苔丝与海斯特悲剧命运的对比分析.doc

铜陵学院毕业设计（论文）Contents1. Introduction42. External Factors Attributing to the Fate of the Two Heroines52.1 Poor Family and Economic Condition52.2 Social Backgrounds52.3 Womens Low Status62.4 Two Men in Their Lives73. Internal Factors Attributing to the Fate of the Two Heroines93.1 Different Personalities93.2 Different Attitudes toward Love113.3 Different Ways of Communication124. Different Ending145.Conclusion14Bibliography16Acknowledgements17苔丝与海斯特悲剧命运的对比分析摘 要苔丝德伯和海斯特白兰分别是哈代和霍桑作品中塑造的两个著名的女性形象。虽然她们生活在不同的时代，不同的区域，但是两人却有着许多极其相似的地方，特别是她们的悲剧命运和起因。她们都有着美丽的外表和纯朴善良的心；她们都是两个男人的受害者；她们都经历了痛苦、磨难、反抗和追求幸福的心灵历程。她们的遭遇都反映了传统道德、虚伪的宗教及男权思想对妇女的压抑和摧残，她们的反抗和追求幸福的历程同样表现了女性对于平等权利和自由的追求。她们的社会背景和经历极其相似：相似的家庭背景和经济条件，当时妇女地位的低下和两人相似的悲惨遭遇，但同时两个人在性格上又有着很大的不同，从而导致了她们最终命运截然不同。一个是在与命运的抗争中获得了新生，另一个则在不幸的挣扎中遭到毁灭。本文通过对作品中外部因素和内部因素的对比分析，揭示了造成她们悲剧命运的复杂根源，同时论证了二人性格上的差异是决定她们各自命运的关键因素。关键词：悲剧命运；内因；外因；相似；不同；A Comparative Study of Tragic Destinybetween Tess and HesterAbstractHester Prynne and Tess are two eminent female figures in the works by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Thomas Hardy. The two heroines though live in different times, different places, share a lot in common in many perspectives, especially in their misfortunes and the causes of their tragedies. Both of them are physically attractive and kind hearted; both of them are victims of two men; both of them experience great hardships; and both of them have gone through difficulties and misfortunes and revolted against their fate bravely. Their tragedies reveal the suppression and persecution from the social conventions, hypocritical religion and the patriarchal society. Their revolt and the course of pursuit of love and happiness show their feminine consciousness of equal rights and freedom. Their backgrounds and experiences are extremely similar: similar family backgrounds and economic status, womens low status and similar tragic experiences. But, at the same time, Tess and Hester have a lot differences in personalities, which lead to their final different fateone assumes a new life through the fight against fate, the other is destroyed in the struggle. By analyzing the external and internal factors attributing to the fate of the heroines, this thesis reveals the common causes of their tragic life. And by comparing the common grounds and differences between the personalities of the two heroines, the thesis also concludes that their different characteristics are critical causes to the final destiny of their own.Keywords: tragic destiny; external factors; internal factors; similarities; differences A Comparative Study of Tragic Destinybetween Tess and Hester苔丝与海斯特悲剧命运的对比分析姓名： 班级： 学号：指导教师：文美莲 职称：副教授1. IntroductionTess and Hester are the two most excellent feminine artistic images molded respectively by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Thomas Hardy. Tess of the DUrbervilles draw from a love tragedy which happened Victorian British country; while The Scarlet Letter is set in the 17th century New England which is under the domination of North American Puritan, it tells a love tragedy happened in Boston.The two heroines have amazing similar causes of tragic fate. However, they own different destinies. Though living in different ages and places, Tess and Hester are the feminist representatives in their own ages. In the pursuit of their own happiness, both of them suffer the criticism from society and live a painful life. In their love tragedies, both Tess and Hester bear the suffering alone for their beloved and bear the injustice punishment exerted by the society. This thesis will analyze the external and internal factors that attribute to the fate of the two heroines. They both live in a poor family, facing economic problems, and have similar experiences in their youth, but they have different endings. It is mainly because they have different personalities and different attitudes toward love. Tesss weak character finally results in her unavoidable tragedy, while Hester makes every effort to change her situation, struggling against the hypocritical religion incessantly and she finally gains peoples affirmation. 