TÌNH yêu GIỮA MR DARCY AND MS ELIZABETH TRONG TÁC PHẨM KIÊU HÃNH VÀ ĐỊNH KIẾN CÙA JANE AUSTEN

I watched the movie “Pride and Prejudice” a few of years ago and I have had a deep impression on the movie. Therefore, when doing the thesis, I choose it to be able to understand the novel more. The main topic of the work “Pride and Prejudice”, written by the female author Jane Austen, is love and marriage in the eighteenth century. Among a large number of love stories in the work, the love between Mr. Darcy and Ms. Elizabeth is the most cherished love affair in my mind and I want to discover the author’s implication as well as her own opinions through the couple. In order to fulfill my research, I use certain research methods such as searching the Internet, reading review books, discussing with people who like this work, including my supervisor, and exchanging opinions on literature forum. In general, I hope that in these way, I can listen to more ideas, acknowledge more reviews and have a more critical and multidirectional view on the topic. In the work, there are a number of marriages symbolizing some types of marriages in the eighteenth century society. However, just the love between Mr. Darcy and Ms. Elizabeth can impress the readers and me. It is because their love goes beyond the context of the eighteenth century and is ideal love human beings want to have. In my mind, their love is not only passionate but also intense. The more ardent their love is, the more powerful it is. The intense love helps them overcome both internal barriers their pride and prejudice and external barriers formed by their relatives and friends. Specifically, their powerful love overcomes the prejudices of the eighteenth century. In addition, the ardency in their love impresses me very much because it has hidden inside them for a long time and not expressed outside until the end of the work. In my thesis, I exploit the details in the work to make clear how intense and passionate their love is. I hope that my thesis, to some extent, can help you feel the extraordinary power and ardency in their love. Furthermore, you can realize what true love is and how to build up a true love such as the love between Mr. Darcy and Ms. Elizabeth

I watched the movie “Pride and Prejudice” a few of years ago and I have had

a deep impression on the movie Therefore, when doing the thesis, I choose it to be able to understand the novel more The main topic of the work “Pride and Prejudice”, written by the female author Jane Austen, is love and marriage in the eighteenth century Among a large number of love stories in the work, the love between Mr Darcy and Ms Elizabeth is the most cherished love affair in my mind and I want to discover the author’s implication as well as her own opinions through the couple

In order to fulfill my research, I use certain research methods such as searching the Internet, reading review books, discussing with people who like this work, including my supervisor, and exchanging opinions on literature forum In general, I hope that in these way, I can listen to more ideas, acknowledge more reviews and have a more critical and multidirectional view on the topic

In the work, there are a number of marriages symbolizing some types of marriages in the eighteenth century society However, just the love between Mr Darcy and Ms Elizabeth can impress the readers and me It is because their love goes beyond the context of the eighteenth century and is ideal love human beings want to have In my mind, their love is not only passionate but also intense The more ardent their love is, the more powerful it is The intense love helps them overcome both internal barriers- their pride and prejudice and external barriers formed by their relatives and friends Specifically, their powerful love overcomes the prejudices of the eighteenth century In addition, the ardency in their love impresses me very much because it has hidden inside them for a long time and not expressed outside until the end of the work In my thesis, I exploit the details in the work to make clear how intense and passionate their love is

I hope that my thesis, to some extent, can help you feel the extraordinary power and ardency in their love Furthermore, you can realize what true love is and how to build up a true love such as the love between Mr Darcy and Ms Elizabeth

Table of content

Acceptance Page

Acknowledgement……… i

Abstract……… ii

Table of contents……… iii

Part 1: Introduction 1 Rationale……… 1

2 Aims and objectives……… 2

3 Significance……… 3

4 Research methodology……… 3

5 Scope of the study……… 3

Part 2: Content Chapter 1: Literature review 1.1 The definition of a fiction……….4

1.2 The elements of a fiction 1.2.1 Theme……… 5

1.2.2 Plot………6

1.2.3 Setting……… 7

1.2.4 Point of view……….7

1.2.5 Character……… 9 Chapter 2:

2.1 Historical background……… 10

2.2 English literature trends in the 19th century……… 12

2.3 Jane Austen’s life and career 2.3.1 Jane Austen’s life……… 13

2.3.2 Jane Austen’s career……….14

2.4 The summary of “Pride and Prejudice”……… 15

Chapter 3: 3.1 The love between Mr Darcy and Ms Elizabeth is intense 3.1.1 Their love overcomes the internal barriers……… 21

3.1.2 Their love overcomes the external barriers……… 29

3.2The love between Mr Darcy and Ms Elizabeth is passionate 3.2.1Their love is passionate at Netherfield……… ………34

3.2.2 Their love is passionate at Rosings……… 38

3.2.3Their love is passionate at Derbyshire ……… …….40

3.2.4 Their love is passionate at Longburn ……… … 42

Part 3: Conclusion……….

