英语本科毕业论文-莎士比亚在《奥赛罗》中的复杂女性观.doc

Shakespeares Complicated Female Concept in Othello 莎士比亚在奥赛罗中的复杂女性观A thesis submitted tothe Foreign Language DepartmentChina University of Geosciencesin partial fulfillment of the requirementsfor the degree of Bachelor of Artsby Zhang Bounder the supervision of Tang Feng2011-06-01摘要作为英国文学史上最杰出的剧作家，莎士比亚历来受到学者们的关注，而其作品中所反映的女性观也是历代研究的热点话题。奥赛罗是莎士比亚“四大悲剧”之一，而其中所反映的女性观也是非常复杂的。本文在开篇阶段对奥赛罗中所反映的女性观进行了分析，之后在后文当中对造成莎士比亚复杂女性观的原因进行了细致的研究，揭示了人文主义思想、父权主义思想、英雄崇拜情结以及社会传统对其女性观的影响。关键词：女性观，人文主义思想，父权主义思想AbstractAs the greatest playwright in the history of English literature, William Shakespeare has always received much attention from the scholars. The female concept reflected in Shakespeares plays is a hot topic all the time. As one of the “Four Tragedies” of Shakespeare, Othello has been widely analyzed, and the female concept which it reflected is very complicated. In the beginning of this thesis, the female concepts in Othello are analyzed. In the second chapter, the author researches the reasons which cause such complicated female concept in detail. The third chapter will reveal the impact of humanism, patriarchy, hero worship and other social conventions on Shakespeares female concepts. The final part is conclusion. Key words: Female Conception, Humanism, Patriarchy ContentsChapter 1 Introduction11.1. Research Topic21.2 Literature Review21.2.1 Studies on Women-belittling21.2.2 Studies on Feminism21.3. Significance3Chapter 2 Shakespeares Female Concepts42.1. The Female Concept in Othello42.1.1 The Bud of Feminism in Othello52.1.2 Women-belittling in Othello7Chapter 3 The Reasons for A Complicated View About Women in Othello123.1. The Influence of Social Background123.2 The Influences of Humanism123.2.1. The Dream of Humanism123.2.2 The Love Concept of Humanism133.2.3 The Negative Extreme of the Humanism143.2.4 The Marriage Concept of the Humanism153.2.5 The Influence of Humanism on the Bud of Feminism163.3 The Influence of Traditions on Women-belittling163.3.1 The Influence of Mens Superiority and Womens Inferiority163.3.2 The Influence of Patriarchy173.3.3 The Complex of Hero Worship17Chapter 4 Conclusion20Chapter 1 Introduction1. Research TopicShakespeare has been recognized as the greatest playwright in British history. In his plays, many female roles created by Shakespeare have a profound impact on the scholarsconception of the aftertime. But strangely, people find that Shakespeare seems to have held a contradictory view on women. In some his plays, women fight bravely against the feudal autocracy and pursue vigorously freedom and equality. But in other plays, the female characters seem to be weak ones or destructive ones. Why does one playwright have such a contradictory concept on women?In the past several decades or centuries, some scholars have studied this strange phenomenon, and they drew the conclusion that in different periods, the features of the female in Shakespeares are different. The female concept which supports the freedom of marriage, speaks highly of the humanity liberation, and advocate the love and friendship could be found in the plays of Shakespeare in the first period. Many famous characters like Juliet or Portia are created in this period .Their similarity is bravery in pursuing their love regardless of the pressure from their family. So we regard the view as a bud of “feminism”. But in the second period, Shakespeare changes his female concept completely. In this period, although bravery could be still found in these female characters, but “feminism” is incomplete. The female characters just resist the “father-right” tradition, but when they face “husband-right”, they usually choose to keep silence. Besides, in view of the times one appears in a play and their status in the plays, the female roles are weaker than male roles. 华全坤、洪增流、田朝绪著，莎士比亚新论新世纪，新莎士比亚69页，上海外语教育出版社，2007年。 We could call the phenomenon as “women-belittling”. 2 Literature Review2.1 Studies on Women-belittlingIn Shakespeares many plays, the men are thought to be enjoyed the higher position than the women. Whats the reason of that? According to the in-depth study, many academicians believed the main reason was the traditional concept that men were superior to women. 华全坤、洪增流、田朝绪著，莎士比亚新论新世纪，新莎士比亚71页，上海外语教育出版社，2007年。 