《FEMINISM IN JANE EYRE.doc》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《FEMINISM IN JANE EYRE.doc（22页珍藏版）》请在三一办公上搜索。
1、FEMINISM IN JANE EYREABSTRACTJane Eyre is the most famous work of Charlotte Bronte,who is considered as an extraordinary woman novelist.Because the novel throbs with the heart-beats of its author, both literary critics and the readers have taken great interest in its unconventional heroine Jane Eyre
2、, whose unconventionality is shown in the heroines pursuit of liberty, equality and independence. It is an autobiographical novel in a certain degree. This essay attempts to prove Jane is a real feminist through the analysis of her personality. Jane Eyre is a typical and magnificent representative i
3、n Enalish literature, not only for her plain but famous appearance but also for her characters outstanding and alien thoughts. The image of Jane Eyre is brilliant for her rebellious character. She always insists on her principle to rebel and fights bravely against the unjust word. She still trise he
4、r best to pursue freedom, equality, independence and true love. By unremitting efforts she finally get dignity gets dignity, freedom and true love. Key Words: Jane Eyre feminism limitations oppression struggle 简爱中的女权主义摘要简爱是现实主义时期著名女作家夏洛蒂勃朗特的代表作品，她被认为是一位卓越的女作家。因为她在小说中描述的是与传统不同的女主人公简爱的勇于追求自由，平等和独立精神。它
5、也是作者的自传体小说。通过对简爱的性格进行剖析，证明了简爱是一个标准的女权主义者。简爱这个人物形象，博得读者的爱怜，在英国文学史上是位具有代表性的人物，不仅表现在外表的朴实无华，而且表现在她性格上的独特魅力。简爱因其性格中所具有的强烈反抗意识而特别地引起注目。她坚持自己的原则去不断反抗不公平的社会。她用尽全力追求自由，平等，独立和真爱。经过坚持不懈的努力她最终获得自尊，自由和真爱。关键词：简爱 女权主义 局限性 压迫 抗争目 录ABSTRACT .I摘要.II1. Introduction.51.1 The AuthorCharlotte Bronte.51.2 Feminist Critic
6、sm.51.3 The Social Background of Jane Eyre.61.4 The Summary of the BookJane Eyre.62. The Manifestation Mode of Feminism.82.1 The Definition of “Feminism”.82.2 Feminism Shown in Jane Eyre.82.3 Life is Struggle.92.4 An Unequal Love.112.5 Oppression and Repel142.6 Ecological Feminist152.7 The Image of
7、Women Characters163. Limitations184. Meaning194.1 Feminism in Todays Life.194.2 Comparing Feminism in Janes Time And Todays Time.195. Conclusion23Works Cited1 Introduction1.1 The AuthorCharlotte Bronte Jane Eyre has been popular with readers all over the world since its publication in 1847.It was wr
8、itten by Charlotte Bronte, one of the most outstanding British writers in nineteenth century. She was a famous talented realistic woman novelist. She portrayed the struggle of the individual to maintain his integrity with a dramatic intensity entirely new to English fiction.Charlotte Bronte was born
9、 in the family of poor country clergyman at Thornton Yorkshire in 1816. She was the third child of the family. Her sister Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, and the other sister Anne wrote Agnes Grey. She and her sister went to a charity school with bad food and poor living conditions, then, Charlotte r
10、emoved from the school to start a sketchy learning at home. Formal schooling was not much in their youth, but wide reading and home educationseemed to give free play to their imagination. They wrote stories and poems. In 1842, they went to Brussels for nine months to learn French. Charlotte worked t
11、here as a teacher for one year. Charlotte died in 1855, less than one year after her marriage to a clergyman A.B, Nicholas.1.2 What is Feminist Citicsm Feminist criticism comes in many forms, and feminist critics have a variety of goals. Some have been interested in rediscovering the works of women
12、writers overlooked by a masculine-dominated culture. Others have revisited books by male authors and reviewed them from a womans point of view to understand how they both reflect and shape the attitudes that have held women back. A number of contemporary feminists have turned to topics as various as
13、 women in postcolonial so-cieties, womens autobiographical writings, lesbians and literature, womanliness as masquerade, and the role of film and other popular media in the construction of the feminine gender. Until a few years ago, however, feminist thought tended to be classified not according to
14、topic but, rather, according to country of origin. This practice reflected the fact that, during the 1970s and early 1980s, French, American, and British feminists wrote from somewhat different perspectives. French feminists tended to focus their attention on language, ana-lyzing the ways in which m
15、eaning is produced. They concluded that language as we commonly think of it is a decidedly male realm. Drawing on the ideas of the psychoanalytic philosopher Jacques Lacan, they reminded us that language is a realm of public discourse. A child enters the linguistic realm just as it comes to grasp it
16、s separateness from its mother, just about the time that boys identify with their father, the family representative of culture. The language learned reflects a binary logic that opposes such terms as active/passive, masculine/feminine, sun/moon, father/mother, head/heart, son/daughter, intelligent/
