英文毕业论文--从女性主义的角度分析《简爱》

I 本科生毕业论文本科生毕业论文 从女性主义的角度分析从女性主义的角度分析 简爱简爱 AnAn AnalysisAnalysis onon JaneJane EyreEyre fromfrom thethe PerspectivePerspective ofof FeministFeminist II 摘要摘要 十九世纪英国女作家夏洛蒂 勃朗特的作品 简爱 因其独特的思想内容 和表现手法 一直被看作是英国文学的经典之作 自从作品问世以来 一直受 到文学评论界的关注 尤其是作品中对女性独立与平等的追求 使得小说中女 主人公简爱的形象负载了西方妇女在 19 世纪开始觉醒的女性意识 英国文学 不乏叛逆女性的形象 但像简爱那样卑微 平凡 孤苦无依而又相貌平平的 弱势 女性 如此自觉地对抗强大的父权社会 算是空前的 此篇论文从女性主义的角度出发 通过对作品中女主人公简爱的分析 揭 示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 在维多利亚时期女性地位得到了提高 女性意识得到了发展 但是仍然受到社 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 关键词关键词 简爱 夏洛蒂 勃朗特 女性主义 平等和自由 III AbstractAbstract Charlotte Bronte is an outstanding woman writer in the 19th century English literature her work Jane Eyre has been regarded as the classics of the English literature due to its unique content and way of expression Since the work has been published it has attracted the attention of the literary critics Especially the pursuit of female independence and equality making the heroines of Jane s image loads the Western women s awakening of feminist consciousness in the 19th century There is no lack of the image of rebellious women in English literature but like Jane Eyre as humble ordinary plain but who have no minority women so consciously against the strong patriarchal society be regarded as unprecedented This paper reveals the wake of the gender conscious and the social position of women in Victorian period through the analysis of the heroine from the feminist perspective The status of women in the Victorian period has improved by the development of female consciousness but still affected by social class and social status KeyKey wordswords Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte female equality freedom IV TableTable ofof ContentsContents Acknowledgements I 摘要 II Abstract III Table of Contents IV Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1 1 Social Background 1 1 2 Motivations and Objectives 1 Chapter 2 Literature Review 3 2 1 The Definition of Feminism 3 2 2 Research Background 4 2 3 Historical Views 4 Chapter 3 Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre 6 3 1 Charlotte Bronte 6 3 1 1 Personal Experience of Charlotte Bronte 6 3 1 2 Charlotte Bronte s Position in Literary History 7 3 2 Jane Eyre 7 3 2 1 The Plot Overview of Jane Eyre 7 3 2 2 The Theme of Jane Eyre 8 3 2 3 Literary Value of Jane Eyre 9 Chapter4 the Rising of Jane Eyre s Female Consciousness 10 4 1 Gateshead beginning of Female Consciousness 10 4 2 Lowood Growing of Female Consciousness 11 4 3 Thornfield Uprising of Female 精品文档 V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载V欢迎下载 Consciousness 11 Chapter 5 Pursuit of Equality and Freedom 13 5 1 Pursuit of Equality 13 VI 5 2 Pursuit of Freedom 13 5 3 Limitation of the Feminism 14 Chapter 6 Conclusion 15 Bibliography 17 本科生毕业论文 1 ChapterChapter 1 1 IntroductionIntroduction 1 11 1 SocialSocial BackgroundBackground Jane Eyre is one of the famous novels written by Charlotte Bronte in the 19th century and it is among my famous novels Since its publication it has attracted a lot of attention From the literature review the thesis of the work is about feminism In the later part of the twentieth century it becomes common for literary critics to pay attention to feminist elements in Charlotte Bronte s novels Feminist first appeared in France the French Revolution challenged social inequalities and opened doors for women s fight for equality As slavery in America became widespread in the early 1800s many scholars challenged its existence Women in this period are largely confined to home and are expected to marry in order to secure states and privilege In 1848 Stanton and Mott call the first Seneca Falls Convention for women s rights which calls for women s right to vote and states that all men and women are created equal Jane Eyre was published in 1847 along with the development of the women movement The writer Charlotte Bronte had been raised by the father who taught his children to think for themselves She learned to trust her 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 Charlotte Bronte 1992 130 Her mother died in 1821 leaving the children in the care of their aunt Living in the rectory she had little to do other than read and write The loneliness she experienced was clearly acute 1 21 2 MotivationsMotivations andand ObjectivesObjectives In Victorian times Charlotte Bronte was among the first feminist writers 精品文档 2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载2欢迎下载 This was the time that the women were looked down upon by the society They had few rights and few options open to them for self support For most women the only way to live decently was to get married and in many cases it was not up to the women to choose with whom she married For the most part a woman was not given the opportunity to go to school and earn a degree unless she was born into a high social class The average Victorian woman was treated not as a person but as an 本科生毕业论文 3 object or piece of property She had very few rights either in society or marriage In Jane Eyre the main character Jane explores the depth at which women may act in society and finds her own boundaries in Victorian England Jane Eyre is a novel about one woman s journey through life so she described Jane s experience in detail to show the inferiority of the woman and the poverty of the society But Jane is such self respect independent and decisive woman Her female consciousness and her struggling experience set a brilliant example for the female worldwide Her