（英语语言文学专业论文）从《维莱特》看夏洛蒂·勃朗特的女性意识.pdf

iii 中 文 摘 要 夏洛蒂勃朗特（1816-1855）是十九世纪英国最富盛名的女作家之一。夏洛 蒂在其短暂的一生中共创作了五部小说： 教师 、 简爱 、 谢莉 、 维莱特 ， 以及最后一部未完成的小说 艾玛 。 尽管夏洛蒂谢世时只留给我们四部完整的小说， 但是她在英国文学史上颇具影响力。夏洛蒂的作品以及夏洛蒂本人一直以来都是国 内外文学界热议的话题。文学批评家已从现实主义、形式主义、精神分析、马克思 主义等多角度对夏洛蒂的作品进行了研究。随着女性主义文学批评的发展，文学批 评家们开始关注夏洛蒂作品中所反映出的女性意识。然而，女性主义批评家更多的 将注意力集中于简爱 ，对于夏洛蒂的另一部力作维莱特 ，很少有人问津。 维 莱特被认为是夏洛蒂生平的现实主义写照。在这部作品中，夏洛蒂表达了她对于 生活、爱情、婚姻的更为成熟的看法，以及对于女性问题更为深切的关注和思考。 较之前三部小说，夏洛蒂在维莱特中传达的女性主义思想更为进步，这给予了 笔者极大的启发，促就了这篇论文。 这篇论文旨在探究夏洛蒂勃朗特在维莱特中所传达出的女性意识。论文 由以下八部分组成：引言部分简要介绍了夏洛蒂勃朗特的生平及其作品，概述了 国内外对她的作品，尤其是维莱特的研究状况，指明研究目的；第一章概述了 女性主义批评家对于女性意识的研究；第二章概述了夏洛蒂勃朗特在她的四部小 说中所传达的女性意识； 在第三章笔者将夏洛蒂的生平与 维莱特 女主人公露西 斯 诺的经历进行对比，指出维莱特是一部带有明显自传色彩的小说，女主人公露 西就是夏洛蒂的代言人；在第四章笔者通过将露西与小说中“家庭天使”型女性人 物形象进行比对，揭示出夏洛蒂在维莱特中所传达出的独立意识；在第五章笔 者通过分析露西与小说中另两位女性人物的爱情婚姻观的不同之处、露西与两位男 主人公的关系以及小说结尾的设置，揭示出夏洛蒂在维莱特中所传达出的新型 爱情婚姻观；在第六章笔者通过分析小说中一些象征性意象的运用，揭示出夏洛蒂 的女性意识；在结语部分，笔者对整篇论文进行了概括总结。 关键词：夏洛蒂勃朗特； 维莱特 ；女性意识 i abstract charlotte bront was one of the most accomplished english women writers in the nineteenth century. in her short lifetime, she wrote five novels: the professor, jane eyre, shirley, villette and her last unfinished novel emma. though charlotte only left us four complete novels, she has had great influence in the history of english literature. charlotte and her works have always been the hot topics in literary circle throughout the world. literary critics have made researches on her novels from different perspectives, such as realism, formalism, psychoanalysis, marxism and so on. with the development of feminist criticism, critics begin to study charlottes feminist awareness reflected in her novels. however, feminist critics usually concentrate their attention on jane eyre, and villette is seldom touched upon. villette, written in the final stage of charlottes progress to maturity, is widely believed as a realistic reflection of her true life, in which charlotte expresses her mature understanding about life and love. and it expresses her deeper concern for womens problems. in villette, charlotte conveys more provocative feminist ideas than in her other novels, which makes the topic of the forthcoming thesis. this thesis aims at probing charlotte bronts feminist awareness in her last complete novel villette. this thesis will cover the following parts. in the introduction part, the author will briefly introduce charlotte bronts life and her works, and the critical review on her novels, especially villette, and point out the purpose of the present study on villette. chapter one will briefly introduce critical ideas on feminist awareness. chapter two will outline charlotte bronts feminist awareness in her four complete novels. in chapter three the author will make a comparison between charlottes life experiences and lucys, and draw the conclusion that villette is an autobiographical novel and lucy is the writers spokeswoman through whom charlotte manifests her own feminist awareness. in chapter four the author will reveal charlotte bronts awareness of independence by contrasting ii lucy with other angel-like female characters in the novel. in chapter five the author will examine charlotte bronts view on marriage by analyzing the difference between lucys attitude towards love and marriage from the other female characters, her relations with the two heroes and the significance of the seemingly tragic ending of the novel. in chapter six the author will investigate charlottes feminist awareness by analyzing some symbolic images in the novel. in the conclusion part, the author will summarize the thesis briefly and offer some hints for further study of villette. key words: charlotte bront; villette; feminist awareness introduction 1 introduction 1.1 charlotte bronts life and her works charlotte bront was one of the most excellent english women writers in the nineteenth century. she was known to the world for her long novel jane eyre. she died at an early age of thirty-nine. in her short lifetime, she wrote five novels: the professor, jane eyre, shirley, villette and her last unfinished novel emma. though charlotte only left us four complete novels, she has had great influence in the history of english literature and her works constantly attracted the critics attention around the world. charlotte bront was born in thornton, yorkshire, in northern england on april 21, 1816. she was the third daughter of patrick bront, an irish anglican clergyman. her other two sisters, emily bront and anna bront, were both world famous women writers, and they three were called “bront sisters” in english literature history. charlotte has shown her talent in literary creation in her childhood when writing some little books together with her two sisters and brother branwell, in which they described their imaginary world. charlottes early writing practice prepared her well for her literary success in adulthood. charlotte bront had a miserable childhood. her mother died at her early age. in her adolescence, her sisters and brother died one after another. she was left alone. charlottes sisters and brother supported her spiritually and emotionally. they were very important to her. their death made her life meaningless and sunless. she felt desperate, depressive and lonely. her adulthood was not happy, either. she had an unrequited love, which affected her whole life. in 1842, in order to realize their dream of running a small school in their hometown, charlotte and emily went to brussels to study at the pension heger. in brussels, charlotte met mr. heger, her lifelong lover, who was regarded as one of the most important archetypes of male characters in her novels. charlottes brussels years provided her with the material for two novels: the professor, published posthumously in 1857, and villette, published in 1853. in order to give vent to her pent-up feelings, charlotte began to write novels which reflected her personal experiences. she chose the heroines to be her spokeswomen to express her emotions and her attitudes towards the society. therefore, the heroines in her charlotte bronts feminist awareness in villette 2 novels are similar to charlotte herself in many aspects. 