浅析简爱中的叙述学和女性主义.doc

Analysis of Narratology and feminism in Jane EyreA ThesisSubmitted to College of Foreign LanguagesCollegeIn Partial Fulfillment of the RequirementsFor the Degree of Bachelor of ArtsMay2013ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply indebted to Mao Huimin, my supervisor, who has given me constant and valuable advice, read my drafts through meticulously an offered incisive comments on them. Without her help, the thesis could never have reached its present form. I am also extremely grateful to Wangyan, my supervisor, who not only helped m collect the corpus, but also gave me a lot of useful materials and advice when I did my teacher practice in Heze Experimental Middle School. I owe particular thanks to those students who kindly and seriously wrote the compositions, which were used as the corpus in this study. Without their writings, this research would not have been able to be conducted. My sincere gratitude also goes to all my teachers who have given me excellent lectures and great help, which is dispensable to the completion of this thesis. I also give my hearty thanks to all my roommates who offered me generous help and useful suggestions in the process of writing this thesis. Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to all the writers whose works are referred to in this thesis.摘 要 夏洛蒂勃朗特是英国甚至世界上杰出的女作家之一，其代表作简爱更是一部家喻户晓、深受大众喜爱的作品，女主人公简爱以她独立自强、追求平等的精神激励着一代又一代人，简爱只有一个处于中心位置的叙述者，她淋淋尽致地抒发着自己的主观权威性评论，给读者以积极主动的影响。单一叙述者简爱塑造了仅有的一个虚构域，她的叙述接受者是虚构之外的广大读者。简爱作为讲故事的追述者，把叙述起点选择在故事的起点，小说的故事时序和叙述时序成一一重叠对应的状态，不蔓不枝，以物理方式直线向前发展。以女主人公简爱的经历为主线，讲述了一个坚强，独立，自尊与自信的女性爱情故事，塑造了一位值得赞美，歌颂的女教师形象。文章讨论了简爱的反抗意识，集中反映在她为自由，平等，独立和女性尊重而战。在盖茨黑德，简爱由顺从到为生存而战，在劳渥德，她为女性尊重和平等而战，也为拥有平等爱而战。最后她赢得了罗切斯特的爱，过着幸福的生活，而对简爱这个举目无亲，任人欺凌的无助少女，最终跻身上层社会，成为贵妇的陡然转变，有人则说是“真和善的统一”。上述种种评论，虽然都表现了评论家关于文学的社会思考，但都没有从文化和人性的较深揭示人类，尤其是女性、社会生存的文化本质。关键词：简爱 ； 女性意识 ； 平等；自由； 爱情ABSTRACTCharlotte Bronte is one of the most well-known writers in Britain and even in the whole world, enjoying great reputation attributable to her masterpiece Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre only has a center narrator who expresses her own comments subjectively and freely and positively impact the readers. The single narrator Jane shapes only one fiction domain whose receivers are readers. The narrator Jane puts the narrative starting at the start of the story, and then the story time and the narrate time become corresponding. This thesis discusses the rebellious character of Jane, which reflects in her struggle for freedom, respect, independence and equality. In Gateshead, Jane Eyres character develops from obedience to rebellion for mere survival. In Lowood, she rebels for respect and equality. Jane Eyre also struggles hard for equal love, in the end she wins Rochesters love and lives happily. Jane Eyres character development reflects womans dream in Victorian age to obtain freedom and equality. All the above-mentioned comments on Jane Eyre, although containing some social considerations on literature on the part of literary critics, fail to especially female, survival in society. Key words: “female consciousness”； equality；freedom ；love；CONTENTS摘要1Abstract2一、Narrative strategies of the novel3（一） First-person narrative3（二）Androgynous mode of narration5二、Jane Eyre s feminism7(一) Jane Eyre s Unconvention Presented in her Experience of Marriage and Love7(二) Equality and Independence in Her Attitude To wards Love8(三) Pursuit of Equality and Liberty10(四) Obtaining Consummate Love11Conclusion11Work Cited12一、Narrative strategies of the novel Narrative is a fancy word for an account of real or imagined events, in other words a story. Narrative Strategies are the techniques writers employ to tell stories, how the stories can be told in the most possible interesting way. These include: Point of View,Audience, Characterization, Plot (events of a story), Structure (organization of a work),Genre, Diction (word choice).（一） First-person narrativeFirst-Person Narrators means that the I who narrates the story and participates init with varying degrees: firstly, innocent Eye: emphasizes the narrators imperfect awareness and the audiences superior awareness; secondly, observer: The first-person version of an effaced narrator. One should pay attention to how the before introducing the narrator with special self-evident characteristics such as honesty, perceptiveness, etcetera, the author persuades the reader that the narrator is worthy of his attention and trust; thirdly, participant: the narrators own behavior affects his interpretation of events and finally, thinly-veiled (implied) Author:often unnamed and deceptive. What sorts of questions might we ask in this situation to distinguish the author and narrator in this situation? The first-person point of view usually gives readers the impression of a more believable illusion of reality by inviting them to participate in the actions through close identification with the I narrator and a narrating protagonist is like an autobiographer who is the most qualified authority to dissect and interpret his or her inner world. It is generally acknowledged that the novel as a literary genre has evolved from first-person narrative presentations such as diaries, epistles, confessions,travelogues and sermons of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, yet ironically in the old days first-person narration was sometimes considered an awkward and less effective technique in novel writing. In fact, the history of is being regarded as an inferior literary technique can be traced back to the ancient Greek and Roman periods. According to Scholes and Kellogg, authors of the historical works of pre-Roman period alway employ third-person narrative because they believe that a detached, objective third-person narrator is more reliable than a one sided eye-witness. As for Greek romance, though there is a large number of works using