从女性主义的角度分析《简爱》.doc

Feminism Interpretation in Jane Eyre从女性主义的角度分析简爱摘要夏洛蒂勃朗特是十九世纪英国杰出的女作家，她的代表作简爱自出版以来受到读者和文学评论者的广泛关注和欢迎。从很大程度上讲，简爱被认为是作者的心理历程的自传体小说。夏洛蒂把自己的很多的人生经历和性格特点都赋予了她作品中的女主人公一简爱。外表平平、孤独贫苦、无依无靠的简爱在作品伊始就一直处于社会的边缘地位，因而经历了一个漫长的确定自己女性意识的痛苦的心理历程。此篇论文旨在从女性主义的角度，通过对作品中女主角简。爱、海伦及梅森的分析，揭示这部小说中所反映的维多利亚时期女性性别意识的觉醒和当时女性的社会地位，从而进一步了解作为女性作家的夏洛蒂在作品中反映出的女性作家的性别颠覆意识。论文第一章简要介绍了作品创作的社会背景、作品的类型及论文的主题。第二章阐明了该论文的理论依据一女性主义的形成以及对简爱创作的影响。第三章通过对比作者的人生经历和简爱的故事梗概，为后面章节从女性主义的角度进一步确定和探讨分析作者夏洛蒂的性别颠覆意识奠定基础。第四章分析了简爱的女性意识从萌芽、发展到成熟的三个主要阶段。简爱女性意识的发展也正映射出维多利亚时期女性主义的蓬勃发展及女性争取平等和权利的意识。第五章通过分析作品中三位主要女性简爱、海伦和梅森的命运，反映了作者所处时代的社会现实、女性地位和女性意识的局限性。第六章是论文的结论。维多利亚时期，女性作家夏洛蒂勃朗特通过对小说中女主人公的形象塑造表达作者特殊的女性话语，简.爱的形象成功驳斥了维多利亚时代认为女性天生是冲动的没有理性的动物。本文认为虽然女性意识的发展仍然受到社会等级和社会地位的限制，但总体来说，随着时代的发展，女性地位和女性意识都得到了不同程度的提高。关键词: 简爱; 夏洛蒂.勃朗特; 女权主义; Abstract Charlotte Brotte is a remarkable woman writer in the 19th-century English literature. Her masterpiece Jane Eyre received comprehensive attention and reception after published. Jane Eyre is the most popular one among her books for its spiritually attractive Cinderella-like heroine in love story. The heroine, Jane Eyre, is a passionate woman full of affection, which is unseasonable in her age. First of all, this thesis briefs the background in Victorian age and the theme of the paper. Secondly, the thesis gives an introduction to the theory feminism in the literary. The novel writing of this kind in Victorian age has great significance in offering feminine writers an opportunity to exercise their literary ability and express their special feminine voice. Thirdly, this thesis gives a brief review of Charlotte Brottes life experience and Jane Eyre. It introduces Charlotte Brottes own life experience and her view of point as a feminist from the novel because heroine Jane Eyre embodies Charlotte Brottes aspects of life and personality and shares much in common which lend a realistic overtone to the novel. Then the thesis analyzes Jane Eyres female consciousness and the feminism limitation in Jane Eyre. This thesis is dedicated to the study of profound meaning underlying in the female social, psychological and sexual reality in this novel in Victorian England. This thesis explores into the heroine Jane Eyre to study Charlotte Brottes special perspective on feminism in the patriarchal society.In conclusion, this thesis examines the nature of Charlotte Brottes pioneering literary feminism, and both the positive and negative characterizations of Jane Eyre in the text reveal the writers feminist value in the Victorian England. This paper also demonstrates that the positive development of female consciousness had achieved and also the limitation of female consciousness in the middle of 19th century.Key Words: Jane Eyre; Charlotte Brotte; feminism; equality; freedomChapter I Introduction Jane Eyre was published in 1847, in the early years of the Victorian period. The revolutionary fervor of the Romantic period was at bay. The American Revolution was almost three-quarters of a century in the past; the French Revolution has run its course; the Napoleonic Wars had ended before Charlotte Brotte was even born. Life in Charlotte Brottes England was relatively. stable, with everyone knowing his or her place in the social order and most people accepting that place without public complaint. The agitation for womens rights that had resulted from the revolutionary ideas that all people were entitled to equal opportunities had gone underground. Late eighteenth-century proponents of rights for women, such as Mary Wollstonecraft, had been discredited because of lifestyles that were considered wholly inappropriate during Victorian times. Those who espoused similar ideas tended to be pilloried in the press, tarred, as it were, by the same brush as their predecessors merely for publicly supporting womens rights. Into this world came Charlotte Brotte, the writer. Charlotte Brotte had been raised by a father who taught his children to think for themselves. Charlotte Broad learned to trust her instincts, instincts that encouraged her to believe that women, as well as men, had a need to dream, to explore, that they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do (Jane Eyre, 130). Charlotte Brotte wrote in a world in which the rebellions were not so much those of political entitles against one another as of individuals who recognized a need to stretch their wings and explore their abilities and desires more fully than the society of the day allowed. All experiences of Charlotte Brotte herself, her sisters, and her female friends has at school and work combined with her own ideas of romantic love, gleaned primarily from Romantic novels and poetry, to create the novel Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre Takes the form of both a fictional autobiography and a bildungsroman. As a autobiography, it presents the story of Janes life from her own adult perspective and in her own words. As a bildungsroman, it is the story of the education of an individual, both through formal education and by growing into maturity. By linking Janes stages of development to the various institutions or geographic locations with which she is involved (Gateshead, Lowood, Thornfield, Moor House, and Ferndean, in order), the book positions itself among a literary genre known as the Bildungsroman. The Bildungsroman, a novel that details the growth and development of a main character through several periods of life, began as a German genre in the seventeenth century, but by the mid-1800s had become firmly established in England as well. Such important Victorian novels as David Copperfield base themselves on this form, which continues as an important literary sub-genre even today. The Bildungsroman typically told the story of a man growing from boyhood to adulthood; Charlotte Brontes appropriation of the form for her heroine represents one of the many ways in which