On Feminism in Austen's Emma

1、黄石理工学院毕 业 设 计 论文 题目： On Feminism in Austen's Emma 2011年 5月18日20AcknowledgementsI would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to those who have helped in this dissertation writing. In the first place, my great indebtedness goes to my supervisor, Prof. Fang Xiaomei, for her precious h

2、elp and for her encouragement throughout the period I was writing this dissertation.My next thanks go to all of the tutors of the course who offered me their help whenever I need it.Thirdly, I would like to thank our Institute and School of Foreign Languages which have ever offered me so many opport

3、unities to use the resource in the library.Last but not least, to my family, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to their genuine love and inspiration. 内容摘要本文旨在对简·奥斯丁的小说爱玛女主人公爱玛的人物性格、智慧展露、内心活动以及生活态度进行分析，以女性主义观点解析作者奥斯丁的女性主义意识在作品中的具体体现。论文分为四章。第一章为全文总体介绍，包括文献综述以及文章结构两部分；第二章，探讨了关于简·奥斯丁时代的

4、社会背景与女性生活状态；第三章，讨论了女主人公爱玛是如何代表与体现奥斯丁的女性主义意识，从作者对女性智力不弱于男子的诉求以及对婚姻的态度两方面来讨论。第四章，总结全文。结论出简·奥斯丁对女性问题的关注反映了当时中产阶级女性初步觉醒的女性主义意识。作者以写作奠定的社会独立身份与她塑造的女主人公的精神独立合为一体，显示出奥斯丁对当时知识女性生存出路、社会地位的一种热切关注和深刻思考。这种深切的关怀亦适用于今天我们对女性自身发展和在各个领域独立性的深思。关键词：简·奥斯丁; 女性主义；爱玛；智力；婚姻ABSTRACT This dissertation is aimed to f

5、ind out Austen's feminist concerns by mainly making analysis of Emma's disposition, intelligence, psychological activities and attitudes towards life. The dissertation is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is a literature review based on the study of feminist theory and Austen. Th

6、e second chapter discusses the social background and women's living condition at Jane Austen's period so as to learn why Austen started writing. The third chapter shows how Austen's feminist consciousness is reflected in the heroine Emma, with particular emphasis on women's intellect

7、ual power and marriage from her perspectives. The fourth chapter reaches the conclusion that Austen's concerns for women reflect the preliminary awakening of the female Middle-class to the feminist consciousness. Austen's independent status as a female writer and Emma's independent spiri

8、t are integrated into a great concern for women's control of their own lives at that time. This kind of concern is also worth consideration for women today about their own development and independence in many fields. Keywords: Jane Austen; feminist consciousness; Emma; intellectual power; marria

9、geContentsAcknowledgementsIAbstract in ChineseIIAbstract in EnglishIII1. Introduction1 1.1 Literature Review1 1.2 Introduction to the Dissertation42. Jane Austen's Feminist Consciousness4 2.1 Feminism at Jane Austen's Period5 2.2 Austen's View on Female Class63. Jane Austen's Feminis

10、t Attitudes in Emma8 3.1 Jane Austen's Attitudes towards Women's Intelligence83.1.1 Emma's Psychological Innocence93.1.2 Emma's Intelligence10 3.1.2.1 Emma's Good Judgment10 3.1.2.2 Emma's Self-discovery and Self-adjustment12 3.2 Jane Austen's View on Marriage143.2.1 Emma

11、's Attitudes towards Marriage163.2.2 Austen's Failure in Marriage17 3.3 Austen and Emma: Integrated Image of Early Feminism184. Conclusion19Bibliography211. Introduction1.1 Literature Review Jane Austen (1775-1817), is the distinguished female novelist at the end of 18th century and at the s

12、tart of the 19th century in Britain. She is always making the voice of feminist conscious in her writing. At her period, women have been deprived of their rights and opportunities to develop themselves in intellectual power and civilization. Of all her novels, Emma is often regarded as the represent

13、ative work as it represents clearly Austen's understanding of the problems and hopes of women in her society. In this dissertation, by mainly making analysis of the HeroineEmma, is aimed to find out Austen's feminist concerns reflected in this novel. The research directions are divided into

14、five parts: the analysis of the feminist consciousness in Emma, the analysis of the female characters, the ironic compositional techniques, the growth process of the heroine and speech act theory in linguistic. For the research in the field of literature, it mainly focus on the shaping and analysis

15、of Emma with the theoretical support of the feminist theory. In the 1980s, the researchers(Pan 1985) focus on the relationship between the objective environment and the formation of Emma's disposition. Emma is a heroine with contradicted ego. On the one hand, she is pretentious and presumptuous;

16、 on the other hand, she is a lively innocent girl. The researchers pointed out that the main reason for the formation of Emma's dual personalities is the results of the family and social environment. Moreover, the shaping of the objective environment is the result of Austen's long time obser