first-person narration, yet the author-narrator would never claim to have been an eye-witness to participate in the even the is narrating. For the most part, Scholes and Kellogg remark, these fictions are content to be fictional, without striving for either verisimilitude or authenticity. As time moved to 19th century, the well-known literary critic, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, dismissed first- person narration as the least perfect mode of any, although she credited the first-person narrative with the advantages of both warmth and“a great air of truth.There are some reasons that she is not satisfied with the first-person narration: firstly, itconfines the authors stile (sic).to the supposed talents and capacity of the imaginary narrator; secondly, the first-person narrator could not possibly give detailed, truthful accounts of what have happened at the early stage of his life at the close of along life.And moreover, The author has all along two characters to support, for he has to consider how his hero felt at the tome of the events to be related, and how it is natural hes hod feel them at the time he is relating them; at a period, perhaps, when curiosity is extinguished, passion cooled, and when.the suspense which rendered them interesting is over. There are some limitations inherent in a first-person narrative. The narrators vision is restricted-he or she can not see or know everything that has happened; he or she has access to only his or her own mind; he or she suffers inevitably from bias and prejudice due to limited knowledge and personal involvement. In contrast, an omniscient narrator has almost all advantages: familiarity with all the characters innermost thoughts and feelings; knowledge of past, present and future; presence in locations where characters are supposed to be unaccompanied. and knowledge of what happens in several, places at the same time. The omniscient narrative allows an author more freedom. Since there is nothing he or she should not know of or could not tell of, it also becomes a great challenge to the authors skill and ability. In view of the challenge, major of Victorian novelists have tended to prefer the convention of omniscience. For example, Thackeray,there is only one out of his eight works which is written in first-person perspective. And respectively, in Trollope there is one out of twenty-four; in George Eliot, one out of nine;Dickens has adopted first-person narration in three novels. But in one of them (Bleak House) he actually employs both first-person and omniscient perspective; in Hardy, there is not a single narrator. Therefore, in J. Hill is Millers criticism of the wrings of Thackeray, Dickens, Trollope, George Eliot and Hardy, pronounces decisively that the omniscient narrator is the most important constitutive convention for the form of Victorian fiction. In this way, Bronte seems to be against tide of literary of that time. As the omniscient narration was popular among the novelists, first-person narration had nevertheless enjoyed a much higher regard in the 19 century. It was the period just developing the modern yearning for the actual, and Scholes and Kellogg consider thatautobiography should flourish, and. writers as different as Defoe and Richardson should go to great lengths to present their fictions in the form of actual autobiographical documents. And in the view of Scholes and Kellogg, the first -person narration is the natural form of mimetic literature: Circumstantialities, verisimilitude, and many more of the qualities which we recognize as identifying characteristics of realism in narrative are all natural functions of the eye-witness point of view. To sum up, the force of the first-person narratives not completely ignored all the development was compelled by some experimental spirits and functional yields.（二）Androgynous mode of narration Many critics have read the Brontes novels as critiques of strict between masculinity and femininity; they androgyny, and cross-gendered behavior have pointed to themes Victorian divisions of cross-dressing,in the texts of all three Bronte sisters.Androgynous means double gender, is figured as both feminine and feminist, as a strategy for negotiating differences between and within male and female, center and margin, inside and outside, public and private, realism and romance. To be double is to resist categorization as one thing or the other; to invoke doubleness is to address binary oppositions without resting comfortably in either of the two terms being opposed.As Frances L.Restuccia puts it, Feminism has no choice but doubleness. Inasmuch as feminist theory seeks to undermine Western cultures penchant for binary opposition(and the inevitably resulting hierarchies), it makes sense that doubleness一a trope figuring binaries not as opposed, but as coexisting一would appeal to feminists seeking to describe women s potentially subversive writing practice. Bronte is much consciouslywritten by gender codes as she is actively engaged in rewriting them. I am arguing that narratological analysis is a means of making visible women authors activism in exposing and complicating oppressive binary categories within culture. In the novel, Jane Eyre, though possessing the feminine character tics such as tenderness and obedience, displays more masculine characters such as activeness,toughness. This image can encourage women to stand up, to strive for equality, freedom and independent life, and to realize their subjectiveness by living a more active life. We can see the perfect combination of female and male of power on Jane. Firstly, lets see how the male makes comments on Jane. St. John says to Jane:“.you have a mans vigor ous brain, you have a womans heart and-it would not do. You are original,said he, and not timid. There is something brave in your spirit, as well as penetrating in your eye; but allow me to assure you that you partially misinterpret my emotions.