………….43

Bibliography……… 45

Part 1 Introduction

1 Rationale

There are a great number of reasons that are both subjective and objective for my choice in studying the masterpiece “Pride and prejudice” by the famous English female writer Jane Austen At first, I asked my friends for certain suggestions of my research topic and one of the suggestions is the work “Pride and prejudice” Two years ago, I watched the film adapted from this novel by chance and it actually appealed to me as well as persuaded me although it is a classical movie Until recently, when holding the novel “Pride and Prejudice” by the female writer Jane Austen on my hands, my eyes sticked to a range of its ranks I had an extremely special impression on the fact that it was the book helping women change their viewpoint of themselves most and ranked twelfth in twenty of the most beautiful love stories over the world This encouraged me to read the novel because of both my admiration with the female author and my curiosity in exploring the love story in the novel

After finishing my reading, my interest in the work pushed up my decision in studying it First of all, the work mentions a topic that is simple, familiar, but never timeless, even in our modern society The novel answers the question: “what is a true love and marriage” It is clear that in our present society; money, reputation, and social stand are evaluated more highly than a great number of other values, even morals or love among human beings In order to be superior to other people in the society, numerous girls desire a practical love and marriage instead of a true love and marriage Perhaps, it is the reason why the love story in the novel is still appreciated and timeless

Secondly, I had my special adoration for the main female character “Elizabeth Bennet” in the novel due to that she or the writer herself taught me to communicate, behave, and love intelligently, wittily In the twenty-first century, this is more essential than ever Last but not least, my admiration for the author is quite great Through the work, the writer- a woman in the nineteenth century, dared to raise her voice and expressed her radical opinion over the world To her, a true marriage is not brought on by property, or social position; but love from two people This opinion is opposite to the opinion of people living in her society

With all of reasons above, I truthfully desired to study deeper on the work, in specific, the love between Elizabeth and Darcy I want to live, experience, be happy, be sorrowful with my favorite characters more, and enjoy their beautiful love more I hope that the study will benefit not only me but also a deal of readers or the fans of the literary fiction because of meaning and valuable love message that Jane Austen leave readers of all times Moreover, in my belief, the cherish love between Elizabeth and Darcy provokes my thoughts, my aspiration for a pure love and marriage in myself

2 Aims and Objectives

The topic of my study is love relationship between two main

characters: Darcy and Elizabeth in the novel My objective of studying is analyzing the love in order to discover people‘s opinion in general and women‘s opinion in particular of love and marriage in the nineteenth century Additionally, I concern the reasons of social setting that leads to their opinions or beliefs Moreover, I want to make comparison between women and people’s conception of love and marriage in nineteenth century and nowadays, then identify whether the author‘s message is valuable or not and in which aspect.

3 Significance

I hope that my research will be significant to readers thanks to its practicality Literature is not simply a scientific subject, but it is useful lessons for human being, especially a masterpiece like “Pride and prejudice” Through my research, according to my deep belief, you can think critically and draw out lessons, especially lessons about moral, love and marriage for yourselves.

4 Research Methodology

In order to fulfill my research, I use certain research methods such as searching Internet, reading review books, discussing with people who like this work including my supervisor, and exchanging opinions on literature forum

In general, I hope that in these way, I can listen to more ideas, acknowledge more reviews and have a more critical and multidirectional view on the topic

5 Scope of the study

In my thesis, I research the content: “The love between Mr Darcy and

Ms Elizabeth” in the work “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen.

