Jane.Analysis of the Social Background in Austen's Pride and Prejudice (excerpt) Pamela.Hualan Thousands of translations The purpose of this article is to help understand the attitudes, habits, and ideas of the English gentry class in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.This will help a twenty-first century reader understand something that a contemporary reader of Jane Austen can understand without much explanation.In this way, you can understand why something that seems only slightly unusual in modern times would have been considered deviant or seriously scandalous two hundred years ago.We should be careful not to judge the ideas and opportunities of eighteenth-century English society by the standards of the twenty-first century.

From a passage in Pride and Prejudice: After Charlotte and Collins discuss their engagement They both went at once to ask Sir William and Mrs. William's permission, which the old couple readily and cheerfully granted.They had no dowry for their daughter, and Mr. Collins was a very suitable son-in-law in his present situation, and he was sure to make a fortune in the future.Mrs. Lucas at once began, with unprecedented interest, to calculate how many years Mr. Bennet had left to live; There is great hope of seeing the emperor.All in all, the whole family was delighted by this great event.The younger daughters were full of hope, thinking that they would be able to go out to society a year or two earlier, and the boys would no longer worry that Charlotte would be an old maid.Only Charlotte herself was quite composed.She has initially succeeded now, and she still has time to think about it carefully.She thought about it and was generally satisfied.Mr. Collins, unreasonable and unlovable, was a nuisance to be with, and his love for her must have been impossible, but she wanted him to be her husband.Although she doesn't value marriage and married life very highly, marriage is her consistent goal after all. Most educated young women from poor families always regard marriage as the only decent way out .Although marriage does not necessarily make people happy, but at last she arranged for herself the most reliable storeroom in which she would not suffer from cold and hunger in the future.She now has such a storage room.She was twenty-seven years old, and she was not handsome, and the storeroom would certainly make her feel infinitely lucky.

Such a short passage reflects a lot of social conditions at that time, which is of course very different from today's life. Let’s talk about women’s belonging first.For a girl from a gentry family, if the family is rich and has made arrangements for her daughter (Miss Darcy, Miss Bingley, etc.), then it will be easy for her daughter to get married, and she can live comfortably without getting married (Emma once thought to be a rich old maid).Girls from ordinary families are the only decent affiliation for marriage. Modern women can rely on their own work to ensure a decent life (they are all well-educated girls, it is not difficult to be a white-collar worker), but at that time, the only job a lady could do was to be accompanied by a tutor or a rich wife. The salary is meager.There is a week of vacation every year, with an income of ten to twenty pounds. Although board and lodging are included, it is far from being rich and comfortable.

After marriage, the woman's property belongs to her husband, and there is no such thing as divorce. Even if she meets an unkind person, the woman can't do anything about it.Of course, a rich woman cannot get a divorce, and she still has to find a way to control her own property, and that is a prenuptial agreement.When Mrs. Ben got married, it was agreed that 5,000 pounds would belong to her, which would usually be invested in national debt with an annual interest of 5%. Mrs. Ben would have 250 pounds per year, so Mrs. Ben and her daughters would be guaranteed money for clothes. Elizabeth and Darcy were married, and Mrs. Bun mentioned sewing money, since wealthy husbands at the time would provide their wives with regular security.

If a girl elopes and gets married without signing an agreement before marriage, then once married, all the woman's money will belong to the man, even if he abandons her the next day, the money will no longer belong to the woman.Knowing this situation, and then thinking about how Wickham almost eloped with Darcy's sister, is it a scary thing?Abducting a girl to elope is a very ungentlemanly act. It not only ruins the girl's reputation, but also covets the girl's money.Before Lydia and Wickham got married, uncle would write to Mr. Ben to discuss the money matter, one thousand pounds plus one hundred pounds a year, although not much, but both uncle and Darcy should put the money in good interest. Dia's name.

Wickham is only interested in rich unmarried girls, not rich married women.Because at that time, even rich married women did not arrange their own money at will (buy national bonds and the like, and you can get some profit every year, but the principal cannot be moved.) If the rich have already If a married woman runs away with her lover, the husband can sue for compensation. The court determines the amount of compensation based on the wife’s financial situation and the length of marriage. For example, the husband may receive 10,000 pounds for emotional healing.If, on the other hand, the husband ran away with his lover, the injured wife would get nothing.

