傲慢与偏见读后感英文.doc

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1、Pride and Prejudice Book Review The novel centres on Elizabeth Bennet, the second of the five daughters of a landed country gentleman. The story opens with news in the Bennet family that Mr Bingley, a wealthy, charismatic and sociable young bachelor, is moving into Netherfield Park in the neighbourh

2、ood. Mr Bingley is soon well received while his friend Mr Darcy makes a less favourable impression by appearing proud and condescending at a ball that they attend. Mr Bingley singles out Jane for particular attention, and it soon becomes apparent that they have formed an attachment to each other. Wh

3、ile Jane does not alter her conduct for him, she confesses her great happiness only to Lizzie. By contrast, Darcy slights Elizabeth, who overhears and jokes about it despite feeling a budding resentment. On paying a visit to Mr Bingleys sister, Caroline, Jane is caught in a heavy downpour, catching

4、cold, and is forced to stay at Netherfield for several days. Elizabeth arrives to nurse her sister and is thrown into frequent company with Mr Darcy, who begins to act less coldly towards her. In the spring, Elizabeth visits Charlotte and Mr Collins in Kent. Elizabeth and her hosts are frequently in

5、vited to Rosings Park,coincidentally, Darcy also arrives to visit. Thus, she is no mood to accept when Darcy arrives and, quite unexpectedly, confesses love for her and begs her hand in marriage. His proposal is flattering, as he is a very distinguished man, but it is delivered in a manner that is i

6、ll suited. He talks of love but also of revulsion at her inferior position and family. Despite assertions to the contrary, he assumes she will accept him. Elizabeth rebukes him, and a heated discussion follows; she charges him with destroying the happiness of both her sister and Bingley, with treati

7、ng Mr Wickham disgracefully and with having conducted himself towards her in an arrogant, ungentleman-like manner. Mr Darcy, shocked, ultimately responds with a letter giving a good account of his actions. Elizabeth, who had previously despaired over this very behavior, is forced to admit the truth

8、of Mr Darcys observations, and begins to see that she has misjudged him. She, quite rightly, attributes her prejudice to his coldness towards herself at the beginning of their acquaintance. Some months later, Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle Gardiner visit Pemberley, Darcys estate, believing he will

9、 be absent for the day. He returns unexpectedly and is surprised but gracious and welcoming, quite unlike his usual self. He treats the Gardiners very civilly, surprising Elizabeth, who assumes he will decamp immediately on learning who they are. Elizabeth begins to acknowledge her own attraction to

10、 him. Darcy returns to Longbourn. Chance allows Elizabeth and Darcy a rare moment alone. He renews his proposal of marriage and is promptly accepted. Elizabeth soon learns that his hopes were revived by his aunts report of Elizabeths refusal to promise not to marry him.The novel closes with a happil

11、y-ever-after chapter including a summary of the remaining lives of the main characters. None of the characters changes very much in this summary, but Kitty has grown slightly more sensible from association with Jane and Elizabeth and distance from Lydia, and Lady Catherine eventually condescends to

12、visit the Darcy family.To begin with, Id like to talk about the relationship of heroine. At the beginning of the story, Elisabeth takes a shine to Wickham, but after she knows notorious for his misdeeds, she has other feelings which soon drive away. When Wickham proposes marriage tosomeone else, Eli

13、sabeth is unperturbed and quiet inside.Next, Id like to tell the love story of hero Darcy and heroine Elisabeth. In the first place, Elisabeth is just hate Darcy which is reaching a point that even if the man in the world is all dead, she wont choose to marry him. But after Elisabeth find out she is

14、 mistaken about Darcy, it makes Elisabeth feel guilty about that. In a consequence of receiving courteous treatment from Darcy, Elisabeth feels extremely flattered.Darcys first proposal is a remarkable self-assertion, a refusal of one of the most eligible bachelors in the whole of England by a girl

15、of no position and no means. This is extremely impressive, but is surely depends on her opinion of what his opinion of her is. She cannot tolerate the belief she attributes to him that he is marrying beneath himself.There is no doubt that Elizabeth believes what she says to Darcy and is truly indign

16、ant at his behavior, but her indignation masks the fact that these are only excuses for her dislike of Darcy. Collinss manners are at least as bad, but the passions of her soul do not combine in a passionate attack on him. With him she is objective and detached, or, at most, irritated. But with Darc

17、y she is enraged because of his hold over her, the fact that his opinion really does count.The real objection to Darcy is his taking her for granted and the hopeless inferiority that a marriage with him would entail. All the power is in his hands, and his only attachment to her appears to be an unco

18、ntrollable attraction without the support of either the conventional standards or a reverence for her virtue. Throughout a marriage that began in this way, he wold have the advantage in every disagreement, for she would merely be a siren who entrapped him counter to all the good reasons for permanen

19、t moral attachment. Her accusations help her to avoid admitting the less than noble reasons for her resentment. Her education in the novel is learning to accept her dependence. Marriage between these two savages requires the acceptance by each of slavery to the other, while each thinks that he or sh

