Jane Austen 1775 1817 Introduction Among the distinguished

Jane Austen (1775— 1817) 大学英语精品课程

Introduction Among the distinguished English novelists of the 19 th century are several women. Women novelists began to appear in England during the second half of the 18 th century and made their great contributions to the development of the English novel in the 19 th century. These remarkable women novelists are Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Mrs. Gaskell and George Eliot. 大学英语精品课程

Life story of Jane Austen Works: 6 novels Pride and Prejudice Extract of the novel: 片段欣赏 Characterization Remarks about the author 大学英语精品课程

ⅠLife story of Jane Austen was born in a family of country clergyman in 1775. She was the seventh child of Rev. George Austen, rector of Stevenson. With her sisters she was educated at home, and passed her life very quietly, cheerfully in doing small domestic duties in the countryside. She began to write at an early age. There was a little table in the 大学英语精品课程

family sitting-room, on which she wrote her now famous novels, in the midst of busy family life. When a visitor entered, she would throw a sheet of paper or a piece of sewing over her work, and she modestly refused to acknowledge that she was the author of her novels, which were published anonymously owing to the prejudice prevailing at the 大学英语精品课程

time concerning the writing of novels by a lady. Living a quiet life In the countryside, she kept her eyes steadily upon the people and incidents about her, and wrote about the small world she lived in. Austen began to write her first novel( Pride and Prejudice) when she 大学英语精品课程

was 21, but it was published after 16 years. It was the most widely read novel of Austen, which brought her great success. She is at her best in writing about young girls through the description of the daily talks. Jane Austen died, quietly as she had lived, at Winchester, in 1817, was buried in the cathedral. 大学英语精品课程

Walter Scott thus praised her: “That young lady has a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with……What a pity such gifted creature died so early. ” ⅡWorks: 6 novels Pride and Prejudice 《傲慢与偏见》 Northanger Abbey 《诺桑觉寺》 Sense and Sensibility 《理智与情感》 Mansfield Park 《曼斯菲尔德庄园》 Emma 《爱玛》 Persuasion 《劝导》 大学英语精品课程

Ⅲ Pride and Prejudice has consistently been Jane Austen's most popular novel. It portrays life in the genteel rural society of the day, and tells of the initial misunderstandings and later mutual enlightenment between Elizabeth Bennet （伊丽莎白·贝奈特）(whose liveliness and quick wit have often attracted readers) and the haughty Darcy（达西）. The title Pride and Prejudice refers (among other things) to the ways in which Elizabeth and Darcy first view each other. Jane Bennet Charlotte Lucas Wickham Charles Bingley Mr. Collins 大学英语精品课程

Plot Overview The news that a wealthy young gentleman named Charles Bingley has rented the manor of Netherfield Park causes a great stir in the nearby village of Longbourn, especially in the Bennet household. The Bennets have five unmarried daughters—from oldest to youngest, Jane, Elizabet 大学英语精品课程

• Mary, Kitty, and Lydia—and Mrs. Bennet is desperate to see them all • married. After Mr. Bennet pays a social visit to Mr. Bingley, the Bennets • attend a ball at which Mr. Bingley is present. He is taken with Jane and • spends much of the evening dancing with her. His close friend, Mr. Darcy, • is less pleased with the evening and haughtily refuses to dance with Eliza • beth, which makes everyone view him as arrogant. 大学英语精品课程

At social functions over subsequent weeks, however, Mr. Darcy finds himself increasingly attracted to Elizabeth’s charm and intelligence. Jane’s friendship with Mr. Bingley also continues to burgeon, and Jane pays a visit to the Bingley mansion. On her journey to the house she is caught in a downpour and catches ill, forcing her to stay at Netherfield for several days. In order to tend to Jane, Elizabeth hikes through muddy fields and arrives with a spattered dress, much to the disdain of the snobbish Miss Bingley, Charles Bingley’s sister. Miss Bingley’s spite only increases when she notices that Darcy, whom she is pursuing, pays quite a bit of attention to Elizabeth. When Elizabeth and Jane return home, they find Mr. Collins visiting their household. 大学英语精品课程

