Abstract

The Gift of the Magi is written by the famous American writer O. Henry. He is a popular short story writer in the world. In his novel, O. Henry describes a poor couple who live in a destitute family having the most precious thing – love, and he believes that the gift of selfless love is greater than any object in the world. Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen’s work. She lives in Britain and in this novel, she expresses her idea of marriage that just getting married for property, money and status is wrong but considering none of the above factors is also stupid. Therefore, she is against marrying just for money, and she also opposes a marriage without material foundation.
This thesis is about the comparative study between The Gift of the Magi and Pride and Prejudice. It explores the status of women from 18 to 20 century, shows two writer's different marriage concept according to their different social background and life experience, and laying a foundation for further study of contemporary China's marriage.

Key words: Pride and Prejudice; The Gift of the Magi; Contrastive Analyses; Views on Marriage

摘  要

《麦琪的礼物》是美国著名小说家欧•亨利的作品,作者通过描写一对贫穷夫妻圣诞节买礼物的故事，表达了人世间最珍贵的情感——爱，作者借此告诉人们无私的爱别人是时间最宝贵的财富。《傲慢与偏见》是英国传奇女作家简•奥斯汀的代表作。作者在这部作品里透露本人对爱情对婚姻的观点是：仅仅为了财富、金钱以及地位结婚是错误的；但结婚不考虑上述因素也是愚蠢的。所以，奥斯汀既反对把金钱作为结婚的目的，也反对没有物质基础的婚姻。简•奥斯汀强认为男女双方的真挚感情是缔结理想婚姻的基石，而金钱则是必不可少的物质基础。
本课题通过对《麦琪的礼物》与《傲慢与偏见》这两本不朽名著及其作者的对比介绍，探索18至20世纪女人的婚姻状况，根据其不同的社会背景研究两位大家笔下所呈现的不同婚姻观，为以后更深层次当代中国婚姻观的研究奠定基础。

关键词：傲慢与偏见；麦琪的礼物；对比分析；婚姻观