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 AustenA. Her Life ExperienceJane Austen was born on December 16th, 1775. at her fathers 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 Austens father and mother are well educated and intelligent. This is the reason that even though she dont 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 fathers rectory in Steventon , due to the assurance of her familys 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 BackgroundJane 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 FeminismA. Basic Concepts of FeminismFeminism is a modern term. Its 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 womans 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 womens sudordinations, even through what are considered to be essentially feminism chracteristics vary from culture to culture.B. Feminism in the Eighteenth CenturyThe current phase of feminism is usually seen as originating in the 1960s. Yet, the 1960s were not the beginning of history of womens 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 Austens 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 PrejudiceElizabeth, 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. Elizabeths 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. Elizabeths Intelligence and JudgmentIn 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 womens 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.”1From her fathers 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. Elizabeths 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.”2Through 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 Elizabeths 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 Elizabeths 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 womens 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. Elizabeths Courage of Protesting Against ConventionsElizabeth 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 Bingleys 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. Elizabeths 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 occasions 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 Bingleys concise words, “It shows an affection for her sister that is very pleasing”6. Elizabeths 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 Elizabeths 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.7According to the contemporary social conventionality restricted on woman, the younger ones couldnt 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 EmmaModern reviewers consider Emma as Austens materpiece, especially because the novel shows clearly Jane Austens 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 Austens other