engaged to Anne some years ago. At the time, he had no fortune and uncertain prospects, but owing to much success in the Napoleonic Wars, his situation has greatly improved. One of two brothers of Sophia Croft.
Admiral Croft — Good-natured, plainspoken tenant at Kellynch Hall and brother-in-law of Captain Wentworth.
Sophia Croft — Sister of Captain Wentworth and wife of Admiral Croft. She offers Anne an example of a strong-minded woman who has married for love instead of money.
Louisa Musgrove — Second sister of Charles Musgrove, aged about 19. Louisa is a high-spirited young lady who has recently returned with her sister from school. Captain Wentworth admires her for her resolve and determination, especially in contrast to Anne's prudence and what he sees as Anne's lack of conviction. She is ultimately engaged to Captain Benwick.
Henrietta Musgrove — Eldest sister of Charles Musgrove, aged about 20. Henrietta is informally engaged to her cousin Charles Hayter, but is nevertheless tempted by the more dashing Captain Wentworth.
Captain Harville — A friend of Captain Wentworth. Severely wounded two years ago and discharged at half-pay, he and his family have settled in nearby Lyme.
Captain James Benwick — A friend of Captain Harville. Benwick had been engaged to marry Captain Harville's sister Fanny, but she died while Benwick was at sea. Benwick's loss has left him melancholic and a lover of poetry. His enjoyment of reading makes him one of the few characters in the story to find an intellectual connection with Anne, and it is implied that he might have an interest in Anne. But Benwick ultimately becomes engaged to Louisa Musgrove.
Mr. William Elliot — A relation and the heir presumptive of Sir Walter, who became estranged from the family when he wed a woman of much lower social rank, for her fortune. Sir Walter and Elizabeth had hoped William would marry Elizabeth Elliot. He is now a widower. Now wanting very much to inherit the title, he mends the rupture in order to keep an eye on the ambitious Mrs. Clay. If Sir Walter married her, William's inheritance would be endangered. When he meets Anne by accident, his interest is piqued; if he could marry Anne his title and inheritance is likely secured. Rumors circulate that Anne and he are engaged.
Mrs. Smith — a friend of Anne Elliot who lives in Bath. She is a widow and has suffered ill health and financial difficulties. She keeps abreast of the doings of Bath society through news she gets from her nurse, Nurse Rooke, who also works for a friend of William Elliot's. Her financial problems could have been straightened out with some assistance from William Elliot, her husband's former friend, but Elliot would not exert himself, leaving her much impoverished. Later Wentworth acts on her behalf.
Lady Dalrymple — a viscountess, cousin to Sir Walter. She occupies an exalted position in society by virtue of wealth and rank. Sir Walter and Elizabeth are eager to be seen at Bath in the company of this great relation.
Literary significance & criticism
Persuasion is widely appreciated as a moving love story despite what has been labelled as a simple plot, and exemplifies Austen's acclaimed wit and ironic narrative style.[citation needed] Austen wrote Persuasion in a hurry, during the onset of the illness from which she eventually died; as a result, the novel is both shorter and arguably less polished than Mansfield Park and Emma, and was not subject to the usual pattern of careful retrospective revision.
Although the impact of Austen's failing health at the time of writing this novel cannot be overlooked, the novel is strikingly original in several ways. Persuasion is the first of Austen's novels to feature as the central character a woman who, by the standards of the time, is well past the first bloom of youth; biographer Claire Tomalin characterizes the book as Austen's "present to herself, to Miss Sharp, to Cassandra, to Martha Lloyd . . . to all women who had lost their chance in life and would never enjoy a second spring."
The novel has been described as a great "Cinderella" story (intoduction to the Penguin Classics edition). All the similarities between the fairy story and Austen's novel are there; a heroine who is generally unappreciated by those around her; a handsome prince who arrives but seems more interested in the "more obvious" charms of the Musgrove girls than the more steady charms offered by Anne; a moment of realisation and the final happy ending when those who did not appreaciate have time to realise what they have lost. It has been said that it is not that Anne is unloved, more that those around her no longer see her, she is such a fixed part of life that her likes and dislikes, wishes and dreams are no longer considered, even by those who claim to appreciate her, like Lady Russell.
At the same time, the novel is a paean to the self-made man. Captain Wentworth is just one of several naval officers in the story who have risen from humble beginnings to affluence and status on the strength of merit and luck, not by inheritance. It marks a time where the very roots of society were changing, as 'old money' (exemplified by Sir Walter) had to accommodate the rising strength of the nouveau riche (such as Wentworth). The success of Austen's own two brothers in the Royal Navy is probably significant. There are also clear parallels with the earlier novel Mansfield Park as there are inherent and sustained messages of the importance of constancy in the face of adversity and of the need to endure.
Austen makes some biting comments about 'family' and those we choose to associate with. Mary wants to nurse Louisa but doesn't want to nurse her son. Elizabeth prefers Mrs Clay to her sister who is 'amongst the nobility of England and Ireland', yet courts the attentions of Lady Dalrymple.
Through her heroine's words, Austen makes pointed remarks about the condition of women as 'rational creatures' at the mercy of males (only) recording history, writing books, etc., while castigating women's "inconstancy" and "fickleness". "Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. ...the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything" (Persuasion Volume 2 Chapter 11).
She ends the novel with the similar theme to Pride and Prejudice, where the heroine leaves the others behind with marriage.
《劝导》是作者最后一部完整的小说，比以前的作品写得更有思想和感情深度，被许多评论家视为奥斯丁最好的作品。书中作者以幽默和讽刺的笔调对中产阶级的虚伪和势利进行了鞭挞。如果说奥斯汀在《理智与情感》中强调理智应该战胜情感，认为只有在这种情况下人们才能获得幸福，那么，在她这最后一部小说中，奥斯丁却用较长的篇幅描述了“谨慎”给女主人公带来的多年的痛苦。《劝导》肯定人物性格从谨慎到浪漫的演变，无疑反映了作者本人创作思想的变化。这也是对当时传统观念的一种挑战。 本书结构严谨、笔法细腻，小说中有许多细节描写，乍看平淡无奇，可是细细体会，却感到余味无穷。人们常把奥斯丁的小说比作“二寸牙雕”，经过此般精雕细琢的《劝导》，完全当得起这一美称。
劝导-《劝导》
描写了一个曲折多磨的爱情故事。贵族小姐安妮·埃利奥特同青年军官温特沃思倾心相爱,订下了婚约。可是,她的父亲沃尔特爵士和教母拉塞尔夫人嫌温特沃思出身卑贱,没有财产,极力反对这门婚事。安妮出于“谨慎”,接受了教母的劝导,忍痛同心上人解除了婚约。八年后,在战争中升了官、发了财的温特沃思上校休役回乡,随姐姐、姐夫当上了沃尔特爵士的房客。他虽说对安妮怨忿未消,但两人不忘旧情,终于历尽曲折,排除干扰,结成良缘。
Persuasion is connected with Northanger Abbey not only by the fact that the two books were originally bound up in one volume and published together two years later, but also because both stories are set partly in Bath, a fashionable health resort with which Jane Austen was well acquainted, having lived there from 1801 to 1805.
Plot introduction
More than seven years prior to the events in the novel, Anne Elliot falls in love with a handsome young naval officer named Frederick Wentworth, who is intelligent and ambitious, but poor. Sir Walter, Anne's father and lord of the family estate of Kellynch, and her older sister Elizabeth are dissatisfied with her choice, maintaining that he is not distinguished enough for their family. Her older friend and mentor, Lady Russell, acting in place of Anne's deceased mother, persuades her to break off the match.
Now, aged 27 and still unmarried, Anne re-encounters her former fiancé when his sister and brother-in-law, the Crofts, take out a lease on Kellynch. Wentworth, now a captain, is wealthy from wartime victories in the Royal Navy and from prize-money for capturing enemy ships. However, he has not forgiven Anne for her rejection of him.
The self-interested machinations of Anne's father, her older sister Elizabeth, Elizabeth's friend Mrs. Clay, and William Elliot (Anne's cousin and her father's heir) constitute important subplots.
Title as variation on a theme
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2010)
Readers of "Persuasion" might well infer Jane Austen intended 'persuasion' as the working theme of the story, and that she applied the novel's title to reflect this conceit. Certainly that theme is repeated several times, with vignettes within the story as variations on that theme. But there is no known source for Austen pronouncing her own title for this work. (Some critics believe Austen intended to name the novel "The Elliots", but that, in fact, she died without titling it.)
On the other hand, the literary scholar Gillian Beer documents that Jane Austen had profound concerns about the levels and applications of 'persuasion' employed among individuals of her society, especially as it influenced the choices and moral suasion made upon the young women of her day. Beer reports that, for Austen and her readers, persuasion was indeed "fraught with moral dangers"; she notes particularly that Austen personally was appalled by the misdirection of her own intentions in advising a beloved niece (Fanny Knight) on the very question of accepting a particular suitor entailing with a long engagement. Beer writes:
Jane Austen's anxieties about persuasion and responsibility are here passionately expressed. She refuses to become part of the machinery with which Fanny is manoeuvering herself into forming the engagement. To be the stand-in motive for another's actions frightens her. Yet Jane Austen cannot avoid the part of persuader, even as dissuader.
Thus, Beer explains, Austen was keenly aware that, still, the human quality of persuasion—to persuade or to be persuaded, rightly or wrongly—is fundamental to the process of human communication; and that, in her novel "...Jane Austen gradually draws out the implications of discriminating 'just' and 'unjust' persuasion". Indeed, the narrative plays through a number of variations of people swaying, or attempting to sway, other people—or themselves. Finally, Beer describes Austen's work as: "...the novel's entire brooding on the power pressures, the seductions, and also the new pathways opened by persuasion".
Plot summary
Anne Elliot is the overlooked middle daughter of the vain Sir Walter Elliot, a baronet who is all too conscious of his good looks and rank and spends excessive amounts of money. Anne's mother, a fine, sensible woman, is long dead, and her elder sister, Elizabeth, resembles her father in temperament and delights in the fact that as the eldest daughter she can assume her mother's former position in their rural neighborhood. Anne's younger sister, Mary, is a nervous, clinging woman who has made an unspectacular marriage to Charles Musgrove of Uppercross Hall, the heir to a bucolic but respected local squire. None of her surviving family can provide much companionship for the elegant-minded Anne, who, still unmarried at 27, seems destined for spinsterhood.
After she met and fell in love with Wentworth, at age nineteen, Anne had been persuaded by her mother's great friend —and her own trusted confidante, the widow Lady Russell— to break the engagement. Lady Russell had questioned the wisdom of Anne marrying a penniless young naval officer without family or connections and whose prospects were so uncertain. Wentworth is left bitter at Lady Russell's interference and Anne's own want of fortitude.
Wentworth re-enters Anne's life when Sir Walter is forced by his own profligacy to let the family estate to none other than Wentworth's brother-in-law, Admiral Croft. Wentworth's successes in the Napoleonic Wars resulted in his promotion and enabled him to amass the then considerable fortune of £25,000 (around £2.5 million in today's money) from prize money awarded for capturing enemy vessels. The Musgroves, including Mary, Charles and Charles's younger sisters, Henrietta and Louisa, are delighted to welcome the Crofts and Wentworth to the neighborhood. Both Musgrove girls are attracted to Wentworth, though Henrietta is informally engaged to clergyman cousin Charles Hayter. Hayter is viewed as a merely respectable match, being a bit beneath the Musgroves, socially and financially. Charles, Mary, and the Crofts continually speculate as to which one Wentworth might marry. All this is hard on Anne, due to her regret at breaking off the engagement and Wentworth's constant attention to the Musgrove girls. She tries to escape their company as often as she can, preferring to spend time with her nephews.
Captain Wentworth's visit to a close friend, Captain Harville, in nearby Lyme Regis results in a day-long outing being organized by those eager to see the resort. While there, Louisa Musgrove sustains a concussion in a fall brought about by her own impetuous behaviour. This highlights the difference between the headstrong Louisa and the more sensible Anne. While onlookers exclaim that Louisa is dead and her companions stand around dumbfounded, Anne administers first aid and summons assistance. Wentworth's admiration for Anne reawakens as a result.
Louisa's recovery is slow and her self-confidence is severely shaken. Her newfound timidity elicits the kind attention and reassurance of Wentworth's friend Captain Benwick, who had been mourning the recent death of his fiancée. The couple find their personalities to be now more in sympathy and they become engaged.
Meanwhile, Sir Walter, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's scheming friend Mrs. Clay, the widowed daughter of Sir Walter's agent, have relocated to Bath. There they hope to live in a manner befitting a baronet and his family with the least possible expense until their finances are restored to a firmer footing. Sir Walter's cousin and heir, William Elliot, who long ago slighted the baronet, now seeks a reconciliation. Elizabeth assumes that he wishes to court her, while Lady Russell more correctly suspects that he admires Anne.
Although William Elliot seems a perfect gentleman, Anne distrusts him; she finds his character disturbingly opaque. She is enlightened by an unexpected source when she discovers an old school friend, Mrs. Smith, living in Bath in straitened circumstances. Mrs. Smith and her now-deceased husband had once been Mr. Elliot's closest friends. Having encouraged them into financial extravagance, he had quickly dropped them when they became impoverished. Anne learns, to her great distress, of his layers of deceit and calculated self-interest. In addition, her friend speculates that Mr. Elliot wants to reestablish his relationship with her family primarily to safeguard his inheritance of the title, fearing a marriage between Sir Walter and Mrs. Clay. This helps Anne to understand more fully the dangers of persuasion—in that Lady Russell pressed her to accept Mr. Elliot's likely offer of marriage—and helps her to develop more confidence in her own judgment.
Ultimately, the Musgroves visit Bath to purchase wedding clothes for their daughters Louisa and Henrietta (who has become engaged to Hayter). Captain Wentworth and his friend Captain Harville accompany them. Anne and Harville discuss the relative faithfulness of men and women in love, while Wentworth writes a note within earshot of the discussion. This causes him to write a note to Anne detailing his feelings for her. In a tender scene, Anne and Wentworth reconcile and renew their engagement. The match is now more palatable to Anne's family — their waning fortunes and Wentworth's waxing ones have made a considerable difference. Also, ever overvaluing good looks, Sir Walter is favorably impressed with his future son-in-law's appearance. Lady Russell admits she has been completely wrong about Captain Wentworth, and she and Anne remain friends.
Main characters
Sir Walter Elliot, Bt. — A vain, sycophantic self-satisfied baronet, Sir Walter's extravagance since the death of his prudent wife 13 years before has put his family in financial straits. These are severe enough to force him to lease his estate, Kellynch Hall, to Admiral Croft and take a more economical residence in Bath.
Elizabeth Elliot — The eldest and most beautiful daughter of Sir Walter, who encourages her father's imprudent spending and extravagance. She and her father routinely put their interests ahead of Anne's, regarding her as inconsequential.
Anne Elliot —
The second daughter of Sir Walter is 27 years old and unmarried. She is very intelligent and was very pretty but lost her bloom after breaking off her engagement with Wentworth. Now nearly eight years ago, she fell in love with Captain Wentworth but was persuaded by her mentor Lady Russell to reject his proposal because of his poverty and uncertain future.
Mary Musgrove — The youngest daughter of Sir Walter, married to Charles Musgrove. She is attention-seeking, always looking for ways she might have been slighted or not given her full due, and often claims illness when she is upset. She greatly opposes sister-in-law Henrietta's interest in marrying Charles Hayter, who Mary feels is beneath them.
Charles Musgrove — Husband of Mary and heir to the Musgrove estate. He had wanted to marry Anne and settled for Mary (much to the disappointment of the Musgrove family, and to his misfortune) when Anne refused him due to her continued love for Wentworth.
Lady Russell — A friend of the Elliots, particularly Anne, of whom she is the godmother. She is instrumental in Sir Walter's decision to leave Kellynch hall and avoid financial crisis. Years ago, she persuaded Anne to turn down Captain Wentworth's proposal of marriage. While far more sensible than Sir Walter Elliot, she shares his concern for rank and connections, and did not think Wentworth good enough for Anne because of his inferior birth and financial status.
Mrs. Clay — A poor widow, daughter of Sir Walter's lawyer, and intimate 'friend' of Elizabeth Elliot. She aims to flatter Sir Walter into marriage, while her oblivious friend looks on.
Captain Frederick Wentworth — A naval officer who was briefly engaged to Anne some years ago. At the time, he had no fortune and uncertain prospects, but owing to much success in the Napoleonic Wars, his situation has greatly improved. One of two brothers of Sophia Croft.
Admiral Croft — Good-natured, plainspoken tenant at Kellynch Hall and brother-in-law of Captain Wentworth.
Sophia Croft — Sister of Captain Wentworth and wife of Admiral Croft. She offers Anne an example of a strong-minded woman who has married for love instead of money.
Louisa Musgrove — Second sister of Charles Musgrove, aged about 19. Louisa is a high-spirited young lady who has recently returned with her sister from school. Captain Wentworth admires her for her resolve and determination, especially in contrast to Anne's prudence and what he sees as Anne's lack of conviction. She is ultimately engaged to Captain Benwick.
Henrietta Musgrove — Eldest sister of Charles Musgrove, aged about 20. Henrietta is informally engaged to her cousin Charles Hayter, but is nevertheless tempted by the more dashing Captain Wentworth.
Captain Harville — A friend of Captain Wentworth. Severely wounded two years ago and discharged at half-pay, he and his family have settled in nearby Lyme.
Captain James Benwick — A friend of Captain Harville. Benwick had been engaged to marry Captain Harville's sister Fanny, but she died while Benwick was at sea. Benwick's loss has left him melancholic and a lover of poetry. His enjoyment of reading makes him one of the few characters in the story to find an intellectual connection with Anne, and it is implied that he might have an interest in Anne. But Benwick ultimately becomes engaged to Louisa Musgrove.
Mr. William Elliot — A relation and the heir presumptive of Sir Walter, who became estranged from the family when he wed a woman of much lower social rank, for her fortune. Sir Walter and Elizabeth had hoped William would marry Elizabeth Elliot. He is now a widower. Now wanting very much to inherit the title, he mends the rupture in order to keep an eye on the ambitious Mrs. Clay. If Sir Walter married her, William's inheritance would be endangered. When he meets Anne by accident, his interest is piqued; if he could marry Anne his title and inheritance is likely secured. Rumors circulate that Anne and he are engaged.
Mrs. Smith — a friend of Anne Elliot who lives in Bath. She is a widow and has suffered ill health and financial difficulties. She keeps abreast of the doings of Bath society through news she gets from her nurse, Nurse Rooke, who also works for a friend of William Elliot's. Her financial problems could have been straightened out with some assistance from William Elliot, her husband's former friend, but Elliot would not exert himself, leaving her much impoverished. Later Wentworth acts on her behalf.
Lady Dalrymple — a viscountess, cousin to Sir Walter. She occupies an exalted position in society by virtue of wealth and rank. Sir Walter and Elizabeth are eager to be seen at Bath in the company of this great relation.
Literary significance & criticism
Persuasion is widely appreciated as a moving love story despite what has been labelled as a simple plot, and exemplifies Austen's acclaimed wit and ironic narrative style.[citation needed] Austen wrote Persuasion in a hurry, during the onset of the illness from which she eventually died; as a result, the novel is both shorter and arguably less polished than Mansfield Park and Emma, and was not subject to the usual pattern of careful retrospective revision.
Although the impact of Austen's failing health at the time of writing this novel cannot be overlooked, the novel is strikingly original in several ways. Persuasion is the first of Austen's novels to feature as the central character a woman who, by the standards of the time, is well past the first bloom of youth; biographer Claire Tomalin characterizes the book as Austen's "present to herself, to Miss Sharp, to Cassandra, to Martha Lloyd . . . to all women who had lost their chance in life and would never enjoy a second spring."
The novel has been described as a great "Cinderella" story (intoduction to the Penguin Classics edition). All the similarities between the fairy story and Austen's novel are there; a heroine who is generally unappreciated by those around her; a handsome prince who arrives but seems more interested in the "more obvious" charms of the Musgrove girls than the more steady charms offered by Anne; a moment of realisation and the final happy ending when those who did not appreaciate have time to realise what they have lost. It has been said that it is not that Anne is unloved, more that those around her no longer see her, she is such a fixed part of life that her likes and dislikes, wishes and dreams are no longer considered, even by those who claim to appreciate her, like Lady Russell.
At the same time, the novel is a paean to the self-made man. Captain Wentworth is just one of several naval officers in the story who have risen from humble beginnings to affluence and status on the strength of merit and luck, not by inheritance. It marks a time where the very roots of society were changing, as 'old money' (exemplified by Sir Walter) had to accommodate the rising strength of the nouveau riche (such as Wentworth). The success of Austen's own two brothers in the Royal Navy is probably significant. There are also clear parallels with the earlier novel Mansfield Park as there are inherent and sustained messages of the importance of constancy in the face of adversity and of the need to endure.
Austen makes some biting comments about 'family' and those we choose to associate with. Mary wants to nurse Louisa but doesn't want to nurse her son. Elizabeth prefers Mrs Clay to her sister who is 'amongst the nobility of England and Ireland', yet courts the attentions of Lady Dalrymple.
Through her heroine's words, Austen makes pointed remarks about the condition of women as 'rational creatures' at the mercy of males (only) recording history, writing books, etc., while castigating women's "inconstancy" and "fickleness". "Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. ...the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything" (Persuasion Volume 2 Chapter 11).
She ends the novel with the similar theme to Pride and Prejudice, where the heroine leaves the others behind with marriage.
《曼斯菲德庄园》的主人，就是离婚女啦。维系了20年的美好婚姻，儿女都长大成人了，才因为老公的厌倦，花心而一笔勾销了。分手的状况，她都遇到了，心痛欲绝，积悲成愤，释然放开，开始新我。但是这时候，老公又回来找她了，说他错了，还是怀念以往的日子，对于这个相处20年，但是一朝就将你和20年家庭抛弃的人，你会原谅吗？？
Plot summary
The main character, Fanny Price, is a young girl from a relatively poor family, raised by her rich uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, at Mansfield Park. She grows up with her four cousins, Tom Bertram, Edmund Bertram, Maria Bertram and Julia, but is always treated as inferior to them; only Edmund shows his real kindness. He is also the most virtuous of the siblings: Maria and Julia are vain and spoiled, while Tom is an irresponsible gambler. Over time, Fanny's gratitude for Edmund's kindness secretly grows into romantic love.