In a father-right society, the concept was well understood by everyone, so Shakespeare couldnt get rid of the limitation of the concept too. So, understandably, the main characters of Shakespeare plays are always males. Besides, in the father-right society, creating the characters in mens viewpoint seemed to be unavoidable. So the function of the female roles was to help to show the male characters better.3 李伟民著，中国文化语境里的莎士比亚293页，上海外语教育出版社，2009年。 In this way, we could understand why the women always appeared as costar in Shakespeares plays.In addition, Shakespeare seemed to have strong “Penelope complex”, which comes from Greek mythology, means the chastity of the women to their husband. In many Shakespeares tragedies, the female characters must be loyalty to their husbands or lover, and dying for love seemed to be the perfect and highest level behavior to show their loyalty.华全坤、洪增流、田朝绪著，莎士比亚新论新世纪，新莎士比亚70页，上海外语教育出版社，2007年。 In a sense, it showed some kind of overlook to the females life.2.2 Studies on feminismFeminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of womens rights. Although the feminism rose in the second half of the 19th century, feminism has budded in Shakespeares plays. On the one hand, some female roles pursued their love freely, to the exclusion of the family strong disagreement, such as Ophelia and Desdemona. On the other hand, their tragic fate seemed to told all the audiences that women have to learn how to say “no” to the men because its the only way to avoid tragedy happens. 郎琴芳著，反抗父权制莎士比亚三大爱情悲剧中女主角的女权主义诠释，铜陵学院学报2010年第1期。A man, who was dominated by the conception that men enjoyed higher status than women, was a feminist at the same time. Such a strange phenomenon had attracted much attention to the researchers in the past decades. Some scholars think that the phenomenon was a result of the influence of the Renaissance ideology. The ideology of “people first”, which appeared in the Shakespeares time, emphasizes the people are the center of the world. All the people have the right to pursue their own love freely. So Shakespeare melts the ideology into his plays, and then we were able to find these fearless and free female characters. 华全坤、洪增流、田朝绪著. 2007. 莎士比亚新论新世纪，新莎士比亚.上海外语教育出版社, 69页李伟民著，中国文化语境里的莎士比亚279页，上海外语教育出版社，2009年。3. SignificanceAs we all know, Shakespeare lived in the time of Renaissance, a period mixing the Christian thoughts with the bourgeoisie ideology. So two thought -“Man is superior to woman” and “people first” - are mixed in his plays. In the past decades or centuries, many researches about women-belittling or the bud of feminism have already been done separately, and gigantic achievements have been made on these two subjects. But few people have studied them connectedly and try to find out the reason about this special phenomenon. So, on the basis of the previous researches, a research studying the mixture of women-belittling and the bud of feminism in Othello will be done in my thesis. 加文章结构Chapter 2 Shakespeares Female Concepts1. The Female Concept in OthelloOthello written in 1601 is one of the most famous plays of Shakespeare. In the play of Othello, the author tells us a mournful story. Othello, who is a Moor, lives in Venice and becomes a famous general during wars. Because of his honesty and bravery, a beautiful and virtuous girl named Desdemona from a noble family falls in love with him and marries him secretly. For this reason, Desdemonas father breaks off relations with her and dies of a broken heart. After the marriage, the young couple come to Cyprus at the behest of the senators. But Iago, the ancient of Othello, envys Cassio and suspects Othello has an affair with his wife, so he frames Desdemona loving Cassio and sleeping with the lieutenant. In order to make his trick succeed, he gets the handkerchief which Othello gives to Desdemona with her wifes help. Finally, Othello is convinced that Desdemona is dishonest to him, so he kills her. But after that, Iagos crime is brought to light and Desdemona is proved to be innocent, Othello commits suicide for fear of punishment. In the play of Othello, the female characters status couldnt be compared with the male roles, but it doesnt mean the women are just the supporting roles. On the contrary, in the climax of the play, the person who uncovers the truth is nobody but a female character named Emilia. So, although the women in