1.2 critical review on charlotte bronts novels charlotte bronts first published novel is jane eyre, which is a great success and attracts the critics attention immediately after its publication. with the publication of her other novels, charlotte and her works become the hot topics in literary circle. literary critics have made researches on her novels from different perspectives, such as realism, formalism, psychoanalysis, marxism, feminism and so on. after the publication of her biography, the life of charlotte bront by mrs. gaskell in 1857, many critics tend to analyze her works from the biographical perspectives. they think there exists close relationship between charlottes personal life and her novels, and that her works can be considered as autobiographical novels to some degree. among her five novels, jane eyre and villette have always been the focus of critics researches. the chinese readers know charlotte bront through her first published novel, jane eyre. since the chinese version of jane eyre was introduced into china in 1935, it immediately won great popularity among the common readers and scholars. almost overnight, jane eyre, the plain, poor but independent and enthusiastic heroine, was known to every household in china. the critics began to study this novel from different aspects. charlotte bront became the focus of scholars researches. she was viewed as one of the most accomplished english women writers in the world. even though her other novels were introduced into china one after another in the following years, charlotte was still remembered by the chinese readers as the writer of jane eyre. in the eyes of the chinese public, none of her other novels could surpass her first published novel jane eyre. even today, when people talk about charlotte, the first works coming into their mind is still jane eyre. it seems that charlottes another excellent novel villette has never won such high popularity as jane eyre in china. this novel has been ignored by chinese scholars for quite a long time since its appearance in china, although it has attracted the attention of generations and generations of literary critics in english-speaking countries. until now, the papers and articles on villette written by chinese critics are found no more than ten. some critics explain the reason for villettes unpopularity in china is that the artistic introduction 3 charm of this novel is far less than that of jane eyre. the author thinks that explanation is unfair. undoubtedly, since the first publication of villette until today, this novel has always been considered as an excellent work of a great writer in english-speaking countries. however, in english-speaking countries, villette immediately attracts many scholars attention since its appearance. this novel evokes much controversy in literary circle. the critics hold opposed opinions on the novel. some critiques are quite negative. matthew arnold writes to his friend arthur hugh clough shortly after the first publication of this novel, miss bront has written a hideous, undelightful, convulsed, constricted novel.one of the most utterly disagreeable books i ever read.1 robert a. colby argues by comparison with the steady excitement of jane eyre, villette may seem to some readers loosely woven and desultory in pace, not so carefully plotted.2 miriam allott finds this novel almost intolerably painful to read. 3 while many critics review this novel positively. they argue that in many aspects charlottes last novel villette is her most profound accomplishment. george henry lewes says, it is a work of astonishing power and passion. from its pages there issues an influence of truth as healthful as a mountain breeze.4 george eliot, a contemporary writer, deeply obsessed by villette, says i am only just returned to a sense of the real world about me, for i have been reading villette, a still more wonderful book than jane eyre. there is something almost preternatural in its power.5 mary ward says that charlotte never uses her great talent of poetic imagination so well as in villette.6 margaret ryan, a modern critics for bront sisters, considers that villette is more wonderful, more skillful and maturer than charlottes other novels in many aspects, and that it is the only one that almost from the beginning to the end shows the height charlotte could achieve in her best period of writing.7 the heat of researches on villette has never faded in literary circle. in recent decades, many critics abroad have studied this novel from various aspects. some review this novel 1 howard lowry, ed. letters to arthur hugh clough (london: oxford university press, 1932) 132. 2 robert a. colby, villette and the life of the mind, pmla 75 (1960): 410. 