When the children have grown up, the stern patriarch Sir Thomas leaves for a year so he can deal with problems on his plantation in Antigua. The fashionable and worldly Henry Crawford and his sister Mary Crawford arrive in the village, and stay with their sister, the Parson's wife. The arrival of the Crawfords disrupts the staid world of Mansfield and sparks a series of romantic entanglements. Mary and Edmund begin to form an attachment, though Edmund often worries that her manners are fashionable and her conversation often cynical, masking a lack of firm principle. However, she is engaging, beautiful and charming, and goes out of her way to befriend Fanny. Fanny fears that Mary has enchanted Edmund, and love has blinded him to her flaws. Henry plays with the affections of both Maria and Julia, despite Maria being already engaged to the dull, but very rich, Mr. Rushworth. Maria believes that Henry is really in love with her, and treats Mr Rushworth coldly, invoking his jealousy. Fanny is so little observed in the family circle and her presence is often overlooked and she frequently witnesses Maria and Henry in compromising situations.
Encouraged by Tom and his friend Mr. Yates, the young people decide to put on Elizabeth Inchbald's play Lovers' Vows; Edmund and Fanny both initially oppose the plan, believing Sir Thomas would disapprove and feeling that the subject matter of the play is not appropriate. Edmund is eventually swayed, offering to play the part of Anhalt, the lover of the character played by Mary Crawford. As well as giving Mary and Edmund a vehicle to talk about love and marriage, the play provides a pretext for Henry and Maria to flirt in public. Sir Thomas arrives unexpectedly in the middle of a rehearsal, which ends the plan. Henry leaves, and Maria is crushed; realising that Henry does not love her, she marries Mr. Rushworth and they leave for Brighton, taking Julia with them. Meanwhile, Fanny's improved looks and pleasant temper endear her to Sir Thomas, who pays more attention to her care.
Henry returns to Mansfield Park and decides to amuse himself by making Fanny fall in love with him. However, her genuine gentleness and kindness cause him to fall in love with her instead. When he proposes marriage, Fanny's disgust at his improper flirtations with her cousins, as well as her love for Edmund, cause her to reject him. The Bertrams are dismayed, since it is an extremely advantageous match for a poor girl like Fanny. Sir Thomas rebukes her for ingratitude. Henry decides he will continue to pursue Fanny, hoping that in time she will change her mind by coming to believe he is constant. Sir Thomas supports a plan for Fanny to pay a visit to her relatively poor family in Portsmouth, hoping that as Fanny suffers from the lack of comforts there, she will realize the usefulness of a good income. Henry pays Fanny a visit in Portsmouth, to convince her that he has changed and is worthy of her affection. Fanny's attitude begins to soften but she still maintains that she will not marry him.
Henry leaves for London, and shortly afterward, Fanny learns of a scandal involving Henry and Maria. The two had met again and rekindled their flirtation, which quickly had developed into an affair. The affair is discovered and hinted at in a national newspaper; Maria leaves her husband's house and elopes with Henry. The scandal is terrible and the affair results in Maria's divorce; however Henry refuses to marry her. To make matters worse, the dissolute Tom has taken ill, and Julia has eloped with Mr. Yates. Fanny returns to Mansfield Park to comfort her aunt and uncle and to help take care of Tom.
Although Edmund knows that marriage to Mary is now impossible because of the scandal between their relations, he goes to see her one last time. During the interview, it becomes clear that Mary does not condemn Henry and Maria's adultery, only that they got caught. Her main concern is covering it up and she implies that if Fanny had accepted Henry, he would have been too busy and happy to have an affair, and would have been content with merely a flirtation. This reveals Mary's true nature to Edmund, who realises he had idealised her as someone she is not. He tells her so and returns to Mansfield and his living as a Parson at Thornton Lacey. "At exactly the time it should be so, and not a week sooner." Edmund realises how important Fanny is to him, declares his love for her and they are married. Tom recovers from his illness, a steadier and better man for it, and Julia's elopement turns out to be not such a desperate business after all. Austen points out that if only Crawford had persisted in being steadfast to Fanny, and not succumbed to the affair with Maria, Fanny eventually would have accepted his marriage proposal—especially after Edmund had married Mary.
Characters in "Mansfield Park"
Fanny Price
The second eldest of nine children who is sent to live with her mother's sisters at Mansfield Park. Her mother married a poor lieutenant of marines for love. Mrs Price's alcoholic husband was disabled and released from the service on half pay, and she had to settle for a life far less comfortable than those of her sisters. Fanny is sensitive, shy, intelligent, seemingly virtuous, with a good sense of morals; and her status at Mansfield Park as a dependent poor relation only intensifies these traits. The bulk of the novel takes place when she is eighteen and nineteen. She has been in love with her cousin Edmund since she was young and when both realise their feelings, they get married. Fanny is pursued by Mr. Henry Crawford.
Lady Bertram
Sister of Fanny Price's mother who is married to the wealthy Sir Thomas Bertram. She is perpetually vague and distracted. Born "Miss Maria Ward, of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds [...]." .
Mrs Norris
The officious, skinflint sister of Lady Bertram who lives near Mansfield Park. Her husband, Mr. Norris, was the parson at Mansfield Park until his death. She dislikes Fanny and takes every opportunity to put her down and make a distinction between Fanny's treatment and that of her wealthier cousins. Mrs. Norris also takes every opportunity to save money, such as taking candles from the main house for her maid's rooms.
Sir Thomas Bertram
The husband of Fanny's aunt, Lady Bertram. He owns the Mansfield Park estate and an estate in Antigua. He is initially stern and correct. He later realises his behaviour may have caused the ruin of his eldest daughter. He wishes his own children were more like his niece and nephew, Fanny and William Price.
Tom Bertram
The older son of Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram; he is seven years older than Fanny. Tom is principally interested in carousing in London society and enjoying the pleasures of the theatre with his friend, Mr. Yates. Tom incurs large debts, forcing Sir Thomas to sell the church position that would have gone to Tom's younger brother, Edmund. One celebratory journey leaves Tom with a fever and he later learns the error of his ways.
Edmund Bertram
The younger son of Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram; he is six years older than Fanny. He plans to be a clergyman. He alone among his family has any consideration for Fanny's feelings. As her protector and friend, he has a great deal of influence over her and helps form her character. Edmund becomes attracted to Miss Crawford, but her opinions on the scandal involving Mrs. Rushworth and Mr. Crawford mortify him. He later realizes he is in love with Fanny and they are married.
Maria Bertram
The very beautiful elder daughter of Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram; she is three years older than Fanny. She becomes engaged to Mr. Rushworth but she becomes attached to Henry Crawford. She expects Mr. Crawford to propose and when he doesn't, she marries Mr. Rushworth for his £12,000 a year, despite knowing him to be a boorish young man with little but his money to recommend him. Mr. Crawford returns to her life soon after marrying and she runs away with him. Rushworth divorces her and she is left to the mercy of her family because Mr. Crawford refuses to marry her. She ends up living with her aunt Norris.
Julia Bertram
The younger daughter of Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram; she is two years older than Fanny. She has strong feelings toward Mr. Crawford, but soon learns that he prefers Maria, despite, or because of, her sister's engagement. Mr. Yates pursues her, which is swiftly ended when Sir Thomas returns to the house. Julia later goes with Mr. and Mrs. Rushworth on their honeymoon and to their house in town. About the same time Maria runs away with Mr Crawford, Julia elopes with Mr. Yates, ostensibly to avoid being blamed by her father for Maria's elopement with Mr. Crawford .
Dr. Grant
The current parson at the Mansfield Park parsonage, he is a large man who greatly enjoys food and drink.
Mrs. Grant
The wife of Mr. Grant, and half-sister of Henry and Mary Crawford.
Mr. Henry Crawford
Brother of Mrs. Grant and Miss Crawford. A charming, extremely intelligent and eligible bachelor who plays with the emotions of Maria and Julia. This is observed by Fanny. After Maria's marriage, he decides to make Fanny fall in love with him but instead falls in love with her. He loses any chance with her after he and Maria run away together.
Miss Mary Crawford
The pretty and charming sister of Mr. Crawford and Mrs Grant, who takes a keen interest in Edmund Bertram in spite of his being a second son. However, though she seems charming, she has certain views and opinions which mean, in the end, she loses Edmund.
Mr. Rushworth
A wealthy but boring man who becomes engaged to Maria Bertram. He divorces her after she runs away with Henry Crawford.
The Hon. John Yates
A good friend of Tom Bertram. Tom and Yates carouse in London society and bring their love of the theatre to Mansfield Park. Yates expresses interest in Julia Bertram. He elopes with Julia around the time Mr. Crawford and Maria run away together.
William Price
Fanny's brother, a naval midshipman, with whom she is very close. Mr. Crawford seeks to ingratiate himself with Fanny by helping William in his profession. He is polite and kind and Fanny's only correspondent in her family until she visits them.
Mr. Price
Fanny's father, an officer in the Marines who lives in Portsmouth. Mr. Price drinks too much and is foul-mouthed, and seems to have little to no affection for his daughters.
Mrs. Price
Fanny's mother, sister of Mrs. Norris and Lady Bertram. She resembles Lady Bertram in her weak character and laziness, but under the pressure of a large family and a low income she has become slatternly and thoughtless. Like her husband, she seems to care little for Fanny.
Susan Price
Fanny's younger sister with whom Fanny first becomes close on a visit home. She returns with Fanny to Mansfield Park and takes Fanny's place helping her aunt when Fanny marries Edmund. Her character is better than many of her siblings.
Lady Stornoway
a society woman, who is complicit in Mr Crawford and Maria's flirtation. They meet at her parties and eventually run away together from her home.
Mrs. Rushworth
Mr. Rushworth's mother and Maria's mother-in-law. Mr. Rushworth is on his way to fetch her at Easter when Mr. Crawford and Maria increase their flirtation and eventually run away together. Mrs. Rushworth is noted to not be particularly fond of her daughter-in-law.
Literary significance & criticism
Mansfield Park is the most controversial and perhaps the least popular of Austen's major novels. Regency critics praised the novel's wholesome morality, but many modern readers find Fanny's timidity and disapproval of the theatricals difficult to sympathise with and reject the idea (made explicit in the final chapter) that she is a better person for the relative privations of her childhood. Jane Austen's own mother thought Fanny "insipid", and many other readers have found her priggish and unlikeable. Other critics point out that she is a complex personality, perceptive yet given to wishful thinking, and that she shows courage and grows in self-esteem during the latter part of the story. Austen biographer Claire Tomalin, who is generally rather critical of Fanny, argues that "it is in rejecting obedience in favour of the higher dictate of remaining true to her own conscience that Fanny rises to her moment of heroism." But Tomalin reflects the ambivalence that many readers feel towards Fanny when she also writes: "More is made of Fanny Price's faith, which gives her the courage to resist what she thinks is wrong; it also makes her intolerant of sinners, whom she is ready to cast aside."
The story contains much social satire, targeted particularly at the two aunts. It is perhaps the most socially realistic Austen novel, with Fanny's family of origin, the Prices, coming from a much lower echelon of society than most Austen characters.
Controversy over slavery
At one point, Edward Said implicated the novel in western culture's casual acceptance of the material benefits of slavery and imperialism, citing Austen's omission to mention that the estate of Mansfield Park was made possible only through slave labour. At another point, however, he seems to have acknowledged that Jane Austen disapproved of slavery:
* "All the evidence says that even the most routine aspects of holding slaves on a West Indian sugar plantation were cruel stuff. And everything we know about Jane Austen and her values is at odds with the cruelty of slavery. Fanny Price reminds her cousin that after asking Sir Thomas about the slave trade, “there was such a dead silence” as to suggest that one world could not be connected with the other since there simply is no common language for both. That is true."
Critics such as Gabrielle White, have criticised Said's condemnation of Jane Austen and western culture, maintaining that Austen and other writers, including Samuel Johnson and Edmund Burke, opposed slavery and helped make its eventual abolition possible. Claire Tomalin, following literary critic Brian Southam, claims that Fanny, usually so timid, questions her uncle about the slave trade and receives no answer, suggesting that her vision of the trade's immorality is clearer than his. However, Ellen Moody has challenged Southam's interpretation, arguing that Fanny's uncle would not have been "pleased" (as the text suggests) to be questioned on the subject if Southam's reading of the scene were correct.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
Mansfield Park has been the subject of a number of adaptations:
* 1983: Mansfield Park, BBC series directed by David Giles, starring Sylvestra Le Touzel as Fanny Price, Nicholas Farrell as Edmund Bertram and Anna Massey as Mrs Norris.
* 1999: Mansfield Park, film directed by Patricia Rozema, starring Frances O'Connor as Fanny Price and Jonny Lee Miller as Edmund Bertram (interestingly, he also featured in the 1983 version, playing one of Fanny's brothers). This film alters several major elements of the story and depicts Fanny as author of some of Austen's actual letters as well as her children's history of England. It emphasizes Austen's disapproval of slavery.
* 2007: Mansfield Park, a television adaptation produced by Company Pictures and starring Billie Piper, was screened on ITV1 in the UK on 18 March 2007.
Plot summary
The main character, Fanny Price, is a young girl from a relatively poor family, raised by her rich uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, at Mansfield Park. She grows up with her four cousins, Tom Bertram, Edmund Bertram, Maria Bertram and Julia, but is always treated as inferior to them; only Edmund shows his real kindness. He is also the most virtuous of the siblings: Maria and Julia are vain and spoiled, while Tom is an irresponsible gambler. Over time, Fanny's gratitude for Edmund's kindness secretly grows into romantic love.
When the children have grown up, the stern patriarch Sir Thomas leaves for a year so he can deal with problems on his plantation in Antigua. The fashionable and worldly Henry Crawford and his sister Mary Crawford arrive in the village, and stay with their sister, the Parson's wife. The arrival of the Crawfords disrupts the staid world of Mansfield and sparks a series of romantic entanglements. Mary and Edmund begin to form an attachment, though Edmund often worries that her manners are fashionable and her conversation often cynical, masking a lack of firm principle. However, she is engaging, beautiful and charming, and goes out of her way to befriend Fanny. Fanny fears that Mary has enchanted Edmund, and love has blinded him to her flaws. Henry plays with the affections of both Maria and Julia, despite Maria being already engaged to the dull, but very rich, Mr. Rushworth. Maria believes that Henry is really in love with her, and treats Mr Rushworth coldly, invoking his jealousy. Fanny is so little observed in the family circle and her presence is often overlooked and she frequently witnesses Maria and Henry in compromising situations.
Encouraged by Tom and his friend Mr. Yates, the young people decide to put on Elizabeth Inchbald's play Lovers' Vows; Edmund and Fanny both initially oppose the plan, believing Sir Thomas would disapprove and feeling that the subject matter of the play is not appropriate. Edmund is eventually swayed, offering to play the part of Anhalt, the lover of the character played by Mary Crawford. As well as giving Mary and Edmund a vehicle to talk about love and marriage, the play provides a pretext for Henry and Maria to flirt in public. Sir Thomas arrives unexpectedly in the middle of a rehearsal, which ends the plan. Henry leaves, and Maria is crushed; realising that Henry does not love her, she marries Mr. Rushworth and they leave for Brighton, taking Julia with them. Meanwhile, Fanny's improved looks and pleasant temper endear her to Sir Thomas, who pays more attention to her care.
Henry returns to Mansfield Park and decides to amuse himself by making Fanny fall in love with him. However, her genuine gentleness and kindness cause him to fall in love with her instead. When he proposes marriage, Fanny's disgust at his improper flirtations with her cousins, as well as her love for Edmund, cause her to reject him. The Bertrams are dismayed, since it is an extremely advantageous match for a poor girl like Fanny. Sir Thomas rebukes her for ingratitude. Henry decides he will continue to pursue Fanny, hoping that in time she will change her mind by coming to believe he is constant. Sir Thomas supports a plan for Fanny to pay a visit to her relatively poor family in Portsmouth, hoping that as Fanny suffers from the lack of comforts there, she will realize the usefulness of a good income. Henry pays Fanny a visit in Portsmouth, to convince her that he has changed and is worthy of her affection. Fanny's attitude begins to soften but she still maintains that she will not marry him.
Henry leaves for London, and shortly afterward, Fanny learns of a scandal involving Henry and Maria. The two had met again and rekindled their flirtation, which quickly had developed into an affair. The affair is discovered and hinted at in a national newspaper; Maria leaves her husband's house and elopes with Henry. The scandal is terrible and the affair results in Maria's divorce; however Henry refuses to marry her. To make matters worse, the dissolute Tom has taken ill, and Julia has eloped with Mr. Yates. Fanny returns to Mansfield Park to comfort her aunt and uncle and to help take care of Tom.
Although Edmund knows that marriage to Mary is now impossible because of the scandal between their relations, he goes to see her one last time. During the interview, it becomes clear that Mary does not condemn Henry and Maria's adultery, only that they got caught. Her main concern is covering it up and she implies that if Fanny had accepted Henry, he would have been too busy and happy to have an affair, and would have been content with merely a flirtation. This reveals Mary's true nature to Edmund, who realises he had idealised her as someone she is not. He tells her so and returns to Mansfield and his living as a Parson at Thornton Lacey. "At exactly the time it should be so, and not a week sooner." Edmund realises how important Fanny is to him, declares his love for her and they are married. Tom recovers from his illness, a steadier and better man for it, and Julia's elopement turns out to be not such a desperate business after all. Austen points out that if only Crawford had persisted in being steadfast to Fanny, and not succumbed to the affair with Maria, Fanny eventually would have accepted his marriage proposal—especially after Edmund had married Mary.
Characters in "Mansfield Park"
Fanny Price
The second eldest of nine children who is sent to live with her mother's sisters at Mansfield Park. Her mother married a poor lieutenant of marines for love. Mrs Price's alcoholic husband was disabled and released from the service on half pay, and she had to settle for a life far less comfortable than those of her sisters. Fanny is sensitive, shy, intelligent, seemingly virtuous, with a good sense of morals; and her status at Mansfield Park as a dependent poor relation only intensifies these traits. The bulk of the novel takes place when she is eighteen and nineteen. She has been in love with her cousin Edmund since she was young and when both realise their feelings, they get married. Fanny is pursued by Mr. Henry Crawford.
Lady Bertram
Sister of Fanny Price's mother who is married to the wealthy Sir Thomas Bertram. She is perpetually vague and distracted. Born "Miss Maria Ward, of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds [...]." .
Mrs Norris
The officious, skinflint sister of Lady Bertram who lives near Mansfield Park. Her husband, Mr. Norris, was the parson at Mansfield Park until his death. She dislikes Fanny and takes every opportunity to put her down and make a distinction between Fanny's treatment and that of her wealthier cousins. Mrs. Norris also takes every opportunity to save money, such as taking candles from the main house for her maid's rooms.
Sir Thomas Bertram
The husband of Fanny's aunt, Lady Bertram. He owns the Mansfield Park estate and an estate in Antigua. He is initially stern and correct. He later realises his behaviour may have caused the ruin of his eldest daughter. He wishes his own children were more like his niece and nephew, Fanny and William Price.
Tom Bertram
The older son of Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram; he is seven years older than Fanny. Tom is principally interested in carousing in London society and enjoying the pleasures of the theatre with his friend, Mr. Yates. Tom incurs large debts, forcing Sir Thomas to sell the church position that would have gone to Tom's younger brother, Edmund. One celebratory journey leaves Tom with a fever and he later learns the error of his ways.
Edmund Bertram
The younger son of Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram; he is six years older than Fanny. He plans to be a clergyman. He alone among his family has any consideration for Fanny's feelings. As her protector and friend, he has a great deal of influence over her and helps form her character. Edmund becomes attracted to Miss Crawford, but her opinions on the scandal involving Mrs. Rushworth and Mr. Crawford mortify him. He later realizes he is in love with Fanny and they are married.
Maria Bertram
The very beautiful elder daughter of Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram; she is three years older than Fanny. She becomes engaged to Mr. Rushworth but she becomes attached to Henry Crawford. She expects Mr. Crawford to propose and when he doesn't, she marries Mr. Rushworth for his £12,000 a year, despite knowing him to be a boorish young man with little but his money to recommend him. Mr. Crawford returns to her life soon after marrying and she runs away with him. Rushworth divorces her and she is left to the mercy of her family because Mr. Crawford refuses to marry her. She ends up living with her aunt Norris.
Julia Bertram
The younger daughter of Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram; she is two years older than Fanny. She has strong feelings toward Mr. Crawford, but soon learns that he prefers Maria, despite, or because of, her sister's engagement. Mr. Yates pursues her, which is swiftly ended when Sir Thomas returns to the house. Julia later goes with Mr. and Mrs. Rushworth on their honeymoon and to their house in town. About the same time Maria runs away with Mr Crawford, Julia elopes with Mr. Yates, ostensibly to avoid being blamed by her father for Maria's elopement with Mr. Crawford .
Dr. Grant
The current parson at the Mansfield Park parsonage, he is a large man who greatly enjoys food and drink.
Mrs. Grant
The wife of Mr. Grant, and half-sister of Henry and Mary Crawford.
Mr. Henry Crawford
Brother of Mrs. Grant and Miss Crawford. A charming, extremely intelligent and eligible bachelor who plays with the emotions of Maria and Julia. This is observed by Fanny. After Maria's marriage, he decides to make Fanny fall in love with him but instead falls in love with her. He loses any chance with her after he and Maria run away together.
Miss Mary Crawford
The pretty and charming sister of Mr. Crawford and Mrs Grant, who takes a keen interest in Edmund Bertram in spite of his being a second son. However, though she seems charming, she has certain views and opinions which mean, in the end, she loses Edmund.
Mr. Rushworth
A wealthy but boring man who becomes engaged to Maria Bertram. He divorces her after she runs away with Henry Crawford.
The Hon. John Yates
A good friend of Tom Bertram. Tom and Yates carouse in London society and bring their love of the theatre to Mansfield Park. Yates expresses interest in Julia Bertram. He elopes with Julia around the time Mr. Crawford and Maria run away together.
William Price
Fanny's brother, a naval midshipman, with whom she is very close. Mr. Crawford seeks to ingratiate himself with Fanny by helping William in his profession. He is polite and kind and Fanny's only correspondent in her family until she visits them.
Mr. Price
Fanny's father, an officer in the Marines who lives in Portsmouth. Mr. Price drinks too much and is foul-mouthed, and seems to have little to no affection for his daughters.
Mrs. Price
Fanny's mother, sister of Mrs. Norris and Lady Bertram. She resembles Lady Bertram in her weak character and laziness, but under the pressure of a large family and a low income she has become slatternly and thoughtless. Like her husband, she seems to care little for Fanny.
Susan Price
Fanny's younger sister with whom Fanny first becomes close on a visit home. She returns with Fanny to Mansfield Park and takes Fanny's place helping her aunt when Fanny marries Edmund. Her character is better than many of her siblings.
