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As Pride and Prejudice is a classic novel in the history of English literature, it has been read by considerable people. And many scholars had studied the view of marriage and feminism in Pride and Prejudice, however, few of them focused on the rise of bourgeoisie and gentry in the novel, which would be a great help for readers to understand the phenomenon that women always wanted to marry wealthy men，different classes achieved the combination of money and status through marriage and characters’ different view of classes in this novel better. Jane Austen’ s works are always believed limited to the life of south British countryside, but the details which reflect the rise of bourgeoisie and gentry in Pride and Prejudice could prove that Austen’ s works had been influenced by the society of that time less or more. These social shifts in this paper express themselves as the rise of bourgeoisie and gentry from the case of Mr. Bennet and Elizabeth’s uncle, and as the blurred boundaries between the different classes which in the case of the marriage of Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet, as well as the social mobility which in the case of Sir William.
This paper aims to find out the rise of bourgeoisie and gentry in the 18th century in Britain by analyzing the class mobility, economic background marriages of the characters and the low status of women in Pride and Prejudice. It will focus on studying the rise of bourgeoisie and gentry, the gradually blurred boundaries between different classes and wealth instead of nobility becoming the most important standard to measure a person during the time of Pride and Prejudice, which has critical association with the marriages, people’s attitudes to different classes and women’ s low status at that time. This kind of study could help the readers of Pride and Prejudice to learn more about the novel and interpret it in different ways.
2 Literature Review
Academic research on Pride and Prejudice, one of the fine works by Jane Austen, is highly focused on studies of marriage views and feminism inclination. However, some scholars explore the social significance in the work. Among them, most believed the rise of middle class was reflected in the marriages and the values on money of the late 18th century of Britain; some found the evidence of the rise of Bourgeoisie and gentry in the conversation and characters’ attitudes toward different classes are different form before in Pride and Prejudice and few hold the view that the society was still noble-centered.
For example, Liu (2010) holds the view that during the time in Pride and Prejudice, the class distinction still played some part in people’s marriages, including Elizabeth and Darcy’ s marriage which has been regarded as out of true love. Besides class distinction, wealth gradually became more and more important and finally economic foundation played a crucial role in people’ s marriage because the social status was decided by wealth to a great extent. And Zhang, Tao, & Zhang(2014) believe that there was an undercurrent of social changes that flowed beneath the peaceful rural life because Britain was in a great change in the late of 18th century and early 19th century which was a result of the industrial revolution. The bourgeoisie got off the low class and finally ranked in upper-middle class because of industrial revolution had been supported in details by the background of the characters and some conversations in Pride and Prejudice. And money-oriented value, as a product of the rise of middle class was ubiquitous in the work. Both papers point out the importance of economy in marriages in the late 18th century by analyzing the conversations and details in the novel. But they have different views in class, Liu thinks noble-centered class distinction still existed in the late 18th century while the research by Zhang et al believes the rise of middle class gradually broke the class limits.
Xu (1999) merits Austen’ s writing style with appreciation which hides the greatness in ordinary events and through through the story Austen described influence from the middle class’s common thoughts, spirit and ethical values and pointed out the weakness of middle class to readers. Xu says Austen’ s works always show the rural life and the love between men and women, but these ordinary scenes reflected a changing society at that time and Austen also described the stubborn feudal force in the changing society and its decline. Wang (2012) holds the view that the value of bourgeoisie had influenced many people including the nobles in the late 18th century and proves it by the case of Darcy. Darcy was a noble who lived on the revenue of lands and heritage from his father but he made friends with Bingley whose most fortune was earned from business and Darcy broke the limits of class to marry Elizabeth. Wang and Xu show the rise of middle class by analyzing the influence of the spirits of middle class. I agree with their perspectives in some degrees but realize the supports which they give were not enough.