Jane Eyre and Tess of the D’Urbervilles: A Comparative Study of the Heroines from the Perspective of Feminism 从女权主义视角对比分析《简•爱》与《德伯家的苔丝》中的两女主人公形象文献综述

 2021-09-27 20:36:24

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1. Introduction1.1 Research backgroundWhen it came out in 1847, Charlotte Bronts Jane Eyre made a hit overnight. After the birth of this duckling image, it got the reviewers criticism for a long time. William Makepeace Thackeray described the book as the masterwork of a great genius when Charlotte dedicated it to him. Indeed, Charlottes creation of the ordinary-looking and unattractive heroine achieved a great success. However, there were also doubts. For example, people of Charlottes era wandered whether the pseudonym Currer Bell was a man or woman and whether the Bells were one person, two persons or more. After the early chorus of praise, the reviews became the opposite when it was acknowledged that such a passionate novel was written by a woman.The novel Jane Eyre tells a story about an orphan girl named Jane Eyre who was discriminated and bullied during all her childhood. It presents for readers the girls course of struggle through which the author expresses her feminist voice. Janes pursuit for independence and freedom impressed myriads of readers even to this day. What is done by Jane can be a representation of the aspirations held by thousands of women writers as well as readers. The unconventional female image Jane is a typical feminist. Thomas Hardy and his literary works have been studied for more than a hundred years in Europe and the United States. Before 1960, Hardy had been generally remembered as a novelist. After that, his poems started to gain peoples attention. The famous English poet Philip Larkin considered Hardy the greatest poet in 20th century. Tess life is more like a tragedy. Unlike the orphan Jane Eyre, Tess owns an entire family, including father, mother and six younger sisters and brothers. As the oldest daughter of the family, she cant really follow her heart to do what she wants to do. She is a beautiful and pure girl with extraordinary features. The image of the heroine Tess in the novel has become one of the most beautiful and attractive women images in the long corridor of world literature. She not only arouses peoples sympathy for the weak, but also presents us with the power of revolt. However, on the other hand, influenced by the contemporary ideology, she cant completely break through the restraint of feudal patriarchy. She has to be dependent on men. Thus, there exists a strong comparison between Jane and Tess. Two different images of heroines reflect totally different minds and struggles. Then, to study these two literary works can help us learn more about feminism. 1.2 Need for the studyFeminism deals with difference between males and females. More and more women writers show their voices with their pens. Throughout ancient and modern times, much contribution in the field of literature is made by female giants such as Jane Austen, the Bront sisters, George Eliot, Simon de Beauvior, Virginia Woolf and Emily Dickinson, etc. Those women intellectuals exhibit womens stories and mental activities ignored by the public, appealing an entire serious care for women, for their fellows need was neglected by men and women themselves. It is their efforts that boost the development of womens literature and womens buried consciousness. Gradually, women care much more about themselves than they had done before; as a result, problems between men and women like gender difference, unfairness and discrimination are unfolded before peoples eyes. Thus, struggle for equality as well as freedom becomes the most imperative for those who are awake, which reflects the meanings of feminism.2. Literature Review Feminism, Jane Eyre and Tess of the DUrbervilles will be reviewed respectively in the following section.2.1 FeminismFeminism is hard to define. From the encyclopedia we can see feminism is defined as a social theory and political movement. Steven Goldberg, who is known for his theory of patriarchy, once held that Feminism is difficult to define because of many different kinds of feminists, which exists today. Most feminists hold a belief that women as a group are treated oppressively and differently from men; they are subject to personal and institutional discrimination (365). He explains from the biological perspective the difference between women and men and suggests that the dominant position of males is inevitable. But feminists believe that the biological difference is not the reason why males dominate, and they consider the society organized in a way as it works, benefiting men all the time. Thus feminists devote themselves to the equal social status. The Feminist movement starts from womens fight for their equal rights, positions, power, independence, opportunities and freedom, etc. As is known to all, women have been oppressed and discriminated from ancient times to the present day in many countries. Some of the nations in the world had experienced the feudal age, in which women were seriously inferior to men. Tyrannical patriarchy started to take root from then on and has left its cruel brand on the human history. Although we have ushered an era of the civilization of capitalism and socialism, women havent achieved their equality with men. Gender inequality is still a topic in the whole society; therefore, womens long-lasting struggle for equality has appeared. 2.2 Previous studies on Jane Eyre In the past 50 years, feminist criticism has done much to affirm Charlottes efforts to argue for the oppressed women. The studies regarding the author of Jane Eyre Charlotte Bront can be found in E. Gaskells The Life of Charlotte Bront (1857) which is a well-known biography around the life of her friend Charlotte, M. Cromton, another biography of Charlotte, M. Peters Unquiet Soul (1975) for which the author won the best work of prose in Friends of American Writers award, and John Maynards Charlotte Bront and Sexuality (1984). The book written by John Maynard gives a comprehensible description of Charlotte, exploring the complexity of sexual nature and how she deals with a world below of consuming passion, adultery, seduction, promiscuity, frigidity and incest. From this point, Charlotte has the similar intention with Hardy who shows in his works more than one woman that involves herself in sexual problems. Zhong Yuning (2014) focuses on the natural growth of feminism and the equality between both sides by highlighting the theme ---the female should be independent. Jiang Nan (2014) conducts a detailed description of Jane Eyre who always pursues freedom and fights for her true love.There are also other enlightening comments on Jane Eyre; for example, Thematic Structure in Jane Eyre