Lady Stornoway
a society woman, who is complicit in Mr Crawford and Maria's flirtation. They meet at her parties and eventually run away together from her home.
Mrs. Rushworth
Mr. Rushworth's mother and Maria's mother-in-law. Mr. Rushworth is on his way to fetch her at Easter when Mr. Crawford and Maria increase their flirtation and eventually run away together. Mrs. Rushworth is noted to not be particularly fond of her daughter-in-law.
Literary significance & criticism
Mansfield Park is the most controversial and perhaps the least popular of Austen's major novels. Regency critics praised the novel's wholesome morality, but many modern readers find Fanny's timidity and disapproval of the theatricals difficult to sympathise with and reject the idea (made explicit in the final chapter) that she is a better person for the relative privations of her childhood. Jane Austen's own mother thought Fanny "insipid", and many other readers have found her priggish and unlikeable. Other critics point out that she is a complex personality, perceptive yet given to wishful thinking, and that she shows courage and grows in self-esteem during the latter part of the story. Austen biographer Claire Tomalin, who is generally rather critical of Fanny, argues that "it is in rejecting obedience in favour of the higher dictate of remaining true to her own conscience that Fanny rises to her moment of heroism." But Tomalin reflects the ambivalence that many readers feel towards Fanny when she also writes: "More is made of Fanny Price's faith, which gives her the courage to resist what she thinks is wrong; it also makes her intolerant of sinners, whom she is ready to cast aside."
The story contains much social satire, targeted particularly at the two aunts. It is perhaps the most socially realistic Austen novel, with Fanny's family of origin, the Prices, coming from a much lower echelon of society than most Austen characters.
Controversy over slavery
At one point, Edward Said implicated the novel in western culture's casual acceptance of the material benefits of slavery and imperialism, citing Austen's omission to mention that the estate of Mansfield Park was made possible only through slave labour. At another point, however, he seems to have acknowledged that Jane Austen disapproved of slavery:
* "All the evidence says that even the most routine aspects of holding slaves on a West Indian sugar plantation were cruel stuff. And everything we know about Jane Austen and her values is at odds with the cruelty of slavery. Fanny Price reminds her cousin that after asking Sir Thomas about the slave trade, “there was such a dead silence” as to suggest that one world could not be connected with the other since there simply is no common language for both. That is true."
Critics such as Gabrielle White, have criticised Said's condemnation of Jane Austen and western culture, maintaining that Austen and other writers, including Samuel Johnson and Edmund Burke, opposed slavery and helped make its eventual abolition possible. Claire Tomalin, following literary critic Brian Southam, claims that Fanny, usually so timid, questions her uncle about the slave trade and receives no answer, suggesting that her vision of the trade's immorality is clearer than his. However, Ellen Moody has challenged Southam's interpretation, arguing that Fanny's uncle would not have been "pleased" (as the text suggests) to be questioned on the subject if Southam's reading of the scene were correct.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
Mansfield Park has been the subject of a number of adaptations:
* 1983: Mansfield Park, BBC series directed by David Giles, starring Sylvestra Le Touzel as Fanny Price, Nicholas Farrell as Edmund Bertram and Anna Massey as Mrs Norris.
* 1999: Mansfield Park, film directed by Patricia Rozema, starring Frances O'Connor as Fanny Price and Jonny Lee Miller as Edmund Bertram (interestingly, he also featured in the 1983 version, playing one of Fanny's brothers). This film alters several major elements of the story and depicts Fanny as author of some of Austen's actual letters as well as her children's history of England. It emphasizes Austen's disapproval of slavery.
* 2007: Mansfield Park, a television adaptation produced by Company Pictures and starring Billie Piper, was screened on ITV1 in the UK on 18 March 2007.
《爱玛》是英国女作家奥斯汀作品中艺术思想最成熟的一部。书中描绘了十几个女姓人物，最主要的是三个少女：爱玛、简•菲尔费克斯与哈丽埃特。这三个少女都有奥斯丁理想中的温柔三美：外表仪态的端庄优雅、言谈神情的和蔼可亲、性格品质的宽容正直以及必不可少的热情。爱玛以满腔柔情关心爱护着她的家人与朋友，菲尔费克斯深情到几乎可以为恋人容忍一切折磨，哈丽埃特则更是一个多情的姑娘，一年之中全心全意地爱上了三个男子。
爱玛-作品内容
爱玛•伍德豪斯家境富有，人又聪颖、美丽，处于这种环境里的人有些娇生惯养，自以为是，也在情理之中。她刚刚参加了她的朋友、伴侣、前家庭教师泰勒小姐嫁给邻近的鳏夫韦斯顿先生的婚礼。虽说这桩婚事样样都好，爱玛还是为失去好友而暗自叹息。如今哈特菲尔德只剩下她和父亲了。伍德豪斯先生年事已高，又爱为琐事发愁，自然无法给女儿作伴儿。
伍德豪斯家是海伯利村的大户。在他们一家小小的朋友圈子里，陪伍德豪斯先生凑桌打牌的中老年太太倒是不少，可是没有年轻小姐能做爱玛的朋友和心腹。可爱的泰勒小姐如今已成了韦斯顿太太，爱玛为此深感寂寞，于是就把哈里特•史密斯置于自己的保护之下。哈里特是附近寄宿学校学生，住在校长家里。她年方十七，相貌出众，虽然资质低下，但举止行为却讨人喜欢，毫不做作，又习惯于把爱玛奉为楷模，所以挺称人心意。
哈里特是私生女，其父何人仍是个谜。爱玛认为这女孩可能出身名门，便极力使她相信她以前交往的人都配不上她。爱玛劝她与马丁一家人断绝来往。马丁家是正派的农夫，虽有一定财产，但不属上流社会。爱玛认为罗伯特•马丁不配取哈里特为妻，便鼓励这位姑娘追求年轻的牧师埃尔顿先生。
爱玛从埃尔顿先生的神态上判定他已开始爱上哈里特，便自以为撮合婚姻的计划必然成功。奈特利先生是爱玛在伦敦当律师的姐夫的弟弟。能看到爱玛缺点的人为数不多，他就是其中之一。爱玛和哈里特的亲密关系使他感到不安。他告诫爱玛这种关系无论是对哈里特还是对她自己都没有好处。奈特利先生得知哈里特在爱玛怂恿之下拒绝了罗伯特•马丁的求婚时，就更加感到忧虑。爱玛自己倒是心安理得，因为她确信埃尔顿先生对哈里特十分钟情，而哈里特——在她的鼓动之下——对他也有同样的爱慕之心。
埃尔顿先生私下向爱玛求婚，这使爱玛猛然醒悟。她突然意识到，埃尔顿先生向哈里特献殷勤实则是冲她而来，而她有意鼓励埃尔顿追求自己女友的举动，却被他看成是鼓励他向自己求婚的表示。埃尔顿的自以为是已经够讨厌的了，可如何把这个消息透露给哈里特，就更叫人心烦。
爱玛的生活圈子里又出现了一件令人失望的事。弗兰克•邱吉尔几个月来一直答应要来看望他的父亲和新过门的继母，但却再次推迟了他的来访日期。邱吉尔是韦斯顿先生第一个妻子所生的儿子，用了母亲家的姓氏。奈特利先生认为这个年轻人如今觉得自己比父亲的地位优越。爱玛和他争执了起来，但心里却同意他的看法。
尽管哈特菲尔德的社交圈子没能受到邱吉尔的光顾，却也增加了一个叫简•费尔法克斯的姑娘。简是总爱唠唠叨叨的贝茨小姐的外甥女，貌美才淑，与爱玛不相上下。奈特利先生暗示，这就是爱玛从来不能与简友好相处的原因之一。爱玛自己则把两人的冷漠关系归咎于简的冷漠。
简到达后不久，韦斯顿夫妇便接到邱吉尔的信，信中又另定他的来访日期。这一次他真的来了。爱玛发现这是一位既英俊又有教养的年轻人。他成为伍德豪斯家的常客，同时，由于他以前认识简•费尔法克斯，也就不断到贝茨家来拜访。但他对之大献殷勤的姑娘却不是简而是爱玛。爱玛明白韦斯顿夫妇希望这颗情种能够开花结果。
大约就在这个时候，简收到了一份厚礼，这是一架钢琴，送礼者不知何人。据猜测，礼物来自简的富裕朋友们。简是个孤儿，一直和他们住在一起。但面对礼物，简神态尴尬，缄默不语。在韦斯顿夫人告诉爱玛奈特利先生似乎喜欢并关心简之后，爱玛怀疑送礼的人就是奈特利。爱玛一想到奈特利先生和简婚配成双就无法忍受。但她观察两人在一起的情景之后，得出了使自己满意的结论：奈特利先生的举动是出自友谊，而不是爱情。
费兰克•邱吉尔该走了。他看上去有些恋恋不舍。在最后一次到哈特菲尔德作客时，他似乎很想告诉爱玛一件严肃认真的事情；但是爱玛虽然认为邱吉尔想要开口向她表白爱情，却没有鼓励他把心事说出来。因为在爱玛的想象中，自己总是拒绝邱吉尔的求婚，总是把两人的爱情归结为平静的友谊。
埃尔顿先生重返海伯利村，带回一个仓促求爱成婚的新娘。这位妇人小有资产，极其粗俗，却偏偏矫揉造作，自命高雅。哈里特曾在爱玛的劝说下堕入爱河，再想劝她解脱情网实非易事。但爱玛无力办到的事情，埃尔顿先生的婚烟却替她完成了。哈里特终于开始醒悟。埃尔顿先生在一次舞会上对她的粗鲁无礼更促成了她的醒悟。埃尔顿先生竟拒绝与哈里特跳舞，这时，轻易不跳舞的奈特利先生去主动邀请她作舞伴。于是，在哈里特心中，埃尔顿先生的位置开始由奈特利先生所代替。这件事连爱玛都不知道。
爱玛自己则开始考虑选邱吉尔做哈里特的丈夫。不过她决定自己不再去出力撮合这桩婚事。出于一系列的误解，爱玛以为哈里特在赞扬邱吉尔，其实哈里特赞扬的是奈特利先生。
韦斯顿太太仍然认为奈特利先生爱慕简•费尔法克斯，这就使纷繁不清的鸳鸯谱更加错综复杂。而奈特利先生则觉察到简和邱吉尔之间已有某种秘约。奈特利先生的猜疑后来得到了证实：邱吉尔向韦斯顿夫妇承认他和简在10月份就已秘密订婚。韦斯顿夫妇首先想到的是爱玛。他们担心邱吉尔对爱玛的殷勤举动可能已使爱玛陷入情网。但爱玛向韦斯顿太太表示她曾一度对邱吉尔有点好感，但这段机缘早已过去。爱玛现在主要担心两件事。一是她曾对邱吉尔说过一些关于简的话，如果她早知道两人已经订婚，决不会那样做。二是她认为自已又一次鼓动哈里特堕入一段不能成功的恋情之中。
可是，当爱玛委婉地把这个消息透露给哈里特时，却发现哈里特并没有因此感到不安。两人的谈话总是说不到一块，后来爱玛终于得知哈里特现在倾心的不是邱吉尔，而是奈特利先生。当哈里特告诉爱玛她有理由相信奈特利先生对她也是以爱报爱时，爱玛才突然意识到自己内心的秘密：她本人爱的也是奈特利先生。现在她真希望自己从来不认识哈里特•史密斯。除了自己想嫁给奈特利先生之外，她还明白，奈特利如和哈里特结合，不但是不相称的婚配，而且也很难带来幸福。
爱玛对这一事态的忧虑不久便告结束：奈特利先生向她求婚了。但她的圆满幸福也有美中不足。她知道自己的婚事会使父亲很不高兴，因为老人不愿生活有丝毫的改变。而且她在不知不觉中又一次使哈里特面临失望的打击。爱玛和奈特利先生决定住在哈特菲尔德，一直陪伴父亲度过晚年。这就解决了第一个难题。至于哈里特，奈特利先生之所以对她关注，是因为他确实想调查清楚姑娘对他的年轻佃户罗伯特•马丁是否仍有爱心。结果，奈特利先生终于在一天早上宣布，罗伯特•马丁再次向哈里特求婚，并且被她接受。哈里特的前途已定，爱玛自然十分高兴。爱玛总可以这样回首往事，她周围的人全都门当户对地婚配成亲，这才是他们真正幸福的必要条件。
爱玛-作者简介
奥斯汀(1775-1817)，19世纪英国最早发表现实主义小说的女作家。生于英国小乡镇史蒂文顿的一个牧师家庭，几乎从未接受过正规教育，但由于家庭文学空气熏陶而成为著名作家。其作品主要描绘她在狭小生活圈子里所熟悉的中产阶级的家庭生活，青年男女的恋爱婚姻及其心态，具有观察细致，人物刻画惟妙惟肖，评论尖刻等艺术特色。20岁左右开始创作，共发表6部小说：《理智与感情》、《傲慢与偏见》、《曼斯菲尔德花园》、《爱玛》、《诺桑觉寺》、《劝导》。奥斯汀最初创作是为了反对流行小说。后来又反映了18世纪末19世纪初当时未受资本主义工业革命浪潮冲击的英国乡村中产阶级的日常生活场景，扫除了当时小说创作的庸俗风气，在英国小说发展史上起到了承上启下的作用，同时奥斯汀又是公认的描写妇女意识的卓越作家。
爱玛-作品评价
评论家说：“《爱玛》可能是奥斯丁最成熟的作品。”这部作者生前最后出版的小说，能被冠以如此高的评价，很大程度上缘于比起其他作品来，它更为深入全面地表现了作者的审美情趣与创作态度，二字概括之，那就是“温柔”。奥斯丁的审美情趣着重反映在女性形象的塑造上。
但是，奥斯丁强调一点———热情不等于激情。一个热情的女性可以使生活充满趣味，给人们以快乐，但一旦热情超过了限度，即理智控制的范围后，它就会蜕变成有害的激情。泛滥的激情使哈丽埃特尝尽失恋的痛苦；菲尔费克斯由于一时激情犯下错误，作为惩罚，在相当长的时间内“一刻也没有安宁过”；爱玛“对自己的每一种激情都觉得羞愧”，它是女主人公幸福生活中仅有的那一点苦恼的源头。在奥斯丁眼里，激情是妨碍完美最重要的因素之一。推崇温柔的审美情趣直接影响了奥斯丁的创作态度。作者借爱玛之口这样说：“我虽然没有这个优点———但是我懂得如何珍视和尊重它”，《爱玛》的每一字里行间无不透露出奥斯丁的真诚与宽厚：不苛求自己、不苛求笔下人物、不苛求读者 ———仅仅凭着“兴趣和爱好”来描述生活，创作对于她来说是一种热情洋溢、轻松自然的感受历程；她对她塑造的每一个女性都抱着热忱的希望，但又无比宽容，所以从审美意义上看，个个都如她描绘爱玛一般 “最好的，尽管有那些缺点还是完美无缺”；她赋予“茶杯里的小风波”巨大的魅力，但又不要求读者沉溺其中，故常常打破“第四堵墙”，跳出书外，让读者意识到这只是个想像世界。所以至少可以说，奥斯丁会成为读者最亲爱的朋友。
爱玛-写作背景
爱玛《爱玛》
从18世纪末到19世纪初，庸俗无聊的“感伤小说”和“哥特小说”充斥英国文坛，而奥斯汀的小说破旧立新，一反常规地展现了当时尚未受到资本主义工业革命冲击的英国乡村中产阶级的日常生活和田园风光。她的作品往往通过喜剧性的场面嘲讽人们的愚蠢、自私、势利和盲目自信等可鄙可笑的弱点。奥斯汀的小说出现在19世纪初叶，一扫风行一时的假浪漫主义潮流，继承和发展了英国18世纪优秀的现实主义传统，为19世纪现实主义小说的高潮做了准备。虽然其作品反映的广度和深度有限，但她的作品如“两寸牙雕”，从一个小窗口中窥视到整个社会形态和人情世故，对改变当时小说创作中的庸俗风气起了好的作用，在英国小说的发展史上有承上启下的意义，被誉为地位“可与莎士比亚平起平坐”的作家。
Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like." In the very first sentence she introduces the title character as "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich." Emma, however, is also rather spoiled; she greatly overestimates her own matchmaking abilities; and she is blind to the dangers of meddling in other people's lives and is often mistaken about the meanings of others' actions.
Plot summary
Although convinced that she herself will never marry, Emma Woodhouse, a precocious twenty-year-old resident of the village of Highbury, imagines herself to be naturally gifted in conjuring love matches. After self-declared success at matchmaking between her governess and Mr. Weston, a village widower, Emma takes it upon herself to find an eligible match for her new friend, Harriet Smith. Though Harriet’s parentage is unknown, Emma is convinced that Harriet deserves to be a gentleman’s wife and sets her friend’s sights on Mr. Elton, the village vicar. Meanwhile, Emma persuades Harriet to reject the proposal of Robert Martin, a well-to-do farmer for whom Harriet clearly has feelings.
Harriet becomes infatuated with Mr. Elton under Emma’s encouragement, but Emma’s plans go awry when Elton makes it clear that his affection is for Emma, not Harriet. Emma realizes that her obsession with making a match for Harriet has blinded her to the true nature of the situation. Mr. Knightley, Emma’s brother-in-law and treasured friend, watches Emma’s matchmaking efforts with a critical eye. He believes that Mr. Martin is a worthy young man whom Harriet would be lucky to marry. He and Emma quarrel over Emma’s meddling, and, as usual, Mr. Knightley proves to be the wiser of the pair. Elton, spurned by Emma and offended by her insinuation that Harriet is his equal, leaves for the town of Bath and marries a young woman there almost immediately.
Emma is left to comfort Harriet and to wonder about the character of a new visitor expected in Highbury—Mr. Weston’s son, Frank Churchill. Frank is set to visit his father in Highbury after having been raised by his aunt and uncle in London, who have also adopted him as their heir. Emma knows nothing about Frank, who has long been deterred from visiting his father by his aunt’s illnesses and complaints. Mr. Knightley is immediately suspicious of the young man, especially after Frank rushes back to London merely to have his hair cut. Emma, however, finds Frank delightful and notices that his charms are directed mainly toward her. Though she plans to discourage these charms, she finds herself flattered and engages in a flirtation with the young man. Emma greets Jane Fairfax, another addition to the Highbury set, with less enthusiasm. Jane is beautiful and accomplished, but Emma dislikes her because of her reserve and, the narrator insinuates, because she is jealous of Jane.
Suspicion, intrigue, and misunderstandings ensue. Mr. Knightley defends Jane, saying that she deserves compassion because, unlike Emma, she has no independent fortune and must soon leave home to work as a governess. Mrs. Weston suspects that the warmth of Mr. Knightley’s defense comes from romantic feelings, an implication Emma resists. Everyone assumes that Frank and Emma are forming an attachment, though Emma soon dismisses Frank as a potential suitor and imagines him as a match for Harriet. At a village ball, Knightley earns Emma’s approval by offering to dance with Harriet, who has just been humiliated by Mr. Elton and his new wife. The next day, Frank saves Harriet from Gypsy beggars. When Harriet tells Emma that she has fallen in love with a man above her social station, Emma believes that she means Frank. Knightley begins to suspect that Frank and Jane have a secret understanding, and he attempts to warn Emma. Emma laughs at Knightley’s suggestion and loses Knightley’s approval when she flirts with Frank and insults Miss Bates, a kindhearted spinster and Jane’s aunt, at a picnic. When Knightley reprimands Emma, she weeps.
News comes that Frank’s aunt has died, and this event paves the way for an unexpected revelation that slowly solves the mysteries. Frank and Jane have been secretly engaged; his attentions to Emma have been a screen to hide his true preference. With his aunt’s death and his uncle’s approval, Frank can now marry Jane, the woman he loves. Emma worries that Harriet will be crushed, but she soon discovers that it is Knightley, not Frank, who is the object of Harriet’s affection. Harriet believes that Knightley shares her feelings. Emma finds herself upset by Harriet’s revelation, and her distress forces her to realize that she is in love with Knightley. Emma expects Knightley to tell her he loves Harriet, but, to her delight, Knightley declares his love for Emma. Harriet is soon comforted by a second proposal from Robert Martin, which she accepts. The novel ends with the marriage of Harriet and Mr. Martin and that of Emma and Mr. Knightley, resolving the question of who loves whom after all.
Principal characters
Emma Woodhouse, the protagonist of the story, is a beautiful, high-spirited, intelligent, and 'slightly' spoiled young woman of 21. Her mother died when she was very young, and she has been mistress of the house ever since, certainly since her older sister got married. While she is in many ways mature for her age, Emma makes some serious mistakes, mainly due to her conviction that she is always right and her lack of real world experience. Although she has vowed she will never ever marry, she delights in making matches for others. She seems unable to fall in love, until jealousy makes her realize that she has loved Mr Knightley all along.
Mr George Knightley, about 37 or 38. He is a close friend of Emma, and her only critic, though he cares deeply for her. Mr Knightley is the owner of the neighbouring estate of Donwell, which includes extensive grounds and a farm. He is the elder brother of Mr John Knightley—the husband of Emma's elder sister Isabella. Mr Knightley is very annoyed with Emma for persuading Harriet to turn down Mr Martin, thinking that the advantage is all on Harriet's side; he also warns Emma against matchmaking Harriet with Mr Elton, correctly guessing that Mr Elton has a much higher opinion of himself. He is suspicious of Frank Churchill and his motives; although his suspicion turns out to be based mainly on jealousy of the younger man, his instincts are proven correct by the revelation that Frank Churchill is not all that he seems.
Mr Frank Churchill, Mr Weston's son by his previous marriage, an amiable young man who manages to be liked by everyone except Mr Knightley, who considers him quite immature, although this partially results from his jealously of Frank's supposed 'pursuit' of Emma. After his mother's death he was raised by his wealthy aunt and uncle, whose last name he took. Frank enjoys dancing and music and living life to the fullest. Frank may be viewed as a careless but less villainous version of characters from other Austen novels, such as Mr Wickham from Pride and Prejudice or Willoughby from Sense and Sensibility.
Jane Fairfax, an orphan whose only family consists of an aunt, Miss Bates, and a grandmother, Mrs Bates. She is regarded as a very beautiful, clever, and elegant woman, with the best of manners, and is also very well-educated and exceptionally talented at singing and playing the piano; in fact, she is the sole person that Emma envies. She has little fortune, however, and seems destined to become a governess – a prospect she dislikes.
