Chapter One Cooperative Principle in Male-Female Relationship in Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is about how the heroine Elizabeth Bennet and the hero Fitzwilliam Darcy overcome various obstacles resulting from their own defects and other people's interference to find their true love and get married．This novel is one of Austen's favorite works and is not only appreciated by its reader, but by today's television and films, and it is well-known as “light ＆ bright and sparkling”by Jane Austen herself (Todd, 2008：26)．Austen thinks the novel is so bright that it may need some shade．It is a novel about love and also about the exploration of male and female relationship in marriage and out of marriage．There is a big cast, including four pairs of married couple, ten unmarried ladies and four unmarried gentlemen．If the men in the army are all counted, there will be a larger number．In the novel, Jane Austen demonstrates various relationships between males and females, such as Mr．and Mrs．Bennet, Elizabeth and Mr．Collins, Elizabeth and Mr．Darcy, and Jane and Mr．Bingley．Some relationships are based on money and wealth, while others are related to virtues and morals．Austen's greatness lies in her acceptance of the disharmonious male-female relationship as a kind of reality and her pursuit for an equal and harmonious one．She doesn't hate the inequality or disharmony, accepting them as human need for existence and as a foil to the harmonious relationship based on understanding and self-discipline．In the representation of different male-female relationships, Austen employs a lot of truthful and apt conversations to depict her characters who are like real people in the world, obeying the social rules of speech or violating them on different grounds.

Social rules of speeches are of great interest to linguistics, among whom the famous British educated linguist and philosopher Paul Grice studies daily conversations and proposes the cooperative principle (Grice, 2002)．This principle is based on the assumption that speech is act, namely language can do things．Linguists claim that people say something in order to do something else, which means the pragmatic analysis of language can be broadly understood to be the investigation into the aspect of meaning which is derived not from the formal properties of words and construction, but from the way in which utterances are used and how they relate to the context in which they are uttered (Leech, 2001)．When people say something, they aim to perform three acts simultaneously, locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act．Locutionary act refers to the speaking of the exact words or the literal meaning of one's speech．Illocutionary act is the purpose of the speaking, such as asking, requesting, declaring, commanding, promising, warning, and so on．Perlocutionary act means the effect of the speaking on the listener, who may either satisfy or dissatisfy the speaker's intention．Since speech is used to do things, Grice proposed the famous cooperative principle which is shortened as CP and its maxims in his paper Logic and Conversation, in which he suggests that in daily communication, people must be cooperative if they want to keep smooth and harmonious relationship．The requirement is to make one's conversational contribution such as is required at the stage at which it occurs by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which one is engaged (Cole ＆ Morgan, 1975)．In Grice's opinion, there are a set of assumptions that guide the process of conversation, and they can be regarded as some guidelines followed by people in efficient conversation．To better illustrate these assumptions, he proposes the four maxims, namely the maxim of quantity, the maxim of quality, the maxim of relation, and the maxim of manner．In a word, these maxims specify what people have to do in order to lead the conversation in a cooperative and effective way．They should make sure that the information provided in the conversation be informative, true, relevant and clear.

This chapter is devoted to the application of the cooperative principle to the analysis of conversations in male-female relationship in Pride and Prejudice．The prominence of dialogues in the novel is quite obvious, “with the opening two sentences of witty judgment of marriage being followed immediately by the lively dialogue between Mr．and Mrs．Bennet．And almost three fourths of the novel is composed of conversations”(Gill ＆ Gregory, 2003：5)．As the analysis of conversations in daily communication, the principle can be used to interpret how Austen's command of conversations and speech rules function to demonstrate various male-female relationships in the novel．This chapter consists of two parts．The first part examines how the application of the cooperative principle contributes to the depiction of the characters and the enlightenment of the harmony between men and women．The second part focuses on how the violation of the cooperative principle reveals the disharmony in male-female relationship in the novel.

1 Application of CP in the Realization of Diverse Collaboration

Pride and Prejudice is about marriage and the relationships between male and female, which are the perpetual theme in Jane Austen's novels．It can be also called a novel of diverse collaboration between men and women, which implies relationships of marriage, family and friendship．Marriage itself is the most important collaboration between men and women, who are engaged to the social and personal commitment and contract (苏友芬, 2010)．They must adjust themselves to the integrity of marriage．Family is the collaboration between parents and children who have their own way of dealing with each other．Male-female friendship needs mutual understanding and special efforts since women in the 18^th century were generally regarded as being inferior and untalented．These relationships between men and women are represented by different ways of collaboration, which are governed by social norms．Pride and Prejudice portrays these relationships in a realistic flavor, in which its characters just follow the same social norms as people in the factual world．The novel portrays individuals negotiating personal needs with external social demands and internalized moral codes：using manners to control or mask inevitable egoism, they manipulate talk to gratify themselves (Todd, 2008)．When characters interact, they will follow certain principles; therefore, they can meet the external social demands and make their moral and thoughts revealed to each other．In general, the diverse collaboration between men and women is governed by the application of the cooperative principle consciously or unconsciously in Austen's fiction.