Part 2 Chapter 1: Literature review

1.1 Definition

The knowledge of “what is a literary fiction” varies owing to different approaches as well as senses from individuals Among a great deal of the knowledge, it is objective that literary fiction is understood based on the origin of the word “fiction” itself It is derived from the Latin “fictum”, meaning invented In fact, literary fictions are products of imagination by which writers can create make-believe characters and events in their works Nevertheless, such unreal characters and events do not cause a strange sense or isolation with readers on account of numerous familiar real-life details and human feelings that authors match with them It is combination of reality and unreality that leads to a magic attraction and powerful effects on readers In particular, writers gradually guide readers into a new world that is so vivid and appealing, then let them experience by themselves Through the characters and events, readers have a chance to discover themselves or recognize certain issues underlying the words that may be implied by writers Therefore, entertainment is not the last aim that writers want readers to obtain, but it

is universal issues of a society or a period, even an era According to Joyce Saricks

at mostlyfiction.com, literary fiction is "critically acclaimed, often award-winning, fiction These books are more often character centered rather than plot oriented They are provocative and often address more serious issues these are complex, literate, multilayered novels that wrestle with universal dilemmas" Truthfully, a literary fiction is not only art but also a picture reflecting real life with the most outstanding problems that stir writers’ mind as well as readers’ one Literary fiction

is a basic part of literature with certain genres such as short story, novella, novel and novel sequence

1 2 The elements of a fiction

According to Judi Clark at mostlyfiction.com, a literary fiction “can be the broadest category and in a sense is a catch all, but the intention is to list books that really draw you in with language, imagery, character insight and sense of place” This can be acknowledged that a literary fiction includes a large numbers of elements that are related closely to each other and make a unified literary work Hence, in order to catch ideas as well as beauty of the whole literary fiction, readers need to be aware of elements of a fiction and the contribution of each element to it.

In the following part, I would like to introduce five elements of a literary fiction: theme, plot, setting, point of view, characters

1.2.1 Theme

In a literary fiction, theme is the representation of its controlling idea It can be considered as its root as well as its soul It means that all of aspects of a literary work are imagined and presented around the central theme The theme is not simply a topic, but it is the author’s idea or conception about the topic that she

or he would like to impart to readers through the fiction in a non-didactic way In other words, the theme is the authors’ message as well as valuable morals that the readers can obtain from the fictions They may be the morals about life, society, period, human nature The literary masterpieces can be said that their vitality is timeless owing to what readers are taught through the works are extremely meaningful and valuable in every period Nevertheless, writers do not expose the theme explicitly and directly to the readers Instead of that, writers let readers extract it actively themselves and keep them thinking about it in their own ways The role of writers is their attempt in conveying the theme to readers through their using characters, literary style, and different figures of speech like similes,

metaphors and personification The art is situated in that how the writers can

express the theme underlying literary fictions to readers cleverly, effectively and

affect them magically In another meaning, a successful literary fiction is created thanks to not only a good theme but also an interesting exposition of the theme Moreover, the theme is evaluated as a special ornament This results from its role

in weaving the literary fiction together When, all of the aspects of the fiction are built based on a theme, the work become unified and coherent In general, a theme

is the soul of a fiction because it gives a purpose, a reason for readers and writers: writers want to express a message and readers like to discover the message A successful work is a work whose theme is left to the readers as long as possible

1.2.2 Plot

Plot is defined as the organization or the arrangement of main events, incidents from the beginning to the end of a literary fiction in a certain pattern The events need to be related to each other; moreover, in a close relationship with main characters In particular, the events must affect characters, enact them struggle with certain problems and then leads to changes in characters’ thoughts, conceptions, decisions, or characteristics The fiction ends when the issues are resolved according to the authors’ desire or its theme Therefore, in fact, a plot can

be divided into several parts: the exposition (beginning), conflict (problems’

arising), rising action (premises for the climax), climax (the highest and often the most exciting part of the fiction), falling action (the outcome of the climax), and resolution (conclusion)

There is a fact that some people believe that literary fictions are plotless By contrast, the truth is that literary fictions still compose of a plot, but it is underemphasized and overshadowed by several different factors such as literary style, characters…This is the difference between literary fictions and commercial fictions While the focus of commercial fictions are sequences of characters’ actions and outer expressions, the focus of literary fictions are characters’ inner thoughts, desires, feelings, motivation, and psychological movements Specifically, underneath characters’ mental expression is the base of theme, society, and culture

In other words, according to the literary agent and the novelist Nathan Bransford,

“In literary fiction the plot usually happens beneath the surface, in the minds and hearts of the characters.”

In general, the plot of a literary fiction is underneath of its surface; therefore, literary fictions become more challenging to readers They require more inference, more recognition of turning points of the work from readers Truthfully, readers need to experience with characters in order to be able to have an insight in them, the beauty of the literary work and the ideas of authors hidden underlying it.