2. External Factors Attributing to the Fate of the Two Heroines2.1 Poor Family and Economic Condition2.1.1 A Poor FamilyTess is born in a poor family which is a declining aristocratic one. The straitened financial circumstance of the family makes her live with great difficulty. From the very beginning of the story, her family occupies the poor farmers status. When the nag, the only economic basis of their livelihood, is hit and dies, the family goes bankrupt immediately. It is only then that Tess steps onto a road different from the past. Because of the bankrupt, Tess has no other choice but to claim kin with DUrbervilles family in Trantridge, a counterfeit relative with same surname.Hester is extremely similar to Tess in the family background. She also lives in the bottom of society with an impoverished family, having no alternatives. Its an ancient aristocratic family of the old England, which declines gradually; naturally there is no big wild hope about marriage in her. It is also out of the helpless life that the parents marry her with an old man, who is bodily feeble and abnormal.2.1.2 Poor Economic ConditionTesss and Hesters tragedies are decided by their backward current economic conditions. The impoverished economy is the first direct reason that causes their unfortunate destinies. Their family backgrounds are similar, they are both born in a poor family which are at the bottom of the society. Tess is a beautiful country girl, born in a declining aristocratic family. In order to change the bad impoverished condition, her mother let her to go to DUrbervilles, she is unwilling to go at first. But when she thinks of the nag-the only economic basis of their livelihood was died, for a living, Tess has to give in. This buries the foreshadowing for the insult she suffered from Alec and is the cause of a series of tragedies. Hester is born in a British family, it is an ancient aristocratic family but very poor. Her parents have to marry her with Chillingworth who is an old hypocritical scholar, she has no choice but to marry the old man, who is bodily feeble and abnormal. It is from this moment that her prologue of life tragedy begins.2.2 Social BackgroundsThe background of Tess of the DUrbervilles is the English countryside at the end of the nineteenth century. First of all, the society faces huge changes, the industrial revolution destroys the British rural traditional natural economy, traditional agricultures destruction makes a lot of farmers lose their land and become workers. They love their land but cant stop the invasion; their ignorance and parochialism make them confused. In order to survive, a large number of farmers leave their hometown. They suffer from exploitation of the economy, oppression of the spirit and sacrifice of the emotion. Tesss family is also in such a condition. Secondly, although the capitalistic mode of production has played the dominant role in the nineteenth century of the Victorian period, the feudal traditional moral still bound to peoples thoughts and the social moral prejudice still exists. After Tess is insulted by Alec, she should have been a victim, but becomes an immoral bad woman who has to bear the iniquity. It hits Tess heavily that Angel Clare abandons her for Brazil ruthlessly after he knows the past of her. Facing the traditional concept and the feudal decayed forces, Tess can not get rid of the traditional morality. All these lead to Tesss tragic ending.The Scarlet Letter is written in the seventeenth century, the Puritan colonial rule in the Boston as the background. The Puritans hope to purify the system and ceremony of the church, they are not allowed to have pagan ideas. Puritan society bounds human nature with the form of moral imperative. Hester lives in such an era that extreme religious doctrines destruct the human nature. Adultery is a serious breach of the pilgrims rules. Hester falls in love with the priest-Dimmesdale, it is certain to be punished under the background of the society at that time. She must wear the scarlet letter “A” in her chest and be insulted in public. The Puritan religious consciousness deeply infects everyone including Hester. After she is insulted in the public, she doesnt escape, but to stay alone to begin the long “sin” life in a hard environment. The scarlet letter “A” in her chest reminds her of the sin, and also keeps her working for atoning for her crime. The tragedy of Hester is inevitable.2.3 Womens Low StatusTess and Hester are both women. In the capitalist society, the statuses of man and women are not equal. Womens status is very low; they can not enjoy equal rights with men. Men can do anything they want to meet their desires and they are proud of it while women can not do anything against the moral. It