简奥斯丁的女性主义在《傲慢与偏见》与《艾玛》中的体现---毕业论文.doc

简奥斯丁的女性主义在《傲慢与偏见》与《艾玛》中的体现---毕业论文.doc 【标题】简?奥斯丁的女性主义在《傲慢与偏见》与《艾玛》中的体现 【作者】杨 雪 【关键词】简?奥斯丁;伊丽莎白;艾玛;女性主义 【指导老师】张亚军 向 俊 【专业】英语 【正文】 I. Personal Data of Jane Austen A. Her Life Experience Jane Austen was born on December 16th, 1775. at her father’s rectory at Steventon in Hampshire in Southern England. She died of a then incurable disease on July 18th, 1817, in Winchester. Jane Austen has not married in her life. She lived with her parents until the death of her father in 1805, and then with her mother until the year when she herself died.Both Jane Austen’s father and mother are well educated and intelligent. This is the reason that even though she don’t recieve much education at school, she is also well educated. It is proved that her education from her parents at home is quite successful. Jane Austen reads lots of the English classics, such as Shakespeare, Milton, Johnson, and Cowper, as well as some contemporary poets and prose writers. Besides her broad knowledge of literature, she also knows languages from different countries. And all these are undoubtfully proved that she is well prepared to be a writer. And also Jane Austen changes gradually from a high-spirited and occasionally satirical young girl to a sensible and compassionate mature woman in her life. When Jane Austen lived in her father’s rectory in Steventon , due to the assurance of her family’s position, Jane was an ebullient young woman with youthful cleverness. As shown in her letters, she was a lively and energetic young lady of spirit, who was good at observing friends and neighbors caustically. But after the death of his father, Jane Austen went to live in Southampton with her mother and Cassandra. During this period they were subject to anxieties and financial rearrangements. In this place, as her family was relatively unknown in the area, Jane Austen turned from an outspoken commentator to a cautious observer. In 1809 they settled in Chawton, Hampshire, where Jane Austen lived until her death. There they settled down at last and lived happily, largely without financial anxieties. By this time Jane Austen had developed into a relatively assured and mature woman. She finally erached a stage in which her sophistication and childlike gaiety of spirit were mixed together. B. Her Social Background Jane Austen lives mostly in the countryside of England at the turn of the 18th and 19th century. The great events of the time include the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution. Under the impetus of the Industrial Revolution, great social changes have taken place in England. As to the change in social classes, the old aristocracy is being pushed gradually to the back and the new class of bourgeoisie has emerged. At the same time, since the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the social contradictions have sharpened in England due to its influence. In the 18th century England women are handicapped, especially economically, in both the family and the society. This may have much to do with the education young women receive. Women are deprived of real intellectual education and the world of ideas is thought to be unnecessary to them. Since women do not have as much opportunity to get education as men do, they are largely confined to their families, as daughters before marriage and as wives and mothers after mariage. On the other hand, the educated single women are not more advantageous. They have only two professions open to them: to be an actress or to be a governess. Yet neither is a satisfactory profession. The former provides few opportunities and lots of risks, while the latter is penurious and always looked down upon. Unless a woman has a stable private income from her family, which is a rare case, marriage is the only way for a middle or upper middle class woman to become socially esteemed and economically secure. As Jane Austen wrote in a letter in 1817 that Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor---which is on every strong argument in favor of Matrimony. Thus, when money is concenred, women are a dependent class. Before marriage, women depend on their families and after marriage, they rely on their husbands. But Jane Austen was diferent from women at her time, she opposed the primacy masculine authority and power. She showed her female consciousness not only in her works but also in her life. II. Origin of Feminism A. Basic Concepts of Feminism Feminism is a modern term. It’s a consciously held ideology which opposes consciously held ideologies that maintain the primacy of masculine authority and power. Feminism is a political perception based on two fundamental premises. Firstly，gender difference is the foundation of a structural inequality between man and women, by which women suffer systematic social injustice. Secondly, the inequality between the sexes is not the result of biological necessity but is produced by the cultural construction of gender differences. This perception provides feminism with its double agenda: to understand the social and psychic mechanisms that construct and perprtuate gender inequality and then to change them. Actually, women have suffered from a long tradition of what is generally called biological essentialism, that is the belief that a woman’s nature is an inevitable consequence of her reproductive role. What is natural or essential can not be changed in the way that social attributes of character can, hence if biology were actually to render women more submissive and less adventurous than men there would be little that