1.2.3 Setting

Setting is the time and the location in which the story of a literary fiction takes place Setting of time is called chronological setting and setting of place is named physical setting Regardless of chronological setting or physical setting, they may be general or specific In other words, in a fiction, both general and specific settings exist

Moreover, settings play an important role in a literary fiction Along with a theme and a plot, settings may initiate the conflicts in a work that characters deal with, solve, discover and express their feelings It is easy to realize that settings refer to any social milieu, culture features, historical period, geography, and hour

In summary, setting not only is an integral part of a story but also reappears a picture reflecting a specific period, a space, or an atmosphere that maybe existed long decades ago

1.2.4 Point of view

Point of view mentions the method that an author narrates In specific, it is writers’ choice of the narrator in a literary fiction, which depends on that from whose viewpoint writers want readers approach to and comprehend the work

There are three modes of narration: first- person view, second-person view, and third- person view In first- person view, the narrator is a character in fictions Thus, the pronoun is used throughout the work is “I” The narrator may be a major character or a minor one, but she or he is often a major character In this way, a

character can reveal a lot of his or her own thoughts, emotions, conceptions, even prejudices, and spiritual life Moreover, readers can figure out the nature of the character through his or her narration Nevertheless, it is disadvantageous for readers because of that it is challenging readers to comprehend all of the character’s thoughts, senses as himself or herself In the second-person view, the narrator is a character whose position is like a reader This mode often matches with first-person view in order to make comparisons between the narrator and the central character in terms of thoughts, opinions, and emotions…The last mode of narration that is also the most popular is third-person view In this type, the narrator is an imagined character who relates the characters in a story to readers This mode is easier and more flexible for writers, especially beginners

• Major character (round character, protagonist) are the central character

of a fiction and often are readers’ favorite character She or he often face and struggle with certain issues, incidents or themselves until the end of

work when there is a change in the character’ personality, opinions, and beliefs Therefore, this type of character accounts for the most words in a fiction and so complex.

• Minor characters (flat character, antagonist) are opposite to main characters Unlike a major character, she or he does not experience difficulties, incidents, or challenges and then change Thus, the type of character is simpler than protagonists are

• Dynamic character (developing character) is a character that changes significantly in a fiction, specifically in terms of his or her viewpoints

• Static character is a character that is depicted unchangeably from the beginning to the end of the story

Besides four main types, there are several different types such as foil, confidante However, almost of the types do not exist separately, but they often come with each other For example, a round character may be a dynamic one while a flat one may be a static one.

The writer expose characters’ features through their thoughts, speech, action,

appearance themselves or through other characters’ thoughts, opinions of the character

In general, readers should evaluate characters from a great number of different angles of a fiction in order to understand characters deeply and give more love for their favorite characters The last aim is how to discover the theme, the message or the implied morals from the characters

Chapter 2

English literary trends in the 19th century

2.1 Historical background

The social milieu of Austen’s Regency England was particularly stratified, and class divisions were rooted in family connections and wealth In her work, Austen is often critical of the assumptions and prejudices of upper-class England She distinguishes between internal merit (goodness of person) and external merit (rank and possessions) Though she frequently satirizes snobs, she also pokes fun at the poor breeding and misbehavior of those lower on the social scale Nevertheless, Austen was in many ways a realist, and the England she depicts is one in which social mobility is limited and class-consciousness is strong

Socially regimented ideas of appropriate behavior for each gender factored into Austen’s work as well While social advancement for young men lay in the military, church, or law, the chief method of self-improvement for women was the acquisition of wealth Women could only accomplish this goal through successful marriage, which explains the ubiquity of matrimony as a goal and topic of conversation in Austen’s writing Though young women of Austen’s day had more freedom to choose their husbands than in the early eighteenth century, practical considerations continued to limit their options

Even so, critics often accuse Austen of portraying a limited world As a clergyman’s daughter, Austen would have done parish work and was certainly aware of the poor around her However, she wrote about her own world, not theirs The critiques she makes of class structure seem to include only the middle class and upper class; the lower classes, if they appear at all, are generally servants who seem perfectly pleased with their lot This lack of interest in the lives of the poor may be

a failure on Austen’s part, but it should be understood as a failure shared by almost all of English society at the time

2.2 English literary trends in the 19th century

(A History of English and American Literature – Nguyen Xuan Thom)

2.2.1 Early 19th century literature English Romanticism

Romanticism was the embodiment of disillusionment in the consequences of the French revolution and in the great theories of the Enlighteners In addition, romanticism was also the embodiment of the negative attitude of various social layers towards the way of life that the post- industrial revolution bourgeoisie created The Romanist made a point of contrasting the earthy prosaic life of the bourgeoisie, their pretty calculation and boredom, their limited outlook and utter practicality Hence, the aesthetic code of romanticism was determined by contradictions between reality and dreams The real material world was to be ignores, an abstract idea was to be preferred to it.