The inheritance of the Bennet family is more complicated and needs to be explained.First, the squire's property came from the land.So the issue of inheritance rights is mainly in the land.After the Normans invaded in 1066, the United Kingdom nationalized all the land and then divided it up; some land under the feudal system required a man to serve every year; some did not.After hundreds of years, although these lands no longer need to bear such obligations, the British land law still recognizes that men can inherit them, which is called limited inheritance rights.The property of the Bennet family belongs to this type, so Mr. Bennet has no son, so it can only be inherited by others!If there is a son, Bennet and the son agree together that the limited inheritance rights can also be cancelled, so that the daughter can also inherit.

Mrs. Lucas immediately began to think about how many years Mr. Bennet would have to live with unprecedented interest. This sentence is not difficult to understand. Inherited by blood relative Collins.After Mr Ben's death, Mrs Ben and her daughter were about to move out of Longbourn and became immediately homeless.Mr. Gardiner might take them in, but he also had a lot of kids, or Mrs. Philips' was an option.Of course it is more likely that they will take a small house and live on Mrs. Ben's interest of five thousand pounds (two hundred a year), and the kind Mr. Gardiner may be able to help.

In addition, the property rights of many land and real estate are property rights that the heirs can freely handle.For this kind of property, the owner of the property right can draw up his own will and transfer the property right to the designated person, and can also give certain restrictions at the same time.Mrs. de Bower's property is inherited from her husband plus her own dowry, and it is also clearly stated in the novel that all these properties will be inherited by her daughter in the future. Let's talk about the current traffic conditions.Darcy and Elizabeth had discussed whether fifty miles from Longbourn to Roslyn was far or short.I think Elizabeth is much wiser on this point.Of course, Mr. Darcy was having other thoughts in his mind at the time, which interfered with his normal thoughts.At that time, there were good roads, which were equivalent to today’s toll highways, and there were ordinary roads that were charged according to distance, which were cheaper.The carriage, the two horses and the driver are not cheap expenses. The horse needs to be changed every twenty miles, and twice every fifty miles.Such a distance is very convenient for the rich son-in-law, but not so easy for the Collins couple.Besides, generally, families with an annual income of less than 1,000 pounds basically do not have a carriage. Horses, stables, and grooms cost a lot of money.Mrs. Long took the rented carriage (equivalent to a taxi) to attend the ball of Bingley's family. Mrs. Ben thought that Darcy looked down on Mrs. Long because of this, so she sat with her for half a novel without talking.

Clothes are also very expensive, because they are basically handmade, and the price of the materials is also high, so most people will disassemble old clothes and remake them into new styles, and decorate hats and shoes by themselves. Let's talk about the source of money.The rich Darcy, Catherine and Mr. Bennet in the book mainly come from real estate. They have their own manor and surrounding large tracts of land and villages.Villagers rent their land, and they live off the rent.The Bingley family’s money came from their father’s business. They came from northern England, a relatively developed area of ​​industry and commerce, so his family may have a factory there, with a manager helping to manage it.They should also have a lot of cash. They usually buy funds, government bonds, etc., and get an annual interest of 4 to 5%.