Harriet Smith, a young friend of Emma's, is a very pretty but unsophisticated girl who is too easily led by others, especially Emma; she has been educated at a nearby school. The illegitimate daughter of initially unknown parents, she is revealed in the last chapter to be the daughter of a fairly rich and decent tradesman, although not a "gentleman". Emma takes Harriet under her wing early in the novel, and she becomes the subject of some of Emma's misguided matchmaking attempts. Harriet initially rebuffs a marriage proposal from farmer Robert Martin because of Emma's belief that he is beneath her, despite Harriet's own doubtful origins. She then develops a passion for Mr Knightley, which is the catalyst for Emma realising her own feelings. Ultimately, Harriet and Mr Martin are wed, despite Emma's meddling.
Philip Elton is a good-looking, well mannered and ambitious young vicar. Emma wants him to marry Harriet; he wants to marry Emma. Mr Elton displays his mercenary nature by quickly marrying another woman of means after Emma's rejection.
Augusta Elton, formerly Miss Hawkins, is Mr Elton's moneyed but obnoxious wife. She is a boasting, domineering, pretentious woman who likes to be the centre of attention and is generally disliked by Emma and her circle. She patronizes Jane, which earns Jane the sympathy of others.
Mrs Anne Weston, formerly Miss Taylor, was Emma's governess for sixteen years and remains her closest friend and confidante after she marries Mr Weston in the opening chapter. She is a sensible woman who adores Emma. Mrs Weston acts as a surrogate mother to her former charge and, occasionally, as a voice of moderation and reason.
Mr Weston, a recently wealthy man living in the vicinity of Hartfield. He marries Emma's former governess, Miss Taylor, and by his first marriage is father to Frank Churchill, who was adopted and raised by his late wife's brother and sister-in-law. Mr Weston is a sanguine, optimistic man, who enjoys socializing.
Miss Bates, a friendly, garrulous spinster whose mother, Mrs Bates, is a friend of Mr Woodhouse. Her accomplished niece, Jane Fairfax, is the light of her life. One day, Emma humiliates her on a day out in the country, when she pointedly alludes to her tiresome prolixity. Afterward, Mr Knightley sternly rebukes Emma. Shamed, she tries to make amends.
Mr Henry Woodhouse, Emma's father, is always concerned for his own health and that of his friends, to the point of trying to deny his visitors foods he thinks too rich. He laments that "poor Isabella" and "poor Miss Taylor" have married and been taken away from him.
Isabella Woodhouse is the elder sister of Emma and daughter of Henry. She is married to John Knightley.
John Knightley is Isabella's husband and George's younger brother. He is an old acquaintance of Jane Fairfax.
Criticism and themes
Emma Woodhouse is the first Austen heroine with no financial concerns, which, she declares to the naïve Miss Smith, is the reason that she has no inducement to marry. This is a great departure from Austen's other novels, in which the quest for marriage and financial security are two of several themes in the stories. Emma's ample financial resources are one of the factors that make this novel much lighter than Austen's earlier works, such as Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. Jane Fairfax's prospects, in contrast, are bleak.
In contrast to other Austen heroines Emma seems immune to romantic attraction . Unlike Marianne Dashwood, who is attracted to the wrong man before she settles on the right one, Emma shows no romantic interest in the men she meets. She is genuinely surprised (and somewhat disgusted) when Mr Elton declares his love for her—much in the way Elizabeth Bennet singularly reacts to the obsequious Mr Collins. Her fancy for Frank Churchill represents more of a longing for a little drama in her life than a longing for romantic love. Notably too, Emma utterly fails to understand the budding affection between Harriet Smith and Robert Martin; she interprets the prospective match solely in terms of financial settlements and social ambition. It is only after Harriet Smith reveals her interest in Mr Knightley that Emma realizes her own feelings for him.
While Emma differs strikingly from Austen's other heroines in these two respects, she resembles Elizabeth Bennet and Anne Elliot, among others, in another way: she is an intelligent young woman with too little to do and no ability to change her location or everyday routine. Though her family is loving and her economic status secure, Emma's everyday life is dull indeed; she has few companions her own age when the novel begins. Her determined though inept matchmaking may represent a muted protest against the narrow scope of a wealthy woman's life, especially that of a woman who is single and childless.
Film and television adaptations
Emma has been the subject of many adaptations:
* 1948: Emma
* 1972: Emma (BBC 1972 television), starring Doran Godwin as Emma.
* 1995: Clueless (a loose modern adaptation), starring Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz (Emma).
* 1996: Emma, starring Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma.
* 1996: Emma, starring Kate Beckinsale as Emma.
* 2009: Emma, starring Romola Garai as Emma.
* 2010: Aisha, starring Sonam Kapoor as Aisha (Emma - Hindi language Version), produced by Rhea Kapoor
爱玛-作品内容
爱玛•伍德豪斯家境富有，人又聪颖、美丽，处于这种环境里的人有些娇生惯养，自以为是，也在情理之中。她刚刚参加了她的朋友、伴侣、前家庭教师泰勒小姐嫁给邻近的鳏夫韦斯顿先生的婚礼。虽说这桩婚事样样都好，爱玛还是为失去好友而暗自叹息。如今哈特菲尔德只剩下她和父亲了。伍德豪斯先生年事已高，又爱为琐事发愁，自然无法给女儿作伴儿。
伍德豪斯家是海伯利村的大户。在他们一家小小的朋友圈子里，陪伍德豪斯先生凑桌打牌的中老年太太倒是不少，可是没有年轻小姐能做爱玛的朋友和心腹。可爱的泰勒小姐如今已成了韦斯顿太太，爱玛为此深感寂寞，于是就把哈里特•史密斯置于自己的保护之下。哈里特是附近寄宿学校学生，住在校长家里。她年方十七，相貌出众，虽然资质低下，但举止行为却讨人喜欢，毫不做作，又习惯于把爱玛奉为楷模，所以挺称人心意。
哈里特是私生女，其父何人仍是个谜。爱玛认为这女孩可能出身名门，便极力使她相信她以前交往的人都配不上她。爱玛劝她与马丁一家人断绝来往。马丁家是正派的农夫，虽有一定财产，但不属上流社会。爱玛认为罗伯特•马丁不配取哈里特为妻，便鼓励这位姑娘追求年轻的牧师埃尔顿先生。
爱玛从埃尔顿先生的神态上判定他已开始爱上哈里特，便自以为撮合婚姻的计划必然成功。奈特利先生是爱玛在伦敦当律师的姐夫的弟弟。能看到爱玛缺点的人为数不多，他就是其中之一。爱玛和哈里特的亲密关系使他感到不安。他告诫爱玛这种关系无论是对哈里特还是对她自己都没有好处。奈特利先生得知哈里特在爱玛怂恿之下拒绝了罗伯特•马丁的求婚时，就更加感到忧虑。爱玛自己倒是心安理得，因为她确信埃尔顿先生对哈里特十分钟情，而哈里特——在她的鼓动之下——对他也有同样的爱慕之心。
埃尔顿先生私下向爱玛求婚，这使爱玛猛然醒悟。她突然意识到，埃尔顿先生向哈里特献殷勤实则是冲她而来，而她有意鼓励埃尔顿追求自己女友的举动，却被他看成是鼓励他向自己求婚的表示。埃尔顿的自以为是已经够讨厌的了，可如何把这个消息透露给哈里特，就更叫人心烦。
爱玛的生活圈子里又出现了一件令人失望的事。弗兰克•邱吉尔几个月来一直答应要来看望他的父亲和新过门的继母，但却再次推迟了他的来访日期。邱吉尔是韦斯顿先生第一个妻子所生的儿子，用了母亲家的姓氏。奈特利先生认为这个年轻人如今觉得自己比父亲的地位优越。爱玛和他争执了起来，但心里却同意他的看法。
尽管哈特菲尔德的社交圈子没能受到邱吉尔的光顾，却也增加了一个叫简•费尔法克斯的姑娘。简是总爱唠唠叨叨的贝茨小姐的外甥女，貌美才淑，与爱玛不相上下。奈特利先生暗示，这就是爱玛从来不能与简友好相处的原因之一。爱玛自己则把两人的冷漠关系归咎于简的冷漠。
简到达后不久，韦斯顿夫妇便接到邱吉尔的信，信中又另定他的来访日期。这一次他真的来了。爱玛发现这是一位既英俊又有教养的年轻人。他成为伍德豪斯家的常客，同时，由于他以前认识简•费尔法克斯，也就不断到贝茨家来拜访。但他对之大献殷勤的姑娘却不是简而是爱玛。爱玛明白韦斯顿夫妇希望这颗情种能够开花结果。
大约就在这个时候，简收到了一份厚礼，这是一架钢琴，送礼者不知何人。据猜测，礼物来自简的富裕朋友们。简是个孤儿，一直和他们住在一起。但面对礼物，简神态尴尬，缄默不语。在韦斯顿夫人告诉爱玛奈特利先生似乎喜欢并关心简之后，爱玛怀疑送礼的人就是奈特利。爱玛一想到奈特利先生和简婚配成双就无法忍受。但她观察两人在一起的情景之后，得出了使自己满意的结论：奈特利先生的举动是出自友谊，而不是爱情。
费兰克•邱吉尔该走了。他看上去有些恋恋不舍。在最后一次到哈特菲尔德作客时，他似乎很想告诉爱玛一件严肃认真的事情；但是爱玛虽然认为邱吉尔想要开口向她表白爱情，却没有鼓励他把心事说出来。因为在爱玛的想象中，自己总是拒绝邱吉尔的求婚，总是把两人的爱情归结为平静的友谊。
埃尔顿先生重返海伯利村，带回一个仓促求爱成婚的新娘。这位妇人小有资产，极其粗俗，却偏偏矫揉造作，自命高雅。哈里特曾在爱玛的劝说下堕入爱河，再想劝她解脱情网实非易事。但爱玛无力办到的事情，埃尔顿先生的婚烟却替她完成了。哈里特终于开始醒悟。埃尔顿先生在一次舞会上对她的粗鲁无礼更促成了她的醒悟。埃尔顿先生竟拒绝与哈里特跳舞，这时，轻易不跳舞的奈特利先生去主动邀请她作舞伴。于是，在哈里特心中，埃尔顿先生的位置开始由奈特利先生所代替。这件事连爱玛都不知道。
爱玛自己则开始考虑选邱吉尔做哈里特的丈夫。不过她决定自己不再去出力撮合这桩婚事。出于一系列的误解，爱玛以为哈里特在赞扬邱吉尔，其实哈里特赞扬的是奈特利先生。
韦斯顿太太仍然认为奈特利先生爱慕简•费尔法克斯，这就使纷繁不清的鸳鸯谱更加错综复杂。而奈特利先生则觉察到简和邱吉尔之间已有某种秘约。奈特利先生的猜疑后来得到了证实：邱吉尔向韦斯顿夫妇承认他和简在10月份就已秘密订婚。韦斯顿夫妇首先想到的是爱玛。他们担心邱吉尔对爱玛的殷勤举动可能已使爱玛陷入情网。但爱玛向韦斯顿太太表示她曾一度对邱吉尔有点好感，但这段机缘早已过去。爱玛现在主要担心两件事。一是她曾对邱吉尔说过一些关于简的话，如果她早知道两人已经订婚，决不会那样做。二是她认为自已又一次鼓动哈里特堕入一段不能成功的恋情之中。
可是，当爱玛委婉地把这个消息透露给哈里特时，却发现哈里特并没有因此感到不安。两人的谈话总是说不到一块，后来爱玛终于得知哈里特现在倾心的不是邱吉尔，而是奈特利先生。当哈里特告诉爱玛她有理由相信奈特利先生对她也是以爱报爱时，爱玛才突然意识到自己内心的秘密：她本人爱的也是奈特利先生。现在她真希望自己从来不认识哈里特•史密斯。除了自己想嫁给奈特利先生之外，她还明白，奈特利如和哈里特结合，不但是不相称的婚配，而且也很难带来幸福。
爱玛对这一事态的忧虑不久便告结束：奈特利先生向她求婚了。但她的圆满幸福也有美中不足。她知道自己的婚事会使父亲很不高兴，因为老人不愿生活有丝毫的改变。而且她在不知不觉中又一次使哈里特面临失望的打击。爱玛和奈特利先生决定住在哈特菲尔德，一直陪伴父亲度过晚年。这就解决了第一个难题。至于哈里特，奈特利先生之所以对她关注，是因为他确实想调查清楚姑娘对他的年轻佃户罗伯特•马丁是否仍有爱心。结果，奈特利先生终于在一天早上宣布，罗伯特•马丁再次向哈里特求婚，并且被她接受。哈里特的前途已定，爱玛自然十分高兴。爱玛总可以这样回首往事，她周围的人全都门当户对地婚配成亲，这才是他们真正幸福的必要条件。
爱玛-作者简介
奥斯汀(1775-1817)，19世纪英国最早发表现实主义小说的女作家。生于英国小乡镇史蒂文顿的一个牧师家庭，几乎从未接受过正规教育，但由于家庭文学空气熏陶而成为著名作家。其作品主要描绘她在狭小生活圈子里所熟悉的中产阶级的家庭生活，青年男女的恋爱婚姻及其心态，具有观察细致，人物刻画惟妙惟肖，评论尖刻等艺术特色。20岁左右开始创作，共发表6部小说：《理智与感情》、《傲慢与偏见》、《曼斯菲尔德花园》、《爱玛》、《诺桑觉寺》、《劝导》。奥斯汀最初创作是为了反对流行小说。后来又反映了18世纪末19世纪初当时未受资本主义工业革命浪潮冲击的英国乡村中产阶级的日常生活场景，扫除了当时小说创作的庸俗风气，在英国小说发展史上起到了承上启下的作用，同时奥斯汀又是公认的描写妇女意识的卓越作家。
爱玛-作品评价
评论家说：“《爱玛》可能是奥斯丁最成熟的作品。”这部作者生前最后出版的小说，能被冠以如此高的评价，很大程度上缘于比起其他作品来，它更为深入全面地表现了作者的审美情趣与创作态度，二字概括之，那就是“温柔”。奥斯丁的审美情趣着重反映在女性形象的塑造上。
但是，奥斯丁强调一点———热情不等于激情。一个热情的女性可以使生活充满趣味，给人们以快乐，但一旦热情超过了限度，即理智控制的范围后，它就会蜕变成有害的激情。泛滥的激情使哈丽埃特尝尽失恋的痛苦；菲尔费克斯由于一时激情犯下错误，作为惩罚，在相当长的时间内“一刻也没有安宁过”；爱玛“对自己的每一种激情都觉得羞愧”，它是女主人公幸福生活中仅有的那一点苦恼的源头。在奥斯丁眼里，激情是妨碍完美最重要的因素之一。推崇温柔的审美情趣直接影响了奥斯丁的创作态度。作者借爱玛之口这样说：“我虽然没有这个优点———但是我懂得如何珍视和尊重它”，《爱玛》的每一字里行间无不透露出奥斯丁的真诚与宽厚：不苛求自己、不苛求笔下人物、不苛求读者 ———仅仅凭着“兴趣和爱好”来描述生活，创作对于她来说是一种热情洋溢、轻松自然的感受历程；她对她塑造的每一个女性都抱着热忱的希望，但又无比宽容，所以从审美意义上看，个个都如她描绘爱玛一般 “最好的，尽管有那些缺点还是完美无缺”；她赋予“茶杯里的小风波”巨大的魅力，但又不要求读者沉溺其中，故常常打破“第四堵墙”，跳出书外，让读者意识到这只是个想像世界。所以至少可以说，奥斯丁会成为读者最亲爱的朋友。
爱玛-写作背景
爱玛《爱玛》
从18世纪末到19世纪初，庸俗无聊的“感伤小说”和“哥特小说”充斥英国文坛，而奥斯汀的小说破旧立新，一反常规地展现了当时尚未受到资本主义工业革命冲击的英国乡村中产阶级的日常生活和田园风光。她的作品往往通过喜剧性的场面嘲讽人们的愚蠢、自私、势利和盲目自信等可鄙可笑的弱点。奥斯汀的小说出现在19世纪初叶，一扫风行一时的假浪漫主义潮流，继承和发展了英国18世纪优秀的现实主义传统，为19世纪现实主义小说的高潮做了准备。虽然其作品反映的广度和深度有限，但她的作品如“两寸牙雕”，从一个小窗口中窥视到整个社会形态和人情世故，对改变当时小说创作中的庸俗风气起了好的作用，在英国小说的发展史上有承上启下的意义，被誉为地位“可与莎士比亚平起平坐”的作家。
Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like." In the very first sentence she introduces the title character as "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich." Emma, however, is also rather spoiled; she greatly overestimates her own matchmaking abilities; and she is blind to the dangers of meddling in other people's lives and is often mistaken about the meanings of others' actions.
Plot summary
Although convinced that she herself will never marry, Emma Woodhouse, a precocious twenty-year-old resident of the village of Highbury, imagines herself to be naturally gifted in conjuring love matches. After self-declared success at matchmaking between her governess and Mr. Weston, a village widower, Emma takes it upon herself to find an eligible match for her new friend, Harriet Smith. Though Harriet’s parentage is unknown, Emma is convinced that Harriet deserves to be a gentleman’s wife and sets her friend’s sights on Mr. Elton, the village vicar. Meanwhile, Emma persuades Harriet to reject the proposal of Robert Martin, a well-to-do farmer for whom Harriet clearly has feelings.
Harriet becomes infatuated with Mr. Elton under Emma’s encouragement, but Emma’s plans go awry when Elton makes it clear that his affection is for Emma, not Harriet. Emma realizes that her obsession with making a match for Harriet has blinded her to the true nature of the situation. Mr. Knightley, Emma’s brother-in-law and treasured friend, watches Emma’s matchmaking efforts with a critical eye. He believes that Mr. Martin is a worthy young man whom Harriet would be lucky to marry. He and Emma quarrel over Emma’s meddling, and, as usual, Mr. Knightley proves to be the wiser of the pair. Elton, spurned by Emma and offended by her insinuation that Harriet is his equal, leaves for the town of Bath and marries a young woman there almost immediately.
Emma is left to comfort Harriet and to wonder about the character of a new visitor expected in Highbury—Mr. Weston’s son, Frank Churchill. Frank is set to visit his father in Highbury after having been raised by his aunt and uncle in London, who have also adopted him as their heir. Emma knows nothing about Frank, who has long been deterred from visiting his father by his aunt’s illnesses and complaints. Mr. Knightley is immediately suspicious of the young man, especially after Frank rushes back to London merely to have his hair cut. Emma, however, finds Frank delightful and notices that his charms are directed mainly toward her. Though she plans to discourage these charms, she finds herself flattered and engages in a flirtation with the young man. Emma greets Jane Fairfax, another addition to the Highbury set, with less enthusiasm. Jane is beautiful and accomplished, but Emma dislikes her because of her reserve and, the narrator insinuates, because she is jealous of Jane.
Suspicion, intrigue, and misunderstandings ensue. Mr. Knightley defends Jane, saying that she deserves compassion because, unlike Emma, she has no independent fortune and must soon leave home to work as a governess. Mrs. Weston suspects that the warmth of Mr. Knightley’s defense comes from romantic feelings, an implication Emma resists. Everyone assumes that Frank and Emma are forming an attachment, though Emma soon dismisses Frank as a potential suitor and imagines him as a match for Harriet. At a village ball, Knightley earns Emma’s approval by offering to dance with Harriet, who has just been humiliated by Mr. Elton and his new wife. The next day, Frank saves Harriet from Gypsy beggars. When Harriet tells Emma that she has fallen in love with a man above her social station, Emma believes that she means Frank. Knightley begins to suspect that Frank and Jane have a secret understanding, and he attempts to warn Emma. Emma laughs at Knightley’s suggestion and loses Knightley’s approval when she flirts with Frank and insults Miss Bates, a kindhearted spinster and Jane’s aunt, at a picnic. When Knightley reprimands Emma, she weeps.
News comes that Frank’s aunt has died, and this event paves the way for an unexpected revelation that slowly solves the mysteries. Frank and Jane have been secretly engaged; his attentions to Emma have been a screen to hide his true preference. With his aunt’s death and his uncle’s approval, Frank can now marry Jane, the woman he loves. Emma worries that Harriet will be crushed, but she soon discovers that it is Knightley, not Frank, who is the object of Harriet’s affection. Harriet believes that Knightley shares her feelings. Emma finds herself upset by Harriet’s revelation, and her distress forces her to realize that she is in love with Knightley. Emma expects Knightley to tell her he loves Harriet, but, to her delight, Knightley declares his love for Emma. Harriet is soon comforted by a second proposal from Robert Martin, which she accepts. The novel ends with the marriage of Harriet and Mr. Martin and that of Emma and Mr. Knightley, resolving the question of who loves whom after all.
Principal characters
Emma Woodhouse, the protagonist of the story, is a beautiful, high-spirited, intelligent, and 'slightly' spoiled young woman of 21. Her mother died when she was very young, and she has been mistress of the house ever since, certainly since her older sister got married. While she is in many ways mature for her age, Emma makes some serious mistakes, mainly due to her conviction that she is always right and her lack of real world experience. Although she has vowed she will never ever marry, she delights in making matches for others. She seems unable to fall in love, until jealousy makes her realize that she has loved Mr Knightley all along.
Mr George Knightley, about 37 or 38. He is a close friend of Emma, and her only critic, though he cares deeply for her. Mr Knightley is the owner of the neighbouring estate of Donwell, which includes extensive grounds and a farm. He is the elder brother of Mr John Knightley—the husband of Emma's elder sister Isabella. Mr Knightley is very annoyed with Emma for persuading Harriet to turn down Mr Martin, thinking that the advantage is all on Harriet's side; he also warns Emma against matchmaking Harriet with Mr Elton, correctly guessing that Mr Elton has a much higher opinion of himself. He is suspicious of Frank Churchill and his motives; although his suspicion turns out to be based mainly on jealousy of the younger man, his instincts are proven correct by the revelation that Frank Churchill is not all that he seems.
Mr Frank Churchill, Mr Weston's son by his previous marriage, an amiable young man who manages to be liked by everyone except Mr Knightley, who considers him quite immature, although this partially results from his jealously of Frank's supposed 'pursuit' of Emma. After his mother's death he was raised by his wealthy aunt and uncle, whose last name he took. Frank enjoys dancing and music and living life to the fullest. Frank may be viewed as a careless but less villainous version of characters from other Austen novels, such as Mr Wickham from Pride and Prejudice or Willoughby from Sense and Sensibility.
Jane Fairfax, an orphan whose only family consists of an aunt, Miss Bates, and a grandmother, Mrs Bates. She is regarded as a very beautiful, clever, and elegant woman, with the best of manners, and is also very well-educated and exceptionally talented at singing and playing the piano; in fact, she is the sole person that Emma envies. She has little fortune, however, and seems destined to become a governess – a prospect she dislikes.
