Literature Review (Sample 1)文献综述.doc

学习资料收集于网络，仅供参考Literature Review C12 英语（1） X X X Tess of the DUrbervilles is generally regarded as Tomas Hardys finest novel. Since its publication in 1891, it has encountered considerable concern in literary criticism. Among these numerous essays dwelling on Tess, most criticisms and interpretations focus on probing into the root of Tesss tragedy. These scholars ponder Tesss tragedy from various perspectives and give a multitude of interpretations on this topic. But no one can exhaust such a great work，there is still much room for further consideration about Tesss tragedy. Through several months efforts in searching, collecting and reading an abundance of scholars and professors literature concerning causes of tragedy of Tess, I have learned much and gained a lot of data and create the following essay which summons up the essence of the literature. 1 Analyses of Objective Factors in Tesss Tragedy.The Age Characteristic and the Rebel in Tess of the DUrbervilles A Feminine Decoding on Tess of the DUrbervilles by Jiang Lu introduces the economic background of the story. Jiang states that the story of Tess happened during the late half of 19th century, which witnessed the decline and destruction of the English peasantry. It was an age of transition and great social upheavals. With the development of capitalism, England was slowly developing from its former state of a mainly agricultural country to its new condition of a primarily industrial society, because of which the traditional self-sufficient society order in the country was broken. Helplessly confronted with the change, the country villagers were deprived of their lands, houses and other possessions. Then, in possession of few things they were forced to immigrate away from their accustomed land and to be employed as farm workers. Therefore, country peasants were inflicted tragically by the industrial development. This part clearly demonstrates the economic situation of the farmer at Victorian age which is quite beneficial to my paper.An Ecofeminist Reading of Thomas Hardys Tess of the DUrbervilles by Yu Kun discusses the tragedy of Tess from the perspective of Ecofeminism, this paper practically explores the close relationship between women and nature and womens tragic fate as the result of industrialization and patriarchal society, which helps me understand Tesss tragedy from a new angle. It points out that at the late Victorian Age when industrialization began to encroach upon the countryside rapidly and capitalism developed further, the peasants lost their land and many of them were impoverished. Tesss family, without exception, was poverty-stricken, which turned out to be the very root of her tragedy. Tess, impelled by the economic pressure from her family, had to go to claim kindred with prosperous DUrbervilles family where she met evil Alec who deprived of her virginity; and it was her poor family that made Tess return to Alec. Besides, the society in the Victorian period was a man-dominated society, woman had to suffer the injustices of man-made law, the law by which man and woman were not equally treated in terms of morality. Angel who set a double moral standard for man and woman certainly couldnt conceive of a relationship of equality with Tess. He couldnt forgive Tess for her lost of virginity although he himself had dissipated past. Thus he finally abandoned Tess because of her “impurity”, which gave Tess a fatal blow. The Connotation and Characteristic of “Angels in House” in Victorian Period of England by Zeng Yayin demonstrates perfect womens image in peoples mind in Victorian period. It says that a traditional Victorian woman is supposed to be a perfect woman. First, they should be gentle, graceful and charming, that is to keep an attractive appearance. Second, they should be submissive. They were taught to be sympathetic, gentle and considerable to other people. And the most important thing was to be submissive to their father or brothers, and after being married, their submission turned to their husbands. Third, they should have pure bodies. Traditionally, virginity was worshipped as a symbol of honor for an unmarried woman. It was very important for a younger woman to be a virgin before marriage and be loyal to her husband after she married him, and virginity was a girls virtue and value as well. Fourth, home was her whole world. She should sacrifice herself for her husband and the family. Taking care of the family and making the home healthy and comfortable was undoubtedly all her duty. Besides, they were economically dependent, what they should do was to stay at home which was the shelter for them, and to seek for support and protection from them, so marriage was pretty much their best choice. All in all, the idle Victorian woman should be devoted, pure both mentally and physically and submissive. This paper gives me a general idea of the image of women in Victorian period, which will help me a lot in my paper.Analysis of Tragedy of Tess by Tang Xuan points out that Tess is a typical female tragedy, considering the convention and the bourgeois morality of her time. The last years of the nineteenth century were the Victorian period. Victorian morality imposed rigid norm on women, which demanded women to be pure. The loss of virginity was a fatal blow to Tess as she was turned against and crushed by the social convention. It was a man-dominated society, in which woman had to suffer the injustices of man-made law, the law by which man and woman were not equally treated in terms of morality and the use of double standard