Abstract

This paper aims to make an analysis of the marriage of Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins, two characters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Their marriage is often criticized as an exchange of property and happiness and their marriage has no happiness. It is analyzed from the two persons’ perspective characters, the social factors and the marriage influence on them. Through this analysis, the paper proves that Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins’s marriage is very rational and sensible and should not be criticized. 

Key words:  Charlotte Lucas, Mr. Collins, marriage, sensibility, rationality

摘要
这篇文章重在对简.奥斯丁《傲慢与偏见》中的两个人物夏洛蒂.卢卡斯小姐和柯林斯先生的婚姻进行分析。一直以来，他们的婚姻被认为是金钱与幸福的交易，没有幸福可言而受到了广大读者的指责。作者将从他们各自的性格特征，当时的社会因素和这对婚姻的社会影响方面来具体分析，用以证明夏洛蒂.卢卡斯小姐和柯林斯先生的婚姻是非常理性的，是合情合理的。 
关键词：夏洛蒂.卢卡斯, 柯林斯, 婚姻, 感性, 理性

I

The Rationality in the Marriage of Mr. Collins and Charlotte Lucas

Ⅰ.Introduction
Seen from the evolution history of English literature, Jane Austen brings us a fresh wind different from previous novel styles, such as, sentimentalism and gothic novels. In western countries, Jane Austen is never a romantic writer but a realistic and sensible woman writer in the eyes of many rational critics such as Fielding, Reginald Faller and Charlotte Bronte. The most popular of Jane Austen's novels is Pride and Prejudice, which is a good justification to it. This novel deals with the five Bennet sisters and their search for suitable husbands. The vivid description of seven different types of marriages reveal Jane Austen's viewpoint on marriage that only when marriage is based on true love can it be a happy one. Elizabeth and Darcy's marriage is a model and perfect one. However, the marriage of Mr. Collins and Charlotte is often criticized (e.g.: Zhao Linya , 2003; Jie Jingdong, 2000) as an exchange of property and happiness and their marriage has no happiness.⑴ But should it be criticized as Zhao Linya says?
People thoroughly agree that true love and proper financial basis can bring us happiness in marriage. But have you deliberately contemplated the social background and the real situation Mr. Collins and Charlotte are in before you criticize their marriage? There is still a literary injustice in the critic of Mr. Collins and Charlotte's marriage.
This paper will try to change injustice to Mr. Collins and Charlotte. The   paper aims to point out that Charlotte’s marriage is quite rational. Marriage has no such romantic factors when it comes to reality and everyone cannot go against the social trend. Charlotte’s choice conforms to the social trend so that the marriage of Mr. Collins and Charlotte is more significant and typical than that of Elizabeth and Darcy’s. Charlotte is a representative of a woman who bravely fights against social injustice. Her marriage is more sensible than that of Elizabeth’s,and will be easily accepted by women in Austen’s time.
At the beginning of the paper, there will be a brief introduction about the realistic writer Jane Austen and her Pride and Prejudice. In the second part, the   paper gives a detailed analysis of Charlotte’s personalities. Charlotte is sincere, generous and she possesses a spirit of persistence and independence. She is a good girl with lots of personal qualities. The same is true with Mr. Collins. He is a humorous, talkative and practical person. On one hand, Charlotte and Collins have their own personal charm and should be respected and their marriage is quite natural .In the third part, the paper analyzes from social factors. On the other hand, money, property and social status play very important roles in society, especially in marriage. Considering Charlotte and Collins’s social background, their marriage is really a normal one. What’s more, Charlotte’s marriage conforms to the contemporary social trend---materialism and realism, it has great social significance.
In a word, through a detailed analysis of Mr. Collins and Charlotte’s marriage from their personal characters, social factors and social significance of their marriage, the writer proves that Charlotte’s marriage is quite rational and sensible.

Ⅱ.Jane Austen and her Pride and Prejudice

2.1. Austen's literary concern

Jane Austen (1775-1817) is one of the great and best loved novelists in English literature and one of the most important pioneers in the English realistic novel. She brought the English novels. She was among the first English women to break the male monopoly of novel writing. Her brilliantly witty, elegantly structured satirical novels vividly described the life of the common people in the countryside. Her main literary concern is about human beings in their social relationships. Her novels reveal in a subtle yet determined manner the beauty of women (not only physical beauty), and their longing for freedom in marriage life. Her unique sensitivity to human emotions, her careful observation of the hypocrisy of the middle-class Englishmen, and their male Chauvinistic attitude towards women, made her one of the finest novelists of the age.⑵ Though Austen is not a conscientious feminist novelist, her novels, such as Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion, express female dignity and a longing for equality with men. In other words, Jane Austen is a realistic women writer. She presented the real country life by her realistic description. And what is realism? According to William Dean Howells (2000) “Realism is nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material. Here are some principles of realism:

a) Insistence upon and defense of “the experienced commonplace”.

b)  Attack upon romanticism and romantic writers.