2.2.2 Middle of the 19th English critical realism

Critical realism is a literary trend the writers of which used novels as a means to protest against vices of contemporary social and economic life, to picture the world in a realistic way The writers expressed deep sympathy for the working people and described the unbearable conditions of work and life They voiced a passionate protest against exploitation and described the persistent struggle for the rights of the working people

Some of the great writers of this trend are William Makepeace Thackeray, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, and Charlotte Bronte

2.2.3 End of the 19th century English literature

2.2.3.1 Writers of the progressive trend

Writers of the progressive trend continued the realistic tradition of their predecessors and presented in their creative works a truthful picture of their contemporary life Compared to the critical realists of the mid- 19th century, their criticism of life is not as sharp and the social panorama drawn in their works is not

as grand, but their greatness is by no means lessened They are great in their own ways, in a deep psychological analysis of their characters, and a detailed description

of their characters’ inner world Writers of this trend are George Eliot, George Meredith, Samuel Butler, Thomas Hardy, and William Morris

2.2.3.2 Writers of the regressive trend

Writers of the regressive trends behaved as victims of the crisis of bourgeois culture at the end of the 19th century, they found their escape from the harsh and severe reality in a self- constructed or imagined world of unearthly sighs and beauty They denied the function of art and literature as a tool for recording and reflecting social reality They proposed a school of art Known as Art for Art’s sake according to which art is no longer art if it is not aimed at giving pleasure to people They idealized the function of artistic form as the only criteria for the immortality

of a work of art

It includes three trends: pre-raphaelitism, neo- romanticism, and decadence 2.3 Jane Austen’s life and career

2.3.1 Jane Austen’s life

Jane Austen is one of the few novelists in the literature world being considered classic, yet is widely read because of her masterpieces moving the readers’ heart, specifically women’s one every time The deep massage conveyed through her works in general, in “Pride and Prejudice” in specific is so moving and live that the readers wonder whether the female writer’s life and fate are closely related to her characters’ life and fate in her work Therefore, in order to acknowledge more deeply about the work “Pride and Prejudice”, the writer of the thesis seek for, study her life

Jane Austen was born into the rural professional middle class She was the second daughter and the seventh child in a family of eight children Her childhood

is full of happiness and peace with the unlimited love from her parents her brothers, and her sister In 1785-1786, Jane and Cassandra went to the Abbey boarding school for formal education consisting of the appropriate teachings of the time Returning home, she was mostly tutored by her father and brothers, and her own free reading in her father's library of 500 books Therefore, she received a broader education than many women did of her time Anyway, it was in these exercises that the true talent of Jane Austen was being nurtured - through observation, improvisation, acting and participation Her earliest-known writings date from about 1787 In December of 1795, a nephew of nearby neighbors whose name was

Tom Lefroy began placing several visits to Steventon They fell in love with each other, but unfortunately, they are not supported by their families Even every effort

to keep Tom from Jane was made and Jane was never to see her love again for the rest of her life In 1801, her secure days in her life ended because of her father's unexpected retirement Jane, aged twenty-five and Cassandra, her elder sister aged twenty-eight were considered old maids and followed their parents Leaving her friends and rural roots in Steventon, she abandoned her literary career for a decade

In the December in 1802, Jane receives her one and only known proposal of marriage from Mr Bigg-Wither because of his well-being and inheriting a sizeable amount of real estate, not love Nevertheless, Jane revoked her acceptance the next day and was greatly upset by the whole episode In 1809, she along with her mother and her sister moved back to their beloved countryside Hampshire countryside when her brother Edward provided them with a permanent house on his Chawton estate Here, she is interested in her writing again

At the beginning 1816, Jane noticed a decline in her health On July 18,

1817, Jane Austen died in Winchester in her sister’s arm and with her; she took the conclusions of her unfinished works Henry worked to have his sister buried at the Winchester Cathedral

Actually, her works are nameless at the beginning without her brother’s revelation Nevertheless, she is loved and memorized forever by the readers of every time with her immortal works created by her literary talent Today, the museum at Chawton is visited by Jane Austen admirers from across the Globe There are many mementoes of her life on display Jane's mother and her beloved sister, Cassandra are buried in the churchyard

