（英语语言文学专业论文）从诗意到真实——《简·爱》和《维莱特》对比研究.pdf

iii 从诗意到真实 从诗意到真实 简爱和维莱特对比研究 简爱和维莱特对比研究 学科专业：英语语言文学 研究方向：英美文学 导 师：张叔宁教授 研究生：程 颖 年级：2004 级 摘要 摘要 夏洛蒂勃朗特是 19 世纪最伟大的英国女作家之一。在她的四部小说中， 简爱毫 无疑问是人们最熟悉并且是最喜欢的。目前，国内对夏洛蒂的研究仍然侧重于简爱 。虽 然维莱特在国外文学评论界享有很高的声誉，在我国却鲜为人知。而且，目前大多数研 究还只是孤立地研究某一部作品，较少深入挖掘简爱和维莱特这两部小说之间的 内在联系。 本文采用比较研究的方法，通过比较简爱和维莱特这两部小说，在展示其共 同特点的同时，着重分析它们的差异，并探讨其生成的内在因素，从而帮助人们更深入地了 解夏洛蒂勃朗特以及女性在现代社会中的地位。 本文共分五个部分。 第一章引言部分简要介绍了夏洛蒂勃朗特的生平，概述了国内外对这两部作品的评价 以及本文的写作意义。 第二章从人物与情节两方面着重研究浪漫主义的诗意特征在小说简爱中的具体体 现。在简爱里，夏洛蒂主要描述了她诗意的生活。女主人公简爱是她想象中的理想 女性。大团圆的美满结局及神秘的超自然的哥特式情节都显示了小说中的浪漫主义情调。 第三章也主要从人物与情节两方面分析小说维莱特中的现实主义特征。在维莱特 里，夏洛蒂描述了她的真实的生活。她通过真实的人物形象，现实的故事结局以及改进的哥 特式题材告诉人们她如何看待生活，她如何思考，如何感受，而不是她认为别人指望她怎样 思考，怎样感受。这也就是维莱特比其他所有作品更现实的缘故。 当然，诗意与真实是相对的。本文提到的简爱中诗意的特征与维莱特中真实 的特征指的都是两部小说的主要特征，即夏洛蒂不同创作阶段的主要特征。 第四章对简爱和维莱特进行了对比研究，比较分析两部小说的写作风格由诗 意到真实的转变，并探讨了导致这种转变的因素。 最后一章结论对整篇文章进行概括总结。 在过去的几十年里，妇女的政治地位社会地位确实有了很大的提高，但她们仍然面临许 多问题。因此简爱和维莱特的对比研究，对倡导女性的经济独立与自由，唤醒妇 女的自我意识及建立高度和谐的爱情婚姻观仍具有一定的现实意义。 iv 关键词：诗意 真实 简爱 维莱特 v from poetic life to true life -a comparative study of jane eyre and villette major: english linguistic and literature orientation: english and american literature supervisor: professor zhang shuning postgraduate: cheng ying grade:2004 abstract charlotte bronte is one of the most remarkable english women writers of the nineteenth century. among her novels jane eyre is undoubtedly best known and most warmly welcome. at present most of the researches on charlotte still focus on jane eyre. although villette has interested and impressed many literary critics in englishspeaking countries, it doesnt catch much attention in china. in addition, these researches mostly make an isolated study on one novel, jane eyre or villette. little research has been done to explore the hidden relevance between the two novels. this paper tries to use a comparative approach to illustrate the similarities and differences between the two novels, with the emphasis on their differences and relevant factors. the author of this paper focuses her research on the comparative study of jane eyre and villette, in the hope of shedding some light, however feeble it may be, upon the whole issue of charlotte bronte and womens status. this thesis is divided into five parts. chapter one briefly introduces charlotte brontes life, literature reviews of these two novels and significance of this study. chapter two touches on the poetic features in jane eyre from two aspects: heroine and plot. in jane eyre charlotte mainly depicts her poetic life. the heroine jane eyre is an ideal woman in her imagination. and the romantic happy ending and mysterious gothic structure also make the novel imbued in a romantic supernatural atmosphere. chapter three explores the realistic features in villette also from the same two aspects. in this novel charlotte describes her true life. by means of the realistic heroine and ending, and modified gothic structure she tells us how she has looked at life, what she has thought and felt, and not what others expect her to have thought and felt. this is exactly what makes villette more realistic than her other writings. of course, “poetic” and “true” are relative words. the poetic features discussed in jane eyre as well as the realistic ones talked about in villette both refer to the main features in each novel and in different periods of charlottes writing. chapter four makes a comparative study of jane eyre and villette, deals with the shift from vi poetic life of charlotte to her true life, and discusses the factors that influenced such shift. the last chapter makes a conclusion of the whole paper. actually, nowadays women still face serious obstacles though their political and social status has risen steadily over the past decades. so to some extent, the comparative study of these two novels jane eyre and villette may be helpful to awake womens self-awareness and advocate their economic independence and freedom, and thus it may help women to build up their healthy view on love and marriage and find a way out in the society. key words: poetic; true; jane eyre ; villette ii acknowledgements first of all, i would like to express my gratefulness to my supervisor professor zhang shuning for his precious time of correcting my paper, for his patient instruction and invaluable criticism and insightful suggestions, which have made this thesis possible. i am also indebted to my teachers at college of foreign studies of guangxi normal university, who have taught me so much on a wide variety of knowledge which is indispensable for this thesis. to some of the teachers especially, my debt is particularly great: qiu yi, liu yuhong, lu yutai and lu xiaohong. finally, i would like to take the opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to my family and my classmates, without whose support i would not have completed this thesis. 1 from poetic life to true life -a comparative study of jane eyre and villette chapter one introduction 1.1 charlotte brontes life and her major works charlotte bronte is one of the most remarkable english women writers of the nineteenth century. she wrote four complete novels: the profess, jane eyre, shirley and villette, among which jane eyre and villette are best known and have always been objects of heated discussion in the literary circle. charlotte bronte was born on april 21, 1816, as the third daughter of a poor country clergyman at haworth, yorkshire, in northern england. other two well-known women novelists, emily bronte and anne bronte both were her sisters. the six children lost their mother when they were all very young, and in less than four years charlottes two elder sisters were dead in a charity school. the unhealthy situation of the school, for example, the appalling food and the harsh discipline are portrayed unmercifully by charlotte in jane