anyone could do about it. This kind of essentialistic argument has been used throughout history and acoss societies to justify women’s sudordinations, even through what are considered to be essentially feminism chracteristics vary from culture to culture. B. Feminism in the Eighteenth Century The current phase of feminism is usually seen as originating in the 1960s. Yet, the 1960s were not the beginning of history of women’s struggle. Probably since the beginning of cultural organization, many women have been conscious of the inequality of their position and of the male misrepresentation by which the inequality is maintained. In the eighteenth century there was a feminist tradition in English Novel, although not very distinguished. English fiction in the eighteenth century achieved, among other things, an enlargement of the scope of moral discourse, allowing new topics to be considered in new ways. Among the new topics, the moral nature and status of women was one of the most important. Eighteenth-century feminism was not in general specifically concerned with the political equality of women, though it is true that, it carried political implications from the start, first brought out into the open by Catherine Macaulay and Mary Wollstonecrafi in the early 1790s. The feminist impulse showed itself first in its objection to the assignment of women to an inferior status as spiritual and moral beings. The first well-articulated female claimed to equality was not directed towards enfranchisement via the ballot box, but to delivery of women from the restrictions which it had pleased male theologians, moral philosophers and poets to impose upon women. Jane Austen’s novels are the culmination of a line of development in thought and fiction which goes back to the start of the eighteenth century, and which deserves to be called feminist since it was concerned with establishing the moral equality of men and women and the proper status of individual women as accountable beings. In this sense, Austen is progressive compared with most female novelists of her day. Jane Austen ridicules the sentimental and romantic conventions in their fictions. Meantime, Austen differs from them in her rejection of contemporary and traditional conceptions of the heroine or the lady. The woman who is innocent as an angel and artless as purity itself is satirized by Austen. III. Reflection in Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth, the heroine of the novel, is the striking feature of literature. Her wit and vivacity are vividly shown in her pursuit of equal position as a woman. Elizabeth’s intelligence, sound judgment, self-knowledge, courage and independence are different from the traditional perfect lady in the patriarchal society. Her personal values such as self-discovering and self-identifying show her feminist consciousness and also show that she desires the equality of women with men. A. Elizabeth’s Intelligence and Judgment In spite of the prevailing idea that woman is intellectually inferior to man by nature, Jane Austen in her Pride and Prejudice by Elizabeth shows that women are at least as intelligent and capable as men. And Elizabeth proves to be a woman of judgment and quickness of observation. Her intelligence and judgment are an implicit criticism against feminine triviality, propriety and limitations of contemporary women’s education. At the very beginning in Chapter I of Volume I，her father talks with her mother about their daughters and mentions what Elizabeth is like. He says to her mother, “they are all silly and ignorant like other girls; but Lizzy has something more of quickness than her sisters.”1 From her father’s comment on his daughters, we get the first impression that Elizabeth is more intelligent than her sisters. This comment is the first comment about her in this novel. Elizabeth’s intelligence and objective judgment are shown in many circumstances in the book. Here is her conversation with Mr. Bingley in Chapter IX of Volume I: “Whatever I do is done in a hurry,” replied he; “and therefore if I should resolve to quit Netherfield, I should probably be off in five minutes. At present, however, I consider myself as quite fixed here,” “That is exactly what I should have supposed of you.” said Elizabeth. “You begin to comprehend me, do you?” cried he, turning towards her. “Oh! Yes, I understand you perfectly. “I wish I might take this for a compliment; but to be so easily seen through I am afraid is pitiful.” “That is as it happens. It does not necessarily follow that a deep, intricate character is more or less estimable than such a one as yours.” “I did not know before.” continued Bingley immediately, “that you were a studier of a character. It must be an amusing study.” “Yes; but intricate characters are the most amusing. They have at least that advantage.”2 Through her conversation with Bingley, we know that Elizabeth divides people of the world into two sorts, the simple ones and the intricate ones and she fits everyone she observes into her category. Although she just learns a little about Bingley, she can fit him into the simple ones group perfectly. And Bingley regards her as a studier of character and she is really a studier of character which distinguishes her from others thoroughly. In fact, when she slyly praises Bingley for not having a deep, intricate character, she then ironically concedes that intricate characters (1ike Darcy) are the most amusing. Through this dialogue, it is not difficult to find Elizabeth’s excellent observation and intelligence. And it is her wit, intelligence