Mr. Collins is a young clergyman who stands to inherit Mr. Bennet’s property, which has been “entailed, ” meaning that it can only be passed down to male heirs. Mr. Collins is a pompous fool, though he is quite enthralled by the Bennet girls. Shortly after his arrival, he makes a proposal of marriage to Elizabeth. She turns him down, wounding his pride. Meanwhile, the Bennet girls have become friendly with militia officers stationed in a nearby town. Among them is Wickham, a handsome young soldier who is friendly toward Elizabeth and tells her how Darcy cruelly cheated him out of an inheritance. At the beginning of winter, the Bangles and Darcy leave Nether field and return to London, much to Jane’s dismay. A further shock arrives 大学英语精品课程

With the news that Mr. Collins has become engaged to Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s best friend and the poor daughter of a local knight. Charlotte explains to Elizabeth that she is getting older and needs the match for financial reasons. Charlotte and Mr. Collins get married and Elizabeth promises to visit them at their new home. As winter progresses, Jane visits the city to see friends (hoping also that she might see Mr. Bingley). However, Miss Bingley visits her and behaves rudely, while Mr. Bingley fails to visit her at all. The marriage prospects for the Bennet girls appear bleak. That spring, Elizabeth visits Charlotte, who now lives near the home of Mr. Collins’s patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who is also Darcy’s aunt. Darcy calls on 大学英语精品课程

Lady Catherine and encounters Elizabeth, whose presence leads him to make a number of visits to the Collins’s home, where she is staying. One day, he makes a shocking proposal of marriage, which Elizabeth quickly refuses. She tells Darcy that she considers him arrogant and unpleasant, then scolds him for steering Bingley away from Jane and disinheriting Wickham. Darcy leaves her but shortly thereafter delivers 大学英语精品课程

a letter to her. In this letter, he admits that he urged Bingley to distance himself from Jane, but claims he did so only because he thought their romance was not serious. As for Wickham, he informs Elizabeth that the young officer is a liar and that the real cause of their disagreement was Wickham’s attempt to elope with his young sister, Georgiana Darcy. This letter causes Elizabeth to reevaluate her feelings about 大学英语精品课程

Darcy. She returns home and acts coldly toward Wickham. The militia is leaving town, which makes the younger, rather man-crazy Bennet girls distraught. Lydia manages to obtain permission from her father to spend the summer with an old colonel in Brighton, where Wickham’s regiment will be stationed. With the arrival of June, Elizabeth goes on another journey, 大学英语精品课程

this time with the Gardiners, who are relatives of the Bennets. The trip takes her to the North and eventually to the neighbor-hood of Pemberley, Darcy’s estate. She visits Pemberley, after making sure that Darcy is away, and delights in the building and grounds, while hearing from Darcy’s servants that he is a wonderful, generous master. Suddenly, Darcy arrives and behaves cordially toward her. Making no 大学英语精品课程

mention of his proposal, he entertains the Gardiners and invites Elizabeth to meet his sister. Shortly thereafter, however, a letter arrives from home, telling Elizabeth that Lydia has eloped with Wickham and that the couple is nowhere to be found, which suggests that they may be living together out of wedlock. Fearful of the disgrace such a situation would bring on her entire family, Elizabeth hastens home. Mr. Gardiner 大学英语精品课程

and Mr. Bennet go off to search for Lydia, but Mr. Bennet eventually returns home empty-handed. Just when all hope seems lost, a letter comes from Mr. Gardiner saying that the couple has been found and that Wickham has agreed to marry Lydia in exchange for an annual income. The Bennets are convinced that Mr. Gardiner has paid off Wickham, but Elizabeth learns that the source of the money, and 大学英语精品课程

of her family’s salvation, was none other than Darcy. Now married, Wickham and Lydia return to Longbourn briefly, where Mr. Bennet treats them coldly. They then depart for Wickham’s new assignment in the North of England. Shortly thereafter, Bingley returns to Netherfield and resumes his courtship of Jane. Darcy goes to stay with him and pays visits to the Bennets but makes no mention of his desire to 大学英语精品课程