eyre. after that charlotte and emily were brought home and educated by their father and aunt. and after the two eldest sisters death, marias role as mother to the younger ones fell on charlotte. in the subsequent years, it was she who planned for herself and her sisters, trying to get them adequately equipped to earn their living by teaching, and later spurring them on to make something of their unique creative gifts by seeking a publisher for their various literary enterprises. in january 1831, charlotte was sent to roe head school firstly as a pupil then a teacher. during the time when she stayed in this school, her hard work had made up for her deficiencies caused by informal education, which made great contribution to her later writings. another great achievement charlotte gained in this period was the two fast friendships from her two classmates ellen nussey and mary taylor, which lasted her whole life. with the idea of opening a small school of their own at home, charlotte and emily went to brussels to study at the pension heger in 1842. it was in brussels where charlotte met mr. heger, who was considered one of the most important prototypes of her principal characters. charlottes experience in brussels provided much material for her novels, which were depicted in detail in the professor and villette. in 1846, charlotte and her sisters published a volume of poems: poems by currer, ellis and acton bell, under the names with the same capitals of their own. although their poems were not as sensational as expected, the brontes were stimulated to attempt novels. on october 16, 1847 jane eyre was published and became an immediate success. then shirley and villette came out in 2 succession. since then she had ventured a little into society, visited london, and become friendly with some leading literary figures such as thackeray, harriet martineau and mrs. gaskell. the last one wrote her biography several years later. in 1854, charlotte entered on a happy but pitifully brief marriage life with arthur nicholls, her fathers curate. she died in 1855, weakened by a lingering cold and the illness of her pregnancy. 1.2 literature reviews of the novels since the first publication of her novels, the reviews of charlottes novels have witnessed the development of different literary theories, such as romanticism, realism, formalism, marxism and feminism. in fact, charlottes four complete novels were met with immediate critical and popular acclaim in their appearance, especially jane eyre and villette. the manuscript of jane eyre was accepted overnight and became an immediate success, in favor of ordinary readers and most critics. after the publication of her biography by mrs. gaskell in 1857, the life of charlotte bronte, most reviews of charlotte in this period laid much emphasis on the biographical aspects. for emile montegut, charlottes enthusiastic french critic, the direct reflection of charlottes personal life in jane eyre and villette was one source of her strength in these novels. villette started to exercise the strong pull from many critics in the later 1950s and the 1960s. r. b. colbys villette and the life of the mind is an important contribution to the studies of charlotte. and roy pascal, as well as many other critics, saw in villette the final stage in charlottes progress to maturity. since the 1950s there were more and more fresh attempts to assess charlottes novels, mostly concerning the relative merits of jane eyre and villette, which are universally agreed to represent charlottes most successful achievement. during this period the critics brought forward their fresh views on charlottes novels in combination of insights of different literary theories from psychoanalysis to marxism. with the enthusiasm of feminist criticism, charlottes novels still rivet a great deal of academic interest. and with the rising of the feminist movement, the rereading of the classics causes new ideas on jane eyre and villette. the first chinese translation of charlottes novels was the abridged version of jane eyre, coming out in 1935. initially the novel was introduced into china as a work of a woman writer. after that charlottes other works were introduced to china one after another, and charlotte was considered as one of the most talented english women novelists in the world. jane eyre, the small but passionate heroine, was known to every household in china. compared with jane eyre, it seems that villette never won such great popularity. although villette has interested and impressed many literary critics in englishspeaking country, it didnt catch much attention in china. till the time when this paper was finished, there were less than 10 3 essays on villette written by chinese critics were found. whats more, at present most of the research deals with only one novel, jane eyre or villette, and little research has been done to explore the hidden relevance between the two novels. however, as charlottes two representative and autobiographic novels, there is no doubt that there must be some similarities and differences between jane eyre and villette. thus the author of this paper wants to focus her research on the comparative study, in the hope of shedding some light, however feeble it may be, upon the whole issue of charlotte bronte. 