in sexual matters was the essential feature of the Victorian society. This was why Tess, being violated by Alec, unfairly suffered from being morally and socially spurned and punished while Alec remained free from any social reprimands. What is more, according to the Victorian customs, a man could live a dissipating life as he had once done while a woman could not. This double standard for man and woman made it impossible for Angel who was dominated by the conventional social custom and the bourgeois view of morality to forgive Tess. This part helps get a better idea of the impact of social convention and morality on Tesss tragedy.The Ruin of a Pure Woman Analyses of the Tragedy of Tess by Zhou Hong says that Tess is the victim of capitalist law and hypocritical religion. It states that Alec dared to do evil at his pleasure not only because he was a man of money and power, but also because he was under the protection of bourgeois law which was employed as a tool to rule ordinary people and was always at bourgeois interest. According to the law, it was ironic that the man who seduced Tess was justified while Tess who suffered damage was sinful. Oppressed by so strong social prejudice, Tess was deprived of the right to protect herself and forced to accept the unfair treatment imposed on her. Thus, she was doomed to be a victim of power and violence. Besides, hypocritical religion was also closely related to Tesss tragedy. In capitalist society, religion was just used as a tool to lull and enslave people. When Tess met Alec again, to Tesss astonishment , Alec, the man who seduced her and ruthlessly pushed her into the abyss of tragedy, could resort to Christianity and became a priest who asked people to do good deeds. From this part I can see that both bourgeois law and religion are hypocritical.2. Reflection on Subjective Factors in Tesss Tragedy.Analysis of Tesss Character by Xu Haibo focuses on Tesss character to explain the cause of Tesss tragedy. It points out that the character of Tess is closely related to her fate, it is the tension in her character that leads her to the tragedy. The most obvious ones are those between humility and pride, and between innocence and sensuality. Ultimately it can be said that the tension is the one between obedience and rebellion within her character. It presents that both historical conditions and living environment contribute to the formation of Tesss character. Tess has the qualities of kindness, honesty, diligence and loyalty which are shared by the label people, besides, she also inherits the pride traditionally associated with noble families, but her pride is conflicted with her social and economic position. In this paper, the author gives a detailed explanation with examples about the tension in Tesss character which helps me better understand his idea. Besides it points out that there is also conflict between acquired conventional belief and instinctive independence of mind, and between ignorance and education in Tesss character, which can also be seen from many cases. From this article, I get a good knowledge of Tesss character as well as its relationship with her fate.Study on the Tragic Fate of Tess by Zhou Zhongxin and Wang Yanwen points out that Tess is a pure woman, but, ironically, her purity becomes the decisive factor of her tragedy. It states that Tesss pure nature is fully embodied by her strong sense of responsibility and self -sacrifice to her family. When their horse is killed in an unexpected accident, nobody blames Tess as she blames herself, therefore, she doesnt refuse once more her parents suggestion to claim kin with the wealthy DUrbervilles family although she is not willing to do so. This is the very action that ruins all her life, she is seduced by Alec and later gives birth to an illegitimate baby. Moreover, her sense of responsibility is also clearly revealed when she becomes a mistress of Alec because of the desperate situation of her family. Tesss purity is also displayed in her honesty and loyalty to love. When she is seduced by Alec, she bravely chooses to leave him at once irrespective of the pressure of her family and the society, because she realizes that she has never loved Alec. As to Angle, she falls in love with him deeply, but she continuously refuses Angles wooing because she thinks her being his wife is a shame for him. In order to protect Angle, she is willing to sacrifice her own feeling and happiness. Although she accepts Angle at last, she decides to disclose her past to him because of her honesty and true love for Angle. But her confession only results in an end of their marriage, she is deserted by her heartless husband, which leads to her miserable life soon afterwards. This paper offers me a good idea of the relationship between Tesss purity and her tragedy.A Multi Perspective of the Tragedy of Tess of the DUrbervilles by PengYan mentions the persecution of religion on Tess. Brought up in a heavily religious environment, Tess is deeply poisoned by religious thought, which forces Tess to bear enormous psychological pressure and induces her to sink into tragical abyss. Tess is a victim of religious doctrine. When her baby is dying, she suddenly realizes that she hasnt been baptized and therefore will die without salvation and go to hell, but no parson is willing to do it for her baby, so she decides to baptize her baby by herself. Obviously, all her terrors about the hell are coming from the religious doctrine taught to her. Besides, although she used to doubt the existence of God when she feels desperate toward life, she cant free herself