Assets such as real estate are inherited by the eldest son, and sometimes a small estate is given to the youngest son or a piece of land is bought for the youngest son, but more often the youngest son needs to engage in some kind of professional work, usually the army, navy, lawyer and church work.A doctor is a decent job, but a position like a pharmacist is not, and business is not a job that a gentleman's son should consider. Joining the army is a career that many young children like.Officer positions in the regular army need to be purchased with money, and there are not many skill requirements.In the end, Darcy bought Weihan a position in the regular army, which was quite decent. The salary in the army was good, but the youngest son of a wealthy family who was extravagant still needed pocket money from his family.Take Colonel Fitzwilliam in the book as an example. He is the youngest son of an earl and has a good position in the army. However, if he marries a girl who has no property, even if the family can continue to provide pocket money, he must maintain a consistent standard of living It can't be done, let alone raise children.Elizabeth joked that she should not ask for a dowry of more than 50,000 pounds. In fact, 20,000 pounds for the woman can make the family live a more comfortable life in the future. The navy is relatively not as popular with high-level gentleman families as the army. The navy needs some brains, otherwise it is easy to die.At the same time, opportunities for the Navy to participate in social activities are relatively limited.In the Navy, there should be more sons of Collins and Lucas than Darcy and Fitzwilliam. There are many different positions in the legal field. Mrs. Ban's father was a rural lawyer, and later Mrs. Ban's brother-in-law took over, and her status was not high.Darcy's uncle became a chancellor in London, so of course he is much more respectable. The church is another way out for young children. Britain has its own independent Protestantism (not under the control of the Pope) and has state funding.Local churches are appointed by local landlords to live in the pastor’s house next to the church for free. They usually have a piece of land that they can grow by themselves or rent out to farmers. One tax.The position requires a college degree, and Mr. Collins does.To get the appreciation of Lady Catherine and get the priesthood, that is the position reserved for the youngest son of a rich family.The priesthood is for life, but once the priest dies, his wife and children must move away without any other security of income.But Mr. Collins and Longbourn, this man is really very lucky.Charlotte was so well married to her natal family's satisfaction. Mr. Gardiner, Elizabeth's London merchant uncle, was considered a disgraceful relation by Darcy and Miss Bingley.It was the first time that Mr. Jia and Mrs. Jia came to Ban's house for Christmas. They brought everyone gifts and new fashion trends such as long sleeves.It can be seen that Mrs. Jia is a beautiful and fashionable person.They were riding in their own carriage, and they had servants at home. They could take Jane to live in the city and take Elizabeth on long-distance travel. Combined with the road traffic conditions mentioned above, Mr. Jia’s business in London was very successful.Mr. Darcy spent a lot of money on Lydia's affairs, but Mrs. Jia's tone in the letter suggested that Mr. Qian Jia could afford it.No wonder Mr. Jia did not inherit his father's business as a lawyer in the town (to Mr. Philips), although the business was not so esteemed at the time, but the income was still quite good. This conversation between Elizabeth and Lady Catherine speaks of the social custom of a gentleman's daughter going out to socialize.When a girl is about seventeen years old, the girl's family will generally hold a dance party to introduce the girl into the social world and also into the marriage market.From then on, the girl was invited to participate in the family dinner and dance party.It is customary for the younger members of the family not to enter society until the older girl is married, or at least for a considerable period of time, when the older girl is considered an old (unmarried) girl, before the younger sister enters society.Mrs. Ben's practice of letting her five daughters enter the social world at the same time, as a mother who takes marrying her daughters as her duty, really surprised Mrs. Catherine.Going back to the beginning, the young daughters of Charlotte's family are full of hope, thinking that this way they can go out to socialize a year or two earlier, what a happy thing. Let's talk about the working hours at that time.Because there were no electric lights at that time, people would try to make use of daylight as much as possible.Country dinners and dances are generally held in summer when the sun is longer.Even in summer, in order for the participants to return home safely, the evening dance is usually held on a day when the moon is full or close to it.In the same way, the dinner time in the country is earlier than in London, because the streets of London are illuminated at night, so the night roads are not so dangerous. Although people are used to getting up early, the breakfast time will be relatively late, usually around ten o'clock.Because of the need to make a fire, carry water, boil water, etc., even if the servants get up early, it will take a long time to prepare breakfast.So usually people have a lot of activity before breakfast.People in the city ride horses to the park, to the library or to the store.Rural landowners would ride around their estates on horseback or meet grooms and butlers.Women will write letters at this time, and the housewife will account for the housekeeper at home.Breakfast time is about an hour or so.Since breakfast was late and country dinners were early, there was no formal lunch.If you go shopping or visiting, you usually eat some snacks such as cakes and shortbread, and the more formal ones will have cold meat and fruit.When Elizabeth came back from her trip, the lunch Lydia invited them to eat (paid for by Elizabeth and Jane, of course) consisted of cold meats and salads, with special mention of cucumbers, which were a relatively expensive vegetable at the time. We now count the morning before twelve o'clock at noon, but at that time, it was counted as morning until we changed clothes for dinner (three or four