17、vation to the family, society and human beings which also shows Austen's superior ability to find the essence of human nature. However, Emma's abilities of self-discovery and self-adjustment can overcome the flaws in her disposition.With the self-discovery of her own and the guidance from Mr

18、. Knightley, Emma can recognize her errors and correct her wrong-doings. Through the continuously awareness of her wrong-doings, Emma reconsiders her behavior, criticizes herself and tries her best to make reparation. In the end, She has overcome the selfishness and snobbery so as to achieve purific

19、ation. At the beginning of twenty-first century, some researchers(Lv 2005) stressed that Feminist Consciousness strongly influenced Emma's intelligence, marriage, and social life. They argued that Emma's intelligence was reflected by her characters and her status. That is, she can make appro

20、priate judgment on the issue of Women's Right, and she processes such self-consciousness that she can critically examine herself directly and indirectly. Also, Emma's leadership and intelligence earns her superior status in her family and the society in the novel. These characters and status

21、 reveal Austen's feministic belief that men and women are intellectually equal. Similarly, the relationship between Emma and Knightley in the novel shows that Feminist Consciousness affects Austen's view of marriage: that an ideal marriage should be based on love, that an ideal marriage is t

22、he partial result of wealth, and that a successful marriage demands gender equality. Furthermore, they believed Austen thought that women should actively participate in social activities. This is obvious, as she puts Emma into various social setting in Highbury, as the example of an active female so

23、cial player. Meanwhile, other researchers(Li 2002) focus on the source of an Austen's literature contradiction: why the perfection-driven audiences love imperfect heroine. Western novel conventionally dictates that the hero or heroine should be perfect. Instead of following this convention, Aust

24、en depicted Emma as the combination of self-righteousness and self-contradiction; she was capricious, arrogant, and profit-driven. However, as she discovered and recognized herself in the novel, Emma experienced the progress from imperfection to perfection. More importantly, this progression was nar

25、rated by Emma. In this way, audiences not only can understand the plot of the novel, but also look into Emma's mentality, and they would be more sympathetic to Emma's situation, for her mentality reveals her highest virtue-that she was able to face her faults. Revealing the true virtue of he

26、roine by narrating her mentality is the literature technique Austen successfully utilized, for it makes imperfection of heroine a true beauty. The word 'feminism' was a comparatively new word which was not introduced into English from French until in the 1890s. And feminist theory is the ext

27、ension of feminism into theoretical or philosophical discourse; it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations, and sexuality. It examines women's social roles and lived experience, and feminist politics in a variety of fields. While general

28、ly providing a critique of social relations, much of feminist theory also focuses on analyzing gender inequality and the promotion of women's rights, interests, and issues.(Wikipedia, 2011)The way that preferred by the researchers (E. Showalter1985) study feminism is in a chronological order. Th

29、e first part refers to the period in the late 19th century and in the early 20th century. At that time, women have spoken out for their sex and articulated their complaints, their needs, and their hopes. Moreover, they were striving for their equalities, especially for the women's suffrage. The

30、second part refers to the Women's Liberation Movement in the 1960s and 1970s which was often shorted to 'women's lib'. This movement has extended the meaning of feminism as it concentrated not only on women's civil and legal right had not been fully achieved but also on the probl

31、ems specific to women in their reproductive and social roles.(J.Freedman,2007) On the other aspect, the contemporary feminist studies undergo three stages, which can be reflected by three terms: 'female', 'feminine', 'feminist'. Of the three, 'female' designates the b

32、iological sex, 'feminine' refers to the cultural conceptions of gender and 'feminist' involves political perceptions and aims. Now the current feminist movement is experiencing the third phase. And Elaine Showalter(1985), the American literary critic and feminist, describes the devel

33、opment phases feminist theory with academic terms as "feminist critique", "gynocriticism" and "gender theory".Austen's feminist concerns were formed under the background when women were steadily more educated and were in much greater numbers forming independent judg

34、ments. Even though the concept of ' feminist theory ' was not existing at that time, Austen's focus on the intellectual equality between the sexes and the importance of happily marriage to women in her novels reflect the essence of ' feminist theory ' to some extent. And Emma is

35、a representative of all her novels. 1.2 Introduction to the DissertationBased on the former studies on both Austen and her Emma, as well as in concerns of the feminist theory, this dissertation aims to analyse Austen's feminist concerns reflected in Emma through Emma's social and psychologic

36、al activities, as well as her attitudes towards life. It can be divided into four chapters. The first chapter is a literature review in the study of feminist theory and Austen. The second chapter discusses the social background and women's living condition at Jane Austen's period. The third

37、chapter discusses how Austen's feminist consciousness is reflected in the heroine Emma, with particular emphasis on women's intelligence and marriage. The fourth chapter reaches the conclusion that Austen's concerns for women reflect the preliminary awakening of the Middle-class women to