2.3.2 Jane Austen’s literary career

Beginning in her teen years, Austen wrote poems, stories, and comic pieces for the amusement of her family She compiled several of the pieces written between 1787 and 1793 into three bound notebooks, which are now referred to as Austen’s “Juvenalia.” Austen was also exposed to drama and comedy; the younger children in the family often staged theatrical productions at home Among her early

works, certain well-known works are: “Love and Friendship” at the age of 14 which

is the first novel, then a satirical “History of England, by a partial, prejudiced and ignorant Historian” and the epistolary work “Lady Susan.” During this time, Austen also planned ideas for the novel that would later be reworked and published by

“Sense and Sensibility” (1811) After the broken love story between her and Tom Lefroy, she began write the second novel “First Impression” that are renamed later

is “Pride and Prejudice” (1813) Then, “Northanger Abbey” (1818) was written with a satire on the Gothic literary genre and revised at Bath where she wrote little Besides, she wrote “Mansfield Park” (1814), then Emma (1816), and completed

“Persuasion” (1818) In the winter in 1816, although Austen suffered serious illness resulting in her death the following year, she continued to work on her writing, revising the ending to “The Elliots” and starting work on “Sandition” She died in

1817, leaving “Sandition” unfinished Specifically, all of the works published in her lifetime are described as being written by a lady

Although her novels received favorable reviews, she was not celebrated as

an author during her lifetime However, her novels were fairly received when they were published, with Sir Walter Scott in particular praising her work: “That young lady has a talent for describing the involvements of feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with”

2.4 The summary of “Pride and Prejudice”

The Bennet family including seven members: a father, a mother, and five daughters living together at Longburn One day, Mr Bingley- a rich man in Britain accompanied by two his sisters and his friend- Mr Darcy resides at his favorite estate in the area- Netherfield No sooner does he goes, an exciting ball with a large number of residents in the area is hold and it is the place that he meets Ms Jane- the eldest daughter of the Bennets while Mr Darcy- his close friend in Britain gets acquaintance with Ms Elizabeth- the younger sister right after Ms Jane In the ball,

Mr Darcy who is one of the richest men in Britain with overwhelming pride is despised by majority of people and even Ms Elizabeth by his degrading comments

on her Mr Bingley’s sentiment for Ms Jane motivates him to invite her to have

dinner at Netherfield to which on the way she is cold seriously Ms Elizabeth walks three miles to Netherfield to take care of her sister Here, Ms Elizabeth always expresses her pride and opposition to him His passionate love motivates him to propose her but his proposal hurting her self- respect makes her refuse him and blames him bitterly On an expedition to the north of England with her uncle and aunt- Mr and Mrs Gardiner, she visits Derbyshire and he suddenly comes back with the considerable change in his behaviors shocked her and making her love him On returning Longburn, he proposes her at the second time and Mr Bingley proposes

Ms Jane after obstacles Eventually, two couple holds marriage at the same time and have

a happy family life

Chapter 3 3.1 The love between Mr Darcy and Ms Elizabeth is intense.

The love between Mr Darcy and Ms Elizabeth in the work “Pride and Prejudice” which is so intense that the “no wall that enough love will not throw down” (Emmet Fox) helps them overcome the strong barriers that not every love can triumph Human beings may have known two possible types of barriers in love and marriage: external barriers and internal ones The external barriers are the oppositions of relatives, family, friends, acquaintances, and the society under which most love affairs become more intense, more passionate The immortal love story between Romeo and Juliet is such one The internal barriers are the oppositions originating from lovers themselves under which love may either survive more powerfully, more ardently or may die forever

The love between Mr Darcy and Ms Elizabeth encounters both of the types

of barriers mentioned above but it is opposed more by the internal barriers - their own pride and prejudice Although at the beginning of the work, both of them make great effort in holding their rational will firmly and acting on it, they eventually fail because of their burning love In other words, in the fierce struggle between the love and the rational will, ultimately rational will has to surrender to their intense love And once defeating or breaking the most difficult barrier - their own pride and prejudice, their love can overcome the other obstacles coming from the people as well as the society around them easily to achieve the perfect goal of love - marriage Therefore, the writer of the thesis analyzes their love’s triumphing over the internal barriers, and then over the external barriers Furthermore, in order to make clear how intense their love is in defeating their own pride and prejudice, the writer of the thesis exploits significant changes in their rational will resulting from the hard struggle between itself and their love on both sides: Mr Darcy and Ms Elizabeth 3.1.1 Their love overcomes the internal barriers