The cooperative principle is proposed as the rule for people to obey in communication, which has the following connotations．First, speech is act, and one does action by speaking．The cooperative principle requires the cooperation of speeches in verbal communication．Second, in order to have smooth interaction and harmonious relationship, the speakers often observe the rule by telling the truth, giving adequate information, and talking about relevant things in an orderly way．They will certainly follow it to shape their positive relationships and enhance mutual understanding and affection．Third, there are four maxims which are proposed, namely the maxim of quantity, the maxim of quality, the maxim of relation and the maxim of manner．The application of the cooperative principle and its maxims reflects different psychological and subconscious behaviors．In a word, it will help represent the genuine compromise and understanding between men and women.

This part aims to explore the language features in the representation of diverse male-female cooperation by means of the application of the cooperative principle, and it is composed of two sections．Section one studies how the cooperation of speeches function in favorable male-female relationship．Section two illustrates how the four conversational maxims show the mutual understanding between males and females in Pride and Prejudice．This part endeavors to testify that the application of CP may represent Jane Austen's art of language in the novel.

1.1 Cooperation of Speeches in Principled Compromise

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice depicts principled compromise between men and women which refers to negotiation based on human material and psychological needs．On one hand, it demonstrates individual search for dream and spiritual hope．On the other hand, it indicates the pressure from reality and material need．This section aims to illustrate how the cooperation of speeches operates in principled compromised in male-female relationship of the novel.

The cooperation of speeches lies in the function of language to perform acts besides stating the facts and communicating ideas．People can use their words to do things or ask others to do things．By saying “the class is over”, a teacher is “dismissing the class”．By saying “good bye”or “thank you”, students in his class are showing their cooperation of speeches．The utterance of a speech can perform three acts at the same time, namely lucutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act (何自然, 1997)．Locutionary act refers to the speaking of the exact words or the literal meaning of one's speech．Illocutionary act is the purpose of the speaking, such as asking, requesting, declaring, commanding, promising, warning, and so on．Perlocutionary act means the effect of the speaking on the listener, which may either be consistent or inconsistent with the speaker's intention．When the perlocutionary act is consistent with the speaker's intention, namely, the speaker does what he aims to do and achieves his purpose, the cooperation of speeches come into being．Last but not least, the performance of a speech act has its “felicity conditions”ranging from speakers' relationship to the utterance context (Austin, 1962：14)．The fulfillment of the felicity conditions is important for the performance of a certain speech act．This section intends to study the functions of cooperation of speeches in the representation of the agreement and harmony between males and females in Pride and Prejudice.

In the first place, the cooperation of speeches indicates the social pressure from material needs．The characters exhibit cooperation in their speeches and perform speech acts out of the need for safety and social status.A case in point is the description of Mr．Collins and Charlotte's engagement：

In as short a time as Mr．Collins's long speeches would allow, everything was settled between them to the satisfaction of both; (Austen, 1992：85; my italics)

As can be indicated from the example, Mr．Collins uses “long speeches”, which performs three acts at the same time．The lucutionary act is the utterance of exact words, which are omitted and must have been filled with tedious and serious content, which Jane Austen just uses a few words to conclude and creates irony on them．The illocutionary act is the purpose of speaking, namely Mr．Collins's aim to propose and name the day．Finally the perlocutionary act is the effect of the speech on the listener, which is Charlotte's acceptance of the proposal implied in “settled”and “the satisfaction”．Therefore, the perlocutionary act is consistent with Mr．Collins's intention, which means the cooperation of speeches．The cooperation is closely related to the felicity conditions, which concerns Mr．Collins and Charlotte's material needs．Mr．Collins, who is eager to find any lady to marry for his position in his parish, wishes his future wife to be gentle and obedient．He regards women as objets d'art, namely charming, elegant female, and holds no respect for them as rational beings (Gill ＆ Gregory, 2003)．However, it's ironic that he chooses Charlotte, who is very rational．Charlotte, who doesn't think highly of either men or matrimony, is willing to marry for a home and takes marriage as an object．She regards marriage as “the only honorable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want”(Austen, 1992：85)．Therefore they have common interest in building a marital relationship．The man who wants a lady as wife for his status and the lady who wants a gentleman for a home arrange their marriage as a fair trade．The cooperation in their speeches indicates the social requirements for men's responsibility and status and the social needs for women's safety and position．Consciously or unconsciously, Jane Austen's characters show cooperation of speeches to reveal the heavy burden from the present society.

