英语专业毕业论文-《简爱》中经济因素对女性的桎梏.doc

introductioncharlotte bronte (18161855) is one of the greatest english realistic novelists in the nineteenth century. she is the eldest of the three bronte sisters whose novels have become enduring classics of english literature. jane eyre is the typical work of her, and it ranks as one of the greatest and most perennially popular works of english fiction. in this novel, although the poor but plucky heroine is outwardly of plain appearance, she possesses an indomitable spirit, a sharp wit and great courage. she is forced to battle against the maltreatment of a cruel guardian, a harsh employer and a rigid social order. all of which circumscribe her life and position when she becomes governess to the daughter of the mysterious, sardonic and attractive manmr. rochester.jane falls in love with rochester, who is a wealthy man, but her individual spirit blocks her to marry him. and it is not only because she was cheated by rochester, but also that she is not equal to him. they are in different social classes, and between them there is a huge gap dug by wealth. she cannot accept the kindness of material. it is the shame of her and blasphemy to her self-respect. jane pursues the equality on economy, personality and social status, which needs serious research on the economic factors in this novel.this thesis aims to make a general study of how the critics abroad and at home comment jane eyre from the economic perspective and the influence exerted on jane by the economic factors. the analysis illustrates the idea that in one way, poverty is a barrier to ones growth; and in another way, the ability to go beyond material limitations to achieve success is even greater. the significance of this thesis is to encourage people to learn from jane and fight against ones fate. it is also a revelation that, to a large extent, personal development cannot be separated from a specific material reality and economic condition. this thesis can be divided into three parts: an introduction to charlotte bronte and jane eyre, economic factors influence in janes life and the inspiration from the economic factors restrictions on women. introduction to charlotte bronte and jane eyre before the exploration of the economic factors in jane eyre, something about the novelist and her work should be acquired.1.1 charlotte brontecharlotte bronte was born at thornton, in yorkshire england, the third of six children. her father, patrick bronte, was an irish anglican clergyman. her mother, maria barnwell bronte, died of cancer on september 15th, 1821. in august 1824, charlotte bronte was sent with three of her sisters to the clergy daughters school at cowan bridge. its poor conditions permanently affect her health and physical development, and hasten the deaths of her two elder sisters about 10 and 11 years old. soon after, she moved from the school and lived with her surviving brother and sisters, emily and anne. they began to write stories, articles and poems together. in order to get normal education, charlotte continued her education at roe heed school in mir field from 1831 to 1842, where she met her lifelong friends and correspondents. from 1835 to 1838, she returned as a teacher. in 1839, she took up the first of many positions as governess to a family in yorkshire, a career she pursued until 1841.after her aunt died of internal obstruction in october 1842, charlotte returned alone to brussels in 1843. in may 1846, charlotte, emily, and anne published a joint collection of poetry under assumed names of currer, ellis and action bell. although only two copies were sold, they decided to continue writing for publication and began working on their first novels. it is very unfortunate, in 1848 her brother died of chronic bronchitis. emily and anne both died of pulmonary tuberculosis in 1848 and 1849 respectively. she and her father left alone. under the very hardship condition, charlotte continuously worked hard in the journey of creating literatures.shirley and villette began to create long novel emma in 1853. on june 1854, charlotte married arthur bell nicholls, her fathers curate. she died nine months later during her first pregnancy.charlotte bronte was one of the most famous female writers in english literature. in this period of tense class struggle appeared a new literary trendcritical realism. english critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the forties and in the early fifties. the critical realists described the chief traits with much vividness and great artistic skill of the england society and criticized the capitalist system from a democratic viewpoint. she created several works, such as shirley (1849), villette (1853), and the professor (1857). her works are all about the struggle of individual consciousness towards self-realization, about some lonely and neglected young women with a longing for love. jane eyre is her typical work. it is an autobiography novel. it was written in the year 1846.1.2 jane eyrejane eyre, a book about a plain orphan, who is cruelly treated in childhood by her aunt. mrs. reed, a harsh and unsympathetic woman who she depends on. because jane reacts strongly against the unreliable aunts bad treatment, she is sent away to a charity school, lowood charity. there she suffers a lot both physically and mentally, only consoled by a kind teacher, miss temple. jane eyre stays at the school for 8 years, and then becomes a governess at thornfield hall. mr. rochester, the master of the house, is fascinated by her wit and courageous spirit and falls in love with her. this is the same with her. but their marriage is prevented by the revelation that he has had a wife, a mad woman, still alive. shocked and deeply hurt, jane makes up her mind to leave him and flees to the moor house. there the rivers family takes her in. st. john rivers, a very handsome clergyman who is determined to devote himself to