marry Elizabeth. Bingley, on the other hand, presses his suit and pro-poses to Jane, to the delight of everyone but Bingley’s haughty sister. While the family celebrates, Lady Catherine de Bourgh pays a visit to Longbourn. She corners Elizabeth and says that she has heard that Darcy, her nephew, is planning to marry her. Since she considers a Bennet an unsuitable match for a Darcy, Lady Catherine demands 大学英语精品课程

that Elizabeth promise to refuse him. Elizabeth spiritedly refuses, saying she is not engaged to Darcy, but she will not promise anything against her own happiness. A little later, Elizabeth and Darcy go out walking together and he tells her that his feelings have not altered since the spring. She tenderly accepts his proposal, and both Jane and Elizabeth are married. 大学英语精品课程

ⅣExtract of the novel: 片段欣赏 Chapter Ⅰ Chapter Ⅱ 大学英语精品课程

ChapterⅠ It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighborhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters. "My dear Mr. Bennet, " said his lady to him one day, "have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last? " Mr. Bennet replied that he had not. "But it is, " returned she; "for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it. " Mr. Bennet made no answer. 大学英语精品课程

"Do not you want to know who has taken it? " cried his wife impatiently. "You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it. " This was invitation enough. "Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servant are to be in the house by the end of next week. " "What is his name? " "Bingley. " "Is he married or single? " 大学英语精品课程

"Oh! single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!" "How so? how can it affect them? " "My dear Mr. Bennet, " replied his wife, "how can you be so tiresome! You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them. " "Is that his design in settling here? " 大学英语精品课程

"Design! nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very likely that he may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes. " “ I see no occasion for that. You and the girls may go, or you may sendthem by themselves, which perhaps will be still better; for, as you are as handsome as any of them, Mr. Bingley might like you the best of the party. " "My dear, you flatter me. I certainly have had my share of beauty, 大学英语精品课程

but I do not pretend to be any thing extraordinary now. When a woman has five grown up daughters, she ought to give over thinking of her own beauty. " "In such cases, a woman has not often much beauty to think of. " "But, my dear, you must indeed go and see Mr. Bingley when he comes into the neighbourhood. " "It is more than I engage for, I assure you. " "But consider your daughters. Only think what an establishment it would be for one of them. Sir William and Lady Lucas are determined to go, merely on that account, for in general, you know they visit no new comers. Indeed you must go, for it will be impossible for us to visit him, if you do not. " 大学英语精品课程

"You are over-scrupulous, surely. I dare say Mr. Bingley will be very glad to see you; and I will send a few lines by you to assure him of my hearty consent to his marrying which ever he chooses of the girls; though I must throw in a good word for my little Lizzy. " "I desire you will do no such thing. Lizzy is not a bit better than the others; and I am sure she is not half so handsome as Jane, nor half so good humoured as Lydia. But you are always giving her the preference. " "They have none of them much to recommend them, " replied he; "they are all silly and ignorant like other girls; but Lizzy has something more of quickness than her sisters. " "Mr. Bennet, how can you abuse your own children in such way? You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion on my poor nerves. " 大学英语精品课程

"You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least. " "Ah! you do not know what I suffer. " "But I hope you will get over it, and live to see many young men of four thousand a year come into the neighbourhood. " "It will be no use to us if twenty such should come, since you will not visit them. " "Depend upon it, my dear, that when there are twenty I will visit them all. " 大学英语精品课程

Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humor, reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three and twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character. Her mind was less difficult to develop. She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented, she fancied herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news. 大学英语精品课程

Chapter Ⅱ MR. Bennet was among the earliest of those who waited on Mr. Bingley. He had always intended to visit him, though to the last always assuring his wife that he should not go; and till the evening after the visit was paid, she had no knowledge of it. It was then disclosed in the following manner. Observing his second daughter employed in trimming a hat, he suddenly addressed her with, —— "I hope Mr. Bingley will like it, Lizzy. " "We are not in a way to know what Mr. Bingley likes, " said her mother resentfully, "since we are not to visit. " 大学英语精品课程

