opening sentence is ironically stated and has a subtle, unstated meaning. In its declaration that a wealthy bachelor must be looking for a wife, it hides just beneath its surface the real truth : A single woman, especially the one not in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a (wealthy) husband. We see in Jane Austen’s society, eighteenth and nineteenth century, marriage is the status all the women strive to achieve, while money plays a important role in marriage. It was extremely sensible and common to take a prospective partner's financial situation and status into consideration, especially for people of a less fortunate background or inheritance. Marriage was considered to be the only way, for women in particular, to live a comfortable life, free of financial worries. If a woman never got married, because of lacking money or looks, she would go and live with a married sister or brother. If she did not have any brothers or sisters to live with, she would become a governess.
2.What do you think of Mrs. Bennet? How can you characterize her? Mrs. Bennet’s mind was less difficult to understand. She was a woman of poor understanding, little information and uncertain temper. When she was discontented, she imagined herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her daughters married, the solace of her life was visiting and news. We can see from these examples.
“…for Mrs. Long…all about it.”: from this sentences we can see that her important source of information is neighboring women’s gossip. (she was a woman of poor information)
“Is he married or single?”: For a future son-in-law, this is the most important qualification which Mrs. B didn’t mention. From this we can see she pay a great attention on money.
“four or five thousand (pounds of income) a year. What a fine thing for our girls! ”: Her thoughts skipped quickly and wildly: maybe was thinking already of a big house, beautiful garden, expensive clothes, etc.) “How so? how can it affect them?”: pretended to be na?ve by using apparently innocent questions so as to tease / make fun of her. When Mr. Bennet said；“... or you may send them by themselves which perhaps will be still better; for, as you are as handsome as any of them, Mr. Bingley might like you the best of the party”: This was said in obvious irony, but the irony was completely missed by his wife / beyond her understanding. She took it for his sincere praise of her beauty.
But in eighteenth and nineteenth century, she had no idea but had to crazy about these things. Because in Britain at that time only the eldest son had the privilege of inheriting his father’s possessions. Younger sons and daughters who are used to luxurious lives have no choice but marry a man or woman in possession of a large fortune to continue their comfortable lives. Thus, we can see that getting married is a way to become wealthier, particularly for women without many possessions. Jane Austen told us that money and possession
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determined everything, including marriage and love in her century.
Mrs. Bennet is a woman who cares for nothing more than to have her daughters married off. A reference from the last chapter book which supports this statement is \day on which Mrs. Bennet got rid of her two most deserving daughters.\ I also see that Mrs. Bennet is extremely fickle and changes her mind quickly. In the course of the book we see two examples of this; the first one is in the beginning of the book after the foolish Mr. Collins chooses to marry Jane instead of Elizabeth. \bear speak of the day before was now high in her good graces\example is when Mrs. Bennet called Mr. Darcy a \while discussing the Nether field Ball with their friends, the Lucas’s and later on in the last few chapters of the book called him \
charming man! -so handsome! - so tall!\daughter, Elizabeth, was to marry him.
Mrs. Bennet is a woman who thrives on gossip. It is almost all she cares about. Even the guidance of her daughters is not on the top of her priority list, and this bad decision is shown to us by the flirtatious daughter that is Lydia. What she doesn't realize is how the 18th century society looks down upon her. She is quite unaware of her class and is downright silly. In her eyes Lydia, the shallow and insensitive daughter of the five is her favorite because of her liveliness and good humor. Lydia marries
Wickham who at first is a charmer having all the good qualities a man should have: good looks, humor, liveliness and is instantly accepted into the society. However, later it will be found out that Wickham is
insinuating and sly. And yet, when Mrs Bennet finds out that Lydia is marrying him, she is absolutely ecstatic and her main focus is on the dress that Lydia will wear on her wedding. These are the most obvious points of Mrs Bennet.