In the second place, the cooperation of speeches embodies the pressure from marriage, which is based on the sacrifice of one side or both sides．As can be illustrated in the union of Mr．Collins and Charlotte, the happy marriage is superficial and temporary at the sacrifice of Charlotte's spiritual life．The following dialogue between the newly-wed when Elizabeth is invited to visit the new home can be a good example to show the pressure：

“Yes, Miss Elizabeth, you will have the honor of seeing Lady Catherine de Bourgh on the ensuing Sunday at church……Her behavior to my dear Charlotte is charming．[……] Her ladyship's carriage is regularly ordered for us．I should say, one of her ladyship's carriages, for she has several.”

“Lady Catherine is a very respectable, sensible woman indeed,”added Charlotte, “and a most attentive neighbor.”(Austen, 1992：108; my omission)

In the above example, the first quotation of Mr．Collins performs three acts simultaneously.The locutionary act is the actual words spoken which are full of his snobbery and self-superiority．On one hand, he speaks of arrogant Lady Catherine with flattery and admiration; on the other hand, he displays the honor she gives to his family, which looks quite ironic to Elizabeth．The illocutionary act is the purpose of showing off his happy life and marriage．He boasts his social position and privilege, which is also an attempt to depress Elizabeth who previously refused his proposal．The perlocutionary act is the effect of his speech on the listeners, which is Charlotte's agreement with his praise of Lady Catherine．It can be concluded that the perlocutionary act is in favor of Mr．Collins and the cooperation of speeches has been achieved．For the cooperation between Charlotte and Mr．Collins, there are felicity conditions which presuppose it in their speeches and are concerned with the speakers' marital relations．The marriage in itself determines their cooperation and relationship which seems quite harmonious with mutual understanding and respect．Heavily burdened with marital duty, Charlotte is supposed to be compatible and supportive of her husband, which is realized in the cooperation in their speeches．However, when her intimate friend Elizabeth gives her an expressive look, her occasional blush reveals her inner feelings of shame and regret for a stupid and shallow husband．Her marriage is based on their common idea of utilitarianism, which proposes that the worth of any action should be judged by its effects．When the action receives pleasure, it is good; while the action receives pain, it's supposed to be bad．Their marriage can be measured by the effects．For Charlotte, it's a comfortable home and a stable future．For Mr．Collins, it's a wife and a decent family．The harmony in her marriage is at the sacrifice of Charlotte's spiritual satisfaction, which is a kind of principled compromise between men and women.

In the third place, the cooperation of speeches demonstrates the search for individual value under great social pressure.Men and women with common interests can be good friends who encourage each other in difficulty, however out of social and personal restrictions, they also submit to adversity in reality．The following conversation between Elizabeth Bennet and Colonel Fitzwilliam is a good case in point：

“In my opinion, the younger son of an Earl can know very little of either．Now, seriously, what have you ever known of self-denial and dependence？When have you been prevented by want of money from going wherever you chose, or procuring anything you had a fancy for？”

“These are home questions—and perhaps I cannot say that I have experienced many hardships of that nature．But in matters of greater weight, I may suffer from the want of money．Younger sons cannot marry where they like.”(Austen, 1992：124125)

In the above conversation, the first quotation is Elizabeth's speech which performs three acts．The first act is the locutionary act of the utterance of her exact words, including the information it contains and the direct and informal tone between intimate friends．The second is the illocutionary act, which is her purpose of asking questions and blaming Colonel Fitzwilliam's dependence on others．She also aims to sneer at him by speaking of the sensitive and private affairs openly．The third one is the perlocutionary act which concerns his open answer and patient explanation．He doesn't blame her for the rudeness, however he endeavors to earn her sympathy and understanding, which shows his cooperation in their interaction．Since the perlocutionary act shows consistency with Elizabeth's intention, the cooperation is achieved, which can also be found many times in the novel and the above example is just a small version of a much longer dialogue.

