《傲慢与偏见》中女性主义的觉醒与局限_英语论文

On the Awakening and Limitation of Feminism in Pride and Prejudice

摘要

简·奥斯丁是英国文学史上最为著名的女性作家之一。虽然处于浪漫主义时期，奥斯丁的作品在英国文学发展史上具有承上启下的意义，代表着浪漫主义向现实主义的过渡。奥斯丁十分关注周围的女性问题，其作品主要描写的是乡村中几户人家的女性日常生活。奥斯丁作品的主题主要是爱情和婚姻，着重关注男女关系。 

作为简·奥斯丁最为出名的作品，《傲慢与偏见》主要讲述了乡村中几对年轻男女爱情与择偶的故事。主要通过对女主人公伊丽莎白的角色塑造，该作品生动地展现出奥斯丁的女性主义意识。本文探讨《傲慢与偏见》中女性主义的觉醒与局限。这部作品中女性主义的觉醒体现为以下三个方面：追求男女性别平等，对婚姻的态度和对世俗礼教的蔑视。其局限性表现为：女性必然结婚的宿命和女性在爱情与婚姻中的被动地位。

关键词：简·奥斯丁；《傲慢与偏见》；女性主义；觉醒；局限

Abstract 

Jane Austen is one of the distinguished female novelists in British literature. Although living in the romantic period, the works of Austen are of great significance in the history of British literature, which mark the transition from the romanticism to realism. Austen pays much attention to female problems in the surrounding. Her works mainly describe daily life of “Three or four families in the countryside”. The major theme of her works is love and marriage, and the main literary concern is about human beings in their personal relationships.

Pride and Prejudice, as Jane Austen’s most well-known work, is mainly about young couples’ marriage affairs. Mainly through depicting heroine Elizabeth’s attitudes towards love and marriage, Austen’s feminism consciousness is vividly unfolded. The thesis is going to research the awakening and limitation of feminism in Pride and Prejudice. In the work, Austen’s awakening of feminism is mainly showed in pursuit of gender equality, heroine’s attitudes towards marriage through her two rejections of marriage proposals and her contempt for the secular world. Constrained by social background and personal experiences of the author, the feminism idea is limited in two aspects-- women’ s destiny to marry and women’s passive status.

Keywords: Jane Austen; Pride and Prejudice; feminism; awakening; limitation 

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 The Introduction of Jane Austen 1

1.2 The Significance of Pride and Prejudice 2

1.3 A Feminist Perspective of Jane Austen’s Works 2

1.3.1 Definition of Feminism 2

1.3.2 Feminism in the 18th century 3

1.3.3 Feminism Studies of Pride and Prejudice at Home and Abroad 3

2. Awakening of Feminism in Characterization 6

 2.1  Challenges to Gender Inequality 6

2.1.1 Contrast between Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet 6

2.1.2 Characterization of Elizabeth 7

2.2 Two Rejections of Marriage Proposals 9

2.3  Contempt for Secular World 10

3. Limitations of Feminism in Women’s Predicaments 12

3.1  The Destiny of Marriage 12

3.2  Women’s Passive Status 13

3.3 Some Discussions about the Study 14

Conclusion 15

References 16