38、 the feminist consciousness. And it can be considered as the beginning of women's rebellious sense to against the dominant right and status of men in the patriarchy society. The combination of Austen's independent status as a female writer and Emma's independent spirit shows that Austen&

39、#39;s great concerns for the women's way out as well as their social status at that time. This kind of concern is also applicable to today's women to think about their own development considerably. 2. Jane Austen's Feminist Consciousness The discussion in this chapter is mainly focus on

40、the forming of Austen's feminist awareness, and how this kind of awareness turned to be a wide consciousness which she has bestowed on Emma, on Elizabeth as well as on other females in her series. The discussion also reveals the unconscious part in Jane Austen who values adequate education in li

41、fe, so her stress on literal ability and well education has betrayed other facts in association with feminism: women need education, and with this tool, women can form their independent judgments and think more for themselves. 2.1 Feminism at Jane Austen's PeriodEven though 'feminism' wa

42、sn't exist in English until in the 1890s, however, women have spoken out for themselves and for them sex in many different countries, and in different ways, over the centuries. They articulated their complaints, their needs, and their hopes as well as to prove that they were not inferior to men

43、as mortal beings. Through the whole 18th century, under the influence of the French Revolution, women started to appeal for better education, as well as the improvement of equality and respect in the marriage.Once women had appealed to divine inspiration for female emancipation, but the value of thi

44、s means was limited. Therefore, they had changed the focus of feminism from the assertion of the women's spiritual equality to the natural right and the intellectual equality between the sexes. For example, in 1640, Anne Marie van Schurmann's On the Capacity of the Female Mind for Learning i

45、nsisted that 'whatever fills the human mind with uncommon and honest delight is fitting for a human woman.'(M.Walters, 2008) And then the 18th century feminism (Enlightenment feminism) was first brought out into the open by Mary Astell who was one of the true feminists. Her book, Thoughts on

46、 Education, which still remains interesting among readers, emphasized on the urgent necessity for women to take themselves seriously and to be properly educated. She also pointed out that women should work to develop their own minds and skills so as to judge clearly and sensibly, rather than deferri

47、ng to masculine judgment and wasting their time in learning social skills and accomplishments. Meanwhile, her reflections upon marriage also put forward strictly negative attitude towards men and insisted that a wife is absolutely 'a Man's Upper Servant'. The greatest feminist of Austen&

48、#39;s period was Mary Wollstonecraft, a radical who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women which is still one of the foundation stones of the contemporary feminism. Her continuously and thoughtfully respond to the French Revolution took the simple but crucial step of extending the rights of Man

49、to Woman. She argued that the reason why women in the times in which she lived were inferior was because they were uneducated and insulated from the real word. Furthermore, the education for girls shouldn't mainly concentrated on improving to be graceful and well-mannered, preparing them for 

50、9;good' marriage. On the contrary, the real education for women should stress on Reason which can give the rational power to help them in challenging exclusive judgment of man. On the aspect of marriage, Mary Wollstonecraft insisted that marriage should be based on friendship and respect rather

51、than love. In general, the feminists in Enlightenment feminism period were nearly both confident in the belief that the improvement in the status of women would be brought about through increasing their powers of rational understanding and judgment. The demand for better education, the essence of 18

52、th century feminism, arose directly from this.In the 18th century, there was a feminist tradition in English prose fiction, although not very distinguished. The reflection of women's own hopes and difficulties in this kind of prose fiction had attracted increasing numbers of women and also had i

53、nspired them to write novels that often explored the possibilities and problems in their own lives. And among the topic of these novels, the moral nature and importance of women was one of the most important. Some female writers at that time focused on everyday domestic life; the best of themFanny B

54、urney and Jane Austenask serious questions about the choices facing girls, particularly about marriage and its consequences. And Jane Austen's Novels are the culmination of a line of development in thoughts and fiction which goes back to the start of eighteenth century, and which deserves to be

55、called feminist since it was concerned with establishing the moral equality of men and women and the proper status of accountable beings. (M.Kirkham, 1997)2.2 Austen's View on Female Class The middle-class females, through the whole 18th century and even in the 19th century, in the British tradi

56、tional patriarchal society remained constant subordinate to males in social status. They forced women to admit that they not only were but also should be intellectual inferiors of men. Traditionally, the girls were born to accept the primary role of child-rearing and taking care of their families. E

57、ven though some women had the opportunity to have typically unsystematic education, but the essence of the education was apt to stress on the acceptable social behavior and preparations for the socially defined roles of professional mother and wife. To the women who have material difficulties, there

58、 were only three professions open to them: the stage, teaching and writing. The stage offered few opportunities and enormous risk; teaching was arduous, penurious and little respected; writing seldom offered a stable incoming to support living. The social predicament of women was worse in the 18th century than it had ever been just because "they were steadily more informed and more inclined to think for themselves." and "women were in much greater numbers forming independent judgments, whether or not they were feminist in sympathy or actively unconventional in their co