and sound judgment that makes her stand out to be the only female character with individuality in the novel. And Elizabeth’s individuality is manifested in many aspects of her character. For example, no other female character in the novel is judged the equal of Elizabeth for her quickness of observationa and judgment which enables her to be a studier of character. So her intelligence and sound judgment is an implicit criticism both of feminine triviality, propriety and of the limitations of contemporary women’s education. It is assumed that women be inherently as intelligent and rational as men. It shows the essence of feminism---equality between males and females. B. Elizabeth’s Courage of Protesting Against Conventions Elizabeth is a female character who has the courage to protest the patriarchal conventions strictly regulating the manner of young ladies. The ideal woman in her time is just like her sister, Jane Bennet who is portrayed as a pure, submissive, decorous and even angelic creature. Compared with Jane, Elizabeth Bennet definitely has too many defects. Here are two examples to show her imperfection as a fair lady. After learning that her sister, Jane, is sick and will have to stay at Netherfield Park, she resolves to visit her immediately and will not wait to have the carriage sent for. As a result, she walks the three miles between Longboum and Netherfield and arrives splattered with the dust and mud of the field. This behavior seemed so incredible to her younger sister, Mary who reminded her that “every impulse of feeling should be guided by reason”3 ; and “exertion should always be in proportion to what is required”4 . And it is hardly surprising that Bingley’s sisters are shocked to see her in that condition. Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley held her in contempt for such a most country town indifference to decorum. Elizabeth’s adorer Darcy also views it a bit improper---he is “divided between admiration of the brilliancy which exercise had given to her complexion，and doubt as to the occasion’s justifying her coming so far alone”5 and expresses that he did not wish to see his sister make such an exhibition. But Austen approves of such wild behavior of Elizabeth through Bingley’s concise words, “It shows an affection for her sister that is very pleasing”6. Elizabeth’s refusal to wait for the carriage---her disregard of her own appearance---in her haste to visit her sick sister is a measure of her maturity and lack of affectation. In this novel there are many other manifestations of Elizabeth’s protests. She is against the convention of that time that the younger girls in a family were not permitted to enter the society before their elder sisters did so. She once said: I think it would be very hard upon younger sisters that they should not have their share of society and amusement because the elder may not have the means or inclination to marry early. The last born has as good a right to the pleasures of youth as the first. And to be kept back on such a motive! I think it would not be very likely to promote sisterly affection or delicacy of mind.7 According to the contemporary social conventionality restricted on woman, the younger ones couldn’t take part in the social party and activity, which lessened their opportunities to get into contact with man. Consequently, they might become old maid. It meant that they lived miserable life for economic status did decide the social position. IV. Reflection in Emma Modern reviewers consider Emma as Austen’s materpiece, especially because the novel shows clearly Jane Austen’s understanding and feeling about the problem of women in her society. The contemporary scholar, Claudia Johnson, thought that Emma was an experimental prodution of authorial independence in its willingness to explore positive versions of female power, which was unlike any of Austen’s other novels. A. Emma’s Character 1. With the Power of Authority In Jane Asten’s age, it was universally accepted that authority is based on retionality. As women are supposed to be only emotional creatures, the notion that women have authority or power is naturally rejected. But Jane Austen successfully created a heroine with the power of authority. Emma Woodhouse is phisically strong, intellectually active and morally superior. She refuses to have her destiny determined by a man. In fact, what makes Emma unusual is the fact that Emma is a woman who asserts her own authority. Emma is the real ruler of the household at Hartfield. Her father is poor in health all his life and his intellectural, physical and even moral frailty necessitates his dependence on Emma’s female strength and good judgment. So Emma has been mistress of the house ever since she was twelve. She manages the household with skillful diplimacy. At the dinner table, Emma takes the duties of patriarchal hospitality on her own shouders. She allows her father to talk, but supplies food to the visitors in a grand style. When disputes are very likely to break out among her guests. Emma always subtly steers them away from uncomfortable topics. Emma’s excellent superintendence over Hartfield, a symbol of superior female authority and power, is in sharp contrast with Mr. Woodhouse’s disability. Austen seems to have subverted the convention that female is supposed to be inferior to male. Instead, Austen hints that the reign of a capable intelligent woman is preferable to that of a man. Besides her authority in her domestic circle, Emma is also the leader of her whole community. People in the neighborhood acknowledge