will be considered a crime if a woman do something against the moral. This determines that the female can not escape from the dominance of the male and the fate.In the story Tess of the DUrbervilles, Alec is a frivolous amorist, a buck who idles about all day long. He seduces Tess by sweet words. He should have been punished, but he can get away with murder in the patriarchal system at that time. While Tess is an innocent victim, she must bear the crime of impurity just because she is a woman. It is funny that Tess met Alec the second time, he became a Christian who is full of evil and should be a criminal. And another hero, Angel Clare, he has the male education that he can not accept the fact that Tess is not pure though it is not her fault. Finally he abandons her ruthlessly and goes to Brazil alone. Angels love to Tess is shallow, he regarded Tess as a pure and perfect idol in his mind, he can not stand the destruction of the good image. If it is Alec who has ruined Tesss body and ended the happiness of her living, then it is Angel Clare who spiritually gives Tess the most striking blow, ending her short life.In The Scarlet Letter, Chillingworth coaxes beautiful young Hester to become his wife by sweet words at the beginning. Actually he marries with Hester not by love, just because he wants to resume his own youth. Their marriage is monstrous, it is unfair to Hester. After he leaves Hester without any reasons for a long time, he finds she is not loyal to him by chance. He tries his best to find out who is her lover and plans to take revenges. Dimmesdale, another hero in the novel, he is a victim, but he is also the person who makes the tragedy of Hester. He knows that he should be punished, but due to his fear and lack of courage, he lets Hester bear all the torture alone. Dimmesdale and Angel are both victims, but they are also the persons who make the tragedies of the heroines. It deeply reflects the truth that the women unable to escape from the society of male dominance. We can see that the statuses of men and women are not equal even between lovers. In the same condition, the tortures and responsibilities that women should take are much more than men in the patriarchal society.2.4 Two Men in Their Lives2.4.1 A Devilish Man in Their YouthAlec DUrbervilles and Roger Chillingworth are the men that serve as the devils in Tesss and Hesters lives. They are the sources of two womens tragedies. Alec is a product of the industrial age. He makes himself rich through money lending and usury. Amoral, hard-headed, and sexually aggressive, he has nothing in common with Tess. The first time Tess met Alec, he behaved as a playboy. Later, he takes advantage of her poverty, deceives her breed the poultry and finds an opportunity to seduce her. Thats the turning point of the innocent pure Tesss destiny. From then on, those days full of tranquility and happiness has gone far away from her. Four years later, he appears again when Tess is imbued with painful thoughts after her husband Angels departure. Alec takes advantage of her misfortune and forcibly occupied her again. Roger Chillingworth is a devil in Hawthornes work. In order to find out who is the father of Hesters child, he chooses to take revenge on the vicar. The distorted humanity changes him to an unforgivable monster and the extreme conflict between the good and evil. He clearly knows that Hester has never loved him, however, at that time, Hester is such a young girl that she even doesnt know what love is. Chillingworth deceives her in marrying him in order to obtain the familys warmth from her. Chilling worth is an inborn misshapen man. Deformed appearance and the misfortunate he has encountered exert great influence on his distorted character of selfishness. He feels he is destined to be a man out in the cold; he marries Hester in his old age. The disparity makes their marriage without love enthusiastically survive. As the husband of Hester, Chillingworth thinks he is absolutely the occupant of Hester, who is nothing more than an appendage of him. In the society permeated with cruel Puritanism and merciless authority of man, Chillingworth considered it as his privilege. Besides, he pretends to make friends with Dimmesdale and uses every means to tingle Dimmesdales nerves and infringes upon his soul until Dimmesdales psychology is disordered. He compels Hester to give up her rights of guardian of her little girl Pearl so as to break up the