What's more, Colonel Fitzwilliam's cooperation results from the fulfillment of the felicity conditions, which are closely knitted with their intimacy and social pressure．Although they just meet each other several times, they have been better acquainted than others as they have a lot of ideas and interests in common．They have formed very close friendship which allows some private questions included in the above example．What's more, they have similar inferior social positions, Elizabeth being a countryside gentleman's daughter without much dowry, and Colonel Fitzwilliam being a younger son without the right of inheritance．Therefore it is rather easy for them to understand each other．On one hand, Elizabeth sneers at his ideas of self-denial and dependence．On the other hand, they have to submit to the restriction of wealth and status．The cooperation in their speeches represents their weak struggle for individual value in face of the cruel society.

The above analysis proves that the cooperation of speeches in Pride and Prejudice is able to illustrate the principled compromise between men, women and the society．The compromise is represented by the consistence between illocutionary act and perlocutionary act, and the felicity conditions for the performance of speech acts as well．The cooperation of speeches shows the influence of social pressure on men and women who cooperate for the sake of material needs．It also exhibits the marital force which requires a couple to support each other even at the sacrifice of personal interests．Finally, it indicates the compromise between male-female friends who achieve mutual understanding but have to submit to the crude reality．In general, the cooperation in language demonstrates both the individual search and the social pressure.

1.2 Application of the Four Maxims in Genuine Understanding

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen presents genuine understanding between men and women, which is the mutual respect and approbation regardless of differences in wealth, status or other social factors．There is true love and care between those who judge people by their virtue instead of wealth, and by their mind instead of appearance．This part selects two pairs of men and women to illustrate the phenomenon, which are Darcy and Elizabeth, Elizabeth and Mr．Bennet．Despite their different social positions, Darcy and Elizabeth regard each other as being equal in intelligence and morality and show respect to each other．Tony Tanner concludes that Jane Austen shows readers energy and reason coming together, not so much as reconciliation of opposites, but as marriage of complementaries (Tanner, 1986)．Their marriage is not painful compromise, but a happy one of genuine understanding．The second pair discussed is Elizabeth and Mr．Bennet．As daughter and father, they enjoy genuine understanding and respect．As an intelligent gentleman by birth, Mr．Bennet is unhappy and dissatisfied with his marriage and life as he has married for beauty and his wife is of low intelligence．There is no one in the family who understands him except his favorite daughter Elizabeth who is his equal in the wit, humor and intelligence (Nash, 1980)．He treats Elizabeth differently and the father-daughter relationship is harmonious．There is harmony between men and women who possess good understanding and high intelligence．Most of their interaction lies in their conversations, which are concerned with certain social and linguistic rules to be observed in the representation of harmonious relationships.

The social or linguistic rules can be explained by the cooperative principle and its four maxims established by H．P．Grice, who argues that when one abides by the cooperative principle one agrees to act according to various conversational rules, or rather conversational maxims (Grice, 2002)．He has put forward four conversational maxims of quantity, quality, relevance and manner．The speaker must tell the truth, give adequate information, say relevant things, and be in an orderly way．The application of the four maxims illustrates the harmony in male-female relations and facilitates their mutual affection and their relationship of equality and respect.

In the first place, the observation of the maxim of quantity underlines the speaker's willingness to make further communication and to build up understanding in interaction．The maxim of quantity requires the speaker to provide the information which should be as informative as is required, but not more informative than is required．In other words, enough information should be given and the redundancy should be avoided．The following extract is a conversation between Elizabeth and Darcy when Elizabeth realizes her prejudice against Darcy and feels regretful for her previous rude attitude towards Darcy．When she meets with Darcy unexpectedly in his garden the other time, she becomes less prejudiced：

After a short silence, the lady first spoke．She wished him to know that she had been assured of his absence before she came to the place, and accordingly began by observing, that his arrival had been very unexpected—“for your housekeeper,”she added, “informed us that you would certainly not be here till tomorrow.”[……] He acknowledged the truth of it all; and said that business with his steward had occasioned his coming forward a few hours before the rest of the party with whom he had been travelling．(Austen, 1992：171; my omission)

In the above example, both Elizabeth and Darcy observe the maxim of quantity to indicate their sincerity to build up a harmonious relationship．Firstly, since silence is the sign of failure in providing information, Elizabeth observes the maxim by speaking of the reason for her visiting Darcy's garden to break the silence and explain her presence．By doing so her kindness and gratitude are represented so that Darcy dares to guess she has forgiven him．The very word “add”, which is carefully chosen, implies Elizabeth's consideration to supplement enough information so as to keep the listener Darcy from misinterpreting her meaning．Secondly, Darcy observes the maxim by responding to the question very politely and explaining his unexpected return．He casts away his proudness and indifference, answering briefly and giving enough information．In this way, they both show the willingness to be cooperative; therefore they follow the cooperative principle and the maxim of quantity by providing enough information so as to create a kind of harmonious phenomenon．They are as open and friendly as to make this conversation friendly, easy and successful, which provides another chance for their later meeting and further understanding．Only when they have mutual affection and respect, will they be willing to observe the maxim．This conversation marks the turn of their relationship which turns out to be filled with equality and mutual respect．Just as Austen wrote in the next chapter, “of the lady's sensations they remained a little in doubt; but that the gentleman was overflowing with admiration was evident enough”(Austen, 1992：174)．There is not much depiction of their thoughts, yet their language and their application of the maxim reveal their true feeling going underneath the brief and smooth conversation．In their interaction, they neither give too much information to mislead each other, nor provide too little information to fail the other's expectation．The observance of the maxim of quantity facilitates their communication and relationship.