Harriet Smith, a young friend of Emma's, is a very pretty but unsophisticated girl who is too easily led by others, especially Emma; she has been educated at a nearby school. The illegitimate daughter of initially unknown parents, she is revealed in the last chapter to be the daughter of a fairly rich and decent tradesman, although not a "gentleman". Emma takes Harriet under her wing early in the novel, and she becomes the subject of some of Emma's misguided matchmaking attempts. Harriet initially rebuffs a marriage proposal from farmer Robert Martin because of Emma's belief that he is beneath her, despite Harriet's own doubtful origins. She then develops a passion for Mr Knightley, which is the catalyst for Emma realising her own feelings. Ultimately, Harriet and Mr Martin are wed, despite Emma's meddling.
Philip Elton is a good-looking, well mannered and ambitious young vicar. Emma wants him to marry Harriet; he wants to marry Emma. Mr Elton displays his mercenary nature by quickly marrying another woman of means after Emma's rejection.
Augusta Elton, formerly Miss Hawkins, is Mr Elton's moneyed but obnoxious wife. She is a boasting, domineering, pretentious woman who likes to be the centre of attention and is generally disliked by Emma and her circle. She patronizes Jane, which earns Jane the sympathy of others.
Mrs Anne Weston, formerly Miss Taylor, was Emma's governess for sixteen years and remains her closest friend and confidante after she marries Mr Weston in the opening chapter. She is a sensible woman who adores Emma. Mrs Weston acts as a surrogate mother to her former charge and, occasionally, as a voice of moderation and reason.
Mr Weston, a recently wealthy man living in the vicinity of Hartfield. He marries Emma's former governess, Miss Taylor, and by his first marriage is father to Frank Churchill, who was adopted and raised by his late wife's brother and sister-in-law. Mr Weston is a sanguine, optimistic man, who enjoys socializing.
Miss Bates, a friendly, garrulous spinster whose mother, Mrs Bates, is a friend of Mr Woodhouse. Her accomplished niece, Jane Fairfax, is the light of her life. One day, Emma humiliates her on a day out in the country, when she pointedly alludes to her tiresome prolixity. Afterward, Mr Knightley sternly rebukes Emma. Shamed, she tries to make amends.
Mr Henry Woodhouse, Emma's father, is always concerned for his own health and that of his friends, to the point of trying to deny his visitors foods he thinks too rich. He laments that "poor Isabella" and "poor Miss Taylor" have married and been taken away from him.
Isabella Woodhouse is the elder sister of Emma and daughter of Henry. She is married to John Knightley.
John Knightley is Isabella's husband and George's younger brother. He is an old acquaintance of Jane Fairfax.
Criticism and themes
Emma Woodhouse is the first Austen heroine with no financial concerns, which, she declares to the naïve Miss Smith, is the reason that she has no inducement to marry. This is a great departure from Austen's other novels, in which the quest for marriage and financial security are two of several themes in the stories. Emma's ample financial resources are one of the factors that make this novel much lighter than Austen's earlier works, such as Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. Jane Fairfax's prospects, in contrast, are bleak.
In contrast to other Austen heroines Emma seems immune to romantic attraction . Unlike Marianne Dashwood, who is attracted to the wrong man before she settles on the right one, Emma shows no romantic interest in the men she meets. She is genuinely surprised (and somewhat disgusted) when Mr Elton declares his love for her—much in the way Elizabeth Bennet singularly reacts to the obsequious Mr Collins. Her fancy for Frank Churchill represents more of a longing for a little drama in her life than a longing for romantic love. Notably too, Emma utterly fails to understand the budding affection between Harriet Smith and Robert Martin; she interprets the prospective match solely in terms of financial settlements and social ambition. It is only after Harriet Smith reveals her interest in Mr Knightley that Emma realizes her own feelings for him.
While Emma differs strikingly from Austen's other heroines in these two respects, she resembles Elizabeth Bennet and Anne Elliot, among others, in another way: she is an intelligent young woman with too little to do and no ability to change her location or everyday routine. Though her family is loving and her economic status secure, Emma's everyday life is dull indeed; she has few companions her own age when the novel begins. Her determined though inept matchmaking may represent a muted protest against the narrow scope of a wealthy woman's life, especially that of a woman who is single and childless.
Film and television adaptations
Emma has been the subject of many adaptations:
* 1948: Emma
* 1972: Emma (BBC 1972 television), starring Doran Godwin as Emma.
* 1995: Clueless (a loose modern adaptation), starring Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz (Emma).
* 1996: Emma, starring Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma.
* 1996: Emma, starring Kate Beckinsale as Emma.
* 2009: Emma, starring Romola Garai as Emma.
* 2010: Aisha, starring Sonam Kapoor as Aisha (Emma - Hindi language Version), produced by Rhea Kapoor
诺兰庄园的主人去世了，按照家族财产不能分割的传统，把几乎所有财产都给儿子约翰继承，而三个女儿和妻子只能得到很少的一点生活费用。在妻子芬妮的一力主张下，约翰逐步把四个女人赶出了庄园。芬妮的弟弟爱德华来庄园小住，爱上了三姐妹中的大姐爱琳娜，但很快被看出苗头的芬妮拆散。
四个女人租了约翰爵士的小屋居住，爵士的岳母夏洛特喜欢这三姐妹，并试图把一个有钱的单身贵族布兰登上校介绍给爱琳娜，而布兰登却爱上了二妹玛丽安。
在一次风雨中，玛丽安扭伤了脚踝，一个英俊的陌生男士主动帮忙，把玛丽安抱回家中，玛丽安爱上了这个叫约翰·卫勒比的年轻人。
布兰登还是对玛丽安紧追不放，特意召开了一次庄园聚会。但在会上，一封来自伦敦的信让布兰登立即飞马离去。第二天，卫勒比突然来向玛丽安辞行，言辞闪烁，玛丽安十分伤心。
在夏洛特处，一个叫露茜的女孩告诉爱琳娜，她和爱德华已经私订终身有五年之久了，爱琳娜暗自伤心之际还是不忘替她保守秘密。夏洛特看玛丽安伤心，决定带几个女孩子到伦敦去过社交季节。
玛丽安见到了卫勒比，却得知他要和盖小姐结婚，玛丽安悲痛欲绝。夏洛特和布兰登告诉她们，卫勒比因为即将破产，而只能和身价5万英镑的盖小姐结合，在此之前还把布兰登的私生女遗弃了。但布兰登也以绅士的态度表明，卫勒比对玛丽安还是真心喜欢的。
爱德华来找爱琳娜，却遇到了露茜，一时很是尴尬，只能托词出门。芬妮对爱德华和露茜的婚事十分不满，但爱德华信守诺言，放弃所有遗产，还是要对露茜负责。布兰登来找爱琳娜，愿意为爱德华和露茜尽力，委托爱琳娜转告。爱琳娜明知会把爱人送入别人的怀抱，还是如实转告了爱德华。
一对伤心姐妹回到了布兰登的庄园，玛丽安到山上远望卫勒比的，在大雨中昏倒，布兰登把他抱回家中。染上热病的玛丽安终于有所好转，布兰登已经连夜把她的母亲接来看她，玛丽安被布兰登深深感动了。
爱琳娜还在为爱德华伤心，而爱德华却出现在她面前。原来，露茜和爱德华的弟弟一见钟情，爱德华也正好得以回到爱琳娜身边，爱琳娜被这个突然的结果弄得当场大哭。
终于有情人终成眷属，两姐妹同时举行了婚礼。远方的山坡上，卫勒比调转马头疾奔而去。
“你实践了你的承诺，这比什么都重要。” 爱琳娜对爱德华说。
爱德华不得不对5年前的一个过时的承诺负责，爱琳娜不得不尊重这个承诺，两个相爱的人却不得不分离。如果换一个人来导演这部影片，对于诺言的束缚未必有李安这样深刻的认识和体会。这是人性中最宝贵的部分，在东西方以不同的名义和形式存在。这是一种“有所不为，有所必为”的精神，它固然是东方传统伦理道德对“君子”的约束，也是西方传统对“绅士”的要求，李安在这里找到了东西方传统美德的契合点。在这一点上说，这甚至和《卧虎藏龙》的某些精神相一致。而同样的，对这种美德的赞颂，必然会引出人在世界上所受的束缚。
最后的大团圆结尾是令人舒畅的，他们的欢乐是由衷的、没有一点阴影的。他们每个人都尽了自己的本分：信守诺言，也尊重别人信守诺言，他们的良心是平安的。而远处山坡上的卫勒比，心中必定受着无比痛苦的煎熬。虽然这是个过于理想的结局，有教诲世人的用意，但其中的信念却是坚定的。
英国小说家1795年用笔讲过的故事，两百年后的今天由一位华人导演在银幕上重新演绎了一番。
《理智与情感》-幕后花絮
简·奥斯丁绝不让你大喜大悲，她偏重散文式的情趣和女性化的睿智。李安的执导和爱玛·汤姆逊的编剧为该片插上了翅膀。影片节奏把握得当，细节疏密妥帖，每场戏的取舍和长度都非常电影化。获柏林金熊奖。该剧在1985年曾经有过一个BBC的电视版，长174分钟。
李安谈中文片名
我觉得严格来讲，应该翻译成《知性与感性》，知性包括感性，它并非只限于一个理性、一个感性的截然二面，而是知性里面感性的讨论。所以戏自然落到艾玛·汤普森身上，理性的姐姐得到一个最浪漫的结局，妹妹则对感性有了理性的认识，它之所以动人原因在此，并非姐姐理性、妹妹感性的比较，或谁是谁非。人是一个有机的整体，十分的复杂微妙，这与中国的“阴阳”相通，每样东西都有个双面性，其实许多西方人还不见得容易体会到简·奥斯汀的两面性，反倒是中国人容易一点就通。这个观念与中国的“阴阳”结合，对我之后拍摄《卧虎藏龙》以及构思《绿巨人》都有影响。
·片中原本有一场休·格兰特和艾玛·汤普森的吻戏，但后来被删掉了，因为汤普森写这个场面仅仅是因为她想吻休·格兰特。
·据艾玛·汤普森回忆，当拍摄片中布兰登上校(艾伦·瑞克曼，他还演过《哈利波特》里的斯内普教授)骑马走近埃利诺和玛利安时，很多次的拍摄都被马给搅坏了。因为那匹可怜的马得了胃胀气……后来同期声经过处理去掉了那些放屁的声音。
·剧组人员不得不经常跟英国那变幻莫测的天气作斗争。
·电影是4 月19日开拍的，而艾伦·瑞克曼5月1日才加入剧组，他第一天上戏,却出现在电影的最后一个镜头，完全一头雾水。
·当哥伦比亚公司把艾玛·汤普森的剧本拿给李安时，他还从没读过任何一本简·奥斯汀的小说。
· 《理智与情感》是李安第一次拍大联盟的片子，第一次和真正的明星合作，也是第一次和如此专业成熟的班底合作。他不仅要和演员斗，还要跟摄影斗，每个人都是学富五车、阅历过人、伶牙俐齿的，用他的话讲：“我一直在‘挣’我的权威”。
《理智与情感》-媒体报道
理智战胜情感？现实高于梦幻？《理智与情感》飘雨天海 发布于：2007-11-30 22:44
影片是由世界名著简-奥斯丁的同名小说改编而成，它沿袭了原小说的主题。生活中，我们免不了理智与情感的角逐，不管那方胜出，不管事态的发展怎样印证我们当时的决定，都很难说那个更正确，那个更合乎情理。这是永恒的矛盾，在爱情上的表现尤为突出，因此，虽然影片的背景是基于18世纪的欧洲，但在我们观影时，依然不会觉得陌生和遥远。
“性格与命运端视，汝之自觉而开启”
妹妹张扬而又奔放，从来不掩盖自己的感情。她最喜欢莎剧的一段台词，并且在吟诵的时候，也一定要充满激情，甚至不能容忍爱德华那死气沉沉朗读“说变心就变心，怎能算是爱？爱是永恒的印记，纵是狂风暴雨，也永不褪色。”
姐姐稳重而又矜持，即使内心汹涌澎湃，却依然平静安详。
这两个性格迥异的姐妹，一个代表了理智，一个代表了情感，当爱情到来时，会有怎样的命运？
从两姐妹的感情命运来看，本片似乎告诉我们“理智战胜情感，现实高于梦幻。”但这终究还是一场没有定论的争锋。你我只能根据自己的性格，找到属于自己的平衡点吧？
妹妹在经历了生于死的洗礼后，找到了理智与情感的平衡点，现实总不像梦幻中那么美丽，莎翁的诗句或者只能是诗句吧？
姐姐在长时间的压抑后，是情感的迸发。我很喜欢Emma Thompson在影片末尾这段难以自制的痛哭的表演，把一直以来内心世界理智与情感的交锋推向了顶点。没有了梦幻，没有了情感，我们要理智又有何用？
本片由华裔导演李安指导，影后Emma Thompson编剧并饰演姐姐，Hugh grant一改以往喜剧喜路，变成英俊的古典王子，饰演爱德华。Kate winslet（泰坦尼克女主角）饰演妹妹。精湛的表演，把人物性格刻画的相当到位。理智与情感，兼得还是取舍？
《理智与情感》-相关评论
李安的《理智与情感》一如他一贯的电影风格，突出表现的是人与人之间的真情实感。
姐姐爱琳娜是理性的代表，她对于所有的一切都处理得很识大体，而妹妹玛丽安则是感性的代表，她坚信爱情是热情如火的。爱德华的到来打开了爱琳娜从未开启过的心门，可是理性的她始终都克制着自己的感情，理性的交谈，理性的微笑，于是，爱德华以为她对他只是友情，加之已有婚约在身，两人被迫分开，没有任何承诺。在搬去巴顿小屋之后，布莱登上校的出现并没有打动玛丽安的芳心，她爱上了风流倜傥的威勒比，体验着她所向往的热情如火的爱情。然而，事情就是这样的阴差阳错，就在威勒比准备求婚的那天，发生了一点意外，他面对身无分文的窘境，终于向现实妥协，弃玛丽安于不顾，迎娶了身价不菲的富家女。“说变心就变心，哪能算是爱……爱是永不褪色的印记。”曾经的山盟海誓犹在眼前，而斯人不再。玛丽安终于不支病倒。而布莱登上校却自始至终都不曾离开，因为曾经失去，所以懂得珍惜。而玛丽安清醒后的一句“谢谢”，所有的付出都值得了。感性的她终于明白，只有平淡的感情才能够细水长流。而爱琳娜呢，自从搬去巴顿小屋之后，她无时无刻不在期待着与爱德华的重逢，可换来的却是一次次的失望，尤其是露茜的出现。如果说刚开始她还半信半疑的话，那么当露茜拿着那块绣着 “ELF”的手帕在那抹眼泪的时候，她完全处在崩溃的边缘。她的心里有着无限的痛苦，却不能言说，还得大度地帮助爱德华和露茜开始新生活。然而，戏剧性的一幕再次出现，露茜爱上了爱德华的弟弟罗伯，于是，爱德华恢复了自由之身，当他告诉爱琳娜他没有结婚的消息时，爱琳娜终于不再压抑自己的感情，失态地大哭，她压抑得太久了，都已经麻木了，却在这突如其来的幸福面前展现了自己最真实的一面。故事的结尾是皆大欢喜的，理性的爱琳娜和感性的玛丽安都各自找到了属于自己的幸福，只留下威勒比一个人在那里权衡到底是爱情重要还是金钱重要，但无论是什么结果，他都已经做出了选择，既然做了选择就必须为自己的行为负责。
理性还是感性，这是一个问题，幸福的真谛在于就做你自己。独一无二的你一定会收获独一无二的幸福。
The story revolves around Elinor and Marianne, two daughters of Mr. Dashwood by his second wife. They have a younger sister, Margaret, and an older half-brother named John. When their father dies, the family estate passes to John, and the Dashwood women are left in reduced circumstances. The novel follows the Dashwood sisters to their new home, a cottage on a distant relative's property, where they experience both romance and heartbreak. The contrast between the sisters' characters is eventually resolved as they each find love and lasting happiness. Through the events in the novel, Elinor and Marianne find a balance between sense (or pure logic) and sensibility (or pure emotion) in life and love.
The book has been adapted for film and television a number of times, including a 1981 serial for TV directed by Rodney Bennett; a 1995 movie adapted by Emma Thompson and directed by Ang Lee; a version in Tamil called Kandukondain Kandukondain released in 2000; and a 2008 TV series on BBC adapted by Andrew Davies and directed by John Alexander.
Plot summary
When Mr. Dashwood dies, his estate - Norland Park - passes directly to John, his only son, and child of his first wife. Mrs. Dashwood, his second wife, and their daughters, Elinor, Marianne and Margaret, are left only a small income.
On his deathbed, Mr. Dashwood had asked John to promise to take care of his half-sisters but John's selfish and greedy wife, Fanny, soon persuades her weak-willed husband that he has no real financial obligation in the matter, and he gives the girls and their mother nothing. John and Fanny move into Norland immediately on the death of Mr Dashwood and take up their place as its new owners. The Dashwood women, now treated as rather unwelcome guests in what was their home, begin looking for another place to live - a difficult task because of their small income.
Fanny's brother, Edward Ferrars, a pleasant, unassuming, intelligent but reserved young man, comes to Norland for a visit. He and Elinor are clearly attracted to each other and Mrs. Dashwood cherishes hopes that they will marry. Fanny makes it clear that their mother, Mrs. Ferrars, a wealthy widow, wants her son to make a career for himself and to marry a woman of high rank or great estate, if not both, and offended with the ill-disguised hint, Mrs. Dashwood indignantly resolves to remove her residence as quickly as possible. Although Edward is attentive to Elinor, his reserved behaviour makes it difficult for her to guess his intentions. Elinor does not encourage her relatives to hope for the marriage, although in her heart of hearts she secretly hopes for it.
One of Mrs. Dashwood's cousins, the wealthy Sir John Middleton, offers her a cottage on his Devonshire estate, Barton Park, and Mrs. Dashwood decides to accept. She and the girls find it tiny and dark compared to Norland, but try to make the best of it. They are warmly received by Sir John, who insists that they dine with him and his wife frequently at the great house of Barton Park and join the social life of his family. Also staying with Sir John and his reserved and insipid wife is his mother-in-law Mrs. Jennings, a rich and rather vulgar widow who is full of kindness and good humour and who immediately assigns herself the project of finding husbands for the Dashwood girls.
While visiting Sir John, the Dashwoods meet his old friend, the grave, quiet, but gentlemanly Colonel Brandon. It soon becomes apparent that Brandon is attracted to Marianne, and Mrs. Jennings teases them about it. Marianne is not pleased as she considers Colonel Brandon, at age 35, to be an old bachelor incapable of falling in love or inspiring love in anyone else.
A 19th century illustration showing Willoughby cutting a lock of Marianne's hair
Marianne, out for a walk, gets caught in the rain, slips, and sprains her ankle. The dashing, handsome John Willoughby, who is visiting his wealthy aunt, Mrs. Smith, in the area, happens to be out with his gun and friends hunting nearby and sees the accident. He carries Marianne home and soon wins her admiration with his good looks, romantic personality, and outspoken views on poetry, music and art. Willoughby appears the exact opposite of the quiet and reserved Brandon. He visits Marianne every day, and Elinor and Mrs. Dashwood begin to suspect that the couple are secretly engaged. Elinor is worried about Marianne's unguarded conduct in Willoughby's presence and cautions her, but Marianne refuses to check her emotions, believing this to be a falsehood. At a picnic outing, Willoughby and Marianne go off together to see the house and estate that Willoughby is to inherit. Elinor is greatly alarmed by Marianne's going off alone to visit a house, the owner of which - Mrs Smith - is unknown to her. Marianne is angry at Elinor's interference; Elinor assumes (as does Marianne) that Willoughby is showing Marianne the house of which she will be mistress upon their marriage. The next day Mrs Dashwood and Elinor find Marianne in hysterics after a morning visit by Willoughby; he informs them that his aunt is sending him to London on business and that he will not return to their area for as long as a year; he brushes aside an invitation to stay with the Dashwoods and leaves hurriedly. Marianne is distraught and feeds her sorrow by playing the music Willoughby brought for her and reading the books they enjoyed together.
Edward Ferrars pays the Dashwoods a short visit at Barton Cottage but seems unhappy and out of sorts. Elinor fears that he no longer has feelings for her. However, unlike Marianne, she does not allow anyone to see her wallow in her sadness, feeling it her duty to be outwardly calm for the sake of her mother and sisters, who dote on Edward and have firm faith in his love for Elinor.
Anne and Lucy Steele, rather vulgar and uneducated cousins of Lady Middleton, come to stay at Barton Park. Sir John tells Lucy as a joke that Elinor is attached to Edward, prompting Lucy to inform Elinor of her secret four year long engagement to Edward. Although Elinor initially blames Edward for engaging her affections when he was not free to do so, she realizes he became engaged to Lucy while he was young and naïve and perhaps has made a mistake. She thinks or hopes that Edward does not love Lucy, but he will not hurt or dishonour her by breaking their engagement. Elinor hides her disappointment and works to convince Lucy she feels nothing for Edward. This is particularly hard as she sees Lucy may not be sincerely in love with Edward and may only make him unhappy. Lucy tells Elinor that Mrs Ferrars will almost certainly disapprove of the match and that the couple plan to wait until she has died before marrying, unless Edward can find a way of supporting himself financially without her.
Elinor and Marianne spend the winter at Mrs. Jennings' home in London. Marianne writes a series of letters to Willoughby - prompting Elinor to believe that they are indeed engaged, as only engaged couples could properly correspond in this way. However, Marianne's letters go unanswered, and he snubs her coldly when he sees her at a ball. He later writes to Marianne, enclosing their former correspondence and love tokens, including a lock of her hair and informing her of his engagement to a Miss Grey, a high-born, wealthy woman with £50,000 (equivalent to about £1.7 million today). Marianne is devastated, and admits to Elinor that she and Willoughby were never engaged, but she loved him and he led her to believe he loved her.
Meanwhile, the truth about Willoughby's real character starts to emerge; Colonel Brandon tells Elinor that Willoughby had seduced Brandon's ward, fifteen-year-old Eliza Williams, and abandoned her when she became pregnant. Brandon was once in love with Miss Williams' mother, a woman who resembled Marianne and whose life was destroyed by an unhappy arranged marriage to the Colonel's brother.
