英语专业毕业论文203463.doc

从现代女性视角看苔丝学 生：xx按本科专业目录填写专 业：英语 acknowledgementsmy deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to my supervisor, wang kelu, for his constant encouragement and guidance. he has walked me through all the stages of the writing of this paper. i would also like to express my sincere appreciation for his time and efforts in reviewing and revising this thesis, for his constructive suggestions and critical judgments on this paper. his earnest attitude to research will influence me greatly in my future study. second, i am also greatly indebted to all the professors and teachers at the department of english, who have instructed and helped me a lot in the past three years. at last, my thanks would go to my beloved family for their loving considerations and great confidence in me all through these years. i also owe my sincere gratitude to my friends and my fellow classmates who gave me their help and time and helping me work out the problems of my thesis. abstracttess of the durbervilles, published in 1891, was one of the most famous works of thomas hardy. it has received much criticism from the day it was published and the heroine tess was generally regarded as a passive victim of fate and circumstances. as far as im concerned, fate and circumstances were not all the reasons for tesss tragedy. in the late victorian times, tess was really new female image for she was brave to revolt feudalism and traditional morality and laws. however, analyzed from modern female perspectives, tesss characters had demerits which also were the cause of her tragedy. this paper tries to analyze the image of tess from modern female perspective first, and then summarize hardys feminist thinking.besides introduction and conclusion, this paper is made up of three parts. introduction part puts forward the argument of this research. part one gives a brief introduction to tess of the durbervilles, including the historical background, the writer and the plot of this novel. part two analyzes the image of tess from modern female perspective. part three summarizes thomas hardys feminist thinking based on the analysis of tess. conclusion part makes conclusion of the whole thesis and gives some personal suggestion to modern women.key words: tess; thomas hardy; feminist thinking; modern female perspective摘 要德伯家的苔丝出版于1891年，是托马斯哈代最有名的小说之一。自出版以来，这本书便受到了广泛地评论。主人公苔丝被视为命运和环境的受害者。在我看来，命运和环境并不全是苔丝悲剧的全部原因。在维多利亚时代，苔丝勇于反抗封建主义，敢于同法律和传统的道德作斗争，可以称得上是一个全新的女性形象。然而，从现代女性的视角分析，苔丝性格上的缺点同样是她悲剧成因的一部分。这篇文章将先从现代女性视角去分析主人公苔丝的形象，然后以此来总结哈代的女性观。这篇文章除了引言和结语，正文由三个部分组成。引言部分提出本文的论点。第一部分简要介绍德伯家的苔丝创作的历史背景，作者简介以及小说的主要情节内容。第二部分从现代女性的视角出发，详细地分析了苔丝的人物形象和性格。第三部分以第二部分所作的分析为基础，总结托马斯哈代的女性观。结语部分对整篇文章做出总结，并对现代女性给出了相应的个人建议。关键词：苔丝; 托马斯哈代; 女性观;现代女性视角contentsi. introduction.7ii. an introduction to tess of the durbervilles.82.1 historical background.82.2 thomas hardy.82.3 the plot of tess9iii. the understanding of tess from modern female perspective103.1 tess- the idealized image of men.113.2 tess- regarding love as the most important thing in her life123.3 tess- having dual character133.3.1 being brave to revolt traditional morality and hypocritical religion. 133.3.2 failing to extricate herself from traditional morality thoroughly14iv hardys feminist thinking in tess of the durbervilles. 154.1 hardys supreme sympathy towards women164.2 hardys prejudice against the female 17v conclusion18vi bibliography 19an analysis of tess from modern female perspectivei introductionthomas hardy (18401928）, born in 1840 near dorchester, was a one of the greatest english writers in the 19th century, and was honored with “shakespeare of british novels”. he carried forward and developed the literary traditions of the victorian age. he vividly described the tragic fate of the heroine tess in his great novel tess of the durbervilles, which revealed his standpoints of women and society he lived in. tess of the durbervilles, as a masterpiece of hardy, has been studied by scholars from different aspects since its publication. tess are thought to be pretty, noble-minded, pure, brave in the traditional view, however, if analyzed from modern female perspective, the image of tess, i think, is not perfect. thus, this thesis aims to analyze the image of tess from modern female perspective, and further to explore thomas hardys feminist thinking based on the analysis of tess.tess was brave to revolt traditional morality and hypocritical religion, nevertheless, she judged herself by using traditional standards as other people did. she was deeply influenced by patriarchal society which made her not extricate herself from traditional society thoroughly. its not difficult to find that besides tesss purity and bravery, she still had some shortcomings which were part of the causes of her tragedy. from mainly analyzing tess, we can find out hardys feminist thinking. on the one hand, he had great sympathy towards women as he exposed the hypocrisy of the traditional morality that stressed the purity and chastity of women. and on the other hand he had prejudice against women for he arranged women to be, more or less, the inferiors to men.ii. an introduction to tess of the durbervilles2.1 historical backgroundthe story tess of the durbervilles happened in the late victorian times. since the 1830s, capitalism had been built up completely in england, and many parts of the country were affected by it. and even in the southern area, where ancient traditions had been kept for many years, was affected too. in the late 19th century, capitalist industry and agriculture invaded remote countryside and destroyed small-scale peasant economy. many peasants had to face the ruthless exploitation of landowners and were threatened by survival crisis. capitalist economy replaced traditional