A Comparative Analysis of Female Consciousness of Nora and Jia Tanchun

Abstract

Nora is the heroine of the classic social problem drama A Doll's House, written by Norwegian dramatist Ibsen in 1879. Through the depiction of the conflicts and changes of intimacy between Nora and her husband, this would portrays how Nora’s gender consciousness awakens, and how she chooses to run away from home, and fights against the society. Jia Tanchun is a classic female image created by Cao Xueqin in the Dream of Red Mansions, and she is also one of the important female characters of the novel. In this novel, Jia also shows her awareness of the her gender, which is no less than Nora.

This paper is based on the research of female consciousness and the method of parallel research, adopts the methods of comparative and contrast to analyze the female consciousness of the heroines in the two novels, then sums up their similarities and differences. This paper is mainly divided into four parts: the first part introduces A Doll’s House, the Dream of Red Mansion and the two authors. The second part briefly introduces the concept of female consciousness. The third part, combined with the text analysis, discusses Nora and Jia Tanchun’s images in the two works. And finally the fourth part draws the similarities and differences of the female consciousness between the two characters.

Through the comprehensive analysis and inspection of Nora and Jia tanchun’s female consciousness, this article attempts points out that in different social background and historical condition, the eastern and western women have similar tragic fate and plight. The way to break the dilemma and achieve self-realization is to have an autonomous female consciousness, then judge the social environment consciously and choose the path which is most suitable.

Key words: female consciousness; change; Nora; Jia Tanchun