Abstract

Jane Austen (1775--1817) is a famous English novelist in 18th century. Marriage and love are the major themes of her works. Pride and Prejudice, her magnum opus which depicts several marriages reflects people’s view on marriage and also her personal view: in order to attain a happy marriage, love, wealth and social status should be considered. Marriage is the dynamic combination of emotion and reason. This thesis focuses on analyzing different motives towards marriage as well as the satisfaction and dissatisfaction of different characters from the aspect of Maslow’s needs theory to find out Austen’s view on marriage.

Keywords: Hierarchy of Needs; view of love and marriage; property; social status; love

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

 1.1 The Summary of Pride and Prejudice-1

 1.2 Jane Austen’s Emotional Life-1

 1.3Women’s Marriage Life around 19th Century-2

 1.4 Research Focus-2

 1.5 Research Method-2

2: Literature Review-4

 2.1 Previous Research Findings-4

 2.2 Psychology of Literature-4

 2.3 Human Motivation-4

3. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs-6

 3.1. The Basic Needs-6

 3.2 The Advanced Needs-7

 3.3 Aesthetic Need and Cognitive Need-7

4. Austen’s View of Marriage-8

 4.1 Different Motivations toward Marriage-8

  4.1.1 To Satisfy the Basic Needs-8

  4.1.2 To Satisfy the Advanced Needs-8

 4.2 Different Types of Marriages in Pride and Prejudice-9

  4.2.1 Rational Marriage-10

  4.2.2 Emotional Marriages-10

  4.2.3 The Perfect Marriages in Austen’s Mind-12

5. Conclusion-14

 5.1 Austen’s view of Marriage and Marlow’s Needs Theory-14

5.2 Research Significance-14

5.3Researchlimitaion14

References-15