摘要
爱情与婚姻问题,历来是小说家比较钟爱的主题,在英国也是如此。但是几百年来,虽然有那么多作家争相描写爱情、婚姻,但是论起成就来,在这一方面,却没有任何一位作家可以与简·奥斯丁相提并论。
简·奥斯丁生活在十八世纪末、十九世纪初,当时英国小说经历了一个青黄不接的过渡时期。一方面,菲尔丁、理查逊、斯特恩、斯摩莱特这四位现实主义小说的伟大先驱已在十八世纪上半叶完成了他们的代表作,以致四十年来,英国文坛没有任何重要作品问世。另一方面,十九世纪现实主义小说的高峰还没有到来。这一时期,庸俗的假浪漫主义在英国风行一时。文学界被以芳尼·伯尼为代表的感伤主义小说和以拉德克利夫夫人为代表的哥特式小说所垄断。感伤主义小说,充满了贵族妇女的无病呻吟,而哥特式小说则臆造恐怖故事,滥用想象。这类小说以矫揉造作的写作手法和异常离奇的巧合编造了许多情感至上、恐怖离奇的故事,虽没有多少文学价值,但在社会上流传甚广。文学一反常态,不再具有现实意义和社会价值,萎靡之风充斥文坛。就在此时,英国出现了简·奥斯丁,出现了她以同一题材创作的六部作品,给英国文坛带来了一股清新的现实之风,这不仅仅是英国文坛的幸事,同样也是英国本身的幸事。
奥斯丁在这个世界上仅仅生活了42年。然而,在她短暂的一生中,虽然只完成了六部作品,但是令人感到奇怪的是,这六部作品描写的都是同一主题:英国十八世纪乡村绅士与淑女的恋爱、婚姻问题。令人拍案叫绝的是,简·奥斯丁以如此单一的题材,描述了小镇三、四户人家的婚姻纠葛和家庭风波,塑造了一批姿态各异、色彩鲜明的女主人公形象。她采用戏剧形式,让她们以各自的婚恋经历和遭遇向我们反映出当时英国社会中产阶级青年妇女所面临的种种问题:首先,经济上没有任何
保障,没有财产继承权。其次,没有任何社会地位,在精神上只
能是男人的附庸。最后,在家庭中也没有任何地位,在家从父兄,
出嫁从丈夫。为了谋生,她们只能选择以下三条出路:一是自力
更生,到有钱人家作家庭教师。但是家庭教师地位地下,工资微
薄。想要将来改变自己的社会地位或者经济地位几乎没有可
能。二是终身不嫁,留在家里作一个老处女,依靠亲戚资助,一
生仰人鼻息。三是尽一切可能,把自己推销给一个有财产的男
人,以求一生衣食无忧,生活舒适。显而易见,前两种出路走起
来前景堪忧,所以在当时,除了嫁给一个慷慨、富裕的丈夫之外,
再没有任何一条体面的出路。奥斯丁通过对中产阶级年轻女子
寻找未来出路的描写,揭示了资产阶级婚姻的实质就是金钱、
利益的结合。作者通过把不同类型的婚姻问题放在各种社会关
系和经济关系中去考察,使整个故事植根于现实社会的土壤。
她用最透辟的眼光向人们展示了一个由经济基础决定一切的
生存竞争的世界。在这个竞争的世界里,广大青年女性进行着
远远不同于男性,并且远远比男性艰难的挣扎。造成这一切的
根源是妇女可悲的社会地位和经济地位。奥斯丁借用作品中的
女主人公之口,提出了自己的女权主张,希望通过一定程度的
努力,通过自身修养的提高和品德的完善来解决大部分中产阶
级青年女性的未来婚姻问题,使她们在解决“食物储藏间”时,
能充分维护自己人格和尊严,在有经济基础的前提下,为了爱
情而结婚。
尽管奥斯丁的女权主张非常柔和,跟现在的妇女解放思想
简直不可同日而语,并且具有一定的思想局限性。但是,她对于
这类问题的积极探索,给后世的女性朋友以深刻启发。
除了女权思想之外,奥斯丁的作品中还渗透了作家本人的
婚姻价值观。首先,奥斯丁反对纯粹建立在经济基础上的婚姻,
也反对不顾经济基础而缔结的婚姻。她认为结婚不考虑钱是错
误的,而结婚得不到钱则是愚蠢的。其次,她承认,婚姻对象必
须在本阶级范围内部寻找,而婚恋过程必须合乎一定的礼仪,
任何想要超脱这一范围的,都必将受到谴责。最后,她认为美满
婚姻中最重要的是爱情,如果没有爱情作后盾,那么所成就的
婚姻无论在表面上看起来多么理想,而事实上总归是不道德
的。这就不难解释,为什么奥斯丁作品中的女主人公们一方面
在婚姻追逐中寻求经济上的保障,充分认识到婚姻中金钱具有
压倒一切的重要性,而另一方面又为了爱而结合,非爱不嫁。我
们就此完全可以得出以下一个结论:奥斯丁眼中最理想的婚姻,
就是体现爱情与金钱的完美结合的婚姻。在《傲慢与偏见》中,
作家自己最喜爱的女主人公伊丽莎白成功地与达西先生缔结
了一份美满姻缘,这恰好是奥斯丁的婚姻理想在作品中实现的
一个例证。然而不可否认的是,并非人人都如伊丽莎白幸运,
对于当时大多数青年女性来说,在处理婚姻大事时,如果不可
能鱼和熊掌兼得,迫于无奈,就只好退而求其次,完全屈从于经
济因素了。
综上所述,我们可以清楚地看到,奥斯丁对其时代的缺陷
作了如实的记录,可她的婚姻观与她所生活的社会不尽相同。
她并不绝对地分离爱情和金钱,并且表明后者经常能决定人与
人之间的关系,但是她笔下的女主人公都是非爱不嫁。她摒弃
仅仅建立于感官或实际需求之上
Love and marriage affairs have always been taken as themes by many novelists, and which is also the truth in Great Britain. Although many writers have made such great efforts to describe love and marriage cases in their books, few of them could compare with Jane Austen when it comes to the achievements accomplished in literature.
Jane Austen mostly lived in the 18th century, existing in this world for only 42 years, but in such a short period of time, she produced 6 novels, all of which are splendid ones. Strangely enough, all her novels were centered on the same topic: the trivial matters of love , marriage and family life between country squires and fair ladies in Britain in the 18th century. Still it is quite incredible that by using such simple plots Austen could describe the love and marriage conflicts of the three or four families in a small town and could create various colorful protagonists, who in some way have impressed all the readers deeply for nearly 200 years.