Emma’s preeminence. When the Coles, who have accumulated fortune out of trade, intend to hold a dinner party for respectable people in Highbury, the one to whom they attach special importance is Miss Woodhouse. Emma is so sure of herself that she says: “I always deserve the best treatment, because I never put up with any other.”8 At the end of the novel, Emma eventually marries Mr. Knightley and marriage often means relinquishment of female power. Wayne Booth has declared marriage to an intelligent, amiable, good and attractive man is the best thing that can happen to this heroine. But Austen in a subtle manner continues her quiet subversion of the traditional division of power between male and female. With Mr. Knightley’s decision of moving to Hartfield after marriage, the ending of Emma turns back on the conventions. Considering his own high status Mr. Knightley’s moving into Hartfield is extraordinary--- how very few of those men in a rank of life to address Emma would have renounced their own home for Hartfield! By moving to Hartfield, Mr. Knightley is now sharing Emma’s home, and placing himself within her domain. The fact suggests that Mr. Knightley openly justifies Emma’s authority. 2. With Perfect Self-awareness Although Emma is a heroine with superior intellectual power, readers do not overlook her weaknesses such as vanity, self-importance and snobbery. However, for all her faults we can’t help caring for her because Jane Austen has given her a positive and attractive quality that is self-awareness. Mr. Knightley has told Emma that he believes in Emma’s serious spirit. This serious spirit refers to the power to objectively analyze one’s own words and deeds, carefully examine one’s own behavior, judiciously assess one’s own right and wrong, and bravely correct one’s mistakes. Those who have sound self-awareness and can truly examine themselves continually will eventually expand their spirit and achieve moral improvement. On the contrary, Austen showed repeatedly those clever people without self-awareness may lose the opportunities of correcting their wrong-doings and tend to end in not only regret and unhappiness, but permanent disgrace. Emma has been scolded for her interference with Haniet Smith, her insult to Miss Bates as well as her indifference to Jane Fairfax. These criticisms lead her to recognize her errors. When Emma knows it is her whom Mr. Elton means to pursue rather than her friend, Harriet, she is so shocked and ashamed that she sat down to think, she looked back as well as she could. She wishes that she had not persuded Harriet into liking the man. It is the first time that Emma finds that she has made a mistake about Harriet and begins to examine her own conduct. When Harriet declares she has fallen in love with Mr. Knightley. Emma realizes bitterly it is not Harriet’s fault, but her own. “The blunders, the blindness of her own head and heart had brought evil on Harriet on herself and on Mr. Knighfley”9. Such recognition implies a total examination of herself and an admission that her scheme to find Harriet a husband of high rank has been irrational, obscure and delusive. It also implies her rejection of subjective supposition in favor of objective and impartial reasoning. Emma’s flirtation with Frank is also a kind of disgrace, although at that time she is still in the dark about Frank’s engagement with Jane Fairfax. Emma does not really care for Frank and only feels intoxicated with Frank’s flattery. She admits to herself that she is being false and self-indulgent. Emma’s conscience also tells her that she has long been scornful and ungracious to Miss Bates. She makes a resolve to begin a regular, equal, kindly intercourse by calling upon Miss Bates the very next moming afier Box Hill outing. Although Emma frequently commits errors, she is aware of them. From time to time she reconsiders her behavior, criticizes herself and tries her best to make reparation. The liveliness of her conscience, the depth of her intelligence and the sincerity of her sympathy open a path to her moral improvement and better sense. Lionel Trilling points out that Emma’s mistakes themselves are what make her lovable, because all human beings are fallible and even the best mind makes mistakes. In Jane Austen’s worlds, all the heroine have to struggle with their own wealness and fallibility and make efforts to arrive at a better judgment of themselves. And this process is never-ending. Those who can accomplish this are women of truly prominent intellectual and moral power. Emma stands among the very few of them. As Mrs. Weston says: “Emma has qualities which may be trusted; she will never lead any one really wrong; she will make no lasting blunder; where Emma erros once, she is in the right a hundred times.”10 B. Emma’s Requirments of Ideal Marriage Marriage is the eternal theme of Austen’s novels. The same is true of Emma. Six marriages of John and Isebella, Mr. and Mrs. Weston. Mr. and Mrs. Elton, Robert Martin and Harriet Smith, Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax, Mr Knightley and Emma Woodhouse, are mentioned in the novel. Since the first two matches have been made before the beginning of the story, Austen dwells on the other four maniages. Through these marriages, Austen demonstrates her radical and complex perception of marriage: love is the very foundation of a perfect marriage, but money is the guarantee and equality is the key to a happy match. 