her novel challenges the accepted Victorian conceptions of gender hierarchy, making the statement that a womans inner development merits as much attention and analysis as that of a man. Still, although Jane herself and Jane Eyre as a novel are often identified as important early figures in the feminist movement, Jane experiences much inner questioning regarding her gender role; she is not a staunch and confident feminist at all times. That is, while Jane is possessed of an immense integrity and a determination to succeed on her own terms, her failure to conform to ideals of female beauty nonetheless troubles her and makes her question herself. This paper focuses on analyzing the rising and limitation of feminism in the Victorian England. The author tries to demonstrate in depth a great many characters designed to show ways of feminism expression.Chapter 2 Feminism in Literature The idea of feminism appeared several centuries ago, while even till now no definition can be given to it without sounding at least slightly vague. In the encyclopedia on line, feminism is defined as a social theory and political movement. Primary informed and motivated experience of women, it provides a critique of gender inequality and promotes womens rights, interests and issues. Feminism is difficult to define because of the many different kinds of feminisms, which exist today. Most feminists hold a belief that women as a group are treated oppressively and differently from men; they are subject to personal and institutional discrimination (Steven Goldberg, 1973). Feminists believe that being female to a large extent determines ones life. Being female means having certain anatomy, chemistry, genes and other biological determinants. Being a woman means having a certain gender, specifically femininity. Generally speaking, being feminine means being nurturing, responsible, and passive. Feminists also believe that society is organized in such a way that it works, in. general, to the benefit of men rather than women. This does not imply that all men in different degrees, but also it does not imply that all men take part in the continuance of the system, since men can decide to oppose the oppression of other groups. But it does imply that there is a general difference in the way that men and women are treated in society as a whole and in the way that they view themselves and others view them as gendered beings. And feminist theorists aim to understand the nature of inequality and focus on gender politics, power relations and sexuality. Feminist political activists advocate for social, political, and economic equality between the sexes. They campaign on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, discrimination and sexual violence. It is the commitment to change that stimulates the feminist analysis and research of language. Feminist analysis is to explore the possibilities of using languages as an important means for reaching feminist political agenda, and they share a confidence in the power of language to help liberate women from oppressive circumstances and identities When we talk about the Feminist criticism, we must mention the word feminism. According to the New Encyclopedia Britannica, feminism, also called feminist movement or womens liberation movement, refers to the social movement that seeks equal rights for women, giving them equal status with men and freedom to decide their own careers and life patterns. There are other five different definitions of Feminism:I .Challenging the power structure between men and women; seeing men and women as groups rather than individuals.2. Rebelling against and rejecting power structures, institutions, laws, or social conventions that maintain women as subordinate, powerless, or second-class citizens.3. Arguing against the division of labor that values men in the public sphere (work, sports, government, law, war) and devalues women in the private sphere (home, child care, reproductive labor, housework, maintaining family).4. Working as a collective to fight for womens rights in all facets of modern life, including the workplace, sexuality, reproductive rights, fair representation, and acceptance of alternative families.5. Demanding full rights for all women and men. The different and difficulty in defining the word feminism lies in the changing of its connotation. Feminism started as womens struggle for their political rights, and flourished in the world of literature. It was encouraging, thrilling and enlightening for a time, but it also had been faced with challenges, doubts and animadversion. It tries to undermine the patriarchal and hierarchical system in which men are regarded as active, dominating, rational and woman as passive,“submissive and emotional: In the following parts, the development of feminism, especially its application in literary criticism will be outlined in order to clarify the main features of this trend of thought, and the limitation of its application in interpreting literary works. The concept of feminism mainly arose in the eighteenth century at the time of industrialization while the rising of manufacturing and larger cities separate work from home. The idea of a male breadwinner and the economically dependent housewife emerge, and new social classes form: laborers without land and urban middle-class landowners. Under English common law, women belong legally to their husbands during marriage and cannot own property. Voltaire, Locke, Jefferson, Montesquieu, and others make the quest for freedom their central intellectual focus. As these male scholars challenge tyranny and divine rights, women begin to question the tyranny of men over women. The French Revolution challenges social inequalities and opens doors for womens fight for equality. As slavery in America becomes widespread in the early 1800s, many scholars and activists challenge its existence, and