Abstract:In the British literary history there are countless novelists who have described marriage, but rare are like Jane Austen who grasped the essence of bourgeois marriage thoroughly from economic relations in her masterpiece Pride and Prejudice. Someone said that Pride and Prejudice can be seen as marriage economics. It indicates that the essence of the bourgeoisie marriage is nothing but money transactions, the combination of the interests. The Marxist critic David Dax says that “in exposing human behavior economic reasons”, Jane Austen “can be seen as the Marxist before Marx in a sense”. So this study is to analyze the economic drives behind the marriages in the novel.

The thesis is made up of four chapters. Chapter one consists of a general introduction of Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice and the economics of marriage as well. Chapter Two and Chapter Three is the backbone of the thesis, devoted to specific explanation of social economic reasons and the causes from the perspective of marriage economists for every marriage according to their characteristics. And the explanation is based on the complete analysis of social economic background and economic theories of marriage. Chapter Four is the conclusion, summarizing the main points of the whole thesis.

Keywords：Jane Austen  Pride and Prejudice  economics of marriage  money transaction  combination of the interests

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 Jane Austen-1

1.2 Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice-1

1.3 Literature Review-2

1.4 Economics of Marriage and Purpose of the Thesis-2

Chapter Two Analysis of the Contemporary Commercialized Marriage Outlooks-4

2.1 Social Economic Background-4

2.2 The Essence of Marriage-4

Chapter Three Economic Motivations for the Marriages in Pride And Prejudice-6

3.1 Jane and Bingley—Beauty Commercialized-6

3.2 Wickham and Lydia—Wickham Married for Economic Benefit-7

3.3 Collins and Charlotte Lucas—Demand and Supply Perfectly Matched-8

3.4 Darcy and Elizabeth–Manners and Minds Bridged the Property Gap-9

Chapter Four Conclusion-11

References-13