1. Love --- the Foundation of an Ideal Marriage Although Jane Austen had a realistic attitude toward marriage, her insistence on mutual love as the very foundation for a marriage never changed. In Austen’s opinion, it was a dreadful mistake for a woman to go into marriage without love. Emma is clearly aware of the importance of love to a successful marriage and she tells Harriet that she should be a fool to marry without love. However, Emma’s emotional awakening comes late and she has been led astray several times. Fortunately, she realizes her genuine affection for Mr. Knightley at last. Emma’s resolution on celibacy is somehow shaken with the arrival of Frank Churchill. Frank, vigorous and agreeable, is a stereotyped gentleman who is supposed to be irresistibly attractive to young women. The whole Highbury considers Frank the appropriate husband for Emma, including Mr. Knightley. Emma is, in fact, impressed by Frank’s manner and tries to convince herself that she falls in love with him. But with the passage of time, Emma is increasingly sure that Frank is not the appropriate spouse for her and attempts to make a match between Harriet and Frank after the former is rescued by the latter from a gipsy attack. Emma later frankly confesses to Mr. Knightley that she appreciates Frank only because her vanity was flattered, and she allowed his attention, and allowed herself to appear pleased. In the meantime, Emma is always attached to Mr. Knightley, although she is not conscious of it yet. Emma admires his tall, upright figure, respects his opinions and cares for his welfare. Emma’s dislike for Jane Fairfax actually partly stems from Mr. Knightley’s excessive concern for Jane. When Harriet reveals her affection for Mr Knightley, Emma eventually realizes that she has been always in love with him. In the process of looking for true love, Emma bravely finds the importance of Mr. Knightley in her life. 2. Money---the Guarantee of an Ideal Marriage Austen has a clear understanding of the function of money in daily life, especially in marriage. In the time of the Regency when Austen lived, Britain was undergoing a transition from the earlier stage of Capitalism to Capitalist Industrialization. Money was getting more and more important in people’s mind. Although Jane Austen emphasized the importance of love to a successful marriage, she had never overlooked the indispensable role of money in a satisfactory match, in particular in women’s marriages. In Emma, though Frank’s mother marries poor Captain Weston out of love, this marriage turns out to be a failure. The couple lives on the husband’s narrow income. The unhappy wife dies and leaves her husband poorer and more unhappy than ever. In Austen’s age, wealthy women like Emma Woodhouse were likely to become prey to men in quest of fortune, while quite a number of poor women were compelled to hunt for rich husbands because marriage was the only honorable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, their pleasantest preservation from want. The life of a single, poor woman is dreadful, and Miss Bates is a living example. Her niece, Jane Fairfax, inherits very few hundred pounds from her father, which makes her economic independence impossible. Although she may be one of the most lovely and accomplished young women in England, as Emma later says, she has to be patronized by vulgar Mrs. Elton, her inferior in every aspect except in terms of wealth. Through these marriages Austen shows us that property is always the guarantee of a successful marriage, which will protect women against poverty. A marriage without money cannot be successful. As a result, money is always indispensible to a satisfactory marriage. V. Conclusion In summary, through the above analysis based on former relevant studies, we can draw the following conclusions. Elizabeth and Emma can be regarded as the good examples of the feminist. Elizabeth is very intelligent, with sound judgement and dares to protest the conventions of the time. While Emma owns absolute authority not only in her family, but also in her domestic circle. She is independent and confronting herself with errors that she has ever made. The development of their consciousness of female subject can be regarded as the process of the female’s self-realization. Through the above analysis, we know that both Emma and Elizabeth are the striking features of literature. Their wit and vivacity are vividly shown in the pursuit of equal position as a man. Their intelligence, sound judgment, self-knowledge, courage and independence represents Jane Austen’s ideal of a perfect lady, who is different from the traditional perfect lady in patriarchal society. And it is in this way that Jane Austen reveals her feminism. Notes 1 Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice. (Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Reseach Press, 2005), 3. 2 Ibid., 42. 3 Ibid., 32. 4 Ibid.. 5 Ibid.. 6 Ibid., 33. 7 Ibid., 136. 8 Jane Austen. Emma. (Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Reseach Presss, 2005), 36. 9 Ibid., 237. 10 James Kinsley. Jane Austen’s Emma. (Hongkong: Oxford University Press, 1997), 85. Bibliography Austen, Jane. Emma. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Reseach Presss, 2005. Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Reseach Press, 2005. Austen-Leigh, J. E. A Memoir of Jane Austen. London: Penguin Books, 1985. Hardy, Barbara. A Reading of Jane Austen. London: The Athlone Press, 1979. Kinsley, James. Jane Austen’s Emma. Hongkong: Oxford University Press, 1997. 侯维瑞. 英国文学通史. 上海:上海外语教育出版社, 1999. 简?奥斯丁. 傲慢与偏见. 上海:上海译文出版社, 1980. 简?奥斯丁. 爱玛. 祝庆英, 祝文光. 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