in the afternoon).Morning visits were the main social activity for women at that time.If at home, this time would be spent reading, practicing an instrument, drawing, doing crafts or needlework.When women at that time said work, they meant needlework.Austin herself is a good seamstress, and she's also good at making patchwork quilts (handmade quilts made of small pieces of cloth).At the same time, her piano skills are also very good, and she will practice at least one hour a day. Before dinner, people change their clothes.Supper time is from three to five in the country, and later in London from six to eight.After dinner, the women leave the dining room and go to the living room, while the men stay in the dining room and start drinking and chatting, talking about topics that men like, which are often more obscene.In Austin's works, it is considered a more noble gentleman if a man leaves the dining room early and joins the women in the living room, because it shows that the man is not good at drinking or listening to pornographic jokes. Afterwards, the men also came to the living room, chatting, listening to music, playing cards, and reading aloud.The music is all live performances, so basically there are people in every family who can play the piano and sing to provide entertainment for everyone.Mary was not very gifted, but she practiced as hard as she could, and she was much needed, and Lydia had to accompany her when she danced.How glad Colonel Fitzwilliam was to see Elizabeth in Roslyn, for she was the only one of them who could play, sing, and talk amusingly. What are the men doing? There are few full-men scenes in Austen's work, because they are unfamiliar to her.So what are upper-middle-class men doing? Mr. Darcy, the great planter, must manage his estate with care.The chance meeting with Elizabeth in Pemberley was because Darcy came home a day early and had to discuss matters with the housekeeper.His correspondence is also related to his estate management.Wickham's father was Pemberley's housekeeper during his lifetime.Bingley did not have real estate management, but his family may have factories in the north, and his fund also needs him to manage.He left Netherfield for London, probably also to deal with the factory and money matters.Soldiers like Fitzwilliam had plenty of leisure time off, but there was also concentrated military action, as Britain was at war with Napoleon's army year after year.In general, gentlemen spend very little time earning money. If it is a nobleman, such as Darcy's uncle, Fitzwilliam's father, who is an earl, then he will be a member of the House of Lords. At that time, the House of Lords was the main body of legislation, and the House of Commons was the reference (the opposite is true now).Members of Parliament have no salary (they are not short of this money, they are all big landowners), members of the House of Commons are landowners without titles but with a lot of land, Darcy can stand for election, and if Bingley buys land, he can also Participate in the election, of course, you can not participate in the election.In short, the Congress at that time was controlled by big landlords. Congress meets from mid-January to early August each year, with a few weeks off for Easter.During the meeting, powerful people live in London most of the time, and upper-class families generally gather together.There are also many gentlemen's families who will not be in London until after Easter.During the Easter period, the upper class who lived in London for more than two months (February, March) will go to the country for the festival. Darcy and Fitzwilliam are Roslyn at this time. After Easter, in May and June, the activity in London reached its climax, and dances and dinners continued, especially on Wednesdays and Saturdays when Parliament was recessed earlier.There are also horse races in June and July.July is the time for Londoners to travel. There is little rain and long sunshine hours. The hot city smells like horse dung, and diseases are easy to spread at this time. Traveling to the countryside will make the environment much more comfortable.So the Gardiners and Elizabeth went on a tour at this time. Congress is adjourned until early August, and hunting season begins.The nobles and gentlemen left London and returned to the country. The grouse hunting began on August 12th, the turtledove hunting on September 1st, and the pheasant hunting season began on October 1st.Bird-hunting is not only a gentlemen's sport, but also a source of food (Mrs. Bun treats Darcy and Bingley to have turtledoves for dinner).Gentlemen will be careful not to kill all the birds, and keep some for the next year to have birds to hunt.In order to please Mrs. Bingley, Mrs. Bingley asked him to go to Longbourn to continue hunting as much as he liked after killing all his birds. Such a statement showed Mrs. Bingley's ignorance. It made her feel ashamed. After the bird season, the fox season begins on the first Monday in November and continues through December.Also not strictly a sport, hungry foxes are a serious threat to livestock and poultry in winter.Fox hunting can last well into January if you don't have to go back to London to start the new year of Parliament.Christmas is also usually celebrated in the country. At that time, Christmas was just a very ordinary holiday. When the Gardiners went to the country to celebrate Christmas, they left the children in the city. Another function of the landowner is that of a magistrate.Disputes between villagers, such as poaching and theft, were handled by the landlord, and more serious crimes were referred to the courts.Mrs. Catherine likes to mediate the disputes of the villagers. Of course, for a person like her who is so energetic that she even manages the closet of the pastor's house, she may not be used to it without such disputes.Mr. Darcy doesn't care about these problems. I'm curious about how Mr. Bennet handles the disputes among the villagers. What else do gentlemen do besides these?Both Darcy and Mr. Ben are fond of reading.Billiards is also a popular leisure activity, and almost everyone has a billiards room at home.Another very popular activity is gambling.Some gentlemen's clubs are basically gambling clubs, and there are many cheaters.They give young people free booze and let them gamble with big names.When Elizabeth came to the Bingleys' house, she refused to join the game, because she feared