20、e ought to be the master. Elizabeth would never marry a man whom she ought to be the master. Elizabeth would never marry a man whom she considered her inferior, while she hates a man who considers himself her superior. Equality of the partners would seem to be the answer, and it is. But the establis

21、hment of equality between two strong-willed individuals is not such an easy thing and probably requires each to think the other is superior. The fact is that Elizabeth would very much like to marry Mr. Darcy, and she must only persuade herself that she is taming her own will rather than being tamed

22、by Darcy and that Darcy requires her for substantial and enduring reasons. The correctives to pride and prejudice, and progress in self-knowledge, result from the combative engagement of these two doubting warriors. The need to explain himself to another forces him to explain himself to himself. Thi

23、s is the immediate effect Elizabeth has on him, and it is probably the deepest long-range effect it will have on him in their marriage.Virtue, he learns, is not so self-sufficient as he thought and requires the confirmation of valid judges. This reciprocal recognition is the heart of romance as Rous

24、seau taught it.Throughout all of Austens works the heroines are somehow self-generated. She discounts the authority and respectability of the parents, who are distinctly inferior beings, particularly from the point of view of wisdom or prudence. This is a sign of the unconventional or radical side o

25、f Austens point of view. Her heroines fit into the conventional order, but that does not entirely disguise the unconventional grounds of the relationships. They are triumph of nature over convention.However charming Mr. Bennets detachment, its godlike distance from the things that agitate most peopl

26、e is callous and perverse. Mr. Bennet is a charming dropout. He helps us to see people as they are, but he is not so helpful in understanding the virtuous.Although Austen criticizes the lack of proper education in the Bennet family, Jane and Elizabeth, like so many of Austens good characters, are se

27、lf-made. This underlines her belief that nature is far more important than convention, even though she treats the framework of convention with great respect.Jane Austens world, when one comes to Pride and Prejudice fresh from The Red and the Black, is boring. But when one actually reads Austen, the

28、intensity and excitement are as great as or greater than what one discovers in other writers. It is a kind of miracle, but the fate of Jane and Elizabeth Bennet in their relations to Bingley and Darcy engages us. Stripped of all external drama, the history of the heart as presented by Austen is endl

29、essly fascinating.Irony flourishes on the disproportion between the way things are and the way they should be while accepting the necessity of this disproportion.But she dose make us laugh at these things, indicating that there is much joy and strength to be gained simply from knowing. This perspect

30、ive is largely absent in the Romantics. This woman who writes exclusively of the relation between male and femal, and who, as a writer, is nothing but a matchmaker, was herself a spinster, and none the worse for it.Austen represents and justifies reason and leisure in human affairs when they are in

31、short supply and without much honor in literature and life. A decent respect for the perhaps illusory convictions of men who are at least partly decent is his mode, a mode that protects him as well as these men and gets more to the heart of things. Rather than railing at stupidity and boasting, come

32、dy does best to treat them with the greatest apparent respect, as dose Socrates in both Platos and Xenophons account of him. This is also Jane Austens mode. It was not that they(classical writers) simply rejected or despised love in marriage, but that is got in the way of being reasonable. They appe

33、ar to have said: be reasonable first and love might follow later.Austens heroes must think through their attractions and tend not to have the experience of le coup de foudre, but this thinking through is an attempt to ascertain the genuineness and seriousness of the sentiments rather than to discove

34、r whether having such sentiments is reasonable. Jane Austen would never insist on the illusoriness of love, and she always underpins love with solid supports like property and proof of fixed character.The greatest betrayal of the seriousness of the relationship would be to decide about marriage on t

35、he basis of mere sexual attraction. Jane Austen presents a reasonable picture of what may be an unreasonable hope, that is, the harmonious union of sexual desire with love, marriage, and friendship.Pride is evidently understood to be a vice, particularly by those who think they are victims of Darcys

36、 or anyone elses alleged high self-esteem, but that self-esteem is essential to both Darcys and Elizabeths strong characters as well as to their capacity to get along with each other. Each claims to other peoples opinions; but actually they are both extremely sensitive to the opinions of those they

37、might get romantically involved with or whom they consider to be worthy judges of themselves. There is a delicate balance between the need for self-esteem and the need for the esteem of others, and neither can be sacrificed to the other.Everybody gets the kind of marriage he or she deserves. The pun

38、ishment of bad or foolish persons follows immediately from the character of their choice of mates and situations.The stakes are human happiness, and people are more or less happy on the basis of their choice of a partner. Very few people have powerful erotic attractions and even fewer are faithful p

39、artisans of their attractions. In addition, even fewer persons love virtue. And fewest are those who have a discerning judgment about the character of others and what is fitting. The many have marriages, and hence human relationships, that exist only by law and public opinion. The few have substantial attachments that consist in continuous delight in the company of the other.第 11 页