|
霍格沃茨五年级
 
- 帖子
- 141
- 精华
- 1
- 积分
- 402
- 金币
- 979 加隆
- 魔力
- 4 点
- 贡献值
- 0 点
- 在线时间
- 234 小时
- 注册时间
- 2006-2-10
|
1#
大 中
小 发表于 2007-2-5 12:57 PM 只看该作者
也发个作文凑热闹——读书报告（理智与情感）
Sense and Sensibility, a Realistic Novel
Many today’s readers may find it a mystery for why Jane Austen, whose novels contain nothing extraordinary beyond the daily life of English country gentlemen and gentlewomen in the 18th century, gains such a high reputation in literature. Probably her calm, witty and sarcastic writing style contributes, but to me, her fame is mainly built upon her profound insights into humanity. Sense and Sensibility is an ideal example to illustrate the author’s rather realistic than romantic view on love and marriage.
In this novel, JaneAusten never avoid a subject, which plays an important role in love and marriage—money. Apart from social ranks, money, or in otherwords, a good fortune, is the foundation of a successful marriage, according to the social standards at that time. Willoughby, one of the novel’s heroes, abandons his truly loved Marianne and marries Miss Grey, because the latter’s 50,000 pounds can save him from his debts and luxurious life style. John Dashwood, Elinor and Marianne (two heroines of the novel)’s stingy brother, who denies his promise of helping his stepmother and half-sisters before his father’s death, intends to compensate them by persuading either of the two sisters to marry the prosperous bachelor Colonel Brandon, who has an income of 2,000 pounds a year. Mrs Ferras disinherits her eldest son Edward since he refuses to marry Miss Morton who has 30,000 pounds and keeps to the engagement with the penniless Lucy Steel. Even people with high morality, like Elinor, cannot ignore the importance of it. After engaging with Edward, she suggests him to make a submission apology to regain Mrs Ferras’s economic support, so that they can make a living. Thus one is easy to find a motive in Lucy’s scheming behavior:first she manages to engage secretly with Edward, hoping this would better her future life. Then, after their engagement exposed and Edward disinherited, she turns to his brother Robert, and successfully seduces him to marriage. All these dishonorable conduct is based on her desire of a more comfortable life. And at that time a marriage with a wealthy partner is the only tool for a man, or particularly a woman with poor income to achieve the goal.
Although the novel’s theme is love and marriage, Jane Austen ridicules and criticizes romance and passion instead of praising them. Marianne, the representative of sensibility,is an innocent and sensitive girl who is ready to be overwhelmed by romantic passion whenever it comes. When she encounters Willoughby, a vigorous, handsome young man with similar taste in music and literature, she falls in love with him immediately. The enthusiasm blinds her judgment, therefore leading her love to tragedy. Then she is drowned by sorrow and ignores other’s comfort, thus hurting her family and friends. In the end, having been recovered from a deadly illness, she overcomes her selfishness and unpractical idealism, becomes more sensible, aiming to a peaceful love. Her elder sister Elinor, who symbolizes sense, also having strong feelings but always under self-command, deals with her love life reasonably. When she discovers her lover Edward’s previous engagement, she leaves the grief to herself, keeping her family from anxiety. In the mean time, she has to pretend to be calm as usual and assist her mother with chores. Despite the recognizing of her rival Lucy’s sly intention and the fact that there is little attachment between Lucy and Edward, she promises to keep their secret. After the engagement exposal, regardless of her sufferings,she helps Edward seek a living. At last, all her consideration and sacrifice get rewarded—Edward is freed from his boyish engagement and marries her. The contrast between the sisters demonstrates that from the perspective of Jane Austen, responsibility, tolerance, constancy and faith are more precious elements in love and marriage. However, she achieves the emphasis of virtues at the expense of vividness of the heroes in the novel. In spite of their nobility, both Colonel Brandon and Edward lack confidence and liveliness,thus they appear to be less attractive lovers. In my view, this is exactly the contrast formed by the author for embodying the imperfection and complexity inhumanity. The perfect images of generous, brave, noble and handsome heroes and sweet, passionate and beautiful heroines, which one can frequently find in romantic novels, are simply people’s illusions.
Another significant feature of the novel is the subtle derisiveness in narration. Readers can realize mocking of the mean riches, of Marianne and her mother’s immaturity, and even of the weakness in Colonel Brandon and Edward’s personality. The author ends the novel in a rather ironic way—the amends for Edward and Elinor’s merits is only MrsFerras’s approval and 250 pounds a year, while the disgraceful couple—Robert and Lucy enjoy the much better inheritance through flatteries. Austen reminds us that we have different choice of coping with the tough life—to lead a decent life with material sacrifice or to lead an affluent life at a cost of honor.
阅读的作业，style较formal，看起来有点累，呵呵
[ 本帖最后由 matrim 于 2007-2-5 04:52 PM 编辑 ]
|
