My younger sister is going through a Jane Austen phase. She's sortof dragging me along with it. I enjoy her books and many of the movies based of her books. But it always strikes me as interesting that her books are not very romantic (What do you really think that I'd enjoy them otherwise?). It is a domestic novel that portrays marriage as an almost social contract. Which it is to a certain extent.
I'm not saying that the characters are not in love with thier future spouse. But there was a certain practical element to the stories. Edward and Elinor wait till they have enough money to live on till they get married. Not a great deal of money, at least by thier standards, but enough to get by. Jane Austen seems to think that one must have respect for the marriage partner and between the tw have enough money to live off of. However she seems scornful of woman who just marry for money. An example of that would be Charolette (In Pride and Prejudice), and more notoriously Lucy Steel (In Sense and Sensibility). She also does not seem to believe in just plain out love at first sight. She has many men who marry thier wifes for thier beauty and good humor, and as a result become bitter and unhappy because their wifes are silly and foolish. Mr Bennet, of course, (From Pride and Prejudice) and this man from sense and sensibility whose name I can not remember. Also in Emma, Mr Knightly, proclaims that men of sense do not want silly wives, after Emma had proclaimed that all men cared for really was beauty and good humor in thier wives.
I have read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It was pretty awful. The idea was interesting, but the book was dumb and boring. It made uneccsesary and crude jokes, because the author could not think of anything else to amuse his readers with. It was not well written, and it was ridicoulous in an extremly boring way. The actual book of Pride and Prejudice was much funnier than that and it was not even meant to be a comedy like the other.
No comments:
Post a Comment