It is broadly defined as “the faithful representation of reality”. Although strictly speaking, realism is a technique, it also denotes a particular kind of subject matter, especially the representation of middle-class life. This application is properly applied to the marriages in Pride and Prejudice.

Jane Austen has been recognized as a novelist through her six novels, among which Pride and Prejudice is the most famous one, which deals with the life of common people and marriages in the countryside. Pride and Prejudice portrays life in the genteel rural society of the day, and tells of the initial misunderstandings and later mutual enlightenment between Elizabeth Bennet (whose liveliness and quick wit have often attracted readers) and the haughty Darcy. Then they gradually dispel their prejudice and finally get married. This novel strongly reflects the point that sensibility and rationality play important roles in marriage, a viewpoint obviously reflected on the marriage of Mr. Collins and Charlotte. In this novel, Mr. Collins is a clergyman with a large amount of property while Charlotte is a 27 years old lady with little property. Though Charlotte and Collins are not as bright as Elizabeth and Darcy, they have their own personal charm and their marriage is a real reflect of the social trend in which property and social status are the decisive factors in marriage. As Jane Austen is a realistic writer, the marriage of Charlotte and Mr. Collins is a good justification to Austen's rationality.

2.2. Women’s position in Austen's time

To know what Austen writes Pride and Prejudice for, we should have a clear mind of the social background. There are many social straits in Austen’s time and people in each class have different destinies. In Austen's days, there were no centrally organized systems of state-supported education. There were local charity or church -run day schools, but these were not attended by children of the "genteel" social levels that Austen writes about.⑶ Instead, “genteel” children might be educated at home by their parents, or by live-in governesses or tutors; or by going off to a private boarding school or to live with a tutor. Some local "grammar” schools did exist but did not admit girls. Of course, women were not allowed to attend the institutionalized rungs on the educational ladder. A great deal of time was devoted to "genteel” boys’ education, but few women studied.

Since women did not usually have careers and were not “citizens” in the sense of being directly involved in politics, there was little generally perceived need for such higher education for them, and most writers on the subject of "female education" preferred that women receive a practical land religious training for politics-nothing but books of piety and cookery”. All this prove that, since there was no requirement for academic education for women, and very little opportunity for women to use such knowledge, learning for women is only for "improvement of her mind" therefore, it depended very strongly on what kind of instruction each woman’s parents offered her in childhood, and on the individual indications of the woman herself (as in the Bennet family). Jane Austen presents that women enjoy a low social status in society and they have no way to get education. Therefore, marriage is a good way out for women. In Pride and Prejudice Charlotte got what she wanted through her marriage, which is quite rational and natural.

Property is a very important factor in Jane Austen's time. Only young women with beautiful appearance and good family background can they have lots of opportunities to get a satisfactory marriage. This point is strongly reflected on Elizabeth and Charlotte. As for Elizabeth, she is beautiful and witty, though does not have large property, she has more chance to hold men's heart. But as far as Charlotte’s concerned, she is already 27 and is not good-looking. What is worse, she does not own large property, and then the only way out for her is to marry a suitable man to secure her rest life and gain stability. Mr. Collins is a clergyman and he is the heir to Mr. Bennet’s property. Therefore, considering Mr. Collins's social status and his property, anyone who marries him is sure to secure her living and can live a luxurious life materially. Therefore, when Mr. Collins proposed to Charlotte, Charlotte accepted without hesitation. Through the marriage Charlotte gets what she wants and her choice is certainly a sensible one.

According to Ye Gaolian, a famous professor in Zhenjiang Normal University, Jane Austen writes Pride and Prejudice to fight against social injustice to women. She wants to set a model woman--independent and unconventional, brave enough to get what she wants (Ye Gaolian, 1998). I think Charlotte is the very  person who is independent and sensible to grasp every chance to get happiness. Therefore, her image in this novel is very significant.

III. Characters of Charlotte and Mr. Collins

Through Pride and Prejudice, we find that Charlotte and Mr. Collins possess some good qualities. They have their own personal charm. Charlotte has good comprehensive ability. She is sincere, perseverant and spiritually independent. Her characters prove that she is a good girl and very sensible. She should not be criticized. Though Mr. Collins is a little bit stubborn and snobbish, he is humorous, responsible and very practical. He should not be criticized, either. Such persons’ characters will enable them to make rational choice of marriage.

