The Beauty Of Harmony

Jane Austen is a prominent woman writer in English literary history at the end of the 18th century and the early of the 19th century, and in her short life she writes six novels, which appeal to many critics and readers at home and abroad within a period of more than two hundred years. Although her works are frequently considered as concerning the trivializing domesticity, generations of readers and researchers continually make fresh discoveries on her little piece of ivory only two inches square, and are gradually aware of the profound connotation hidden behind Austen's seemingly pedestrian triviality. Based on the two most representative masterpieces Pride and Prejudice and Emma, this thesis intends to prove Austen's harmonious thought from the eco-feminist perspective.The thesis consists of five chapters:The introductory chapter is about a general review of Austen research at home and abroad, and shows the great significance to study on Austen's harmonious thought reflected in her works from the eco-feminist perspective at the present age.The second chapter lists the basic theories of eco-feminism, and points out Austen's personal experiences and its influence on her literary creation. As a female novelist, she creates a series of images of young women and displays them firstly to the view of readership. With her own experience and feeling, Austen supports a sky in feminist writing.The third and fourth chapters are the hard core of the thesis, which choose Austen's well-known novels Pride and Prejudice and Emma to deeply analyze the harmonious beauty between people and between people and nature that Austen expresses in these two works. In Chapter Three, the thesis puts forward that Austen sets women as the central characters and creates two brand-new female figures—Elizabeth Bennet and Emma Woodhouse. They are intelligent, rational and independent and have complicated characteristics just like men. They are no longer stereotypical angels in the house, and can be as likely to be the instructors as men. Through interactions of the heroes and heroines, they realize their respective errors and change their manners and minds. In this way they finally achieve the harmonious marriage based on true love, equality and mutual respect, and reestablish the harmonious interpersonal relationship in their community. The two novels end with happy reunion, which reflects Austen's harmonious thought that people should keep in harmony. Chapter Four shows that because Austen grows up in the English countryside, and is greatly influenced by the beauty of nature, the natural environment creates a unique writing style in her works. So she is good at integrating the human society into the beauty of nature, and describes a splendid picture of the harmonious coexistence between people and nature in Pride and Prejudice and Emma. At the same time the main characters purify their minds in the course of appreciating the beautiful natural scenery. By reading her novels the readers can sense Austen's desire of returning to nature, and a harmonious life is what Austen has been longed for.The fifth chapter is the conclusion. In this part, by analyzing harmonious theme in contemporary society, the thesis further expounds the practical significance of exploring the harmonious thought reflected in Austen's works in the new century.From the ancient times to the present the social ideal pursued by all the people in the world is to build a harmonious society that consists of the harmonious relationship between people and people and nature. In Pride and Prejudice and Emma Austen also expresses her wishes to construct a harmonious society where man, woman and nature coexist in reconciliation, which arouses the desire of each generation of readers for harmonious life. No matter how the time goes by, history will forever record the dazzling brilliance that Austen reveals in her novels.