3. What makes Elizabeth feel so grateful to Darcy? How does Darcy respond to her.( P71) Elizabeth’s sister Lydia has always been frivolous and she runs away with Wayne, who is poor and hypocritical. This behavior is not recognized at that time which destroys the Bennet’s reputation. The whole family feels ashamed, especially Elizabeth. Although Lydia has the plan to marry Wayne, Wayne, as a playboy, considers everything as a game. Elizabeth is so worried with her poor sister, so she decides to leave her hometown to find her sister. Fortunately, Darcy gives a helping hand. He finds them and tries his best to convince Lydia to come back. Faced with Wayne’s greedy, he doesn’t flinch. He pays the debts for Wayne and gives Lydia a large amount of money. In order to help them, he also buys an official post for Wayne. Besides these, Darcy is also very gentle, he doesn’t expose Wayne so as to protect the whole family’s reputation. He does everything for Elizabeth; he doesn’t want her to be harmed. Darcy is
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proud at the beginning, which makes Elizabeth hate him so much, but after he has done so many things, Elizabeth’s prejudice is eliminated and she feels so grateful to Darcy.
Darcy feels sorry at the beginning. He is also surprised and excited. Originally, Darcy doesn’t want Elizabeth to know everything. He doesn’t help her sister for certain purpose. Generally, he is delighted that Elizabeth is not so indifferent to him as before. He has never wanted to get her gratitude, but this time he feels hopeful. He tells Elizabeth that all his done was for her only, because it’s only her in his heart. He shows his affections to her again which makes Elizabeth so embarrassed. Darcy also apologizes for his pride in the past time. Now, they have cleared up the misunderstanding. It’s a turning point of their emotional journey.
George Gordon Byron She Walks in Beauty她在美中行 1. What is the colour of the lady’s dress? How do you know?
Black. The poet compared the lady to the night (...like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies).
2. What does “their dwelling place” refer to in the last line of the second stanza?
Their dwelling place refers to the lady's mind or soul. This lady had not only physical beauty but also inner beauty.
3. Where are the lady’s winning smiles? How do they appear to the poet? They are in the poet's imagination. They appear serene, sweet, pure, and perfect.
Percy Bysshe Shelley Ode to the West Wind P78 1. In what way is the West Wind both a destroyer and a preserver?
West wind is the destroyer as it is turbulent and strong and destroys the wide spread vegetation. It is a destroyer of the old, decaying and valueless things (such as dead leaves), blowing over the land, drives away the dead leaves. Shelly shows the irony of the wind that acts in a contradictory manner.(use and Describe the words that show the potential strength and use effective
language)It is the preserver as it brings life to the dead atmosphere, it spreads the seeds and they lie two inches beneath the ground and eventually sprout into seedlings.
2. What is the relation between the West Wind and the poet?
In \hope to be. The natural world is especially powerful because it contains
elements like the West Wind and the Spring Wind, which can travel invisibly across the globe, affecting every cloud, leaf, and wave as they go. Man may be able to increase his status by allowing Nature to channel itself through him. The
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speaker of the poem appeals to the West Wind to infuse（灌输，影响） him with a new spirit and a new power to spread his ideas.
3. As “the trumpet of prophecy”, what does the west wind predict in physical reality? How do you understand it symbolically?
As the speaker of \he begs the wind to use him as an instrument, inhabit him, distribute his ideas, or prophesy through his mouth. He hopes to transform himself by uniting his own spirit with the larger \
The speaker wishes that the wind could affect him the way it does leaves and clouds and waves. Because it can’t, he asks the wind to play him like an instrument, bringing out his sadness in its own musical lament. Maybe the wind can even help him to send his ideas all over the world; even if they’re not powerful in their own right, his ideas might inspire others. The sad music that the wind will play on him will become a prophecy. The West Wind of autumn brings on a cold, barren period of winter, but isn’t winter always followed by a spring?
John Keats
Ode on a Grecian Urn希腊古翁颂 3. Comment on the epigram “beauty is truth, truth beauty”.