3.1. Charlotte

Charlotte has her own personal charm. Her good comprehensive ability makes her hold her own viewpoint. Though Elizabeth does not have good attitudes toward her marriage, Charlotte still has good wishes for her friend. From this point, we see that Charlotte is sincere and generous. Charlotte still has a spirit of persistence   and independence, which makes her to stick to what she wants and try her best to get it.

3.1.1. Wit

Charlotte is clever and she has some good comprehensive ability. For example, when everyone considers Darcy to be too arrogant to be liked by anybody, Charlotte holds the view that “he has the right to be pride of himself” as he is handsome, has good personality and most importantly, he has large property. From this point, we see that Charlotte has her own ideas. She thinks independently. She also treats everybody and everything objectively. In Charlotte's opinion, the beginning of a love story is always casual, when a man shows his good feeling about a woman, if he can not get response from the woman, the man will feel discouraged and he may give up his pursue for the woman. Charlotte's idea is quite practical.⑷ Jane Bonnet’s love affair justified it. When Bingley shows his love for Jane, as he could not get response from Jane, then he is discouraged and he thinks that Jane has no good feeling for him. What is more, as Darcy interferes in their love affair, there is a love crisis between Jane and Bingley. On this point, we say that Charlotte is very clever and full of wisdom. In chapter 22, we know that Elizabeth is shocked by the severity of such a concession that Charlotte made to marry Collins. She could not suppose that Charlotte would sacrifice “every better feeling to worldly advantage"(end of chapter 22). Elizabeth pities Charlotte, but Charlotte “had chosen it with her eyes open".

“I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collins’s character, connections, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering the marriage state.”(Chapter22)From her words, we know that Charlotte is quite independent in her mind. She has good comprehensive ability.

3.1.2. Sincerity and generosity

Charlotte is sincere and generous. She did not envy Jane and Bingley. 

"I wish Jane success with all my heart; and if she were married to him tomorrow, I should think she had as good a chance of happiness as if she were to be studying his character for a twelvemonth. Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.” (Chapter 6)

“If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other, or ever so similar before-hand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always contrive to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life.”(Chapter6)

Though Elizabeth looks down upon Charlotte's marriage, Charlotte still wishes her friend happiness and success. She is so kind and generous. Another point is that she has great patience for Lady Catherine’s rampancy. Seen from female psychology, to achieve this patience is impossible without good self-cultivation. Therefore, Charlotte has achieved some good self-cultivation.

3.1.3. Persistence

Charlotte has the spirit of persistent. Superficially looking, her thirsty for property is not so noble. However, she clearly knows what she wants and how to get it. Compared with many other women, we see that she is very smart.⑸   There are many foolish women characters in Austen’s novels: Mary in Mansfield Park has no belief in life. She agreed to marry the one she does not like and finally eloped with her lover; Anne Elliot in Persuasion does not fully know herself. Under her mother’s persuasion, she lost seven years’ happiness; Emma in Emma does not know who she likes and has no idea of her own personality and psychology...Compared with these characters in Austen’s works, Charlotte is really very clever and possesses the spirit of persistence. When Mr. Collins was turned down by Elizabeth and asked for her hand, she accepted without hesitation. She was not afraid of being looked down upon by others and grasped the chance to change her life. Then through her marriage, she really got security and lived a quiet life. Her perseverance to make her life better is very admirable.

3.1.4. Independence

Another one is that Charlotte is independent spiritually. She does not care much about her husband’ company and encourages him to take good care of the garden. As she wants to achieve the dignity of a match of good status and material comfort, together with independence, she becomes mistress in her own house; she manipulates Collins by making him think he is doing what he wants.⑸ She can put up with loneliness and is brave to face her life. She controls her own emotion to go against the unfair world. Her viewpoint about marriage “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.” (Chapter 6) reflects that her ideas are always unique and practical, thus she is quite spiritually independent.

In a word, Charlotte does possess some good personal qualities. She is admirable and her choice to Mr. Collins is out of her own heart. She comprehends her life in her own way and is brave enough to get what she wants. Therefore, she should not be criticized and her marriage should be treated as normal as Elizabeth's.
 
3.2. Mr. Collins

According to many critics (e.g. Zhao Linya, 2003; Ye Fulian, 2000) Mr. Collins is just a person without any good qualities. He is snobbish, ridiculous, silly and awkward. But is it true that Collins is just a negative figure in the novel? In fact, Mr. Collins also possesses some good personalities. He is humorous, responsible, kind and practical.

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