Shakespeares play seem unimportant, they are the necessary part of the whole play. Here come two questions: how important is the female in Shakespeares view? And what female concept does Shakespeare hold?In the past, many scholars had argued whether Shakespeare respects or despises women, and a lot of theses had been done to discuss the question. But it seems that nobody could get the question across. In my opinion, the contradictory female concept held by Shakespeare is the reason why people could get different comprehensions through his plays. If you consider the period in which he livea period filled with great changes and ideological emancipation, you wont be surprised at his complicated ideology. So, as far as I am concerned, the bud of feminism and women-belittling are two main features of Shakespeares female concept, and we could find these two points in Othello too. 1.1 The Bud of Feminism in Othello The term “feminism” appeared in 1880s, which means emancipation of women. Existing in human society with a long history, patriarchy regards males as the center of world, discriminates the females and classifies females into appendage of the men. But feminism challenges patriarchy, aiming at wiping out the discrimination in every aspect to women in daily life. It emphasizes that women have a right to pursue their own freedom without the interference of the men. 陈茂林. 2003.从新女性到牺牲品苔丝狄蒙娜形象试析J.南都学坛2003 (7)Feminism budded in Othello. For example, when Brabantio, Desdemonas father, requires her daughter to make a choice about who she wants to be with, Desdemona says to her father as following:My noble father, I do perceive here a divided duty: to you I am bound for life and education; my life and education both do learn me how to respect you; you are the lord of duty; I am hitherto your daughter: but heres my husband, and so much duty as my mother showd to you, preferring you before her father, so much I challenge that I may profess due to the Moor my lord.(Act I, Scene 3)Besides, when the Duke of Venice asks Desdemona whether she would like to stay at home and wait for Othello coming back, she said,“Nor I; I would not there reside, to put my father in impatient thoughts by being in his eye. Most gracious duke, to my unfolding lend your prosperous ear; and let me find a charter in your voice, to assist my simpleness.” (Act I, Scene 3)“That I did love the Moor to live with him, my downright violence and storm of fortunes may trumpet to the world: my hearts subdued even to the very quality of my lord: I saw Othellos visage in his mind, and to his honour and his valiant parts did I my soul and fortunes consecrate. So that, dear lords, if I be left behind, a moth of peace, and he go to the war, the rites for which I love him are bereft me, and I a heavy interim shall support by his dear absence. Let me go with him.” (Act I, Scene 3)When she and Othello declare their love to the public, Desdemona makes such a short statement, but we could see an image who is free, honest and brave to pursue her love. Patriarchy is considered as a part of the traditional social system from the ancient time. To women, the order of the father couldnt be disobeyed. But in Shakespeares view, the women have the right to make their own choice. So, via the mouth of Desdemona, the author champions the right of women to pursue their love freely.But I do think it is their husbands faults if wives do fall: say that they slack their duties, and pour our treasures into foreign laps, or else break out in peevish jealousies, throwing restraint upon us; or say they strike us, or scant our former having in despite; why, we have galls, and though we have some grace, yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know their wives have sense like them: they see and smell and have their palates both for sweet and sour, as husbands have. What is it that they do, when they change us for others? Is it sport? I think it is: and doth affection breed it? I think it doth: ist frailty that thus errs? It is so too: and have not we affections. Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have? Then let them use us well: else let them know, the ills we do, their ills instruct us so.