written by Dale Kramer (1968) presents the structural reconcilement of the novel represented by the parallelization of passion and reasons as well as psychological conflict of Jane between revolt and submission. Jane Eyre is a magnificent representative in English Literature, not merely for her plain appearance but also for her outstanding and alien thoughts. She tries her best to struggle for freedom, equality, independence and true love, which is the most prominent theme. This voice as the motif is an unprecedented ever-burning light in the history of British literature.As a whole, most of the international studies on Jane Eyre are from the perspective of historical sociology, which emphasizes that literature can produce social life and analyzes the views of the author and the historical background of the work so as to explore its historical and social meanings. Since the novel is widely acknowledged as autobiographical, the study on life of Charlotte becomes the very sources of the personality of Jane. With the appearance of interdisciplinary studies, the novel has also been researched on the relationship of literature with law, narrotology, feminism, linguistics, psychology, etc. 2.3 Previous studies on Tess of the DUrbervillesForeign researchers have made great contribution to the study of Thomas Hardy. Some are about his artistic ideas such as in Thomas Hardy: Art and Thought (Pinion 1997); some are on his unique writing skills and style, e.g. in Thomas Hardy: The Tragedy Form (Kramer 1975) and Psychology in Hardys Novels (Thurley 1975) centers on psychological thought reflected in Hardys novels. In addition, several critical theories such as Freudian Theory, Structuralism and Feminist Criticism have permeated into the study of Hardy.Studies on the novel Tess of the DUrbervilles mainly focus on the three characters Tess, Angel and Alec. Tess is a woman with double character and Hardy presents for us a real situation of his time, expressional as well as critical. Being influenced by the contemporary ideology, she cant completely break through the restraint of the feudal patriarchy. She has to be dependent on men, and she always sacrifices herself for others, for the society and for the ones by whom she is oppressed. Finally, she expresses her hatred and rage in an extreme way and consequently steps in a tragic doom. Yang Yang (2014) sings highly of Tess spirit of the true, the good and the beautiful so as to reflect his approval of feminism whereas Mu Mengru (2014) makes a comparison between Alec dUrberville and Angel Clare to demonstrate their deliberate arrangement for and destruction of Tess. Some researchers keep an eye on Hardys arrangement of sexual problem or Tesss murder in the end. Hardys perspective on females is dominated by men. On the second stages, feminists put more emphasis upon gender differences and uniqueness, and explore female literary tradition through re-interpretation of women writers classic works. After 1980, the criticism turns into the third stage. In this period feminist criticism develops beyond the field of literature and into a multi-dimensional phase. It is worth stressing that feminists start to discuss gender differentiation and the females state of mind.This thesis plans to have a feminist reading of the two novels, and make a comparative analysis of Jane and Tess in order to explore the two authors feminist ideas. Furthermore, by reviewing Janes and Tess struggle processes for love and fate, it aims to interpret how the authors reveal their feminist consciousness through their disclosure of and criticism on the discrimination and oppression of women. Likewise, representing a prospect of the Victoria time, bounded by gender differences, the two masters give their expressions in different courses in fighting against the patriarchy, which is until the modern period a thoughtful issue for readers and critics. Therefore, with the help of the feminist theory, the writer of the thesis believes that this comparative study can draw a meaningful conclusion.Works CitedAltick, Richard. Victorian People and Ideas. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1973Beauvoir, Simone de. The Second Sex. H. M. Parshley, trans. New York: Vintage Books, 1989. Blamires, Harry. The Victorian Age of Literature. Longman: York Press, 1998.Bront, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.Deborah, L., Madsen. Feminist Theory and Literary Practice. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2006.Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghom. The Life of Charlotte Bronte. New York: Penguin Books, rpt, 1997.Goldberg, Steven. The Inevitability of Patriarchy. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1973Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the DUrbervilles. Beijing: Qinghua University Press, 2010.Havester, Wheat Sheaf. Bronts TransformationsThe Cultural Dissemination of Jane Eyre and Withering Heights. London: Pentice Hall, 1996.Jiang, Nan [姜楠]，电影《简爱》中的生态女性主义解读. 语文建设，2014（12）：37-38.Kramer, Dale. The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Hardy. Shanghai Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2000.Kramer, Dale. Thomas Hardy: The Forms of Tragedy. London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1975. Kramer, Dale. "Thematic Structure in Jane Eyre." Papers on Language and Literature. 1968. Lanser, Susan. Fictions of Authority: Women Writers and Narrative Voice. Cornell: Cornell University Press, 1992.Levin, Michael. Feminism and Freedom. New Brunswich: Transaction Books, 1987.Maynard, John. Charlotte Bronte and Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.Mu, Mengru [木梦如]，灵与肉：差异与统一《苔丝》中亚雷克德伯维尔与安琪儿克莱尔的比较，名作欣赏，2014（14）：77-82. Peters, Margot. Unquiet Soul. London: Hodder Stoughton Ltd, 1975.Pinion, Frank. B. Thomas Hardy, Art and Thought. London: Macmillan, 1997.Robison, Victoria. Introducing Womens Studies: Feminist Theory and Practice. London: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1997.Showalter, Elaine. A Literature of Their Own. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2004.Stubbs, Patrica. Women and Fiction: Feminism and the Novel. London: Methuen, 1979.Thurley, Geoffrey. The Psychology of Hardy's Novels: The Nervous and the Statuesque. St. Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press, 1975.Weele, Vander Michael. Proof from Jane Eyre. Ireland: Haggerty Museum of Art Marquette University, 2000Widdowson, Peter, Brooker Peter, and Selden Raman. A Readers Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2004.Woolf, Virginia. A Room of Ones Own. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983.Yang, Yang [杨洋]，对《德伯家的苔丝》中的女性形象解读，语文建设，2014（23）：49-53.Zhong, Yuning [钟瑜宁]，女性主义视角下的《简爱》和《傲慢与偏见》. 语文建设，2014（21）：22-23.

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