Old article: About "Pride and Prejudice"

1) Introduction

Recently, I have become a bit addicted to "". Whatever I do, I always want to come up and chat with my friends. I just watched the 2005 version of the movie "Pride and Prejudice", so I went to "Douban" to search for good stories, clues, materials and perspectives for chatting.

Netizens said that the story of "Pride and Prejudice" is very simple, it is the story of three and a half lovers who finally get married. Looking at the clues that the masters have picked out, I can't help but ask myself, did I really read it? It seems that I didn't understand it at all. It turns out that many of the great masters have the experience of reading the novel several times or more than ten times, and some of the novels are kept by their pillows all year round. According to what the master said, I found the 1995 BBC TV series and the translated novel. The first time I brushed it, I simply sorted out the relationships between the characters and memorized their names. I’ll check it out again during the next vacation.

The heroine of the 2005 version of the movie is played by Keira Knightley. She is beautiful, with big eyes, small fangs, and a distinctive smile. Director Joe Wright is good at using long lenses, and the British rural scenery of the 18th century is beautifully shot. These are the things that first attracted me to this movie, the beautiful actresses and the beautiful photography. It lasts two hours, which is a bit long. When I first watched it, I saw Mr. Darcy's first confession and was rejected. It took almost an hour. I took a break of ten minutes and watched it in two halves.

The male protagonist in the 1995 version of the BBC TV series is Colin Firth, who is more aura than the male protagonist in the 2005 version of the movie. The TV series of the 1990s had many close-ups, small scenes, a lot of dialogue, and a bit of a stage show's dramatic tone. Fortunately, it is true to the original work, and many of the dialogues are based on the novel. TV series, 6 episodes, each episode is 55 minutes, and the viewing time is approximately 5 hours. I watched two episodes each time, three times, and finished it this afternoon. It’s worth mentioning that the Chinese subtitles I found were from the Tattered Bear subtitle group, which I haven’t seen for a long time.

There are many translated versions of the novel. I chose the version translated by Wang Keyi of Shanghai Translation Publishing House. The version is a bit old and the distinction between aunt, cousin and nephew is very clear. Today’s translations probably won’t do it this way. . This version has black and white illustrations, which I really like. What's amazing is that the translation of names in this version is consistent with the translation of names in the movie subtitles. It seems that the translation of the names of the TV series subtitles was chosen by Zhang Lingzhang from the People's Literature Publishing House. When I discuss "Pride and Prejudice", I will use the standard of the names of the novels in the previous translation. The novel is divided into 3 volumes and 61 chapters. I started reading it in the afternoon and it took about 3 hours to read Chapter 20, where the heroine Elizabeth rejected the proposal of her cousin Collins. Try to finish it tomorrow.

The original English novel "Pride and Prejudice" is available on Amazon for 0 yuan, which is a plus one for my kindle. In the evening, I played "Pride and Prejudice" and looked for some illustrations. I found a website with illustrations for several versions of the novel "Pride and Prejudice", among which the 1907 watercolor version is very distinctive.

It should be said that with "" and after I started trying to output, I have made some changes in many aspects. Keep an eye on it and slowly adapt to it.

2) Jane Austen

Jane Austen, the author of "Pride and Prejudice", was born at the end of the 18th century and died at the beginning of the 19th century. She published 4 novels during her lifetime. Later, His elder brother helped him organize and publish two more manuscripts. He started to like writing when he was eleven or twelve years old. He wrote more than 3,000 letters in his life, most of which were destroyed by his family. More than 160 letters have been preserved. When she died, her family did not mention her writing talent in the memorial tribute to her.

Jane Austen is a true master of romance novels, but she never got married, which made her readers have various guesses. In fact, there is a tradition of being single in the UK. Many people with some financial means are unwilling to make sacrifices for marriage. This is the result of their choice based on their own needs. In the detective novels of British writer Agatha, a single woman often dies, and some bizarre cases occur surrounding the huge wealth she leaves behind. Recent surveys show that just over 50% of the UK's marriageable population are single. In the UK, being single has always been a life choice, and there is absolutely no need to make a fuss about it. Jane's novels always end when the hero and heroine get married. There is no outline of married life or how to raise children. Maybe it's entirely because of his celibacy.