(Act IV, Scene 3) When Desdemona and Emilia talk about chastity of the women, Emilia speaks out the statement above. The statement has the following implications: 1) The husband should be responsible for the disloyalty of the wife because it is probably caused by extramarital affairs or maltreating of the husband; 2）Although women is grace in nature, they also have the limitation of tolerance and they would revenge in some cases; 3) Women are human beings, so they have the feelings and desires too;4) The wives revenge aims to make their husbands treat them fairly, the evil deeds they do are all instructed by the men. 杨爱唐. 1996. “脆弱啊，你的名字就是女人”莎士比亚笔下几个女性形象透视J. 鄂州大学学报. 1996 (2) We could regard the statement by Emilia as the complaints and protest of the women who is oppressed. It also shows the “grass-roots” characteristic of Shakespeares plays. In his sight, the small potato isnt humbler than the riches. Shakespeare places his humanism into Emilia. So Emilia could be considered as the envoy of Shakespeare to show the idea of equality and progress to the audience. Here, we could recognize one aspect of Shakespeares female concept easily. Obviously, it could be defined as “the bud of feminism”.1.2 Women-belittling in OthelloFrom the beginning of the human society in civilized times, patriarchy has become a tradition in ancient Greece, ancient Egypt or in ancient China. In a patriarchy society, men take helm of the state, and the values are made according to mens standards. Beside, women are the appendage of men, and males could control everything which originally belongs to the females. So, in a sense, patriarchy is equal to the disdain to the women, and we could call it “women-belittling”. 田俊武，李硕. 2006. 浅谈莎士比亚奥赛罗中的婚姻制度与妇女地位问题J. 戏剧文学，2006（09）：73-77. From the Renaissance, people began to re-research thoroughly the values of Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt, to redefine the meaning of “man”. So, a great quantity of literatures appeared to characterize man, exalt man and put man to the center of the world. But here, “man” stands for male instead of female. The difference of status between men and women didnt change visibly.田俊武，李硕. 2006. 浅谈莎士比亚奥赛罗中的婚姻制度与妇女地位问题J. 戏剧文学，2006（09）：84-86 As a playwright in the period of Renaissance, Shakespeare tries to call for a woman to fight against the father and to pursue her love bravely in Othello. But as a result of the influence of the patriarchy, his play inevitably features the idea of women-belittling. For example, when Iago tries to appease Roderigo, he compares Desdemona to guinea-hen.I would drown myself for the love of a guinea-hen, I would change my humanity with a baboon. (Act I, Scene 3)”.Before Othello reached to Cyprus, Iago arrives there with his wife and Desdemona. Facing Cassios praise, Iago abuses her wife in public, but her wife has no right to defend herself. It showes the exact status of women in the ancient family: the appendant of the men.“In faith, too much; I find it still, when I have list to sleep: marry, before your ladyship, I grant, she puts her tongue a little in her heart, and chides with thinking.” Come on, come on; you are pictures out of doors, bells in your parlors, wild-cats in your kitchens, saints m your injuries, devils being offended, players in your housewifery, and housewives in your beds.You rise to play and go to bed to work. (Act II, Scene1 )Desdemona loses handkerchief which Othello gives her accidentally, so her husband thinks that she gives it to Cassio and abuses her. Abused by Othello, Desdemona is very regretful to lose the handkerchief. So Emilia, Iagos wife, speaks, They (that is, men) are all but stomachs, and we (that is, women) all but food; To eat us hungerly, and when they are full, they belch us. (Act III, Scene 4) Through this statement, we could learn about what women hold the opinion for their own status in Shakespeares time. They are just the “food” of the men.When the envoy called Lodovico comes to Cyprus to pass the order of the Duke. Othello is furious about her wifes “disloyalty”, but Desdemona is completely ignorant of that. So here comes the following dialogue. “Desdemona. A most unhappy one: I would do much to atone them, for the love I bear to Cassio.Othello. Fire and brimstone!Desdemona. My lord?Othello. Are you wise?Desdemona. What, is he angry?Lodovico. May be the letter moved him; for, as I think, they do command him home, deputing Cassio in his government.Desdemona. Trust me, I am glad on