3 miriam allott, ed. the bronts: the critical heritage (london and boston: routledge second, the author will reveal charlottes introduction 5 (lucys) view on marriage by analysing lucys differences from other female characters in attitudes towards love and marriage, her relations with two heroes and the design of the seemingly tragic ending of the novel; last, the author will reveal charlottes (lucys) feminist awareness by analysing some symbolic images in the novel. in conclusion part, the author will summarize the thesis briefly and offer some hints for further study of villette. charlotte bronts feminist awareness in villette 6 chapter one critical ideas on feminist awareness in the twentieth century, with the flourishing development of womens liberation movement, feminist criticism comes into being and gradually develops into an important school in literary critical circle. there exist many feminist theories, each of which has its own emphasis, but they have one thing in common, that is, the stress on feminist awareness. for instance, some feminist critics emphasize that female writers should explore womens experiences and their real feelings in their writings, not fettered by mens value standards; some emphasize that women writers should give up masculine language and use their own expressive patterns to express their own ideas; some emphasize the literary representation of sexual differences in womens writing.8 no matter what these feminist critics focus on in their own theories, they all tend to consider feminist awareness as the foundation of womens literature and feminist criticism. the emphasis on feminist awareness is the result of the development of womens liberation movement. feminist awareness refers to womens self-discovery, female evaluation of womens values and female sensations of personal experience and the outside world.9 the rise of this term has great value. it not only helps the women to consciously achieve self-development and self-realization, but also offers the impetus for the establishment and perfection of feminist literature and literary criticism. with the appearance and development of feminist criticism, the feminist critics begin to reread and interpret the classic works from a totally new perspective, that is, the womans point of view. at first, the feminist critics review the works written by male writers. they find the female characters are distorted in mens writings. the men writers tend to create the female images according to their own value standards and tastes. there are usually two kinds of female images in mens writings. one is the meek, obedient, selfless and brainless angel, and the other is the ugly, evil, crazy and rebellious monster. neither of the images truly reflects the real characteristics of women. therefore, the feminist critics shift their attention to the long neglected female writers and their works and begin to examine the awakening feminist awareness in their works. 8 raman selden , peter widdowson, peter brooker, a readers guide to contemporary literary theory (beijing: foreign language teaching and research press, 2004) 121-146. 9 林广泽， 试论“女性意识”和女权主义文学批评 ， 四川师范大学学报 ，1997（1） ：77。 chapter one critical ideas on feminist awareness 7 charlotte bront immediately attracts the feminist critics attention with the typicalness of her life experiences and her works and the strong feminist awareness reflected in her works. elaine showalter in her famous work a literature of their own (1977) divides the english womens literature into three phases: feminine phase (1840-1880), feminist phase (1880-1920) and female phase (1920 onwards). first, there is a prolonged phase of imitation of the prevailing modes of the dominant tradition, and internalization of its standards of art and its views on social roles. second, there is a phase of protest against these standards and values, and advocacy of minority rights and values, including a demand for autonomy. finally, there is a phase of self-discovery, a turning inward freed from some of the dependency of opposition, a search for identity.10 showalter also points out that these are obviously not rigid categories, distinctly separable in time, to which individual writers can be assigned with perfect assurance. these phases overlap; there are feminist elements in feminine writing, and vice versa. one might also find all three phases in the career of a single novelist.11 charlotte bront is such kind of novelist. she lives in the first phase- feminine phase, but the ideas reflected in her works are quite progressive for victorian age. she does not simply imitate the dominant male aesthetic standards in her writing. she openly protests against the unreasonable standards existent in the patriarchy and advocates the women to fight for their own rights and realize their own values in her works. she expresses strong feminist consciousness in her works. therefore, charlotte and her works are far ahead of her times. in charlottes times, womens rights movement develops rapidly. educated charlotte is inevitably influenced by the progressive ideas. reading through charlottes four complete novels, the readers will be deeply impressed by her strong feminist consciousness and spirit of revolt. the four novels fully present charlottes concern for victorian womens problems, her attack on male dominance in patriarchal society and her advocacy of womens rights equal to mens. charlotte is among the earliest to consciously depict the women as independent individuals rather than auxiliaries to the men and call upon them to fight for their own destinies. as an influential writer, charlotte makes great 10 elaine showalter, a literature of their own (new jersey: princeton university press, 1999) 13. 11 ibid. charlotte bronts feminist awareness in villette 8 contribution to the development of english womens literature and womens liberation movement. this thesis aims at presenting charlotte bronts progressive feminist consciousness through an analysis of her last complete novel villette. before analysing charlottes feminist consciousness in villette, the author will give an outline of charlottes feminist consciousness reflected in her previous three novels: the professor, jane eyre and shirley. chapter two charlotte bronts feminist awareness as reflected in her novels 9 chapter two charlotte bronts feminist awareness as reflected in her novels in nineteenth century, a group of women writers appear in english literary circle. they greatly improve the development of feminist literature and feminist movement in e