god, almost succeeds in making her agree to marry him. but she refuses and finally goes back to rochester, who is a blind and free man at that time. then they get married and live a content life. economic factorsthe invisible hand influencing janes lifethis part will demonstrate the economic factors effect in janes life. first of all, janes miserable childhood is shown from the economic perspective. from the physical suffering to the psychological experience, evidence shows that janes miserable childhood is caused by her pennilessness. janes education is largely affected by her economic status, but her education also brings her some economic income. as the author charlotte bronte suggests, education is only the first step to janes independence. after a long and hard struggle, janes independence is achieved through inheriting the legacy. moreover, this thesis also shows that janes final reunion with rochester is determined by her receiving the legacy. because not only does the legacy give jane the sense of equality, but also the legacy makes it possible for her to unite with rochester as an equal.2.1 janes economically determined miserable childhoodjanes miserable childhood has been discussed by the critics from the perspective of her sense of humiliation, identity and economic powerlessness. but a few more observations are added here, namely, the origin of janes poverty and the servants partiality towards jane.2.1.1 the origin of janes povertyjanes economic pennilessness is caused by her parents marriage. janes mother marries a clergyman against the wish of her father and her friends, who consider “the match beneath her” (bronte, 1996:26). thus she is “cut off without a shilling” (bronte, 1996:26). when janes parents die of disease, jane becomes a penniless orphan. here, “the match beneath her” contains economic bias. it is because janes father is “a poor clergyman” (bronte, 1996:26) that he is considered not a match for janes mother. therefore this economic bias directly leads to janes situation of pennilessness, which influences her hereditary prospect.american sociologist luhman states: “as new generations are born into this society, they will likely step onto the shoes waiting for them, becoming high or low in both social class and social status as they inherit their parents wealth and good name (or poverty and bad name ) simultaneously.” (luhman, 1982:161)jane steps into her parents poverty at her birth. therefore, janes poverty is an economic result of her mothers marriage, and the basic reason is her grandfathers economic bias towards the poor. the bias is not just held by her grandfather, it is caused by the whole social background and class consciousness of the bourgeoisie, which means that it is difficult for jane to change her poverty origin.2.1.2 wealth differentiating jane from the reed family membersat the beginning of the novel, a contrast is made between jane and the reed family. janes life is described by the words like “chidings of bessie”, “humbled”, “physical inferiority”, and “exclude me from privilege” (bronte, 1996:7), etc, while the reeds children are “clustered around their mama” and “looked perfectly happy” (bronte, 1996:7). reading further, one is likely to find such a short conversation between jane and john.“what do you want?” i (jane) asked.“say, what do you want, master reed?”. (bronte, 1996:9)in this conversation, jane is forced to address john as “master reed”. obviously john must be superior to jane because he has some power over jane. in this conversation, john is trying to make jane be aware of that their relationship is that between master and servant. but where does johns power comes from? and why jane is the underprivileged and oppressed one? maybe jane herself does not know the exact reason. however, johns remarks provide an answer to jane: “ you are a dependent, mama says, you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentlemans children like us, and eat the same meals we do, and wear clothes at mamas expenses.” (bronte, 1996:9) johns every word hits the point: jane is economically dependent on reeds family and janes pennilessness justifies johns maltreatment to her.marx says, “the household is not a reflection of the relationship between biological beings. instead, it is a reflection of social relationships”. marx also specifies: “the social relationship of the household predominantly refers to the economic and property relationship among the family members.” (hurst, 1992:187) marxs theory is applicable to janes situation. john is the owner or, the prospective owner of gateshead, but jane is just a dependent resident in it. as johns remarks suggest, jane belongs to another classan inferior class to johnto beg. according to weber, class at its core is an economic concept.except for economic background, jane is superior to the reeds children: “eliza, who was head-strong and selfish, was universally indulged.” (bronte, 1996:15) john, “he was not quick either of vision or conception.” (bronte, 1996:15) and “was still her own darling ” (bronte, 1996:15). from these quotations, we see that except for material condition, the reeds children are inferior to jane in many aspects. but they are economically tied to mrs. reed and can enjoy a happier life. the reason lies in the fact that janes hereditary background is different from that of the reeds children. nothing but wealth differentiates them. so having been born into the upper class leads one into experiences different from these of people born into the lower class. comparatively speaking, jane is born into the lower class, so it is destined for her to have different experiences from those of the reeds family.2.1.3 the servants partiality towards janeat gateshead, the servant bessie claims “im fond of you (jane) than all the others.” (bronte, 1996:40) but she has to help lock jane in the red room, which inflicts the most miserable