spirit encourages woman to fight for liberation As a great book Jane Eyre not only awakes its early readers of the Victorians Age but also encourages the modern women Jane Eyre tells not only what an independent woman is like but also what a successful woman should do Through the above analysis we can know that the author of Jane Eyre created successfully a typical woman character who has the courage to rebel and fight for freedom and equality This paper reveals the wake of the gender conscious and the social position of women in Victorian period through the analysis of the heroine from the feminist perspective The first chapter introduces the social background the type and the subject of the work The second chapter introduces the theoretical basis the form of feminist and its influence to the creation of the work The third chapter puts the foundation to analyze the female conscious through the comparison of the author s experience and the plot of the work The fourth chapter analyses the main character in three aspects It also reflects the development of the female consciousness and the pursuit of the equality The fifth chapter analyses Jane s pursuit of equality and liberty from the feminist perspective reflecting the 19th century women s effect to pursuit freedom and equality as well as the limitation of the female 精品文档 4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载4欢迎下载 conscious The sixth chapter is the conclusion of the work In Victorian times women s status got different improvement but due to restriction of the social status female consciousness still has the limitation 本科生毕业论文 5 ChapterChapter 2 2 LiteratureLiterature ReviewReview 2 12 1 TheThe D Definitionefinition ofof FeminismFeminism The idea of feminism appeared several centuries ago while even today there is no exactly definition Throughout the history women have always struggled to gain equality respect and the same rights as men What is feminism By general definition feminism is a philosophy in which women and their contributions are valued It is based on social political and economical equality for women Feminism can also be described as a movement or a revolution that includes women and men who wish the world to be equal without boundaries There are many different types of feminist theory and each has a profound impact on women and gender studies The first is cultural feminism which is the theory that there are fundamental personality differences between women and men Most feminists hold a belief that woman as groups are treated differently from men They are subject to personal and institutional discrimination Steven Goldberg 1973 Feminists believe that being female to a large extent determines one s life Being a woman means having a certain gender especially femininity Feminists also believed that the society is organized in favor of the men Feminists try to explain that the powers are imbalanced due to the gender difference Literature will often reflect the cultural assumptions and attitudes of its period of course include attitudes towards women their status their roles their expectations And feminist theorists aim to understand the nature of inequality and focus on gender politics power relations and sexuality Feminist political activities advocate for social political and economic equality between the sexes They campaign on issues such as reproductive rights domestic violence maternity 精品文档 6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载6欢迎下载 leave equal pay discrimination and sexual violence When we talk about the feminist criticism we must mention that the word feminism According to the New Encyclopedia Britannica feminism also called feminist movement or women s liberation movement refers to the social movements that seek equal rights for women giving them equal status with men and freedom to decide their own careers 本科生毕业论文 7 and life patterns There are other five different definitions of Feminism 1 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 and devalues women in the private sphere home child care reproductive labor housework maintaining family 4 Working as a collective to fight for women s 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 2 22 2 ResearchResearch BackgroundBackground In the year of 1800s people have few rights and few chances Women are still regarded as the second class citizens But things to change after the reign of Queen Victoria The Victorian time is a period of dramatic change that brought English to its highest point of development The Industrial Revolution brings an enormous increase in wealth and provides the tools for the development as well as serious social problems During the time women gradually gain the right to their property upon marriage through the Married Women s Property Act the right to divorce By the end of Victoria s reign women could take degrees at twelve universities But general conditions for women are still poor 2 32 3 HistoricalHistorical ViewsViews Feminism is difficult to define because of the many different kinds of 精品文档 8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载 feminisms which still exist today Feminism started as women s 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 and doubts 本科生毕业论文 9 Feminism first appeared in France Many scholars have devoted themselves to the research on it Virginia Woolf 1929 is known as the modernism and feminist pioneer in the twentieth century She advocates feminism and notes that women have to be independent in the economic and life Steven Goldberg 1973 