Fanny Dashwood, who is also in London for the season, declines her husband's offer to invite the Dashwood girls to stay with her. Instead, she invites the Misses Steele. Lucy Steele becomes very arrogant and brags to Elinor that Fanny's mother, Mrs. Ferrars, favours her. Indeed Fanny and Mrs. Ferrars seem genuinely fond of Lucy - so much so that Miss Anne Steele decides to tell them of Lucy's engagement to Edward. When Mrs. Ferrars discovers Edward's and Lucy's engagement, she is furious while Fanny throws the Misses Steele out onto the street. Mrs. Ferrars demands that Edward end the engagement on pain of disinheritance. Edward, who believes it would be dishonorable to break off with Lucy, refuses and is disinherited in immediate favour of his brother, Robert. Elinor and Marianne feel sorry for Edward, and think him honourable for remaining engaged to a woman with whom he isn't in love.
Edward plans to become ordained as a parish vicar to earn his living and Colonel Brandon, knowing how lives can be ruined when love is denied, expresses his commiseration for Edward's deplorable circumstance to Elinor asking her to be his intermediary in offering Edward a parsonage on Brandon's estate at Delaford, with two hundred pounds a year. Colonel Brandon does not intend the living to enable Edward to marry Lucy as it would be insufficient to pay for a wife and family but intends it to provide Edward some sustenance until he can find something better. Elinor meets Edward's foppish brother Robert and is shocked he has no qualms about claiming his brother's inheritance.
The sisters end their winter stay in London and begin their return trip to Barton via Cleveland, the country estate of Mrs.Jennings' son-in-law, Mr. Palmer. There, miserable over Willoughby, Marianne neglects her health and becomes dangerously ill. Hearing of her serious illness, Willoughby arrives suddenly and reveals to Elinor that he truly loved Marianne, but since he was disinherited when his benefactress discovered his seduction of Miss Williams, he decided to marry the wealthy Miss Grey.
Elinor tells Marianne about Willoughby's visit. Marianne admits that although she loved Willoughby, she could not have been happy with the libertine father of an illegitimate child, even if he had stood by her. Marianne also realizes her illness was brought on by her wallowing in her grief, by her excessive sensibility, and had she died, it would have been morally equivalent to suicide. She now resolves to model herself after Elinor's courage and good sense.
The family learns Lucy has married Mr. Ferrars. When Mrs. Dashwood sees how upset Elinor is, she finally realizes how strong Elinor's feelings are for Edward and is sorry she did not pay more attention to her daughter's unhappiness. However, the next day Edward arrives and reveals it was his brother, Robert Ferrars, who married Lucy. He says he was trapped in his engagement to Lucy, "a woman he had long since ceased to love", and she broke the engagement to marry the now-wealthy Robert. Edward asks Elinor to marry him, and she agrees. Edward eventually becomes reconciled with his mother, who gives him ten thousand pounds. He also reconciles with his sister Fanny. Edward and Elinor marry and move into the parsonage at Delaford.
Mr. Willoughby's patroness eventually gives him his inheritance because of his prudent marriage. Willoughby realizes marrying Marianne would have produced the same effect; had he behaved honourably, he could have had love and money.
Over the next two years, Mrs. Dashwood, Marianne, and Margaret spend most of their time at Delaford. Marianne matures and, at the age of nineteen, decides to marry the 37-year-old Colonel. Although initially she found marriage to someone twenty years her senior repulsive, the gratitude and respect she has come to feel for him develop into a very deep love. The Colonel's house is near the parsonage where Elinor and Edward live, so the sisters and their husbands can visit each other often.
Characters
* Henry Dashwood — a wealthy gentleman who dies at the beginning of the story. The terms of his estate prevent him from leaving anything to his second wife and their children. He asks John, his son by his first wife, to look after (meaning ensure the financial security of) his second wife and their three daughters.
* Mrs. Dashwood — the second wife of Henry Dashwood, who is left in difficult financial straits by the death of her husband. She is 40 years old at the beginning of the book. Much like her daughter Marianne, she is very emotive and often makes poor decisions based on emotion rather than reason.
* Elinor Dashwood — the sensible and reserved eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood. She is 19 years old at the beginning of the book. She becomes attached to Edward Ferrars, the brother-in-law of her elder half-brother, John. Always feeling a keen sense of responsibility to her family and friends, she places their welfare and interests above her own, and suppresses her own strong emotions in a way that leads others to think she is indifferent or cold-hearted.
* Marianne Dashwood — the romantically inclined and eagerly expressive second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood. She is 16 years old at the beginning of the book. She is the object of the attentions of Colonel Brandon and Mr. Willoughby. She is attracted to young, handsome, romantically spirited Willoughby and does not think much of the older, more reserved Colonel Brandon. Marianne does the most development within the book, learning her sensibilities have been selfish. She decides her conduct should be more like her elder sister's, Elinor.
* Margaret Dashwood — the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood. She is thirteen at the beginning of the book. She is also romantic and well-tempered but not expected to be as clever as her sisters when she grows older.
* John Dashwood — the son of Henry Dashwood by his first wife. He intends to do well by his half-sisters, but he has a keen sense of avarice, and is easily swayed by his wife.
* Fanny Dashwood — the wife of John Dashwood, and sister to Edward and Robert Ferrars. She is vain, selfish, and snobbish. She spoils her son Harry. Very harsh to her husband's half-sisters and stepmother, especially since she fears her brother Edward is attached to Elinor.
* Sir John Middleton — a distant relative of Mrs. Dashwood who, after the death of Henry Dashwood, invites her and her three daughters to live in a cottage on his property. Described as a wealthy, sporting man who served in the army with Colonel Brandon, he is very affable and keen to throw frequent parties, picnics, and other social gatherings to bring together the young people of their village. He and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings, make a jolly, teasing, and gossipy pair.
* Lady Middleton — the genteel, but reserved wife of Sir John Middleton, she is quieter than her husband, and is primarily concerned with mothering her four spoiled children.
* Mrs. Jennings — mother to Lady Middleton and Charlotte Palmer. A widow who has married off all her children, she spends most of her time visiting her daughters and their families, especially the Middletons. She and her son-in-law, Sir John Middleton, take an active interest in the romantic affairs of the young people around them and seek to encourage suitable matches, often to the particular chagrin of Elinor and Marianne.
* Edward Ferrars — the elder of Fanny Dashwood's two brothers. He forms an attachment to Elinor Dashwood. Years before meeting the Dashwoods, Ferrars proposed to Lucy Steele, the niece of his tutor. The engagement has been kept secret owing to the expectation that Ferrars' family would object to his marrying Miss Steele. He is disowned by his mother on discovery of the engagement after refusing to give up the engagement.
* Robert Ferrars — the younger brother of Edward Ferrars and Fanny Dashwood, he is most concerned about status, fashion, and his new barouche. He subsequently marries Miss Lucy Steele after Edward is disowned.
* Mrs. Ferrars — Fanny Dashwood and Edward and Robert Ferrars' mother. A bad-tempered, unsympathetic woman who embodies all the foibles demonstrated in Fanny and Robert's characteristics. She is determined that her sons should marry well.
* Colonel Brandon — a close friend of Sir John Middleton. In his youth, Brandon had fallen in love with his father's ward, but was prevented by his family from marrying her because his father was determined to marry her to his older brother. He was sent into the military abroad to be away from her, and while gone, the girl suffered numerous misfortunes partly as a consequence of her unhappy marriage, finally dying penniless and disgraced, and with a natural (i.e., illegitimate) daughter, who becomes the ward of the Colonel. He is 35 years old at the beginning of the book. He falls in love with Marianne at first sight as she reminds him of his father's ward. He is very honorable friend to the Dashwoods, particularly Elinor, and offers Edward Ferrars a living after being disowned by his mother.
* John Willoughby — a philandering nephew of a neighbour of the Middletons, a dashing figure who charms Marianne and shares her artistic and cultural sensibilities. It is generally understood that he is engaged to be married to Marianne by many of their mutual acquaintances.
* Charlotte Palmer — the daughter of Mrs. Jennings and the younger sister of Lady Middleton, Mrs. Palmer is jolly but empty-headed and laughs at inappropriate things, such as her husband's continual rudeness to her and to others.
* Thomas Palmer — the husband of Charlotte Palmer who is running for a seat in Parliament, but is idle and often rude.
* Lucy Steele — a young, distant relation of Mrs. Jennings, who has for some time been secretly engaged to Edward Ferrars. She assiduously cultivates the friendship with Elinor Dashwood and Mrs. John Dashwood. Limited in formal education and financial means, she is nonetheless attractive, clever, manipulative, cunning and scheming.
* Anne/Nancy Steele — Lucy Steele's elder, socially inept, and less clever sister.
* Miss Sophia Grey — a wealthy but malicious heiress whom Mr. Willoughby marries in order to retain his comfortable lifestyle after he is disinherited by his aunt.
* Lord Morton — the father of Miss Morton.
* Miss Morton — a wealthy woman whom Mrs. Ferrars wants her eldest son, Edward, and later Robert, to marry.
* Mr. Pratt — an uncle of Lucy Steele and Edward's tutor.
* Eliza Williams — the ward of Col. Brandon, she is about 15 years old and bore an illegitimate son to John Willoughby. She is the daughter of Elizabeth Williams.
* Elizabeth Williams — the former love interest of Colonel Brandon. Williams is Brandon's father's ward, and is forced to marry Brandon's older brother. The marriage is an unhappy one, and it is revealed that her daughter is left as Colonel Brandon's ward when he finds his lost love dying in a poorhouse.
* Mrs. Smith — the wealthy aunt of Mr. Willoughby who disowns him for not marrying Eliza Williams.
Critical appraisal
Austen wrote the first draft of Elinor and Marianne (later retitled Sense and Sensibility) in epistolary form sometime around 1795 when she was about 19 years old. While she had written a great deal of short fiction in her teens, Elinor and Marianne was her first full-length novel. The plot revolves around a contrast between Elinor's sense and Marianne's emotionalism; the two sisters may have been loosely based on the author and her beloved elder sister, Cassandra, with Austen casting Cassandra as the restrained and well-judging sister and herself as the emotional one.
Austen clearly intended to vindicate Elinor's sense and self-restraint, and on the simplest level, the novel may be read as a parody of the full-blown romanticism and sensibility that was fashionable around the 1790s. Yet Austen's treatment of the two sisters is complex and multi-faceted. Austen biographer Claire Tomalin argues that Sense and Sensibility has a "wobble in its approach", which developed because Austen, in the course of writing the novel, gradually became less certain about whether sense or sensibility should triumph. She endows Marianne with every attractive quality: intelligence, musical talent, frankness, and the capacity to love deeply. She also acknowledges that Willoughby, with all his faults, continues to love and, in some measure, appreciate Marianne. For these reasons, some readers find Marianne's ultimate marriage to Colonel Brandon an unsatisfactory ending. The ending does, however, neatly join the themes of sense and sensibility by having the sensible sister marry her true love after long, romantic obstacles to their union, while the emotional sister finds happiness with a man whom she did not initially love, but who was an eminently sensible and satisfying choice of a husband.
The novel displays Austen's subtle irony at its best, with many outstanding comic passages about the Middletons, the Palmers, Mrs. Jennings, and Lucy Steele.
Publication
In 1811, Thomas Egerton of the Military Library publishing house in London accepted the manuscript for publication, in three volumes. Austen paid for the book to be published and paid the publisher a commission on sales. The cost of publication was more than a third of Austen's annual household income of £460 (about £15,282 in 2008 currency). She made a profit of £140 (£4,754.40 in 2008 currency) on the first edition, which sold all 750 printed copies by July 1813. A second edition was advertised in October 1813.
四个女人租了约翰爵士的小屋居住，爵士的岳母夏洛特喜欢这三姐妹，并试图把一个有钱的单身贵族布兰登上校介绍给爱琳娜，而布兰登却爱上了二妹玛丽安。
在一次风雨中，玛丽安扭伤了脚踝，一个英俊的陌生男士主动帮忙，把玛丽安抱回家中，玛丽安爱上了这个叫约翰·卫勒比的年轻人。
布兰登还是对玛丽安紧追不放，特意召开了一次庄园聚会。但在会上，一封来自伦敦的信让布兰登立即飞马离去。第二天，卫勒比突然来向玛丽安辞行，言辞闪烁，玛丽安十分伤心。
在夏洛特处，一个叫露茜的女孩告诉爱琳娜，她和爱德华已经私订终身有五年之久了，爱琳娜暗自伤心之际还是不忘替她保守秘密。夏洛特看玛丽安伤心，决定带几个女孩子到伦敦去过社交季节。
玛丽安见到了卫勒比，却得知他要和盖小姐结婚，玛丽安悲痛欲绝。夏洛特和布兰登告诉她们，卫勒比因为即将破产，而只能和身价5万英镑的盖小姐结合，在此之前还把布兰登的私生女遗弃了。但布兰登也以绅士的态度表明，卫勒比对玛丽安还是真心喜欢的。
爱德华来找爱琳娜，却遇到了露茜，一时很是尴尬，只能托词出门。芬妮对爱德华和露茜的婚事十分不满，但爱德华信守诺言，放弃所有遗产，还是要对露茜负责。布兰登来找爱琳娜，愿意为爱德华和露茜尽力，委托爱琳娜转告。爱琳娜明知会把爱人送入别人的怀抱，还是如实转告了爱德华。
一对伤心姐妹回到了布兰登的庄园，玛丽安到山上远望卫勒比的，在大雨中昏倒，布兰登把他抱回家中。染上热病的玛丽安终于有所好转，布兰登已经连夜把她的母亲接来看她，玛丽安被布兰登深深感动了。
爱琳娜还在为爱德华伤心，而爱德华却出现在她面前。原来，露茜和爱德华的弟弟一见钟情，爱德华也正好得以回到爱琳娜身边，爱琳娜被这个突然的结果弄得当场大哭。
终于有情人终成眷属，两姐妹同时举行了婚礼。远方的山坡上，卫勒比调转马头疾奔而去。
“你实践了你的承诺，这比什么都重要。” 爱琳娜对爱德华说。
爱德华不得不对5年前的一个过时的承诺负责，爱琳娜不得不尊重这个承诺，两个相爱的人却不得不分离。如果换一个人来导演这部影片，对于诺言的束缚未必有李安这样深刻的认识和体会。这是人性中最宝贵的部分，在东西方以不同的名义和形式存在。这是一种“有所不为，有所必为”的精神，它固然是东方传统伦理道德对“君子”的约束，也是西方传统对“绅士”的要求，李安在这里找到了东西方传统美德的契合点。在这一点上说，这甚至和《卧虎藏龙》的某些精神相一致。而同样的，对这种美德的赞颂，必然会引出人在世界上所受的束缚。
最后的大团圆结尾是令人舒畅的，他们的欢乐是由衷的、没有一点阴影的。他们每个人都尽了自己的本分：信守诺言，也尊重别人信守诺言，他们的良心是平安的。而远处山坡上的卫勒比，心中必定受着无比痛苦的煎熬。虽然这是个过于理想的结局，有教诲世人的用意，但其中的信念却是坚定的。
英国小说家1795年用笔讲过的故事，两百年后的今天由一位华人导演在银幕上重新演绎了一番。
《理智与情感》-幕后花絮
简·奥斯丁绝不让你大喜大悲，她偏重散文式的情趣和女性化的睿智。李安的执导和爱玛·汤姆逊的编剧为该片插上了翅膀。影片节奏把握得当，细节疏密妥帖，每场戏的取舍和长度都非常电影化。获柏林金熊奖。该剧在1985年曾经有过一个BBC的电视版，长174分钟。
李安谈中文片名
我觉得严格来讲，应该翻译成《知性与感性》，知性包括感性，它并非只限于一个理性、一个感性的截然二面，而是知性里面感性的讨论。所以戏自然落到艾玛·汤普森身上，理性的姐姐得到一个最浪漫的结局，妹妹则对感性有了理性的认识，它之所以动人原因在此，并非姐姐理性、妹妹感性的比较，或谁是谁非。人是一个有机的整体，十分的复杂微妙，这与中国的“阴阳”相通，每样东西都有个双面性，其实许多西方人还不见得容易体会到简·奥斯汀的两面性，反倒是中国人容易一点就通。这个观念与中国的“阴阳”结合，对我之后拍摄《卧虎藏龙》以及构思《绿巨人》都有影响。
·片中原本有一场休·格兰特和艾玛·汤普森的吻戏，但后来被删掉了，因为汤普森写这个场面仅仅是因为她想吻休·格兰特。
·据艾玛·汤普森回忆，当拍摄片中布兰登上校(艾伦·瑞克曼，他还演过《哈利波特》里的斯内普教授)骑马走近埃利诺和玛利安时，很多次的拍摄都被马给搅坏了。因为那匹可怜的马得了胃胀气……后来同期声经过处理去掉了那些放屁的声音。
·剧组人员不得不经常跟英国那变幻莫测的天气作斗争。
·电影是4 月19日开拍的，而艾伦·瑞克曼5月1日才加入剧组，他第一天上戏,却出现在电影的最后一个镜头，完全一头雾水。
·当哥伦比亚公司把艾玛·汤普森的剧本拿给李安时，他还从没读过任何一本简·奥斯汀的小说。
· 《理智与情感》是李安第一次拍大联盟的片子，第一次和真正的明星合作，也是第一次和如此专业成熟的班底合作。他不仅要和演员斗，还要跟摄影斗，每个人都是学富五车、阅历过人、伶牙俐齿的，用他的话讲：“我一直在‘挣’我的权威”。
《理智与情感》-媒体报道
理智战胜情感？现实高于梦幻？《理智与情感》飘雨天海 发布于：2007-11-30 22:44
影片是由世界名著简-奥斯丁的同名小说改编而成，它沿袭了原小说的主题。生活中，我们免不了理智与情感的角逐，不管那方胜出，不管事态的发展怎样印证我们当时的决定，都很难说那个更正确，那个更合乎情理。这是永恒的矛盾，在爱情上的表现尤为突出，因此，虽然影片的背景是基于18世纪的欧洲，但在我们观影时，依然不会觉得陌生和遥远。
“性格与命运端视，汝之自觉而开启”
妹妹张扬而又奔放，从来不掩盖自己的感情。她最喜欢莎剧的一段台词，并且在吟诵的时候，也一定要充满激情，甚至不能容忍爱德华那死气沉沉朗读“说变心就变心，怎能算是爱？爱是永恒的印记，纵是狂风暴雨，也永不褪色。”
姐姐稳重而又矜持，即使内心汹涌澎湃，却依然平静安详。
这两个性格迥异的姐妹，一个代表了理智，一个代表了情感，当爱情到来时，会有怎样的命运？
从两姐妹的感情命运来看，本片似乎告诉我们“理智战胜情感，现实高于梦幻。”但这终究还是一场没有定论的争锋。你我只能根据自己的性格，找到属于自己的平衡点吧？
妹妹在经历了生于死的洗礼后，找到了理智与情感的平衡点，现实总不像梦幻中那么美丽，莎翁的诗句或者只能是诗句吧？
姐姐在长时间的压抑后，是情感的迸发。我很喜欢Emma Thompson在影片末尾这段难以自制的痛哭的表演，把一直以来内心世界理智与情感的交锋推向了顶点。没有了梦幻，没有了情感，我们要理智又有何用？
本片由华裔导演李安指导，影后Emma Thompson编剧并饰演姐姐，Hugh grant一改以往喜剧喜路，变成英俊的古典王子，饰演爱德华。Kate winslet（泰坦尼克女主角）饰演妹妹。精湛的表演，把人物性格刻画的相当到位。理智与情感，兼得还是取舍？
《理智与情感》-相关评论
李安的《理智与情感》一如他一贯的电影风格，突出表现的是人与人之间的真情实感。
姐姐爱琳娜是理性的代表，她对于所有的一切都处理得很识大体，而妹妹玛丽安则是感性的代表，她坚信爱情是热情如火的。爱德华的到来打开了爱琳娜从未开启过的心门，可是理性的她始终都克制着自己的感情，理性的交谈，理性的微笑，于是，爱德华以为她对他只是友情，加之已有婚约在身，两人被迫分开，没有任何承诺。在搬去巴顿小屋之后，布莱登上校的出现并没有打动玛丽安的芳心，她爱上了风流倜傥的威勒比，体验着她所向往的热情如火的爱情。然而，事情就是这样的阴差阳错，就在威勒比准备求婚的那天，发生了一点意外，他面对身无分文的窘境，终于向现实妥协，弃玛丽安于不顾，迎娶了身价不菲的富家女。“说变心就变心，哪能算是爱……爱是永不褪色的印记。”曾经的山盟海誓犹在眼前，而斯人不再。玛丽安终于不支病倒。而布莱登上校却自始至终都不曾离开，因为曾经失去，所以懂得珍惜。而玛丽安清醒后的一句“谢谢”，所有的付出都值得了。感性的她终于明白，只有平淡的感情才能够细水长流。而爱琳娜呢，自从搬去巴顿小屋之后，她无时无刻不在期待着与爱德华的重逢，可换来的却是一次次的失望，尤其是露茜的出现。如果说刚开始她还半信半疑的话，那么当露茜拿着那块绣着 “ELF”的手帕在那抹眼泪的时候，她完全处在崩溃的边缘。她的心里有着无限的痛苦，却不能言说，还得大度地帮助爱德华和露茜开始新生活。然而，戏剧性的一幕再次出现，露茜爱上了爱德华的弟弟罗伯，于是，爱德华恢复了自由之身，当他告诉爱琳娜他没有结婚的消息时，爱琳娜终于不再压抑自己的感情，失态地大哭，她压抑得太久了，都已经麻木了，却在这突如其来的幸福面前展现了自己最真实的一面。故事的结尾是皆大欢喜的，理性的爱琳娜和感性的玛丽安都各自找到了属于自己的幸福，只留下威勒比一个人在那里权衡到底是爱情重要还是金钱重要，但无论是什么结果，他都已经做出了选择，既然做了选择就必须为自己的行为负责。
理性还是感性，这是一个问题，幸福的真谛在于就做你自己。独一无二的你一定会收获独一无二的幸福。
The story revolves around Elinor and Marianne, two daughters of Mr. Dashwood by his second wife. They have a younger sister, Margaret, and an older half-brother named John. When their father dies, the family estate passes to John, and the Dashwood women are left in reduced circumstances. The novel follows the Dashwood sisters to their new home, a cottage on a distant relative's property, where they experience both romance and heartbreak. The contrast between the sisters' characters is eventually resolved as they each find love and lasting happiness. Through the events in the novel, Elinor and Marianne find a balance between sense (or pure logic) and sensibility (or pure emotion) in life and love.
The book has been adapted for film and television a number of times, including a 1981 serial for TV directed by Rodney Bennett; a 1995 movie adapted by Emma Thompson and directed by Ang Lee; a version in Tamil called Kandukondain Kandukondain released in 2000; and a 2008 TV series on BBC adapted by Andrew Davies and directed by John Alexander.