1.3 significance of the study of course, charlotte and her works not only exercised a great effect on her contemporary literature, and they are also of great practical significance on our present society, especially on improving chinese womens status. as we all know, the inferior status of women was traditionally accepted in ancient china, and over thousands of years chinese women have struggled for their equal rights. in fact, with the establishment of the peoples republic of china, chinese womens political and social status has risen steadily over the past decades. but they still face serious obstacles. discrimination and prejudice against “strong women” is deeply rooted in china, an outgrowth of its long feudal history. so under such conditions, the comparative study of jane eyre and villette is still of profound social significance on improving womens position. what is the correct and complete way to womens equality and emancipation? through the comparative study of the novels we may get some suggestions. to the first known introducer of jane eyre in china, the novel was, first and foremost, a work of a woman writer, and the earliest mention of the bronte sisters was found in the series on western women novelists published in 1917 in ladies magazine, a journal “cordially advocating womens emancipation”. in her novels, charlotte intensely reflects the demand for equality of men and women in social and family life, which makes great contribution to the world womens movement which undoubtedly includes chinese womens liberation. for lots of years, jane eyre is highly praised for her persistent strife for true love and her affirmation in womens equal status in society. she is taken as a representative of all her women contemporaries who were wretchedly subordinated to men and craving for the shattering of mens oppression, which is believed to be universal in class societies. in this sense, jane eyre actually inspires women to challenge, reshape and overthrow the traditional wronged womanhood and lift their heads to look at the large world. however, when we come to the end of this novel, well have second thought about jane eyres conception of “equality and independence”, which is the focus of recent critics. writing in1960, r.b. 4 martin, who makes many fine points about jane eyres techniques and meaning, argues that: the novel is frequently cited as the earliest major feminist novel, although there is not a hint in the book of any desire for political, legal, educational, or even intellectual equality between the sexes. miss bronte asks only for the simple-recognition that we the same heart and the samespheres.1 (r. b. martin, 1966: 93-94) rather, martin supports the idea that jane merely wants recognition that both sexes are similar in “heart and spirit”. to some degree, martins opinion may seem to be extreme, but we can get the hint from his statement that the problem of equality and independence of women are not completely solved in jane eyre. villette provides us with another solution to womens problems. in this novel the heroine lucy snowe has formed a mature idea of reality and equality. “equality” is really an important topic in both novels. but which is the correct way to it, janes or lucys? this question is still of profound significance to contemporary women. so to some extent, the comparative study of these two novels jane eyre and villette may be helpful to awake womens self-awareness, advocate their economic independence and freedom, and thus it may help women to build up their healthy view of love and marriage and find a way out in the society. 5 chapter two poetic features in jane eyre of charlottes four published novels, jane eyre is undoubtedly best received by readers. the titular heroine, jane eyre, a penniless orphan, is brought up by her aunt mrs. reed， who heaps upon her all kinds of bad treatment. jane eyre reacts strongly against mrs. reeds ill-treatment. as a result she is sent to a charity school, lowood asylum. the vivid description of the “wretched fare, exacting tyranny, puritanical pretension and systematic hypocrisy” in this school reminds readers of the authors own childhood experience. after her years of misery in this school jane eyre seeks a situation as a governess in thornfield hall, where she meets mr. rochester who she falls in love with and who is also attracted to her. however, their wedding ceremony is prevented by the bitter fact that rochester has a mad wife. unhesitatingly jane leaves thornfield and rochester, and is taken in by a clergyman st. john rivers and his sisters, who finally turn out to be her relatives. hearing rochesters mysterious call, jane returns to thornfield hall only to find that thornfield hall has been burnt down and rochester is blinded in the attempt to save his mad wife in vain. at the end, with her uncles legacy jane marries rochester and lives a happy life. so we can see that in jane eyre charlotte mainly depicts her poetic life. she talks about her imaginative life, describing the woman she would like to be, the life she would have had, the characters she would have liked to meet and how she would have liked to love and who she could have loved, and what treasures of eloquence she would have had always ready to bestow on her lover. finally in spite of all her sufferings, like most fairy tales, the heroine lives with her lover, happy and content. in short, jane eyre is charlottes romantic but impossible dream, a cinderella story with some great change. emile montegut has stated that “jane eyre would be entitled the poetic life (of charlotte).” of course, we can also find some realistic descriptions in jane eyre, but comparatively speaking, poetic features are the main characteristics in this novel. and this part will discuss such poetic features in jane eyre from two aspects: heroine and plots. 2.1 an ideal heroine-jane eyre since the appearance of jane eyre, its plain, poor and little but still passionate governess heroine jane eyre is almost known to every household. though she is not as beautiful as the heroines in charlottes contemporary novels, she is the ideal woman in charlottes imagination, and the one who she would like to be. 2.1.1 physical condition in the novel of jane eyre charlotte portrays a heroine with no beauty, no money and no parents, who should fight