(Jane re) And Rochester also finds the strange contrast on Jane: her clothing and behaviors are bounded, and the look is always cowardly, but when others talk to her, she will look at peoples speaking face with her sharp, bold and bright eyes and gives a glimpse which has a vision and power. From the above sentences, we know they think Jane does not only have the feminine character as tenderness but also has the male character as braveness. It is the image of androgynous mode that liberates Jane from the standard female image which is required by father authority and it acts as an important role as subvert and rebel to traditional father authority culture. 二、Jane Eyre s feminism(一) Jane Eyre s Unconvention Presented in her Experience of Marriage and LoveIn her marriage and love experience, Janes insistence on equality and freedom features her character of unconventional. The crucial scenes in the work Jane Eyre turn on the nature of this freedom: she does not want Rochester to regard her as an automatona machine without feelings. At the same time, she does not want him to think she is soulless and heartless because she is poor, obscure, plain, and little, either. Instead she insists that she has as much soul as he,and full as much heart. She tells him that she is not talking to him then through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal fleshit is her spirit that addresses his spirit, just as if both had passed through the grave, and they stood at Gods feet, equal, as they are. She says that she is a free human being with an independent will, which she then exerts to leave him as she believes Rochester will marry Blanche Ingram. The fulfilling happiness of her own marriage to him is expressed in terms of free dom: To be together is for us to be at once as free as in solitude, as gay as in company. So, even in marriage and love, Jane strives for independence and liberty. When she gets to know Rochesters mad wife is living,she feels she must leave Thornfield at once. For she is clear if she lives with Rochester as he desires, she should then be his mistress and she will lose her independence and liberty. She does leave him quietly, even though she has nothing with her and has no idea about her future. She leaves him for the reason that his mad wife is living. This shows her insistence in pursuing independence and liberty,her unconventional nature, on the other hand, it also shows her conventional oneshe wants to own a marriage in full meaning. Later, Jane meets St. John Rivers and accepts his kindness and aid. When St. John decides to go to India as a missionary, and he asks Jane to go with him as his wifenot because he admires her but wants her service as his assistance, Jane hesitates to accept his proposal. Her hesitation shows the contradictions of her nature. St. John has saved her life and has helped her to find a place in a country school to make a living. She feels indebted to him for his kindness and aid. It is very hard for her to refuse his proposal. These are the effects of her conventional nature. While, the unconventional nature makes her decline him. She feels that as his side always, and always restrains, and always checksforces to keep the fire of her nature continually low, to compel it to burn inwardly and never utter a cry, though the imprisoned flame consumes vital after vitalthat would be unendurable. Jane desires freedom and equality. It is definite that she can sacrifice all on the altar. But she does not want to lose love, together with liberty and independence.She is in thrall to St. John and he has sealed her fetters; she is in a rayless dungeon, a victim imprisoned and tortured; all because of her conventional nature. All these sufferings do not go to an end until finally she is released by Rochesters call. The image of her release is just a kind of means used by the novelist. It represents the waking of Janes unconventional naturestriving for equality, independence, liberty and true love.(二) Equality and Independence in Her Attitude To wards LoveIn order to lead an independent life, Jane works as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she meets Mr. Rochester. However, She is treated with disdain by the rich ladies of the upper-class, but she never be little herself, and she never feels she is inferior. She can live on her own efforts, Jane is satisfied with that. From her thought, we can see that Jane Eyre hoped everyone is equal. She doesnt think she is only a governess, who has low social position; she doesnt think she is only a paid subordinate, who should be obedient and humble; she doesnt like to pretend to be polite or elegant, but for the sake of politeness, maybe she should have behaved in an affected way. However, just because she is natural and at ease, she wins the appreciation of Mr.Rochester. Eventually, she falls in love with him too for his generous and kindness. From Jane s relations with Rochester, we can see that Bronte crys equality between men and women. She feels that she stood in an equal place to Rochester,“I have talked, face to face”“I have in something in my brain and in my heart in common with him.”And also, Jane was an emotional girl who desires to look for her own happiness. So she did not conceal her love to Rochester at all.“I find it unbearable that I must be separated from you for ever”As known to all, it would cause ridicule from the society, and they would think you are not a self-respecting girl. But Jane is not afraid of it, she just does what she thinks right freely. She has her own thoughts, do not admit the traditional concepts about womens virtues, and do not want to play the role of an traditional woman. The 19th century was Victorian age in English history, when the society was controlled by men, women were just appendants of men. Women in that period of time just wante