The poet point out the relation between art and reality: Beauty is truth, truth beauty.The conclusion of this stanza is praising the greatness and eternity of art. That is to say people consider truth is beautiful because it is true. Just owing to the affective bias, in people’s mind true things are really beautiful, while false things are just seemingly beautiful. Therefore, only truth is real beauty.
Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre P88 1. What is Jane Eyre’s view of love as reflected in the excerpt?
When we connect death with life, we’ll find our life requiring more cherishment---love your life and love the people (be kind to others). Jane listened to the call of her inner world. Once caught it, she pursued it-- she fell in love with her master bravely. She cherished everything around her: the people, the plant, the animal and the whole nature. Besides Mr. Rochester, she was kind to her friends, her cousins, her students and the servants, even to the dog and the moorland. To her hostile enemy, Jane gave the same mercy: Mrs. Reed, her daughters and son, the evil mad woman of Mr. Rochester.
Jane was totally a speaker of the author Charlotte: what can we do before the hardness of life, including death? Charlotte learned to have (and maybe decided to love). The love consisted of two passions: the deep feeling to the human and the thankful cherishment of being. With constant sufferings in life, which were believed to be unbearable for most of us, Charlotte struggled to live her noble life, taking her responsibility in family and society, starving friendship and pursuing
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her career.
2. Why does Jane Eyre decide to stay with Mr. Rochester?
Jane Eyre decides to stay with Mr. Rochester because she deeply loves him. In fact, during the time when Jane Eyre lives in Thorn field a year ago, she falls in love with Mr. Rochester. She is attracted by Mr. Rochester’s charms. Later she leaves him because she loves him; she could not be Rochester’s mistress. She wants a sense of complete love. However when Jane hears that her lover Rochester becomes disabled, she desperately comes back to accompany Mr. Rochester. She decides to stay with Mr. Rochester because she always loves Rochester, the love never changes. Just as in this excerpt Jane says “But if you wish me to love you, could you but see how much I do love you, you would be proud and content. All my heart is yours, sir: it belongs to you; and with you it would remain, were fate to exile the rest of me from your presence for ever”. For one thing, now Jane wants to accompany Rochester because she wants to soothe him. She wants to use her love to soothe Rochester; she wants to live with Rochester till the end of her life no matter how Rochester looks, how much he possesses. She loves Rochester deeply in her heart. As we all can see that Rochester loses his eyesight and strength as Rochester says in this excerpt, he is no better than the old lightning-struck tree. She knows the Mr. Rochester’s sufferings, and she knows Rochester’s love to her always never disappears. Now she wants to comfort Rochester. She says Rochester is no ruin, he is green and vigorous. She can not let her lover live alone in his rest time of life. For another, under this circumstance (Rochester’s wife is dead and he is also suffers a lot.), Jane thinks the love between Rochester and her is liberty and equal. As indicates in the whole book, we can find that Jane always pursues the equal and free love. Now she needs not to be a mistress and she doesn’t need to look up to Rochester. She can gain a completed love which she is always looking forward to achieve. She can be Rochester’s wife legally and morally. So she can stay with Rochester honestly.
In a word, Jane decides to stay with Mr. Rochester because she loves him deeply. It is love that leads Jane’s decision to stay with Rochester.
3. What kind of relationship between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester does the last paragraph of the excerpt suggest?
The last paragraph of this excerpt describes a scene of Jane and Mr. Rochester’s subtle movements for expressing their love. “Then he stretched his hand out to be led. I took that dear hand, held it a moment to my lips, then let it pass around my shoulder: being so much a lower of stature than he, I served both for his prop and guide, we enter the wood, and wended homeward.”
From just all these words, we may easily see the sincere love and forgiveness and support to Mr. Rochester. All the way, Jane holds the unchangeable views of respect, of love, of freedom and of equality, no matter when she is his governess or she refuses to his marriage or now she is his wife. In the past she and Rochester, She of course knows their great disparity of social status, a rich
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《英国文学选读》(王守仁)课后答案-英国文学选读课后答案