The observation of the maxim of quantity also exhibits equality and respect between men and women, which can be shown in the dialogue between Mr．Bennet and Elizabeth．When Lydia elopes with Wickham stupidly, Mr．Bennet and Elizabeth try their best to solve the scandal and help them get married：

“Oh, Papa, what news？What news？Have you heard from my uncle？”

“Well, I have had a letter from him by express.”(Austen, 1992：203)

The above dialogue looks quite simple, but it represents Mr．Bennet's observation of the maxim of quantity by answering Elizabeth's question and giving enough information to make her understand the present situation．Elizabeth's question is answered by her father Mr．Bennet, which looks simple but meaningful compared with his attitude towards the other members of their family．When Mrs．Bennet asks questions, Mr．Bennet always ignores them．However, his observance of the maxim of quantity reveals his respect and trust for his daughter Elizabeth．As a father, he regards her as equal with intelligence and sense, and respects her opinions in family events．By observing the maxim of quantity, they are cooperative and interactive by providing sufficient information, which is free from misinterpretation or doubt．This represents the equality and respect between men and women who emphasize the value of intelligence and mutual understanding.

In the second place, the application of the maxim of quality produces trust and respect between interlocutors．The maxim has two conditions, the first one being not to say what one believes to be false, and the second being not to say what one lacks adequate evidence．This maxim suggests that the speaker should not offer whatever he believes to be false or anything that he does not have adequate evidence for (姜望琪, 2000)．The observance of the quality maxim is of greater importance than the other three．The following dialogue is a case in point which takes place between Elizabeth and Darcy when a scandal happens that Lydia and Wickham have eloped：

“I'm grieved, indeed,”cried Darcy; “grieved-shocked．But is it certain, absolutely certain？”

“Oh yes！”—“They left Brighton together on Sunday night, and were traced almost to London, but not beyond; they are certainly not gone to Scotland.”

“And what has been done, what has been attempted, to recover her？”

“My father is gone to London, and Jane has written to beg my uncle's immediate assistance, and we shall be off, I hope, in half an hour．But nothing can be done; I know very well that nothing can be done．How is such a man to be worked on？How are they even to be discovered？I have not the smallest hope．It is every way horrible！”(Austen, 1992：184)

In the above extract, both Elizabeth and Darcy observe the maxim of quality, who are cooperative by telling the truth and giving information that they have adequate evidence．Firstly, Darcy's cry contains his sincere concern and grief．By choosing the word “indeed”, he emphasizes the sincerity in his speech adequately．It is his sincerity that gains Elizabeth's trust and reliance．Next, Elizabeth observes the maxim of quality by answering Darcy's questions honestly．She is so honest that she answers the embarrassing questions about the details of her family scandal and reveals her inner sorrow and regret．Darcy asks whether anything has been done to “discover”the eloped couple, and then Elizabeth answers with a series of verbs and nouns including “go, write, beg, assistance, off”．The word “discover”includes “go, write, beg, assistance, off”, which forms the relationship of hyponym and implies the different ways to find out the eloped couple．Elizabeth just answers Darcy's question by supplying detailed and sufficient information, because she believes in Darcy, which makes it possible for him to realize the whole affair and finally finds the way to solve the scandal．Her observation of the maxim represents the trust in and reliance on Darcy．This cooperation in the talk represents their harmonious relationship based on common virtue．Darcy has a high sense of morality, feeling morally responsible for his silence in Wickham's bad conduct．He chooses a strong word “duty”to describe his plan to minimize the effect of the elopement．As a paragon of virtues, Elizabeth is so careful as to consult Jane whether they should disclose Wickham's degeneration when she first hears of it．She believes that the disclosure made in private is not intended for broadcasting and it will make it impossible for Wickham to reform and her moral reason prevents her from disclosing the evil nature of Wickham．Their observation of the maxim of quality reveals their mutual trust and love regardless of social boundaries and biases.