5。 The marriage between Jane Fairfax and Mr。Churchill 9

5。1 Background information of Jane Fairfax and Mr。Churchill 9

5。2 What’s the obstruction of their love 9

5。3 How Austen uses her writing intervention 10

5。4 Austen’s feminism and class consciousness 10

6。 The matrimony of Hariet Smith and Mr。 Martin 11

6。1 Background information of Hariet Smith and Mr。 Martin 11

6。2 What’s the obstruction of their love 11

6。3 How Austen uses her writing intervention 11

6。4 Austen’s feminism and class consciousness 12

7。 Conclusion 13

7。1 Summary of the study 13

7。2 Limitation of the study 13

8。 Bibliography 14

1。 Introduction

Jane Austen played an important role in British literature。 She was a realist, disdaining snobs and satirizing class structure。 The England she depicted was morbid with strong class-consciousness。 Living in a small town ,Austen knew much about the cozy life of priests and landowners。 All of her works were oriented to the marriages of middle-class women in the countryside without mentioning any big social events and conflicts ,through which she distinguishes the inner merit (kindness) and external merit(property)。 Chinese linguist Shiqiu Liang says,” She has the greatest theory at the end of 18th century。” 

Emma as the last work of Jane Austen lays a solid foundation for her status in the history of world literature。 Published in 1814, it became so popular the next year that even the Regency liked it。 So Jane Austen sent him a de luxe edition。 However, the obvious defects in Emma’s personality render it disputed。 Emma was filled with faults which desperately ruin Harriet Smith＇s happiness and generate obstructions to Emma’s own achievement of true love。 Because Emma was always on her way of remedying and struggling to develop, all of the characters are able to know where their true love is。 She developed slowly and uncertainly to self － knowledge and maturity．These qualities made Emma unique and made Emma the representative work of Jane Austen。 Emma was “flawless in spite of her flaws” ．Her faults made her more real and human similar to us．论文网

Most of the discussions about Emma probe into the flaws of Emma’s personality, striving to define what attitude a woman with feminist-consciousness should have towards marriage。 Austen was deeply convinced that possessions can not guarantee true love, while virtue warranted the long-lasting love。 Emma, a celibate, refused to get married because she thought that no one is going to be like her father who loves her ardently and conform to her。what she said was startling in 18th century。 Socially, people think the chief method of self-improvement for woman was the acquisition of wealth through marriage。 She wants to be the master of herself not the accessory of her husband。 Her desire explains her willingness to resist traditional opinions of marriage and her pursuance of woman’s rights 。 Emma’s falling in love with Mr。knightly is a process of constructing virtue and perceiving reality。 Emma is Jane Austen, she denies social definition of women, claiming that men and women should be treated equally。

That’s what we get from the angle of feminism。 But if we read it with a consciousness of marriages in Emma, we may achieve something novel。 Austen who didn’t get married all her life described Emma as a “No marriage” woman。 And at the end of Emma, Austen put Emma and Knightly together as if there was suddenly love came into being in their hearts。 We can’t see how it came because we can see that Hariet fell in love with Knightly after his generous invitation in the ball。 We can simply deduce that there must be some writing intervention。 As for the other two marriages including the marriage between Jane Fairfax and Mr。Churchill and the matrimony of Hariet Smith and Mr。 Martin, we can easily find that there are also certain writing intervention。 Why did Jane Austen always wanted to have a happy ending and arranged a marriage which she think is most suitable for the main characters in her novel? All of these being mentioned demonstrate that Jane Austen failed to break the confinement of social hierarchy and her limitation in feminism。 She held that virtue is of overriding importance in marriage but at the same time insisted that only people from the same social class are meant to get married。