economy.besides, in victorian times, morality was highly emphasized. women were fettered by feminine tradition seriously. a womans chastity was her husbands privilege. the important standard to judge whether a woman is pure was that whether she was a virgin. hence, once the chastity had been lost before marriage, the woman would be regarded “impure” and “bad woman”. as a sequence, the woman would be excluded by her husband and other people.in addition to the influence from industrialization and traditional morality, religious belief was another essential part of the life in the victorian times. peoples spiritual life had been controlled by religion for thousands of years. and tesss tragedy was staged in such a complicated background.2.2 thomas hardythomas hardy, born on june 2, 1840, in the village of upper bock hampton, england, was an english novelist, poet. he is regarded as one of the greatest english writers in the 19th century. his father was a stone mason and building contractor. his mother enjoyed reading and relating all the folk songs and legends of the region. he often made journey to the countryside to play for dances. and this experience of rural life made up a large part of his works. his first novel, the poor man and the lady, was written in 1867, but the book didnt bring him success. his first popular novel was under the greenwood tree, published in 1872. and then his other popular novels are as follows: far from the madding crowd (1874), the return of the native (1878), the mayor of casterbridge (1886), the woodlanders (1887), tess of the durbervilles (1891), and jude the obscure (1895). in addition to these large works, hardy published three collections of short stories and five smaller novels.all his works revealed that he was a kind and gentle man who was aware of the pain human beings suffered in their struggle for life. in his works, especially in tess of the durbervilles, hardy showed his deep sympathy for english lower classes, particularly for rural women like tess. as thomas hardys last and most significant work, tess of the durbervilles is a novel in which the characters were confronted by endless moral choices.2.3 the plot of tesstess of the durbervilles is about the tragedy of a 16-year-old simple country girl, tess durbeyfield, who was born in a poor peasant family. in a chance, tesss farther john durbeyfield who was lazy and vain discovered that he was the descendent of an ancient and knightly family of the durbervilles. it was just at that time, their horse, the familys only means to make a living, died. thus, john and his wife joan persuaded tess to visit the durbervilles clan at tranreidge. the purpose of tesss parents was to get help and benefits from their so-called “relative”. after tess arrived there, alec was attracted by tesss beauty and arranged tess to take care of his blind mothers poultry. and at one night, tess was deduced and raped by alec. tess felt sorrowful and left alec unhesitatingly. then she gave birth to a child. but unluckily, her child died very soon.in order to forget the miserable past and begin a new life, tess moved to a fairy farm and became a milkmaid. there, she met angel clare, who was a pastors son. quickly, they fell in love with each other. but tess refused angels love in the beginning because she thought she was not pure and had no right to marry anyone else. after hesitating for a long time, tess accepted angels proposal of marriage. at their wedding night, angel made a confession to tess about his wrong doing in the past. tess felt happy and forgave him and told him her past too, thinking that he would forgive her as she did. however, angel was amazed when he heard tesss story of being seduced by alec, and didnt forgive tess for having a child with anther man. as the former pure image of tess disappeared from his mind, angel left tess for brazil.tess went back to her parents home at first, but later, in order to avoid peoples rumors and slanders, she left home again and went to another town, flintcomb, where the working conditions were very harsh. without better choice, tess decided to get some help from angels parents. but they were not at home. when she happened to hear angels brothers criticizing her, she knew it was impossible to return to the clare family. on her way back to flintcomb, tess came across alec who had become a practicing evangelical minister and was preaching to the folks in the countryside. in order to marry tess, alec took the advantage of the poverty of tesss family and made up the fact that angel had abandoned her and would never return. suffering from the financial pressure and believing alecs words, tess accepted to be alecs mistress at last. angel returned from brazil because his dream was shattered. he became aware of his cruelty to tess and inquired about tesss whereabouts. he met tess again only to find that she had been an upper-class lady living with alec durbervilles. when tess saw angel, her love for angel was aroused and got to know that she was cheated by alec. when alec knew angels return, he cursed angel. hearing this, tess became very angry and finally killed alec. at the end of this story, tess and angel spent several happy days together and then tess was sentenced to die.iii the understanding of tess from modern female perspective3.1 tess- the idealized image of menin tess of the durbervills, the image of tess is idealized by hardy. in hardys ideal world, tess is the symbol of beauty and the embodiment of love. from the view of men, she represents all the excellent aspects of wessexs: beautiful, pure, honest and self-sacrificing.tess was beautiful “in personal appearance, exceptionally beautiful.” (hardy, 2006:154). “she was a fine and handsome girl, with large innocent eyes.”