hold the view that women s groups exist as an independent they also bear the heavy burden and the system of gender discrimination Elaine Shwalter 1979 is American literary critics and feminist writer She calls for equality between women and men In China scholars began to touch upon feminism in Jane Eyre from the middle of the 1980s Zhang Wei hold the view that Jane Eyre represents the idea of women s liberation since she longs for her financial independence and a marriage based on love 张伟 2001 Zhu Hong points out women not only pursuit of spiritual equality but also the economic independent 1987 Form the brief liberation review we can see that both in west and in China Jane Eyre has got great attention from the critics The novel provided the reader a new world of the society in the Victorian time Jane Eyre is a plain girl but she has a strong will she dares to pursue the economic independence and social states in a world that women are regarded as a second class She set an example for today s women I hope that my effort in writing this thesis will make some help for the later research 本科生毕业论文 10 ChapterChapter 3 3 CharlotteCharlotte BronteBronte andand JaneJane EyreEyre 3 13 1 CharlotteCharlotte BronteBronte 3 1 13 1 1 PersonalPersonal ExperienceExperience ofof CharlotteCharlotte BronteBronte Charlotte Bronte was born in Yorkshire England on April 21 1816 She was the third child of Maria Branwell Bronte and the Reverend Patrick Bronte Originally of Irish decent the children all inherited their father s passionate Irish temperament When she was five years old her mother died and she was raised by her aunt As the oldest daughter in a family of six she 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 He allowed his children to roam on the moor As the young Brotto grew up they became more adventurous and gained a sensibility of everyday details in nature In 1824 Charlotte and three of her sisters 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 Charlotte s unhappy memories of her experience there After an outbreak of tuberculosis killed Maria and Elizabeth Charlotte and Emily were brought home During this time Charlotte taught her sisters at home and worked as a governess an experience which she described in Jane Eyre Several years later she returned to school but later she became a private governess instead In 1846 the three sisters published a book of Poems and though the sales were low the reviews were good and spurred on further literary endeavors In August of 1846 she began work on Jane Eyre Though it was published in 1847 she didn t tell her father about it until the next year 精品文档 11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载11欢迎下载 when the novel s success was plain This success was followed up by tragedy however In September 1848 Branwell died this was closely followed by Emily s death from consumption in 1848 and Anne s death of the same disease in May 1849 Bereft Charlotte and her father clung to each other for support Eventually 本科生毕业论文 7 she started spending some time in London meeting other writers of the day In Jane Eyre there were five distinct stages of development each linked to a particular place After the success of Jane Eyre she revealed her identity to her publisher and went on to write several other novels In the years that followed she became a respected member of London s literary set But the death of siblings Emily and Branwell in 1848 and Ann in 1949 left her feeling dejected and emotionally isolated In 1855 she died of pneumonia 3 1 23 1 2 CharlotteCharlotte BronteBronte s s PositionPosition inin LiteraryLiterary HistoryHistory Although Charlotte Bronte only has four works of her life she has an important position in the history of literature She is the first person who voice of a woman as the theme of the novel 杨莉馨 2002 Later writers are subject to her influence Her works have been regarded as a model for modern women fiction Together with her sisters they are known as the Bronte Sisters in the history of English literature 3 23 2 JaneJane EyreEyre 3 2 13 2 1 TheThe PlotPlot OverviewOverview ofof JaneJane EyreEyre Jane Eyre is a young orphan and she is raised by Mrs Reed her cruel wealthy aunt A servant named Bessie helps her a lot telling her story and singing songs to her One day Jane is published for fighting with her bullying cousin John Reed she is closed in the red room where her Uncle Reed died She is frightened and believes that she saw her Uncle s ghost When she wakes to find herself in the care of Bessie and the kindly apothecary Mr Lioyd who suggests to Mrs Reed that Jane be sent away to school To Jane s delight her Aunt agrees Once at the school Jane finds the school headmaster Mr Brocklehurst is a cruel hypocritical and abusive man He treads the students badly At school 精品文档 8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载8欢迎下载 Jane makes good friend with a girl named Helen Burns But later Helen dies of consumption This attracts more attention to the unhealthy conditions at Lowood After a group of more sympathetic gentlemen takes Brocklehurst s place Jane s life improves a lot She spends eight years at Lowood six as a student and two as a teacher After teaching for two years Jane wants to change She accepts a governess position at 本科生毕业论文 8 Thornfield s manor in which she teaches a lovely girl named Adele The owner of the manor is Rochester who is a impassioned man Jane finds herself began to fall in love with him At the same time Rochester is attracted by Jane One day Rochester proposes to Jane an