the Underground Railroad is set up to help slaves escape to freedom. Women in this period are largely confined to the home and are expected to marry in order to secure status and privilege. In 1848, Stanton and Mott call the first Seneca Falls Convention for womens rights; draft the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments, which calls for womens right to vote and states that all men and women are created equal. In 1851，Susan B. Anthony begins to campaign with Stanton for womens education, right to divorce, womens property rights, careers for women, and right to vote. In the 1870s and 1880s, social purity feminism emerges, arguing against alcohol, violence, and sexual excess as masculine evils that threaten women and families. Victorian ideals of womanhood reign, emphasizing chastity, upkeep of the home, and raising of children. Charlotte Brottes Jane Eyre was published in 1847 along with the development of the women movement. The novel provided the reader a new world of the society in the Victorian time. Charlotte Bronte and her masterpieces Jane Eyre will be discussed in details in order to stress the development and the limitation of feminism in Victorian England.Chapter 3 Charlotte Brotte and Jane Eyre3.1 Personal Experience of Charlotte Brotte Charlotte Bront6(1816-1855) was born in Yorkshire, England on April 21, 1816. She was the third child of Maria Branwell BrottE and the Reverend Patrick Brott6. Originally of Irish descent, the children all inherited their fathers passionate Irish temperament. When Charlotte was five years old, Charlottes mother died and Charlottes aunt, a devout Methodist, helped her brother-in-law raise his children. Therefore, the Brottes moved to Haworth, a village on the Yorkshire moors, when Patrick Brotte was appointed rector of the Haworth parish church. The Haworth Parsonage, set high on a hill, overlooked the church graveyard on one side and the wild desolate moors of Yorkshire on the other. It was in this good environment that the six Brotte children, Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Branwell (the only son), Emily, and Anne formed their own imaginary world. As the oldest daughter in a family of six, Brott6 helped raise her brother, Branwell, and two sisters, Emily and Anne. Their father, a strict clergyman, believed in self-education, and his children was forbidden to attend school or socialize with other children. Intellectual growth was encouraged by Mr. Brott6, however, and he introduced his family to Bible and to the works of William Shakespeare, William Words-worth, and Sir Walter Scott. He allowed his children to roam on the moor. As the young Brotte grew up, they became more adventurous and gained a sensibility of everyday details in nature which was akin to Wordsworths own. Their acute awareness of nature and their feeling of nearness to it strengthen the haunting sense of the mystery and beauty of everyday life which infuses their books. Though the Brotte children were intellectually precocious, their cloistered upbringing created a sense of isolation that made social interaction outside the family difficult. In 1824, Charlotte and three of her sisters-Maria, Elizabeth, and Emily-were sent to Cowan Bridge, a school for daughters of clergymen. Obviously he chose the school for its low tuition, but the living conditions were intolerable and the discipline overly rigid. The Lowood section of Jane Eyre vividly conveys Charlottes unhappy memories of her experience there. After an outbreak of tuberculosis killed Maria and Elizabeth, Charlotte and Emily were brought home. The surviving kids all became each others best friends. They created the imaginary kingdom of Gondal and Angria, which they chronicled in poems, stories, and plays set in that realm. Charlotte and Branwell were in charge of Angria proper, while Emily and Anne (the youngest) ran the neighboring kingdom of Gondal. In these youthful writings, Angria provides the settings like wars, romance, and intrigue. Although the literary value of the Angrian chronicles is not so important, they indicate the genesis of Charlottes creative talents. During this period, Charlotte taught her sisters at home and worked temporarily as a governess, an experience which she described in Jane Eyre. Several years later, Charlotte returned to school, this time in Roe Head, England. She became a teacher at the school in 1835 but decided after several years to become a private governess instead. She was hired to live with and tutor the children of the wealthy Sidgewick family in 1839, but the job was a misery to her and she soon quit. Once Charlotte recognized that her dream of starting her own school was not immediately realizable, she returned to working as a governess, this time for another family. Finding herself equally disappointed with governess work the second time around, Charlotte recruited her sisters to join her in more serious preparation for the establishment of a school. Although the Brontes school was unsuccessful, their literary projects flourished. Charlottes next adventure was going to school in Brussels with Emily in 1842. Charlottes time there was brief, less than two years, but it led to her eventual writing of Villette beginning in 1852. Back home, Charlotte lapsed into chronic unemployment and severe hypochondria, actually thinking she was going blind, just like her father was. In 1846 the three sisters published a book of Poems, and though sales were very slow, the reviews were good and spurred on further literary endeavours. Charlottes novel of this time, The Professor was actually rather bad, suffering from a less-than-believable main character. In August of 1846 Charlotte began work on Jane Eyre. Though it was published in 1847, Charlotte didnt tell her father about it until the next year, when the novels success was plain. This success was followed up by tragedy,