In her novels, Austen described the experience of some young fair ladies gained in their process of finding an ideal husband, which showed the very problems that these fair ladies had to face: Firstly, they had no economic security, because it was almost impossible for them to inherit any money. Secondly, they had no social position, and they had to become men's followers even spiritually. Lastly, they had no position even inside their families. They had to obey their fathers or elder brothers before getting married, and obey their husbands after getting married. In order to make a living, they had to make a choice from the following three circumstances. Firstly, they could choose to become a private teacher to earn their livings, but being a private teacher meant holding a very low social position with only a small salary, and which meant it was almost impossible for them to improve their position in finance and society later. Secondly, they could choose to stay at home forever and never get married, which
meant that they would have to rely on their relatives for financial help and could never be self-independent. Lastly, they could try their best to make some Mr. Rights be interested in them and eventually marry them, which meant a wealthy and comfortable life forever. There was no doubt that the last choice was the best choice because it was the most decent future for a fair lady.
By describing the way those fair ladies searched for their future
husbands, Austen exposed that money was the essence of the capitalism marriage. Austen was clearly aware of the important role that money always played on marriage. Just as Tony Tanner once said, "Jane Austen, as well as other authors, is very clear that no feeling could be extremely pure and no motive could be definitely single. But as long as it is possible, we should make it clear that which feeling or motive plays the leading role." Austen knew exactly the ideal marriage should compose money and love at the same time, and if money and love could not be obtained together ,love would always make a confession to money because of the special social background. That specific history time decided that people took money much more seriously, even on their marriage.
At that time, the aristocratic families were still entitled to such great power and right that country squires were likely to fawn upon them. However, with the development of capitalism and the expansion of the rank of rich people, the distinction between social strata was becoming smaller and smaller, while money was getting more and more important in people's mind about social value. A western literature critic once said that "even David Ricardo(a British economist) had an unlikely clearer understanding about the function of money in daily life as Jane Austen had." It is exactly because of the secure pledge in finance that the country squire society could be existing strongly and solidly.
Except the detailed digital of money, there is another factor which has a great influence on marriage. That is social position determined by economic
引文
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