In order to realize how hard their love overcomes and changes their rational will, first of all, it is very necessary for us to acknowledge completely what pride and prejudice are in general and in the work in specific

In Oxford Dictionary, pride means a too high opinion of oneself and prejudice is defined as an unfair dislike of somebody or something In this light, both pride and prejudice lie in Mr Darcy and Ms Elizabeth In specific, Mr Darcy

is proud of his superior social standing and is prejudiced against socially inferior people such as Ms Elizabeth She is proud of her sound judgment, her opinions, and her own dignity; simultaneously, is prejudiced against higher-class people such

as Mr Darcy At the beginning of the work, their pride and prejudice are extremely strong Nevertheless, after that, the light of the powerful love awakes them, does away with strong pride and prejudice inside both of them, and change their rational will

3.1.1.1 Darcy overcomes his “pride and prejudice”

In terms of Mr Darcy, there is a sweeping change in his characteristics, thoughts, and behaviors before and after he falls in love with Ms Elizabeth So great is the power of his love that it not only triumphs but also change his mind positively At the end of the story, he is far from proud and prejudiced By contrast,

he becomes modest, friendly, polite, and kinder

The image of Mr Darcy before falling in love with Ms Elizabeth

In advance of getting acquaintance with Ms Elizabeth and falling in love with her, Mr Darcy is a quite hateful and undesirable man because of his pride and prejudice

In the ball in Netherfield, in spite of being regarded highly by almost all people present, especially the women during the first half of the evening with his large fortune, he is hated, and later on, even despised by the majority The people in the ball make critical remarks on him: “he was the proudest, most disagreeable man

in the world, and everybody hoped that he would never come there again” He is claimed to be the wealthiest men in England with ten thousand pounds a year and this is appreciated in the eighteenth century society putting money above anything Were he not too proud, he would have been an idol in the people’s eyes However, even Ms Bennet always showing her preference for propertied men detests him at

all This proves that his pride is too much for most of the residents in Netherfield to accept him Perhaps, great as his fortune is, it cannot compensate for his shortcomings Therefore, it is impossible for him to create a good impression to a woman who is full of self-esteem and pride like Ms Elizabeth

In addition, his degrading comment on Ms Elizabeth’s beauty filled with his pride hurts her pride: “she is tolerable, but not handsome enough to temp me” His careless comment on Ms Elizabeth’s appearance shows that he thinks too highly of himself and does too meanly of other people In other words, he gives himself the right to scorn the people and maybe nobody out of his class is evaluated highly through his proud prism Moreover, his unhesitating comment turns his pride into his selfishness when he does not care for anybody’s emotions but his

Prejudice, ground of pride, has a close relationship with pride Unless he had his own prejudices against lower-class people, he would not be proud Therefore, not only is he proud but he is also extremely prejudiced The prejudice is expressed indirectly through his opinions of a perfect woman: “have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, possesses a certain something in her air, manner of her walking, the tone of her voice, to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading” His criteria of a perfect woman implicitly indicate his prejudice that such tiptop women can only be found in his high class With such bigotry, perhaps, he never wants to get married to a woman out of his class In addition, he expresses explicitly that even a beautiful and dignified woman such as Ms Jane cannot marry a propertied man because of her unrespectable family The fact that he attempts to part Mr Bingley and Ms Jane is a clear evidence for the prejudice Indeed, if he may choose a wife with his mind, he will never think of marrying below himself such as Ms Elizabeth because of his deep prejudice against inferior socially people

It is clear that he is quite proud and prejudiced at the beginning of the work

In fact, two these characteristics – pride and prejudice does not belong to his nature

Actually, they result from his parents’ education and he himself confesses, “I was spoiled by my parents, who allowed, encouraged, almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing to think meanly of all the rest of the world” One more extremely important reason is the eighteenth century society that was not only hierarchal but also discriminated classes sharply He would not be proud unless his large fortune raised him up in everybody’ eyes Though not an innate part of himself, his pride and prejudice have unconsciously affected deeply his behaviors and thoughts for a long time Thus, it is extremely difficult for him to realize his faults – the shortcoming of the society, overcome and change himself for the love Without the intense love, perhaps, he would have been a proud and prejudiced man like that forever.

