A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree "Licence en langue et littérature Anglaises"

RESUME,

This work entitled " in charles Dickes' hard times and jane Austen's sense and sensibility examines the influence of materialism on marriage in he victorian England as presented by Charles Dickens and jane Austen in their respective works.This work is built on the hypothseis that Austen and Dickens present,in their novels,families and characters that hustle for financial security and the perservation of social rank through marriage.It aims at analyzing the characteristics of the victorian families and the economic implication in the choice of a marriage partener.In addition,it examines the vision of the authors.The work is grounded in the Marxist and New historism approaches.The former stresses that the evolving history of humanity;of social relations ;of its institutions,and of its ways of thinking are largely determined by the changing mode of its material production.And the latter takes historical situation as an integral part of the a work of literature.The first argument in the study of hard times and sense and sensibility shows that reason is often privileged over morality in the foundation of a family.The second argument shows how the over dependence of women to men relagates them to a secondary place and increases their inspirations for financial security by seeking to marry well-off husbands.The last argument pictures Austen and dickens' views of their society and shows how they present people ,especially women,who view marriage as a bridge to wealth.It means also that the authors are optimistic about the success of the families that combine reason and feeling as a path towards an aquitable society.