Jane experienced love once when she was twenty years old. The male protagonist was an Irish boy who was on holiday next door, Tom Lefroy. Among Jane's handed down letters, two mention this Tom, one of which describes the breakup. Jane began writing "Pride and Prejudice" shortly after the breakup. Jane is one year older than Tom. Jane died at the age of 41. Tom attended Jane's funeral and asked Jane's family for a letter indicating that "Pride and Prejudice" was rejected by the publisher for the first time. After the breakup, Tom married a young lady from a well-known family and named his eldest daughter Jane. Tom lived to be over ninety years old. In his old age, he mentioned his relationship with Jane to his nephew, calling it "young love." The reason why Tom's deeds can be recorded in such detail is because Tom retired as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ireland at the time, and as Jane gradually became famous after Jane's death, various anecdotes related to Jane It also gradually spread.

Jane had a chance to get married. At that time, the relationship with Tom did not develop to the point where the man proposed.

When Jane was twenty-seven, a wealthy man proposed to Jane after a dinner party. At that time, Jane agreed, but the next morning, she regretted it. No one knows how Jane tossed and turned that night or what happened. Later, Jane chose to be single and lived with her sister and mother. According to family members, Jane died in her sister's arms.

The era in which Jane lived was a turbulent era. The year after Jane was born, the British North American colonies became independent, the United States. Jane and Napoleon were contemporaries. In 1799, Napoleon became the first consul of France at the age of 30. That year, Jane was 25 years old. In 1815, Napoleon was defeated again and was exiled. In 1817, Jane died. But at that time, women did not need to care about current affairs. Reading newspapers was a man's habit, and it was unseemly for women to talk about politics. There are no traces of those major events in Jane's novels. They just describe the beautiful ideal love according to the author's intention. Many things in the world are discussed in jokes, but love is still an eternal topic.

In the history of British literature, some people believe that Jane is the most important female writer and is known as a writer whose status is "on par with Shakespeare".

3) Elizabeth Bennet

Elizabeth Bennet is the heroine of "Pride and Prejudice", the second daughter of the Bennet family, and becomes Darius at the end of the story. Mrs. West.

The eldest daughter of the Bennet family is Jane Bennet. The love story between Jane and Mr. Bingley is the subplot of the novel. It can be seen that the story of this pair of lovers is what the author Austin envisioned. Although there are some twists and turns, they always receive the support and blessings of their family. When they were engaged, Mr. Bennet said: You two have such good tempers, you will be bullied by the servants in the future. The master is also worried that the young couple will not have enough income to spend in the future. In fact, the Bennet family's annual income is two thousand pounds, and Bingley's annual income is five thousand pounds. Mr. Bingley is rich and good-natured.

Miss Charlotte was Elizabeth's good friend, and later married Mr. Collins. Considering that the author Austin was also born in a pastor's family, everyone should understand that the story of this couple is what the author knows about an ordinary marriage. Mr. Collins' current annual income is about five or six hundred. In the future, upon Mr. Bennet's death, Mr. Collins will receive his estate. Miss Charlotte is very realistic and can compromise with life. It should be said that what she gets is a pretty good family life. Where is Mr. Collins? It's obvious that he doesn't have too many extravagant hopes for love. Following the instructions of her patron, she completed the earthly task of marriage. Collins was the first to propose to Elizabeth. Elizabeth didn't like it. Collins did not give Elizabeth a chance to hesitate, and of course Elizabeth did not hesitate. He quickly turned to Miss Charlotte to propose, and soon received a positive answer.