Plot summary
When Mr. Dashwood dies, his estate - Norland Park - passes directly to John, his only son, and child of his first wife. Mrs. Dashwood, his second wife, and their daughters, Elinor, Marianne and Margaret, are left only a small income.
On his deathbed, Mr. Dashwood had asked John to promise to take care of his half-sisters but John's selfish and greedy wife, Fanny, soon persuades her weak-willed husband that he has no real financial obligation in the matter, and he gives the girls and their mother nothing. John and Fanny move into Norland immediately on the death of Mr Dashwood and take up their place as its new owners. The Dashwood women, now treated as rather unwelcome guests in what was their home, begin looking for another place to live - a difficult task because of their small income.
Fanny's brother, Edward Ferrars, a pleasant, unassuming, intelligent but reserved young man, comes to Norland for a visit. He and Elinor are clearly attracted to each other and Mrs. Dashwood cherishes hopes that they will marry. Fanny makes it clear that their mother, Mrs. Ferrars, a wealthy widow, wants her son to make a career for himself and to marry a woman of high rank or great estate, if not both, and offended with the ill-disguised hint, Mrs. Dashwood indignantly resolves to remove her residence as quickly as possible. Although Edward is attentive to Elinor, his reserved behaviour makes it difficult for her to guess his intentions. Elinor does not encourage her relatives to hope for the marriage, although in her heart of hearts she secretly hopes for it.
One of Mrs. Dashwood's cousins, the wealthy Sir John Middleton, offers her a cottage on his Devonshire estate, Barton Park, and Mrs. Dashwood decides to accept. She and the girls find it tiny and dark compared to Norland, but try to make the best of it. They are warmly received by Sir John, who insists that they dine with him and his wife frequently at the great house of Barton Park and join the social life of his family. Also staying with Sir John and his reserved and insipid wife is his mother-in-law Mrs. Jennings, a rich and rather vulgar widow who is full of kindness and good humour and who immediately assigns herself the project of finding husbands for the Dashwood girls.
While visiting Sir John, the Dashwoods meet his old friend, the grave, quiet, but gentlemanly Colonel Brandon. It soon becomes apparent that Brandon is attracted to Marianne, and Mrs. Jennings teases them about it. Marianne is not pleased as she considers Colonel Brandon, at age 35, to be an old bachelor incapable of falling in love or inspiring love in anyone else.
A 19th century illustration showing Willoughby cutting a lock of Marianne's hair
Marianne, out for a walk, gets caught in the rain, slips, and sprains her ankle. The dashing, handsome John Willoughby, who is visiting his wealthy aunt, Mrs. Smith, in the area, happens to be out with his gun and friends hunting nearby and sees the accident. He carries Marianne home and soon wins her admiration with his good looks, romantic personality, and outspoken views on poetry, music and art. Willoughby appears the exact opposite of the quiet and reserved Brandon. He visits Marianne every day, and Elinor and Mrs. Dashwood begin to suspect that the couple are secretly engaged. Elinor is worried about Marianne's unguarded conduct in Willoughby's presence and cautions her, but Marianne refuses to check her emotions, believing this to be a falsehood. At a picnic outing, Willoughby and Marianne go off together to see the house and estate that Willoughby is to inherit. Elinor is greatly alarmed by Marianne's going off alone to visit a house, the owner of which - Mrs Smith - is unknown to her. Marianne is angry at Elinor's interference; Elinor assumes (as does Marianne) that Willoughby is showing Marianne the house of which she will be mistress upon their marriage. The next day Mrs Dashwood and Elinor find Marianne in hysterics after a morning visit by Willoughby; he informs them that his aunt is sending him to London on business and that he will not return to their area for as long as a year; he brushes aside an invitation to stay with the Dashwoods and leaves hurriedly. Marianne is distraught and feeds her sorrow by playing the music Willoughby brought for her and reading the books they enjoyed together.
Edward Ferrars pays the Dashwoods a short visit at Barton Cottage but seems unhappy and out of sorts. Elinor fears that he no longer has feelings for her. However, unlike Marianne, she does not allow anyone to see her wallow in her sadness, feeling it her duty to be outwardly calm for the sake of her mother and sisters, who dote on Edward and have firm faith in his love for Elinor.
Anne and Lucy Steele, rather vulgar and uneducated cousins of Lady Middleton, come to stay at Barton Park. Sir John tells Lucy as a joke that Elinor is attached to Edward, prompting Lucy to inform Elinor of her secret four year long engagement to Edward. Although Elinor initially blames Edward for engaging her affections when he was not free to do so, she realizes he became engaged to Lucy while he was young and naïve and perhaps has made a mistake. She thinks or hopes that Edward does not love Lucy, but he will not hurt or dishonour her by breaking their engagement. Elinor hides her disappointment and works to convince Lucy she feels nothing for Edward. This is particularly hard as she sees Lucy may not be sincerely in love with Edward and may only make him unhappy. Lucy tells Elinor that Mrs Ferrars will almost certainly disapprove of the match and that the couple plan to wait until she has died before marrying, unless Edward can find a way of supporting himself financially without her.
Elinor and Marianne spend the winter at Mrs. Jennings' home in London. Marianne writes a series of letters to Willoughby - prompting Elinor to believe that they are indeed engaged, as only engaged couples could properly correspond in this way. However, Marianne's letters go unanswered, and he snubs her coldly when he sees her at a ball. He later writes to Marianne, enclosing their former correspondence and love tokens, including a lock of her hair and informing her of his engagement to a Miss Grey, a high-born, wealthy woman with £50,000 (equivalent to about £1.7 million today). Marianne is devastated, and admits to Elinor that she and Willoughby were never engaged, but she loved him and he led her to believe he loved her.
Meanwhile, the truth about Willoughby's real character starts to emerge; Colonel Brandon tells Elinor that Willoughby had seduced Brandon's ward, fifteen-year-old Eliza Williams, and abandoned her when she became pregnant. Brandon was once in love with Miss Williams' mother, a woman who resembled Marianne and whose life was destroyed by an unhappy arranged marriage to the Colonel's brother.
Fanny Dashwood, who is also in London for the season, declines her husband's offer to invite the Dashwood girls to stay with her. Instead, she invites the Misses Steele. Lucy Steele becomes very arrogant and brags to Elinor that Fanny's mother, Mrs. Ferrars, favours her. Indeed Fanny and Mrs. Ferrars seem genuinely fond of Lucy - so much so that Miss Anne Steele decides to tell them of Lucy's engagement to Edward. When Mrs. Ferrars discovers Edward's and Lucy's engagement, she is furious while Fanny throws the Misses Steele out onto the street. Mrs. Ferrars demands that Edward end the engagement on pain of disinheritance. Edward, who believes it would be dishonorable to break off with Lucy, refuses and is disinherited in immediate favour of his brother, Robert. Elinor and Marianne feel sorry for Edward, and think him honourable for remaining engaged to a woman with whom he isn't in love.
Edward plans to become ordained as a parish vicar to earn his living and Colonel Brandon, knowing how lives can be ruined when love is denied, expresses his commiseration for Edward's deplorable circumstance to Elinor asking her to be his intermediary in offering Edward a parsonage on Brandon's estate at Delaford, with two hundred pounds a year. Colonel Brandon does not intend the living to enable Edward to marry Lucy as it would be insufficient to pay for a wife and family but intends it to provide Edward some sustenance until he can find something better. Elinor meets Edward's foppish brother Robert and is shocked he has no qualms about claiming his brother's inheritance.
The sisters end their winter stay in London and begin their return trip to Barton via Cleveland, the country estate of Mrs.Jennings' son-in-law, Mr. Palmer. There, miserable over Willoughby, Marianne neglects her health and becomes dangerously ill. Hearing of her serious illness, Willoughby arrives suddenly and reveals to Elinor that he truly loved Marianne, but since he was disinherited when his benefactress discovered his seduction of Miss Williams, he decided to marry the wealthy Miss Grey.
Elinor tells Marianne about Willoughby's visit. Marianne admits that although she loved Willoughby, she could not have been happy with the libertine father of an illegitimate child, even if he had stood by her. Marianne also realizes her illness was brought on by her wallowing in her grief, by her excessive sensibility, and had she died, it would have been morally equivalent to suicide. She now resolves to model herself after Elinor's courage and good sense.
The family learns Lucy has married Mr. Ferrars. When Mrs. Dashwood sees how upset Elinor is, she finally realizes how strong Elinor's feelings are for Edward and is sorry she did not pay more attention to her daughter's unhappiness. However, the next day Edward arrives and reveals it was his brother, Robert Ferrars, who married Lucy. He says he was trapped in his engagement to Lucy, "a woman he had long since ceased to love", and she broke the engagement to marry the now-wealthy Robert. Edward asks Elinor to marry him, and she agrees. Edward eventually becomes reconciled with his mother, who gives him ten thousand pounds. He also reconciles with his sister Fanny. Edward and Elinor marry and move into the parsonage at Delaford.
Mr. Willoughby's patroness eventually gives him his inheritance because of his prudent marriage. Willoughby realizes marrying Marianne would have produced the same effect; had he behaved honourably, he could have had love and money.
Over the next two years, Mrs. Dashwood, Marianne, and Margaret spend most of their time at Delaford. Marianne matures and, at the age of nineteen, decides to marry the 37-year-old Colonel. Although initially she found marriage to someone twenty years her senior repulsive, the gratitude and respect she has come to feel for him develop into a very deep love. The Colonel's house is near the parsonage where Elinor and Edward live, so the sisters and their husbands can visit each other often.
Characters
* Henry Dashwood — a wealthy gentleman who dies at the beginning of the story. The terms of his estate prevent him from leaving anything to his second wife and their children. He asks John, his son by his first wife, to look after (meaning ensure the financial security of) his second wife and their three daughters.
* Mrs. Dashwood — the second wife of Henry Dashwood, who is left in difficult financial straits by the death of her husband. She is 40 years old at the beginning of the book. Much like her daughter Marianne, she is very emotive and often makes poor decisions based on emotion rather than reason.
* Elinor Dashwood — the sensible and reserved eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood. She is 19 years old at the beginning of the book. She becomes attached to Edward Ferrars, the brother-in-law of her elder half-brother, John. Always feeling a keen sense of responsibility to her family and friends, she places their welfare and interests above her own, and suppresses her own strong emotions in a way that leads others to think she is indifferent or cold-hearted.
* Marianne Dashwood — the romantically inclined and eagerly expressive second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood. She is 16 years old at the beginning of the book. She is the object of the attentions of Colonel Brandon and Mr. Willoughby. She is attracted to young, handsome, romantically spirited Willoughby and does not think much of the older, more reserved Colonel Brandon. Marianne does the most development within the book, learning her sensibilities have been selfish. She decides her conduct should be more like her elder sister's, Elinor.
* Margaret Dashwood — the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood. She is thirteen at the beginning of the book. She is also romantic and well-tempered but not expected to be as clever as her sisters when she grows older.
* John Dashwood — the son of Henry Dashwood by his first wife. He intends to do well by his half-sisters, but he has a keen sense of avarice, and is easily swayed by his wife.
* Fanny Dashwood — the wife of John Dashwood, and sister to Edward and Robert Ferrars. She is vain, selfish, and snobbish. She spoils her son Harry. Very harsh to her husband's half-sisters and stepmother, especially since she fears her brother Edward is attached to Elinor.
* Sir John Middleton — a distant relative of Mrs. Dashwood who, after the death of Henry Dashwood, invites her and her three daughters to live in a cottage on his property. Described as a wealthy, sporting man who served in the army with Colonel Brandon, he is very affable and keen to throw frequent parties, picnics, and other social gatherings to bring together the young people of their village. He and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings, make a jolly, teasing, and gossipy pair.
* Lady Middleton — the genteel, but reserved wife of Sir John Middleton, she is quieter than her husband, and is primarily concerned with mothering her four spoiled children.
* Mrs. Jennings — mother to Lady Middleton and Charlotte Palmer. A widow who has married off all her children, she spends most of her time visiting her daughters and their families, especially the Middletons. She and her son-in-law, Sir John Middleton, take an active interest in the romantic affairs of the young people around them and seek to encourage suitable matches, often to the particular chagrin of Elinor and Marianne.
* Edward Ferrars — the elder of Fanny Dashwood's two brothers. He forms an attachment to Elinor Dashwood. Years before meeting the Dashwoods, Ferrars proposed to Lucy Steele, the niece of his tutor. The engagement has been kept secret owing to the expectation that Ferrars' family would object to his marrying Miss Steele. He is disowned by his mother on discovery of the engagement after refusing to give up the engagement.
* Robert Ferrars — the younger brother of Edward Ferrars and Fanny Dashwood, he is most concerned about status, fashion, and his new barouche. He subsequently marries Miss Lucy Steele after Edward is disowned.
* Mrs. Ferrars — Fanny Dashwood and Edward and Robert Ferrars' mother. A bad-tempered, unsympathetic woman who embodies all the foibles demonstrated in Fanny and Robert's characteristics. She is determined that her sons should marry well.
* Colonel Brandon — a close friend of Sir John Middleton. In his youth, Brandon had fallen in love with his father's ward, but was prevented by his family from marrying her because his father was determined to marry her to his older brother. He was sent into the military abroad to be away from her, and while gone, the girl suffered numerous misfortunes partly as a consequence of her unhappy marriage, finally dying penniless and disgraced, and with a natural (i.e., illegitimate) daughter, who becomes the ward of the Colonel. He is 35 years old at the beginning of the book. He falls in love with Marianne at first sight as she reminds him of his father's ward. He is very honorable friend to the Dashwoods, particularly Elinor, and offers Edward Ferrars a living after being disowned by his mother.
* John Willoughby — a philandering nephew of a neighbour of the Middletons, a dashing figure who charms Marianne and shares her artistic and cultural sensibilities. It is generally understood that he is engaged to be married to Marianne by many of their mutual acquaintances.
* Charlotte Palmer — the daughter of Mrs. Jennings and the younger sister of Lady Middleton, Mrs. Palmer is jolly but empty-headed and laughs at inappropriate things, such as her husband's continual rudeness to her and to others.
* Thomas Palmer — the husband of Charlotte Palmer who is running for a seat in Parliament, but is idle and often rude.
* Lucy Steele — a young, distant relation of Mrs. Jennings, who has for some time been secretly engaged to Edward Ferrars. She assiduously cultivates the friendship with Elinor Dashwood and Mrs. John Dashwood. Limited in formal education and financial means, she is nonetheless attractive, clever, manipulative, cunning and scheming.
* Anne/Nancy Steele — Lucy Steele's elder, socially inept, and less clever sister.
* Miss Sophia Grey — a wealthy but malicious heiress whom Mr. Willoughby marries in order to retain his comfortable lifestyle after he is disinherited by his aunt.
* Lord Morton — the father of Miss Morton.
* Miss Morton — a wealthy woman whom Mrs. Ferrars wants her eldest son, Edward, and later Robert, to marry.
* Mr. Pratt — an uncle of Lucy Steele and Edward's tutor.
* Eliza Williams — the ward of Col. Brandon, she is about 15 years old and bore an illegitimate son to John Willoughby. She is the daughter of Elizabeth Williams.
* Elizabeth Williams — the former love interest of Colonel Brandon. Williams is Brandon's father's ward, and is forced to marry Brandon's older brother. The marriage is an unhappy one, and it is revealed that her daughter is left as Colonel Brandon's ward when he finds his lost love dying in a poorhouse.
* Mrs. Smith — the wealthy aunt of Mr. Willoughby who disowns him for not marrying Eliza Williams.
Critical appraisal
Austen wrote the first draft of Elinor and Marianne (later retitled Sense and Sensibility) in epistolary form sometime around 1795 when she was about 19 years old. While she had written a great deal of short fiction in her teens, Elinor and Marianne was her first full-length novel. The plot revolves around a contrast between Elinor's sense and Marianne's emotionalism; the two sisters may have been loosely based on the author and her beloved elder sister, Cassandra, with Austen casting Cassandra as the restrained and well-judging sister and herself as the emotional one.
Austen clearly intended to vindicate Elinor's sense and self-restraint, and on the simplest level, the novel may be read as a parody of the full-blown romanticism and sensibility that was fashionable around the 1790s. Yet Austen's treatment of the two sisters is complex and multi-faceted. Austen biographer Claire Tomalin argues that Sense and Sensibility has a "wobble in its approach", which developed because Austen, in the course of writing the novel, gradually became less certain about whether sense or sensibility should triumph. She endows Marianne with every attractive quality: intelligence, musical talent, frankness, and the capacity to love deeply. She also acknowledges that Willoughby, with all his faults, continues to love and, in some measure, appreciate Marianne. For these reasons, some readers find Marianne's ultimate marriage to Colonel Brandon an unsatisfactory ending. The ending does, however, neatly join the themes of sense and sensibility by having the sensible sister marry her true love after long, romantic obstacles to their union, while the emotional sister finds happiness with a man whom she did not initially love, but who was an eminently sensible and satisfying choice of a husband.
The novel displays Austen's subtle irony at its best, with many outstanding comic passages about the Middletons, the Palmers, Mrs. Jennings, and Lucy Steele.
Publication
In 1811, Thomas Egerton of the Military Library publishing house in London accepted the manuscript for publication, in three volumes. Austen paid for the book to be published and paid the publisher a commission on sales. The cost of publication was more than a third of Austen's annual household income of £460 (about £15,282 in 2008 currency). She made a profit of £140 (£4,754.40 in 2008 currency) on the first edition, which sold all 750 printed copies by July 1813. A second edition was advertised in October 1813.
临时被抓壮丁的Hugh Dancy自告奋勇负责篇幅最短的《诺桑觉寺》。对于奥斯丁女士，他原本一无所知，只知道绝地武士的科幻世界，因为喜欢的女士邀请，他才进入奥斯丁的世界，不为别的，只为了自己喜欢的人。
Plot introduction
Northanger Abbey follows seventeen-year-old Gothic novel aficionado Catherine Morland and family friends Mr. and Mrs. Allen as they visit Bath, England. Catherine is in Bath for the first time. There she meets her friends such as Isabella Thorpe, and goes to balls. Catherine finds herself pursued by Isabella's brother, the rather rough-mannered dandy John Thorpe, and by her real love interest, Henry Tilney. She also becomes friends with Eleanor Tilney, Henry's younger sister. Henry captivates her with his view on novels and his knowledge of history and the world. General Tilney (Henry and Eleanor's father) invites Catherine to visit their estate, Northanger Abbey, which, from her reading of Ann Radcliffe's gothic novel The Mysteries of Udolpho, she expects to be dark, ancient and full of Gothic horrors and fantastical mystery.
Plot summary
Seventeen year old Catherine Morland is one of ten children of a country clergyman. Although a tomboy in her childhood, by the age of 17 she is "in training for a heroine," and is excessively fond of reading Gothic novels of which Ann Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho is a favourite.
Catherine is invited by her wealthier neighbours in Fullerton, the Allens, to accompany them to visit the resort town of Bath and partake in the winter season of balls, theatre and other social delights. Although initially the excitement of Bath is dampened by her lack of acquaintances, she is soon introduced to a clever young gentleman named Henry Tilney, with whom she dances and converses. Much to her disappointment, Catherine does not see Mr. Tilney again soon after their first meeting, though her attention is quickly engaged when Mrs. Allen meets Mrs. Thorpe, an old school friend of hers, whose son is also acquainted with Catherine’s older brother, James. Catherine quickly becomes friends with the eldest Ms. Thorpe, Isabella, a vivacious and flirtatious young woman.
Catherine’s brother James and Isabella’s brother John soon arrive in Bath. While Isabella and James are spending time together, Catherine becomes acquainted with John, a vain and crude young gentleman who incessantly tells fantastical stories about himself.
Mr. Tilney returns to Bath, accompanied by his younger sister, Eleanor Tilney, who is a sweet, elegant and respectable young lady. Catherine also meets their father, the imposing General Tilney.
The Thorpes are not very happy about Catherine's friendship with the Tilneys, as they (correctly as it happens) perceive Henry as a rival for Catherine's affections. Catherine tries to maintain her friendships with both the Thorpes and the Tilneys, though John Thorpe continually tries to sabotage her relationship with the Tilneys. This leads to several misunderstandings, which upset Catherine and put her in the awkward position of explaining herself to the Tilneys.
Isabella and James become engaged. Mr Morland (senior) approves the match and offers James a country parson's living worth a modest sum, which he will be able to have in two years. The couple must therefore wait that long to marry. Isabella is dissatisfied, having believed the Morlands to be quite wealthy, but she pretends to Catherine that she is merely dissatisfied that they must wait so long to be married. James departs to purchase a ring, and John accompanies him after coyly suggesting marriage to the confused Catherine. Isabella immediately begins to flirt with Captain Tilney, the older brother to Henry. Innocent Catherine cannot understand her friend's behavior; but Henry understands it all too well, as he knows his brother's character and habits. The flirtation continues even when James returns, much to James' embarrassment and distress.
The Tilneys invite Catherine to stay with them for a few weeks at their home, Northanger Abbey. Catherine, in accordance with her novel reading, expects the Abbey to be exotic and frightening. Henry teases her about this, as it turns out that Northanger Abbey is pleasant and decidedly un-Gothic. However, there is a mysterious suite of rooms that no one ever goes into: Catherine learns that they were Mrs. Tilney's, who died nine years earlier. Catherine decides that, since General Tilney does not now seem to be affected by the loss of his wife, he may have murdered her or even imprisoned her in her chamber.
Catherine persuades Eleanor to show her Mrs. Tilney's rooms, but General Tilney suddenly appears. Catherine flees, sure that she will be punished. Later, Catherine sneaks back to Mrs. Tilney's rooms, to discover that her overactive imagination has once again led her astray, as nothing is strange or distressing in the rooms at all. Unfortunately, Henry passes in the corridor and questions her as to what she is doing. On hearing her (reluctantly admitted) suspicions, Henry angrily informs her that his father loved his wife in his own way and was truly upset by her death. He goes on to criticize Catherine for entertaining such wild ideas. She leaves crying, fearing that she has lost Henry’s entire regard.
Realizing how foolish she had been, Catherine comes to understand that, though novels may be delightful, their content does not relate to everyday life. Henry does not stay angry with her but lets her get over her shameful thoughts and actions in her own time and does not mention them to her again.
Soon after this adventure, James writes to inform her that he has broken off his engagement with Isabella because of her flirtations with Captain Tilney. The Tilneys are shocked; and Catherine is terribly disappointed, realizing what a dishonest person Isabella is, though she will miss her as a friend. The General goes off to London, and Eleanor becomes less inhibited and shy away from his imposing presence. In General Tilney's absence, Catherine passes several enjoyable days with Henry and Eleanor until he returns abruptly, in a temper. Eleanor tells Catherine that the family has an engagement that prevents Catherine from staying any longer and that she must go home early the next morning, in a shocking, inhospitable move that forces Catherine to undertake the seventy-mile journey alone.