memory on jane. apparently, bessie is not free to show her likes or dislikes. another servant openly tells jane “not to think yourself on an equality with the misses reed and master johnthey will have a great deal of money” (bronte, 1996:13). these words again tell us that jane and the reeds children are economically unequal, so the servants have to treat them differently.so far, the economic restrictions at gateshead are revealed. john is the prospective master, so he is at the top of the economic ladder at gateshead and he must be well respected. jane realizes that “the servant did not like to offend their young master by taking my (janes) part against him.” (bronte, 1996:10) because the servants are economically tied to gateshead, they have to be cautious not against john. meanwhile, the servants are economically superior to jane, so they can scold little jane at their will. jane is too young to earn money, and economically she is “less than a servant” (bronte, 1996:12). jane remains at the bottom of the economic chain and always confronts with “insuperable and rooted aversion” (bronte, 1996:27). this analysis shows clearly that the relationship at gateshead is rather economically-oriented.in this section, a discussion is made on janes miserable childhood from physical and psychological aspects. physically, janes poverty comes from a kind of economic bias. psychologically, jane suffers from a sense of humiliation because of her dependent economic issue. such economic elements constitute janes miserable childhood.2.2 janes economically conditioned educationthat janes education is vital to her growth has been discussed by several critics abroad and at home. but the previous comments have not specified that economic elements are important to janes education. the critics just state it in a roundabout way. in this section, it is argued that on one hand, janes education is closely related to her economic condition; on the other hand, education brings jane economic income.2.2.1 education closely related to ones economic statuscharlotte bronte once said, “formal education is the first step to independence”. jane receives her education in lowood. when she first arrives in lowood, the ignorant jane asks, “do we pay no money? do they keep us for nothing?” (bronte, 1996:50) then helen answers, “we pay, or our friends pay, fifteen pounds a year for each.” (bronte, 1996:50) this conversation shows that even in a charitable school, janes education is economically conditioned. marx says, “at any time, the educational activities must be guaranteed by some certain kind of manpower, material and financial resources and conditioned on a sound material base. thus, social economic development basically restricts the development of education.” (gao, 1989:27) as to the personal growth, marx also says, “every phase of history will meet with a certain kind of material reality, productivity, capital and physical surroundings. all of these preconditions affect the living condition of the next generation.” (gao, 1989:27)hurst (1992) suggests that jane and ingrams education is basically distinguished by their economic status. it seems that john and janes education is also economically differentiated. as a dependent at gateshead, jane has no right to touch a book. accordingly janes education must be confined by her economic situation. first, janes choice of school is closely related to her economic situation. mrs. reed is janes benefactress, but she is reluctant to pay good money for janes education. as jane puts it, “she (mrs. reed) sincerely looked on me as a compound of virulent passions, mean spirit and dangerous duplicity.” (bronte, 1996:18) thus, the only choice left for jane is to go to the charitable schoollowood. conversely, john is mrs. reeds dearest son, so mrs. reed is willing to send him to a better school to secure better education. therefore, janes education is largely determined by the economic relationship with mrs. reed. in this way, people can tell that janes education is largely conditioned by her economic status.2.2.2 education removing jane from povertymarx (1983) also discusses the relationship between education and economy. that is, on one hand, education is strongly restricted by “material foundation”. on the other hand, “education would promote the development of economy”.chinese critic ma (1988) suggests that jane can only support herself by means of being a governess. he stresses that it is the only way open for jane or almost every woman in the victorian age. he implies that if jane had not been educated, she would not have been a governess simply because the level of education is an important factor in the level of occupational advancement. after receiving the education, jane is capable of being a governess. janes entering into the occupation significantly means that her social class is raised, because “occupation is the clearest indicator of social class.” (luhman, 1982:163) some american sociologists hold the view that in modern american society, wealth and prestige will rely on the occupation, so they strongly recommend taking occupation as a criterion to classify the society. on the other hand, janes being a governess means that she can earn some money to support herself. so through education, jane can rid herself of the situation of pennilessness. moreover, “the reward is closely related to education, especially the degree of education and personal social status.” (thelot, 1991:177) janes entering into the occupation means she is upgraded in social class and economic status. maybe this is why rigby strongly objects to jane. rigby says that jane is ungrateful to anything, including the care and education. to some extent, rigbys idea sounds reasonable. without mrs. reeds fifteen pounds a year, janes life will be another story.what is emphasized here is that economy and education are closely related. in other words, janes