The image of Mr Darcy after falling in love with Ms Elizabeth

Nevertheless, after falling in love with Ms Elizabeth, his rational will is gradually defeated by his powerful sentiment for her The more intense his love is, the more quickly his pride and prejudice diminish This can be realized through the changes in his expressions and acts every time

At the first ball, he is so proud that he refuses to dance with her By contrast,

in later balls, his feeling and burning desire inevitably leads him to ask her to dance with him, which surprises herself very much In addition, he pays attention to her more every time With such expressions, it seems that his powerful love makes him temporally neglect his pride, prejudice, and his superior social standing

However, he has to experience a thorny struggle between his rational will and his heart later As soon as his sentiment motivates him more ardently than he expects and he is aware of this, he has to hold back his affection for Ms Elizabeth

by himself: “She attracted him more than he liked Steady to his purpose, he scarcely spoke ten words to her through the whole of Saturday, and though they were at one time left by themselves for half-an-hour, he adhered most conscientiously to his book, would not even look at her” Obviously, he tries to stick to his rational will that never allows himself to love a woman whose

background is as low as that of Ms Elizabeth It looks as if his rational will were successful in preventing him from affecting her In fact, his conforming to the ration will just makes him miserable inside He is torn by the two inner powers: his strong radical will and his intense love His mind voices up and torments him as soon as his heart beats fast for love Nothing is more pitied than forcing his own heart to stop loving Therefore, it can be seen how hard the struggle between his love and his will is inside him!

His affection for her does not fade away at all through time and distance This is like a famous love quotation by Francois de la Rouchefoucauld: “Absence diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the wind blows out the candle and blows up the bonfire” Moreover, when he meets her again at Rosings, his powerful love forces him to betray his rational will and propose her One more time,

he witnesses the struggle between his mind and his heart The love burns more ardently inside him whereas his rational will still does not allow him to get married

to a low class woman like her The more he tries to forget his love, the more passionate his love is As a result, in order to release himself from misery, he must propose her reluctantly with his proud expressions Specifically, even though he is accused of his impoliteness, pride, and mistakes with Ms Elizabeth’s straightforward and harsh words, his love would not die Anyway, his rational will partly becomes powerless under the power of love Indeed, after her insulting words

of his pride, his sentiment for her becomes more intense than ever

The intense love leads him to not only conquer completely his radical will but also innovate it Instead of being a proud and prejudiced man, he tries his best to become modest, friendly, and behave reasonably Specifically, he is no longer selfish now that he desires to satisfy other people This change has been shown clearly through his mild attitude and behaviors in Pemperly toward the Gardiners to whom he never lowers himself to talk before because of their inferior social class It

is Ms Elizabeth that is greatly surprised of the enormous power of love affecting him Furthermore, thanks to his sentiment for her, not only does he stop despising her even after the issue between Mr Wickham and her younger sister but also helps

her family secretly He sacrifices for her, for the love without expecting anything in return He does thirst for her affection for him; therefore, hardly does he realize her sentiment indirectly through her communication with Lady Catherine when he immediately sets off for Longburn to propose to her one more time.

The substantial difference in the image of Mr Darcy between at the first meetings in Netherfield and at the later ones at Rosings, Pemperly, and Longburn, between his first proposal and his second one reflects the extraordinary power of his love Many a time is his love opposed by his strong rational will, it exists and grows

up more intensely inside him Eventually, his pride and prejudice are eliminated from his nature and have to leave room for his powerful love Truthfully, it not easy

to find a man loving a woman more after being insulted, especially a rich man like him in the eighteenth century

In general, the intense love does drive him from his acquaintance with her to his marriage At the beginning, the love forces him to struggle against his strong rational will- his own pride and prejudice hurts him so much After that, thanks to itself, he gives up his rational will and acts on the voice of his heart Eventually, it is the love that awakes him to his faults and leads him to his happy marriage

3.1.1.2 Ms Elizabeth overcomes her “pride and prejudice”.

In order to be able to achieve its perfect goal- marriage, the powerful love necessarily springs from both of them Thus, not only Mr Darcy but also Ms Elizabeth has to conquer her strong rational will In fact, like Mr Darcy, it is her powerful affection for him that helps Ms Elizabeth overcome all of her own pride and prejudice The letter that Mr Darcy sends to her after proposing is a turning point resulting in changes of both her sentiment for him and her characteristics

Before receiving his letter, she looks extremely proud and prejudiced Indeed, her pride results from both his degrading comments on her beauty and his pride itself In addition, along with her prejudice against socially superior people, the pride results in her serious prejudice against him She always thinks quite ill of