At home, Catherine is listless and unhappy. Her parents, unaware of her trials of the heart, try to bring her up to her usual spirits, with little effect. Two days after she returns home, however, Henry pays a sudden unexpected visit and explains what happened. General Tilney had believed (on the misinformation of John Thorpe) her to be exceedingly rich and therefore a proper match for Henry. In London, General Tilney ran into Thorpe again, who, angry at Catherine's refusal of his half-made proposal of marriage, said instead that she was nearly destitute. Enraged, General Tilney returned home to evict Catherine. When Henry returned to Northanger from Woodston, his father informed him of what had occurred and forbade him to think of Catherine again. When Henry argued and learned how she had been treated, he breaks with his father and tells Catherine he still wants to marry her despite his father's disapproval. Catherine is delighted.
Eventually, General Tilney acquiesces, because Eleanor has become engaged to a wealthy and titled man; and he discovers that the Morlands, while not extremely rich, are far from destitute.
Characters
Catherine Morland: A 17-year-old girl who loves reading Gothic novels. Something of a tomboy in her childhood, her looks are described by the narrator as "pleasing, and, when in good looks, pretty." Catherine lacks experience and sees her life as if she were a heroine in a Gothic novel. She sees the best in people, and to begin with always seems ignorant of other people's malignant intentions. She is the devoted sister of James Morland. She is good-natured and frank and often makes insightful comments on the inconsistencies and insincerities of people around her, usually to Henry Tilney, and thus is unintentionally sarcastic and funny. She is also seen as a humble and modest character, becoming exceedingly happy when she receives the smallest compliment. Catherine's character grows throughout the novel, as she gradually becomes a real heroine, learning from her mistakes when she is exposed to the outside world in Bath. She sometimes makes the mistake of applying Gothic novels to real life situations; for example, later in the novel she begins to suspect General Tilney of having murdered his deceased wife. Catherine soon learns that Gothic novels are really just fiction and do not always correspond with reality.
Henry Tilney: A well-read clergyman in his mid-20s, the younger son of the wealthy Tilney family. He is Catherine's romantic interest throughout the novel, and during the course of the plot he comes to return her feelings. He is sarcastic, intuitive, and clever, given to witticisms and light flirtations (which Catherine is not always able to understand or reciprocate in kind), but he also has a sympathetic nature (he is a good brother to Eleanor), which leads him to take a liking to Catherine's naïve straightforward sincerity.
John Thorpe: An arrogant and extremely boastful young man who certainly appears distasteful to the likes of Catherine. He is Isabella's brother and he has a crush on Catherine Morland.
Isabella Thorpe: A manipulative and self-serving young woman on a quest to obtain a well-off husband; at the time, marriage was the accepted way for young women of a certain class to become "established" with a household of their own (as opposed to becoming a dependent spinster), and Isabella lacks most assets (such as wealth or family connections to bring to a marriage) that would make her a "catch" on the "marriage market". Upon her arrival in Bath she is without acquaintance, leading her to immediately form a quick friendship with Catherine Morland. Additionally, when she learns that Catherine is the sister to James Morland (whom Isabella suspects to be worth more than he is in reality), she goes to every length to ensure a connection between the two families.
General Tilney: A stern and rigid retired general with an obsessive nature, General Tilney is the sole surviving parent to his three children Frederick, Henry, and Eleanor.
Eleanor Tilney: Henry's sister, she plays little part in Bath, but takes on more importance in Northanger Abbey. A convenient chaperon for Catherine and Henry's times together. Obedient daughter, warm friend, sweet sister, but lonely under her father's tyranny.
Frederick Tilney: Henry's older brother (the presumed heir to the Northanger estate), an officer in the army who enjoys pursuing flirtations with pretty girls who are willing to offer him some encouragement (though without any ultimate serious intent on his part).
Mr. Allen: A kindly man, with some slight resemblance to Mr. Bennet of Pride and Prejudice.
Mrs. Allen: Somewhat vacuous, she sees everything in terms of her obsession with clothing and fashion, and has a tendency to utter repetitions of remarks made by others in place of original conversation.
Major themes
* The intricacies and tedium of high society, particularly partner selection.
* The conflicts of marriage for love and marriage for property.
* Life lived as if in a Gothic novel, filled with danger and intrigue, and the obsession with all things gothic.
* The dangers of believing life is the same as fiction.
* The maturation of the young into skeptical adulthood, the loss of imagination, innocence and good faith.
* Things are not what they seem at first.
* Social criticism (comedy of manners).
* Parody of the gothic novels' "gothic and anti-gothic" attitudes.
In addition, Catherine Morland realises she is not to rely upon others, such as Isabella, who are negatively influential on her, but to be single minded and independent. It is only through bad experiences that Catherine really begins to properly mature and grow up.
Allusions/references to other works
Several Gothic novels are mentioned in the book, including most importantly The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Italian by Ann Radcliffe. Austen also satirizes Clermont, a Gothic novel by Regina Maria Roche. This last is included in a list of seven somewhat obscure Gothic works, known as the 'Northanger horrid novels' as recommended by Isabella Thorpe to Catherine Morland:
“Dear creature! how much I am obliged to you; and when you have finished Udolpho, we will read The Italian together; and I have made out a list of ten or twelve more of the same kind for you.”
“Have you, indeed! How glad I am! — What are they all?”
“I will read you their names directly; here they are, in my pocket-book. Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer of the Black Forest, Midnight Bell, Orphan of the Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries. Those will last us some time.”
“Yes, pretty well; but are they all horrid, are you sure they are all horrid?”
“Yes, quite sure; for a particular friend of mine, a Miss Andrews, a sweet girl, one of the sweetest creatures in the world, has read every one of them...”
Though these lurid titles were assumed by some to be Austen's own invention, later researches by Montague Summers and Michael Sadleir discovered that they did really exist. There have since been various attempts to republish them (all seven in hardback by the Folio Society; The Necromancer and The Midnight Bell from a projected but abandoned series edited by Lucien Jenkins for Skoob Books Publishing and now a new series by Valancourt Books).
Jane Austen, who referred to Frances Burney d'Arblay as "the first of English novelists," in Northanger Abbey refers to her inspiring novels: “'And what are you reading, Miss — ?' 'Oh! It is only a novel!' replies the young lady, while she lays down her book with affected indifference, or momentary shame. 'It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda'; or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best–chosen language."
Later on, a character who knows little about literature and has just stated that the only recent novel he likes is The Monk (an over-the-top tale of lurid Gothic horror), the rest being "stupid," says: "...'I was thinking of that other stupid book , written by that woman they make such a fuss about, she who married the French emigrant.' 'I suppose you mean Camilla? 'Yes, that's the book; such unnatural stuff!... it is the horridest nonsense you can imagine; there's nothing in the world in it but an old man's playing at see-saw and learning Latin...' This critique, the justness of which was unfortunately lost on poor Catherine, brought them to the door of Mrs. Thorpe's lodgings."
Literary significance & criticism
Northanger Abbey is fundamentally a parody of Gothic fiction. Austen turns the conventions of eighteenth-century novels on their head, by making her heroine a plain and undistinguished girl from a middle-class family, allowing the heroine to fall in love with the hero before he has a serious thought of her, and exposing the heroine's romantic fears and curiosities as groundless. Austen biographer Claire Tomalin speculates that Austen may have begun this book, which is more explicitly comic than her other works and contains many literary allusions that her parents and siblings would have enjoyed, as a family entertainment—a piece of lighthearted parody to be read aloud by the fireside.
Northanger Abbey exposes the difference between reality and fantasy and questions who can be trusted as a true companion and who might actually be a shallow, false friend. It is considered to be the most light-hearted of her novels.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
* The A&E Network and the BBC released the television adaptation Northanger Abbey in 1986.
* An adaptation of Northanger Abbey with screenplay by Andrew Davies, was shown on ITV on 25 March 2007 as part of their "Jane Austen Season". This adaptation aired on PBS in the United States as part of the "Complete Jane Austen" on Masterpiece Classic in January, 2008.
* Pup Fiction – an episode of Wishbone featuring the plot and characters of Austen's Northanger Abbey.
As yet, there has not been a motion picture adaptation of the novel.
Trivia
This novel contains one of the earliest occurrences of the word "baseball" in print (probably referring to a variant of rounders, played by Catherine Morland with other children during her tomboy days).
A passage from the novel appears as the preface of Ian McEwan's Atonement, thus likening the naive mistakes of Austen's Catherine Morland to those of his own character Briony Tallis, who is in a similar position: both characters have very over-active imaginations, which lead to misconceptions that cause distress in the lives of people around them. Both treat their own lives like those of heroines in fantastical works of fiction, with Miss Morland likening herself to a character in a Gothic novel and young Briony Tallis writing her own melodramatic stories and plays with central characters such as "spontaneous Arabella" based on herself.
Plot introduction
Northanger Abbey follows seventeen-year-old Gothic novel aficionado Catherine Morland and family friends Mr. and Mrs. Allen as they visit Bath, England. Catherine is in Bath for the first time. There she meets her friends such as Isabella Thorpe, and goes to balls. Catherine finds herself pursued by Isabella's brother, the rather rough-mannered dandy John Thorpe, and by her real love interest, Henry Tilney. She also becomes friends with Eleanor Tilney, Henry's younger sister. Henry captivates her with his view on novels and his knowledge of history and the world. General Tilney (Henry and Eleanor's father) invites Catherine to visit their estate, Northanger Abbey, which, from her reading of Ann Radcliffe's gothic novel The Mysteries of Udolpho, she expects to be dark, ancient and full of Gothic horrors and fantastical mystery.
Plot summary
Seventeen year old Catherine Morland is one of ten children of a country clergyman. Although a tomboy in her childhood, by the age of 17 she is "in training for a heroine," and is excessively fond of reading Gothic novels of which Ann Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho is a favourite.
Catherine is invited by her wealthier neighbours in Fullerton, the Allens, to accompany them to visit the resort town of Bath and partake in the winter season of balls, theatre and other social delights. Although initially the excitement of Bath is dampened by her lack of acquaintances, she is soon introduced to a clever young gentleman named Henry Tilney, with whom she dances and converses. Much to her disappointment, Catherine does not see Mr. Tilney again soon after their first meeting, though her attention is quickly engaged when Mrs. Allen meets Mrs. Thorpe, an old school friend of hers, whose son is also acquainted with Catherine’s older brother, James. Catherine quickly becomes friends with the eldest Ms. Thorpe, Isabella, a vivacious and flirtatious young woman.
Catherine’s brother James and Isabella’s brother John soon arrive in Bath. While Isabella and James are spending time together, Catherine becomes acquainted with John, a vain and crude young gentleman who incessantly tells fantastical stories about himself.
Mr. Tilney returns to Bath, accompanied by his younger sister, Eleanor Tilney, who is a sweet, elegant and respectable young lady. Catherine also meets their father, the imposing General Tilney.
The Thorpes are not very happy about Catherine's friendship with the Tilneys, as they (correctly as it happens) perceive Henry as a rival for Catherine's affections. Catherine tries to maintain her friendships with both the Thorpes and the Tilneys, though John Thorpe continually tries to sabotage her relationship with the Tilneys. This leads to several misunderstandings, which upset Catherine and put her in the awkward position of explaining herself to the Tilneys.
Isabella and James become engaged. Mr Morland (senior) approves the match and offers James a country parson's living worth a modest sum, which he will be able to have in two years. The couple must therefore wait that long to marry. Isabella is dissatisfied, having believed the Morlands to be quite wealthy, but she pretends to Catherine that she is merely dissatisfied that they must wait so long to be married. James departs to purchase a ring, and John accompanies him after coyly suggesting marriage to the confused Catherine. Isabella immediately begins to flirt with Captain Tilney, the older brother to Henry. Innocent Catherine cannot understand her friend's behavior; but Henry understands it all too well, as he knows his brother's character and habits. The flirtation continues even when James returns, much to James' embarrassment and distress.
The Tilneys invite Catherine to stay with them for a few weeks at their home, Northanger Abbey. Catherine, in accordance with her novel reading, expects the Abbey to be exotic and frightening. Henry teases her about this, as it turns out that Northanger Abbey is pleasant and decidedly un-Gothic. However, there is a mysterious suite of rooms that no one ever goes into: Catherine learns that they were Mrs. Tilney's, who died nine years earlier. Catherine decides that, since General Tilney does not now seem to be affected by the loss of his wife, he may have murdered her or even imprisoned her in her chamber.
Catherine persuades Eleanor to show her Mrs. Tilney's rooms, but General Tilney suddenly appears. Catherine flees, sure that she will be punished. Later, Catherine sneaks back to Mrs. Tilney's rooms, to discover that her overactive imagination has once again led her astray, as nothing is strange or distressing in the rooms at all. Unfortunately, Henry passes in the corridor and questions her as to what she is doing. On hearing her (reluctantly admitted) suspicions, Henry angrily informs her that his father loved his wife in his own way and was truly upset by her death. He goes on to criticize Catherine for entertaining such wild ideas. She leaves crying, fearing that she has lost Henry’s entire regard.
Realizing how foolish she had been, Catherine comes to understand that, though novels may be delightful, their content does not relate to everyday life. Henry does not stay angry with her but lets her get over her shameful thoughts and actions in her own time and does not mention them to her again.
Soon after this adventure, James writes to inform her that he has broken off his engagement with Isabella because of her flirtations with Captain Tilney. The Tilneys are shocked; and Catherine is terribly disappointed, realizing what a dishonest person Isabella is, though she will miss her as a friend. The General goes off to London, and Eleanor becomes less inhibited and shy away from his imposing presence. In General Tilney's absence, Catherine passes several enjoyable days with Henry and Eleanor until he returns abruptly, in a temper. Eleanor tells Catherine that the family has an engagement that prevents Catherine from staying any longer and that she must go home early the next morning, in a shocking, inhospitable move that forces Catherine to undertake the seventy-mile journey alone.
At home, Catherine is listless and unhappy. Her parents, unaware of her trials of the heart, try to bring her up to her usual spirits, with little effect. Two days after she returns home, however, Henry pays a sudden unexpected visit and explains what happened. General Tilney had believed (on the misinformation of John Thorpe) her to be exceedingly rich and therefore a proper match for Henry. In London, General Tilney ran into Thorpe again, who, angry at Catherine's refusal of his half-made proposal of marriage, said instead that she was nearly destitute. Enraged, General Tilney returned home to evict Catherine. When Henry returned to Northanger from Woodston, his father informed him of what had occurred and forbade him to think of Catherine again. When Henry argued and learned how she had been treated, he breaks with his father and tells Catherine he still wants to marry her despite his father's disapproval. Catherine is delighted.
Eventually, General Tilney acquiesces, because Eleanor has become engaged to a wealthy and titled man; and he discovers that the Morlands, while not extremely rich, are far from destitute.
Characters
Catherine Morland: A 17-year-old girl who loves reading Gothic novels. Something of a tomboy in her childhood, her looks are described by the narrator as "pleasing, and, when in good looks, pretty." Catherine lacks experience and sees her life as if she were a heroine in a Gothic novel. She sees the best in people, and to begin with always seems ignorant of other people's malignant intentions. She is the devoted sister of James Morland. She is good-natured and frank and often makes insightful comments on the inconsistencies and insincerities of people around her, usually to Henry Tilney, and thus is unintentionally sarcastic and funny. She is also seen as a humble and modest character, becoming exceedingly happy when she receives the smallest compliment. Catherine's character grows throughout the novel, as she gradually becomes a real heroine, learning from her mistakes when she is exposed to the outside world in Bath. She sometimes makes the mistake of applying Gothic novels to real life situations; for example, later in the novel she begins to suspect General Tilney of having murdered his deceased wife. Catherine soon learns that Gothic novels are really just fiction and do not always correspond with reality.
Henry Tilney: A well-read clergyman in his mid-20s, the younger son of the wealthy Tilney family. He is Catherine's romantic interest throughout the novel, and during the course of the plot he comes to return her feelings. He is sarcastic, intuitive, and clever, given to witticisms and light flirtations (which Catherine is not always able to understand or reciprocate in kind), but he also has a sympathetic nature (he is a good brother to Eleanor), which leads him to take a liking to Catherine's naïve straightforward sincerity.
John Thorpe: An arrogant and extremely boastful young man who certainly appears distasteful to the likes of Catherine. He is Isabella's brother and he has a crush on Catherine Morland.
Isabella Thorpe: A manipulative and self-serving young woman on a quest to obtain a well-off husband; at the time, marriage was the accepted way for young women of a certain class to become "established" with a household of their own (as opposed to becoming a dependent spinster), and Isabella lacks most assets (such as wealth or family connections to bring to a marriage) that would make her a "catch" on the "marriage market". Upon her arrival in Bath she is without acquaintance, leading her to immediately form a quick friendship with Catherine Morland. Additionally, when she learns that Catherine is the sister to James Morland (whom Isabella suspects to be worth more than he is in reality), she goes to every length to ensure a connection between the two families.
General Tilney: A stern and rigid retired general with an obsessive nature, General Tilney is the sole surviving parent to his three children Frederick, Henry, and Eleanor.
Eleanor Tilney: Henry's sister, she plays little part in Bath, but takes on more importance in Northanger Abbey. A convenient chaperon for Catherine and Henry's times together. Obedient daughter, warm friend, sweet sister, but lonely under her father's tyranny.
Frederick Tilney: Henry's older brother (the presumed heir to the Northanger estate), an officer in the army who enjoys pursuing flirtations with pretty girls who are willing to offer him some encouragement (though without any ultimate serious intent on his part).
Mr. Allen: A kindly man, with some slight resemblance to Mr. Bennet of Pride and Prejudice.
Mrs. Allen: Somewhat vacuous, she sees everything in terms of her obsession with clothing and fashion, and has a tendency to utter repetitions of remarks made by others in place of original conversation.
Major themes
* The intricacies and tedium of high society, particularly partner selection.
* The conflicts of marriage for love and marriage for property.
* Life lived as if in a Gothic novel, filled with danger and intrigue, and the obsession with all things gothic.
* The dangers of believing life is the same as fiction.
* The maturation of the young into skeptical adulthood, the loss of imagination, innocence and good faith.
* Things are not what they seem at first.
* Social criticism (comedy of manners).
* Parody of the gothic novels' "gothic and anti-gothic" attitudes.
In addition, Catherine Morland realises she is not to rely upon others, such as Isabella, who are negatively influential on her, but to be single minded and independent. It is only through bad experiences that Catherine really begins to properly mature and grow up.
Allusions/references to other works
Several Gothic novels are mentioned in the book, including most importantly The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Italian by Ann Radcliffe. Austen also satirizes Clermont, a Gothic novel by Regina Maria Roche. This last is included in a list of seven somewhat obscure Gothic works, known as the 'Northanger horrid novels' as recommended by Isabella Thorpe to Catherine Morland:
“Dear creature! how much I am obliged to you; and when you have finished Udolpho, we will read The Italian together; and I have made out a list of ten or twelve more of the same kind for you.”
“Have you, indeed! How glad I am! — What are they all?”
“I will read you their names directly; here they are, in my pocket-book. Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer of the Black Forest, Midnight Bell, Orphan of the Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries. Those will last us some time.”
“Yes, pretty well; but are they all horrid, are you sure they are all horrid?”
“Yes, quite sure; for a particular friend of mine, a Miss Andrews, a sweet girl, one of the sweetest creatures in the world, has read every one of them...”
Though these lurid titles were assumed by some to be Austen's own invention, later researches by Montague Summers and Michael Sadleir discovered that they did really exist. There have since been various attempts to republish them (all seven in hardback by the Folio Society; The Necromancer and The Midnight Bell from a projected but abandoned series edited by Lucien Jenkins for Skoob Books Publishing and now a new series by Valancourt Books).
Jane Austen, who referred to Frances Burney d'Arblay as "the first of English novelists," in Northanger Abbey refers to her inspiring novels: “'And what are you reading, Miss — ?' 'Oh! It is only a novel!' replies the young lady, while she lays down her book with affected indifference, or momentary shame. 'It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda'; or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best–chosen language."
Later on, a character who knows little about literature and has just stated that the only recent novel he likes is The Monk (an over-the-top tale of lurid Gothic horror), the rest being "stupid," says: "...'I was thinking of that other stupid book , written by that woman they make such a fuss about, she who married the French emigrant.' 'I suppose you mean Camilla? 'Yes, that's the book; such unnatural stuff!... it is the horridest nonsense you can imagine; there's nothing in the world in it but an old man's playing at see-saw and learning Latin...' This critique, the justness of which was unfortunately lost on poor Catherine, brought them to the door of Mrs. Thorpe's lodgings."
Literary significance & criticism
Northanger Abbey is fundamentally a parody of Gothic fiction. Austen turns the conventions of eighteenth-century novels on their head, by making her heroine a plain and undistinguished girl from a middle-class family, allowing the heroine to fall in love with the hero before he has a serious thought of her, and exposing the heroine's romantic fears and curiosities as groundless. Austen biographer Claire Tomalin speculates that Austen may have begun this book, which is more explicitly comic than her other works and contains many literary allusions that her parents and siblings would have enjoyed, as a family entertainment—a piece of lighthearted parody to be read aloud by the fireside.
Northanger Abbey exposes the difference between reality and fantasy and questions who can be trusted as a true companion and who might actually be a shallow, false friend. It is considered to be the most light-hearted of her novels.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
* The A&E Network and the BBC released the television adaptation Northanger Abbey in 1986.
* An adaptation of Northanger Abbey with screenplay by Andrew Davies, was shown on ITV on 25 March 2007 as part of their "Jane Austen Season". This adaptation aired on PBS in the United States as part of the "Complete Jane Austen" on Masterpiece Classic in January, 2008.
* Pup Fiction – an episode of Wishbone featuring the plot and characters of Austen's Northanger Abbey.
As yet, there has not been a motion picture adaptation of the novel.
Trivia
This novel contains one of the earliest occurrences of the word "baseball" in print (probably referring to a variant of rounders, played by Catherine Morland with other children during her tomboy days).
A passage from the novel appears as the preface of Ian McEwan's Atonement, thus likening the naive mistakes of Austen's Catherine Morland to those of his own character Briony Tallis, who is in a similar position: both characters have very over-active imaginations, which lead to misconceptions that cause distress in the lives of people around them. Both treat their own lives like those of heroines in fantastical works of fiction, with Miss Morland likening herself to a character in a Gothic novel and young Briony Tallis writing her own melodramatic stories and plays with central characters such as "spontaneous Arabella" based on herself.