17、sensitive, brother/sister, form/matter, phallus/vagina, reason/emotion. Because this logic tends to group with masculinity such qualities as light, thought, and activity, French feminists said that the structure of language is phaUocentric: it privileges the phallus and, more generally, masculinity
18、by associating them with things and values more appreciated by the (masculine-dominated) culture. Moreover, French feminists suggested, masculine desire dominates speech and posits woman as an idealized fantasy-fulfillment for the incurable emotional lack caused by separation from the mother (Jones,
19、 Inscribing, 83). French feminists associated language with separation from the mother. Its distinctions, they argued, represent the world from the male point of view. Language systematically forces women to choose: either they can imagine and represent themselves as men imagine and represent them (
20、in which case they may speak, but will speak as men) or they can choose silence, becoming in the process the invisible and unheard sex (Jones, Inscribing 83).1.3 The Scial Bckground of Jane Eyre 1832, the year when the first Reform Bill was passed, is usually regarded as the end of the Romantic era
21、and the beginning of the Victorian age, although Queen Victorian did not start her reign until 1837. The Victorian age (1832-1902) was a time of profound change. The Industrial Revolution had reshaped the class structure of English society by creating the rich bourgeoisies and powerful but political
22、ly deprived proletariat who would have to fight for their right. Humanknowledge also made major advances that inevitably posed as a direct challenge to the authority of religion. The Victorian age is usually subdivided into the following phases: the early victorian period, the mid-victorian period,
23、and late victorian period. Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre in the early victorian period when the conflict between labor and capital was so sharp. In this period the labour cried for democracy, freedom and equality.1.4 The Summary of the BookJane EyreJane Eyre is a Bildungsroman, or a coming-of-age
24、 novel, which recounts the first nineteen years of the character of Jane Eyre, in thefirst-person voice.Ten -year -old orphan Jane Eyre lives unhappily with her wealthy, cruel cousins and aunt at Gateshead. Later she is sent off to school at Lowood, but there, under the hypocritical Evangelicalism o
25、f the headmaster, Mr. Brocklehurst, she suffers further privations in the austere environment. She befriends Helen Burns, is taken under the wing of the superintendent, Miss Temple. Jane excels as a student for six years and as a teacher for two.Jane finds employment as a governess at the estate of
26、Thornfield for a little girl, Adele. After much waiting, Jane finally meets her employer, Edward Rochester, a brooding, detached man who seems to have a dark past. Other oddities around Jane develops an attraction for Rochester, not based on looks (both are considered plain) but on their intellectua
27、l communion. However, the higher social standing of the beautiful Miss Ingram seemingly vaults her above Jane. Though Rochester flirts with the idea of marrying Miss Ingram, he is aware of her financial ambitions for marriage. An old acquaintance of Rochesters, Richard Mason, visits Thornfield and i
28、s severely injure. Jane, baffled by the circumstances, tends to him, and Rochester confessesto her that he made an error in the past that he hopes to overturn by marrying Miss Ingram. He says that he has another governess position for Jane lined up elsewhere.Jane returns to Gateshead for a while. Wh
29、en she returns to Thornfield, Rochester asks Jane to marry him. Jane accepts, but a month later, Mason and a solicitor, Mr. Briggs, interrupt the ceremony by revealing that Rochester already has a wife: Bertha Mason, Masons sister, a lunatic who is kept in the attic in Thornfield. Rochester confesse
30、s his past misdeeds to Jane. In his youth he needed to marry the wealthy Bertha for money, but was unaware of her familys history of madness, and over time she became an incorrigible, dangerous part of his life which only imprisonment could solve. Despite his protests that he loves Jane, she cannot
31、agree to marry him because of his previous marriage, and leaves Thornfield. Jane arrives at the desolate crossroads of Whitcross and is reduced to begging for food. Fortunately, the Rivers siblings (St. John, Diana, and Mary) take her into their home at Moor House. She develops great affection for t
32、he ladies, and happily teaches at St. Johns school. Jane learns that she has inherited a vast fortune from her uncle, and that the Rivers siblings are her cousins. She divides it among her new family and phases out her teaching duties. St. John is going to go on missionary work in India and repeated