mother and child. This deepens her suffering.2.4.2 A Selfish Lover Angel Clare and Arthur Dimmesdale are Tesss and Hesters beloved ones. Love triumphs over everything. Love has no age, no limitation and no death. Love should be a matter of happiness. However, Angel Clear and Arthur Dimmesdales selfishness and hypocrisy profoundly result in the two womens tragedies.If Alec destroys Tess physically, Angel devastates her psychologically. Angel is a idealist, this kind of love built upon his idealizing of Tesss rural purity. Once the idealized character smashed, Angels love shattered. His name Angel reminds people of the beautiful heaven, a world of imagination. Ironically, Angel shows another aspect in the real world. On the wedding night, after hearing Tesss confession he could not forgive her and leaves her unconcernedly, regardless of his own dishonor past. From this point we may see Angel doesnt really love Tess. We see his hypocrisy from his adoption of two different criteria toward love. His behavior sufficiently shows traditional morality of bourgeoisie. In contract of Alec, Angel seems more selfish and false. His cruel deeds essentially ruin Tess.In The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale is not only a venerated preacher full of eloquence, but also a minister permeated with remorse and hypocrisy. From the novel we may discover there are essential differences in Dimmesdales appearance and his inner-world. As a prolocutor of Puritanism, he pretends to be virtuous in front of the public, maintaining his prosperous fame with each passing day. When Hester is sent to the scaffold with Pearl in her arms, as she has commits a crime of adultery, Dimmesdale stands here on behalf of God to judge the sinner. When Hester is suffering insult and can not conceal her ashamed face, Dimmesdale appears with infinite holy radiance. He is so attractive that the audiences throw their look at the minister Dimmesdale. His excellence makes Hester confirm her determination of not confessing the accomplice. He is just lacking the ability to be courageous enough to admit his sin to the world. All his enchantment, his intelligence, his cowardliness and his sordidness all reveal his hypocrisy. He let Hester be labeled an adulteress, while he just looks on. The minister is given several chances to redeem himself, but he cowers again and again.3. Internal Factors Attributing to the Fate of the Two Heroines3.1 Different Personalities3.1.1 The Traditional and Pure Tess Tess is a kind, pure woman who thinks that she could not obtain happy life from other means but work, even if she lives in a family full of vanity. After she was seduced by Alec, Tess does not like other girls who want to become Alecs wife or lover conveniently, but to leave Alec firmly, for she thinks that the sexual behavior with Alec has lost her face. She could not go against her will to admit that she loves the evil Alec, and it is the same with what she has said, “Perhaps, of all things, a lie on this thing would do the most good to me now; but I have honor enough left, little astis, not to tell that lie. If I did love you I may have the best ocauses for letting you know it. But I dont.”797 Tess has kept forefathers honest, simple moral notion which is few and far between these profit-before-everything and each-try-to-cheat-the-other days. The image of Tess symbolizes the traditional girl in the 19th century in England.Tess is a daughter of poor peasants, her beauty and temperament are harmony with the nature, she was “the natures daughter”. Tess is pure and does not mix up with any material gain. So she is not willing to betray herself to obtain profits. Her standards to judge things are also pure. She knows it is immoral to have sexual behavior with one who is not her husband. She uses this criterion to guide her action too. It is wise for her to leave the wicked place when she realizes her faults. In fact, she is right, consequently she owns a period of happy life, especially the times with Angel Clare . However, Tesss pure, honest moral criterion obliged her to tell Angle about her unfortunate experience, or she would feel guilty. Then it makes Angels leave and foreshadows her tragedy. After Angel departs from Tess, she still holds her moral criterion. But due to various elements, Tess could not keep her moral criterion and again seduces by Alec and returned to the embrace of Alec. She was so coward that she could not de