"But you forget, mama, " said Elizabeth, "that we shall meet him at the assemblies, and that Mrs. Long has promised to introduce him. " "I do not believe Mrs. Long will do any such thing. She has two nieces of her own. She is a selfish, hypocritical woman, and I have no opinion of her. " "No more have I, " said Mr. Bennet; "and I am glad to find that you do not depend on her serving you. " Mrs. Bennet deigned not to make any reply; but unable to contain herself, began scolding one of her daughters. 大学英语精品课程

"Don't keep coughing so, Kitty, for heaven's sake! Have a little compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces. " "Kitty has no discretion in her coughs, " said her father; "she times them ill. " "I do not cough for my own amusement, " replied Kitty fretfully. — "When is your next ball to be, Lizzy? " "To-morrow fortnight. " "Ay, so it is, " cried her mother, "and Mrs. Long does not come back till the day before; so it will be impossible for her to introduce him, for she will not know him herself. " "Then, my dear, you may have the advantage of your friend, and introduce Mr. Bingley to her. " 大学英语精品课程

"Impossible, Mr. Bennet, impossible, when I am not acquainted with him myself; how can you be so teazing? " "I honour your circumspection. A fortnight's acquaintance is certainly very little. One cannot know what a man really is by the end of a fortnight. But if we do not venture, somebody else will; and after all, Mrs. Long and her nieces must stand their chance; and therefore, as she will think it an act of kindness, if you decline the office, I will take it on myself. " The girls stared at their father. Mrs. Bennet said only, "Nonsense, nonsense!" "What can be the meaning of that emphatic exclamation? " cried he. "Do you consider the forms of introduction, and the stress that is laid on 大学英语精品课程

them, as nonsense? I cannot quite agree with you there. ----What say you, Mary? for you are a young lady of deep reflection I know, and read great books, and make extracts. " Mary wished to say something very sensible, but knew not how. "While Mary is adjusting her ideas, " he continued, "let us return to Mr. Bingley. " "I am sick of Mr. Bingley, " cried his wife. "I am sorry to hear that; but why did not you tell me so before? If I had known as much this morning, I certainly would not have called on him. It is very unlucky; but as I have actually paid the visit, we cannot escape the acquaintance now. " 大学英语精品课程

The astonishment of the ladies was just what he wished; that of Mrs. Bennet perhaps surpassing the rest; though when the first tumult of joy was over, she began to declare that it was what she had expected all the while. "How good it was in you, my dear Mr. Bennet! But I knew I should persuade you at last. I was sure you loved our girls too well to neglect such an acquaintance. Well, how pleased I am! and it is such a good joke, too, that you should have gone this morning, and never said a word about it till now. " "Now, Kitty, you may cough as much as you choose, " said Mr. Bennet; and, as he spoke, he left the room, fatigued with the raptures of his wife. 大学英语精品课程

"What an excellent father you have, girls, " said she, when the door was shut. "I do not know how you will ever make him amends for his kindness; or me either, for that matter. At our time of life, it is not so pleasant I can tell you, to be making new acquaintance every day; but for your sakes, we would do any thing. --Lydia, my love, though you are the youngest, I dare say Mr. Bingley will dance with you at the next ball. ” "Oh!" said Lydia stoutly, "I am not afraid; for though I am the youngest, I'm the tallest. " The rest of the evening was spent in conjecturing how soon he would return Mr. Bennet's visit, and determining when they should ask him to dinner. 大学英语精品课程

ⅤCharacterization: Mr. Bennet: Mrs. Bennet: Humorous, sarcastic, cynical, witty; shortsighted, stupid, ignorant 大学英语精品课程

ⅥRemarks about the author Jane Austen is one of the great women novelists in the history of English literature. Most of her novels deals with middle-class people’s life in the countryside and the landed gentry and describe trivial domestic life and marriage of girls. A Master of Character Portrayal: fresh, vivid, round character A Master of Irony: to expose ignorance, weakness of people by laughing at them, but she is never angry with the characters. 大学英语精品课程

A Master of Wit and Humor: Wit and humor are the great charm of the novels, which are shown in conversations and dialogues. A Master of Style: Simple, easy, dear, graceful, lucid 大学英语精品课程