33、ly asks Jane to accompany him as his wife; she refuses, since it would mean compromising her capacity for passion in a loveless marriage. Instead, she is drawn to thoughts of Rochester and, one day, after experiencing a mystical connection with him, seeks him out at Thornfield. She discovers that th
34、e estate has been burned down by Bertha, who died in the fire, and that Rochester, who was blinded in the incident, lives nearby. He is overjoyed when she locates him, and relates his side of the mystical connection Jane had. He and Jane marry and enjoy life together, and he regains his sight in one
35、 eye.2 The Manifestation Mode of Feminism2.1 The Definition of “Feminism”Feminism is a collection of social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies largely motivated by or concerned with the liberation of women. In simple terms, feminism is the belief in social, political and economic
36、equality of the sexes, and a movement organized around the belief that gender should not be the pre-determinant factor shaping a persons social identity or socio-political or economic rights. A large portion of feminists are especially concerned with what they perceive to be the social, political an
37、d economic inequality between the sexes which favors the male gender; some have argued that gendered and sexed identities, such as “man” and “woman”, are socially constructed. Feminists disagree over the sources of inequality, how to attain equality, and the extent to which gender and genderbased id
38、entities should be questioned and critiqued.2.2 Feminism is Shown in Jane EyreJane Eyre is an orphan being raised by Mrs Reed, her cruel, rich aunt, she spends more years at Lowood, six as a student, and two as a teacher. After teaching for two years, Jane wants to get new experiences. She then acce
39、pts a family tutor job at a big house called Thornfield. There she teachers a lively French girl named Adele. Janes employer is an impassion man names Rochester. Jane find herself fall in love with him, she becomes depress when she see Rochester bring home a beautiful but bad woman. She believes tha
40、t Rochester will propose to the woman, but to her surprised, Rochester propose to Jane, and she agrees. The wedding day arrives. When Jane and Rochester prepare to exchange their rings, a man comes and cried out that Rochester already has a wife. Rochester is very surprised, but he does not deny the
41、 mans claim. He explains that he does marry a woman named Bertha when he is young, but Bertha has gone mad. Knowing that it is impossible for her to stay with Rochester, Jane escaped from Thornfield. Jane Eyre, in the aunt family who resides temporarily, has conflict with her overbearing cruel cousi
42、n, though she is thin and small, Jane dare to wrestle with her cousin, and angrily rebukes him: “Your this boy really is virulent and also brutal, you look like a murderyou look like a man who maltreat the slave, you look like Rome emperor.” “She also dare to accuse her aunt who hides shortcomings c
43、allously: You thought you are a good person, but you are bad , you are cruel-hearted.” Here manifested feminisms self-respect and independent, and rebellion viewpoint. After Jane found she has fallen in love with the master deeply in the status so disparate situation, she dare to love, because she b
44、elieved human spiritual is equal. A poor teacher with great courage falls in love with a high character, in the rank deep strict social concept, it is just as beggar hope to be a king, therefore this itself is to challenge to social and prejudice. Here manifested feminism pursue spirit freed and equ
45、al viewpoint. Janes emotion to Rochester is unusual sincerity and single-minded, this mainly displays in her to Rochester rigid and in the intense love. When John Eyre proposes to her, wants her to take he assistant and goes together in India for missionary work, although Jane thought “He is a good
46、person”, but has refused his proposing. Because looked like in Jane Eyre, he loves is not herself, he loves is God. More importantly, regardless of how he treats her, in her heart what she loves is still Rochester, because a pastor to her love is incomplete. But when Jane knew Rochester had the insa
47、ne legitimate wife, she also rejected his love, she was not willing to cultivate the behavior the lover, what she wanted is a true significance complete love. Here has manifested feminism pursue true sense and complete love view.2.3 Life is StruggleAccording to Jane Eyres different life environment
48、can fall into four parts in all her life: Gateshead, Lowood, Thornfield, and Whitcross. Four places have four men, someone are the reason for the struggle, someone are the object of struggle, someone are belonging of the struggleThe first struggle: Mans childhood is extremely important period in the all life. No matter which theory, all they think