that they would bet a larger sum. Gambling was a serious social problem at that time, especially among young people who had leisure.According to the code of conduct of the gentlemen at that time, gambling debts were debts of honor, and gentlemen should pay off their gambling debts before paying other debts such as money or rent owed to merchants.When Wei Han ran away, he not only owed money to businessmen and friends, but also owed gambling debts. Let's talk about the audience.Mrs. Bennet asked Mr. Collins if Miss de Bourgh had an audience with the King, as ladies and wives of the upper class obtain a royal status by having an audience.Miss de Bourgh, as the granddaughter of an earl, was qualified, but a family of squires like Miss Bennet was not.Because Lucas was knighted as mayor and had an audience, it was the greatest honor in his life, so he always talked about the court and the audience.Sir Lucas fancied that in the future Collins would inherit Longbourne, and that the whole family would have an audience, which was really wishful thinking.After Elizabeth married Darcy, she had a good chance to meet the court. letter In the era when telephones and telegraphs were not invented, letters became the most important means of communication among family members.In Austin's time, there were no envelopes for letters. The so-called envelope was just another layer of paper.Because the postage is related to the number of sheets of letter paper, many letters are written directly on the inside of this envelope paper.I agree that in order to save postage, the words should be written as small as possible. In addition, there is a special technique of crossing.The so-called cross-writing method is to rotate the letter paper 90 degrees after writing a full page, and continue writing in the space between lines.At the time, postage was paid by the recipient. There are many correspondences in Austen's novels. Let's talk about the relationship between engagement and correspondence.In the social rules of the time, correspondence between men and women of appropriate age who were not relatives was proof of the existence of a marriage contract between them.In Sense and Sensibility, Lucy and Edward maintain a constant correspondence relationship, and Eleanor, although eager to know about Edward, cannot write to him.Marianne writes to Winorby, so that her sister and Colonel Brighton think they must be engaged. (This kind of Marianne is too bold.) Also in the novel, Eleanor can write to Edward, but only when it comes to official business (the colonel asked her to write a letter to talk about the priesthood) .In "Pride and Prejudice", Jane cannot correspond with Mr. Bingley, and because of Miss Bingley's deliberate obstruction, Jane has not seen Mr. Bingley in London for more than three months.It was he who delivered Mr. Darcy's famous letter to Elizabeth after his failed proposal (otherwise Roslyn and the Vicarage would have been surprised to see Darcy writing to Elizabeth).Similarly, after Elizabeth read Darcy's letter, although she was full of emotions and regretted her misunderstanding of Darcy, she could not write to him directly to express it. Women's Education and Talent In the Austin era, there was no national unified public education system.Schools are generally run by local charities or churches.Austen's gentlemen's children would not go to such schools.This kind of school is sometimes very cheap, and the lady under the guardianship of Colonel Brighton in "Sense and Sensibility" should be boarding in such a school. Gentlemen's children were educated by their parents, or had tutors, and went to private boarding schools or boarded with tutors (Edward in "Sense and Sensibility" boarded with tutors).It is also possible to take lessons with a professional teacher, such as a piano teacher.There were also grammar schools that taught upper-class boys the basics (including Greek and Latin) but did not admit girls.What kind of education the children receive depends on the wishes and financial capabilities of the parents (if Mr. Darcy hadn't funded Weihan, he would not have had the opportunity to receive a gentleman's education). Girls cannot go to prestigious schools such as Eton, nor can they enter universities such as Oxbridge.The most important studies of the gentlemen at that time were Greek and Latin, which took a lot of time to study, while few girls studied them. So, what kind of education do girls receive?Since women are generally unemployed, and unable to vote and participate in politics, there is no need for them to receive higher education.Women's education is mainly home economics and religious schools, and the usual talents are music, painting and dancing. Look at Mrs. Goddard's school in "Emma", Austen is still humorous and ironic as always: Mrs. Goddard is a female teacher who works in a school that is not a girls' school, not a specialized school , nor is it any professional institution of learning, nor is it the kind of place where long sentences are full of nonsense, and it is not a place where extensive knowledge and elegant ethics are rigidly combined in accordance with the new education system and new moral principles. Young ladies pay huge fees and leave useless knowledge Mrs. Goddard teaches at a real, solid, old-fashioned boarding school where a modest amount of skill and learning is sold at a fair price, girls Maybe you will be led astray and pick up some scraps of knowledge on your own, so there is no danger of restoring your original supernatural powers.Mrs. Goddard's school has a high reputation and deserves it; for Highbury is said to be a very wholesome place.She has a big house and a big garden, feeds the children rich and healthy food, lets the children run wildly in the sun in summer, and in winter, she personally bandages the chilblains for the children.So it was no surprise to anyone to see forty young children marching to church cuddled up behind her in two rows. In "Pride and Prejudice", Miss Darcy has a tutor who can play the piano and sing with superb skills.Miss Bingley attended a school in London that was more refined than Mrs. Goddard's, but not more academically demanding, and both Miss Bingley could play the piano.The Bennets had no governess (Lady Catherine was surprised), but they were encouraged to read a lot, and Elizabeth said they could be tutored if needed.Elizabeth and Mary could play the piano, but neither could paint.