from the shadow of religion. She always uses religious thought to imagine, explain and symbolize her miserable life. When she meets a man writing biblical texts on walls, she consciously feels ashamed and guilty for her loss of virginity, although it is not her fault. She is always self-contempt and keeps torturing herself by hypocritical religion thought. From this part I get to know religions impact on Tess.My Opinion about Tess of the DUrbervilles by Li Honglan points out her familys role in causing her tragedy. It says that Tesss parents are ignorant and vain，which leads directly to Tesss tragedy. Tesss father, Jack is lazy, selfish and foolish. When he hears of the news about his noble ancestry, he thinks his family will surely become rich if only Tess go to claim kinship with the wealthy family. When Tess is seduced by Alec, he doesnt care about his daughters feelings and lock the door to prevent Tess from going out, the only thing that worries him is what others will think of this collapse of his family pride. Besides, Tesss mother Joan is no better than Jack. The news of ancestry also affects her, she wants her daughter to rise in the world by making a successful marriage and thus bring fortunes to the whole family. When Tess chooses to leave Alec, she blames Tess for not marrying him and when Tess is deserted by Angle, she thinks it is all Tesss fault. At the same time, her father doesnt show sympathy for Tess either, he even doubts about her marriage, which makes Tess unable to live at home any more. Since her parents cannot be relied on, Tess takes on her younger shoulder the family burdens. She has a strong sense of responsibility towards her family and at almost every stage of her life it is her concern for family that influences her actions-from her agreement to claim kinship to family DUrberville right to her final decision to return to Alec is totally due to her responsibility to support her family. From this analysis, I get a comprehensive knowledge about the influence of Tesss family on her tragedy.Tess一A Pure but Tragic Woman by Zhang Qun discusses the influence of two men Alec and Angle on Tesss tragedy. It explains that Alec, typical of a bourgeois villain, metamorphoses himself into the more dignified style of Alec DUrberville and decorates himself as a man of nice heart. He takes advantage of Tesss poverty and innocence, and seduces her on purpose. Thus , Tess intends to look for a way out but is driven by him to a way with a dead end. On the other hand, Angle is a representative of bourgeois intellectuals. He regards himself as a man full of new thoughts who isnt bound by social customs. However, as a matter of fact, he couldnt free himself from it. He idealizes Tess as symbol of purity and pursues her enthusiasticaly, but desert her as soon as Tesss confession. Given up by her husband, Tess cant support her family on her own and she is foeced by the death of her father and consequent loss of their cottage to succumbe to Alec to be his mistress. But out of her expection, Angle comes back, she is so shocked and regretfull that she kills Alec, because she thinks it is the only way out. From this analysis, I get a sense of these two mens impact on Tess and I will use some of his idea in my paper.3. Introduction to the Authors Outlook Reflected in the Novel.On Fatalism and Pessimistic View in Thomas Hardys Tess of the DUrbervilles by Hu Ye says that Tesss tragedy is related to Thomas Hardys fatalistic outlook on life. Tesss life can be divided into several stages and every stage is sprinkled a series of coincidences that push Tess to the doomed abyss. In this paper, it gives details about these coincides. At the outset, Tesss father John Durbeyfield is so excited at the news of her ancestor that he drink himself drunk, so Tess has to replace her father to send the beehives to the market. Then the accidental death of the horse Prince destroys the familys livelihood, so Tess is forced to go to claim kin with the wealthy DUrbervilles family, where she is seduced by Alec. After this great frustration, she happens to meets Angle and falls in love with him. When she is about to marry him, Tess decides to write her past in a letter and thrusts it from under the door into Angels bedroom. But the paper gets mislaid under the carpet and Angel does not see it, which directly leads to the break of their marriage. When Tess eventually decides to visit Angels parents and asks them for help, she unfortunately overhears the conversation of Angels brothers, then she give up asking help from them. There is also the coincidence that she reencounters with Alec at exactly the moment when she is most vulnerable, then she becomes her mistress. Considering these coincides, I think that there is close relationship between Tesss tragedy and these coincidences, although they all happen by chance.Tragic Consciousness Inherited and Future Developed in Hardys Novels On The Tragicalness in Tess of DUrbervilles and Jude the Obscure by Zuo Yanru says that Thomas Hardy is an inheritor of classical tragedy, so he naturally transplanting the ideas of fatalism into his tragedy novels, and Tess of the DUrbervilles is a typical one. It tells that Hardys perspective of fatalism has two distinctive features. First, his fatalism often arises from the external environment, both social and physical, and the internal character of the protagonists. This realistic concern is a new aspect of fatalism. Second, in order to achieve the desired tragic effect, Hardys destructive forces are reflected as the combination of accidents and inevitabilities, which a