Elizabeth's youngest sister Lydia and Mr. Wickham come together. In the story, their love is not described in too much detail. All I know is that Lydia ran away with Wickham without any reservation. Lydia married herself before she was sixteen and became the pride of her mother. Mr. Wickham has no decent income and a large amount of gambling debts. He always wants to make a fortune through marriage. It was Mr. Darcy's intervention that saved the pair and the dignity of the Bennet family. Elizabeth, the person who was first attracted to her was Mr. Wickham. Gradually I got to know his true face. In the story, there are many ladies who like Mr. Wickham.

The reason given by the author for why Elizabeth likes Mr. Darcy is very simple: he is a decent, wealthy, and misunderstood good man. Any of these three reasons will make some real-life women's hearts flutter. It can be seen that the author is hesitant. She probably doesn't know what kind of man can really impress her, so she simply piles these worldly standards together. It should be understood that this is the author's fantasy and confusion as an unmarried woman.

In the author's mind, beautiful and kind-hearted women, women who can compromise with life, and women who are not reserved can all get married. What kind of qualities does Elizabeth have that will attract Mr. Darcy? I will talk to you in the next paragraph - "About "Pride and Prejudice" - Mr. Darcy".

4) Mr. Darcy

The male protagonist of "Pride and Prejudice" is Mr. Darcy. At the end of the story, Mr. Darcy married Elizabeth Bennet. In the story, what qualities does Elizabeth possess that attract Mr. Darcy? What kind of girl does Jane Austen's ideal male protagonist Mr. Darcy try his best to marry? The entire story of "Pride and Prejudice" describes all aspects of Elizabeth from different angles, as if trying to answer the above questions. After readers understand the story and have their own answers to the above questions, they will basically have a simple view of love. This is why Austin, the author who has never been married, is called the "love guru".

Different people will have different answers to this question. No one needs other people’s answers. Just look for them in the story. I just tried to find in the story the moment when Mr. Darcy's heart first moved.

I understand that this story started in the movie. When Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy first met, Mr. Darcy almost ignored Elizabeth. After several meetings, Mr. Darcy began to slowly focus on Elizabeth. It is difficult to pinpoint an exact point in time to explain Mr. Darcy's change.

Until Elizabeth went to Mr. Bingley's residence to visit her sick sister, Mr. Darcy's evaluation of Elizabeth was completely different. When Elizabeth walked into the living room with muddy feet, there was indeed a scene showing Mr. Darcy's surprise. Miss Bingley noticed that there were several feet of mud on Elizabeth's skirt. What did Mr. Darcy see? I watched this paragraph over and over again. What did the cinematographer show? What did I see from the perspective of a male audience member? I really didn't notice the mud on the hem of her skirt. What I noticed was Elizabeth's eyes shining brightly after exercise, her slightly rosy complexion, and perhaps the moist and crystal-clear beads of sweat. This should be a beam of light emitted by the fire of life. It suddenly walked into the slightly boring living room and bumped into Mr. Darcy's eyes. It must have gone straight to the bottom of his heart and ignited a fire in Mr. Darcy's heart.

There are similar scenes in TV series. Elizabeth walks to Mr. Bingley's house, walks across the fields, climbs over fences, and walks through mud. There is even an added scene where Mr. Darcy watches the energetic Elizabeth playing with the hound through the gap in the curtains. Thinking about it, it's all to show Elizabeth's vigorous and full vitality. However, I still think the movie showed it better and more artistically. It was so sudden and unprepared. It didn't give Mr. Darcy any time to prepare or think. He went straight to the bottom of his heart and announced his surrender.

After reading the book, I realized that this description was included in the original work. It was completely different from what I understood. Hahaha, the following is the original text of Chapter 6 of the novel

What I understand the meaning of the novel to be: I just like it, and if it doesn’t make sense, I just like it.

Yes, only those who have experienced it understand that love is so unreasonable when it comes, and you can’t explain why. The author, Jane Austen, knew better than I did.

About "Pride and Prejudice" End