(hardy, 2006:6) just because of her beauty alec durberville seduced her. as far as alec was concerned, “there was never before such a beautiful thing in nature or art as you look.” (hardy, 2006:56) similarly, angel was attracted by her beauty. in the eyes of angel, tess had innocent lips and “seemed like a queen to him, she was no longer a milkmaid, but a vision on a woman, the whole of womanhood in one form.” (hardy, 2006:108) angel loved her face because “it was full of real life, real warmth. her eyes were deep, and seemed to speak to you. in her cheek he found a lovely glow. but it was her mouth that always held him. it made him mad just to think about it.” (hardy, 2006:124) so angel named tess “the pure child of nature”. (hardy, 2006:124)tess was pure. “tess is, without any question, one of the purist women that can be found in literature. the pureness can be easily traced from her attitudes towards love. her faithfulness, persistence and sincerity represent the noble virtue of peasantry women. overcoming all up-and-downs, tess keeps her pureness from beginning to end.” (mao, 2005:04) because of this pureness, tess couldnt stand living with alec with the memory of the night that alec seduced her. and still for her pureness, she told angel all about her past in their newly-married night regardless of her mothers suggestion. tess was honest. after she was seduced by alec, she chose to leave him unhesitatingly. she would rather bear the name of a woman who had lost virginity, than bow her neck to alec. in the morning when tess left thantridge, the place where alec lived, she still told alec her thought that deep in her heart she didnt love him. “i have said so, often. it is true. i have never really and truly loved you, and i think i never can. she added sadly, perhaps, of all things, a lie on this thing would do the most good to me now, but i have honor enough left, little as it is, not to tell that lie. if i did love you i may have the beat of causes for letting you know it. but i dont.” (hardy, 2006:76) she clearly knew that a lie would do most good to her, but she was honest and wouldnt like to cheat her self or anyone else.tess was self-sacrificing. as tess was the eldest child, she had begun managing household affairs at home since the age of a little girl. when she was only 17 years old, she took the responsibility of feeding her family, “never worrying about the gains and loss of her, tess devotes herself to the family.” (ma, 2006:02) “tess bears hardships and does hard work without complaining.” (mao, 2005:03)to analyze tess from modern female perspective, the image of tess is too perfect and idealized. she has too many merits, all of which are the standards that men would use to judge women.3.2 tess- regarding love as the most important thing in her lifein tess of the durbervilles, love almost penetrated the entire novel. as the leading character, tess valued love highly, even the most important thing in her life. “she loved angel so passionately, and he was so like a god in her eyes.” (hardy, 2006:150) “there was hardly a touch of earth in her love for angel. she trusted that he was all that goodness could be. she thought his soul was the soul of a saint, his intellect that of a seer.” (hardy, 2006:164) tess could do anything for angel, anything, even putting an end to herself. as izz said: “i do, yes, i do love you, but not more than tess-she would have laid down her life for you. i could do no more.” (hardy, 2006:246) after angel knew tesss past and didnt treat her as before, she wanted to die which could give angel freedom.but, angel, she pleaded, enlarging her eyes, it was thought of entirely on your accountto set you free without the scandal of the divorce that i thought you would have to get. i should never have dreamt of doing it on mine. however, to do it with my own hand is too good for me, after all. it is you, my ruined husband, who ought to strike the blow. i think i should love you more, if that were possible, if you could bring yourself to do it, since theres no other way of escape for you.(hardy, 2006:218)in order to prove her true love for angel, tess would like to sacrifice herself.to pursue a true love and spotless love, tess insisted on telling angel the truth. when angel, her husband, deserted her, she did not stop loving him, wishing to be his servant. and at the same time, she refused alec when he proposed marriage to her. to tess, love was more than anything else.another example is tesss killing alec at the end of this novel. dramatically, angel realized his cruelty towards tess and decided to return to tess not long before tess became alecs mistress. at the first sight of angel when they met again in alecs house, tess became pretty excited and all her love for angel was erupted again. she couldnt stand living with alec any more and finally committed crime. “i have done iti dont know how, she continued, still, i have done it for you, and now he can never do it any more. i never loved him at all, angel, as i loved youi could not bear the loss of you any longeryou dont know how entirely i was unable to bear your not loving me! say you do now, dear, dear husband; say you do! ” (hardy, 2006:338) the strength of tesss feeling made her forget the difference between right and wrong. it seemed that she did not realize what she had done. even after realizing the serious result her killing would lead to, tess didnt fear at all. on the contrary, she felt very happy, “id like very much to be here, she murmured, it is so solemn and lonelyafter my great happinesswith nothing but the sky above my face. it seems as if there were no people in the world but we two.”(hardy, 2006:348) why love on earth can give tess so much courage to kill a pers