摘　 要

简•奥斯汀的《爱玛》被公认为奥斯汀最杰出的小说，描写的是女主人公爱玛如何走出一个个错误而步入道德完善和情感成熟的过程。奥斯汀通过对爱玛及其生活环境的分析，一方面呼吁男女平等；另一方面视婚姻为女性体面的出路，将家庭定位为女性的最佳舞台。本文通过查阅大量的资料，分析相关文献，从女主人公爱玛的自主独立意识、家庭主导意识以及追求自我价值意识三个方面阐述奥斯汀的女性主义观点。第一部分介绍女性主义的发展历程及奥斯汀的写作背景。第二部分对《爱玛》中的女性主义进行深刻阐述。第三部分论述简奥斯汀女性主义的历史局限性。最后，通过对上述部分的总结指出《爱玛》作为一部典型的女性主义小说, 使我们对于18世纪末、19世纪初的女性成长有了更全面的认识。通过不同层面对女性意识的分析，旨在唤醒女性的注意，为实现自身价值和获得平等的权利而奋斗抗争，这对当代女性成长的研究有着深刻的借鉴作用。

关键词：女性主义；爱玛；婚姻；平等；自我价值

Abstract

Emma, claimed as Jane Austin’s most complex and best novel, is about the heroine’s progress out of her errors on moral and emotional maturity. Jane Austin analyzes the heroine----Emma’s personalities and her life style pointing out that on one hand, Emma presents the equality between men and women; on the other hand, Emma pays much attention to the importance of marriage which means that family is the final destiny of women. This paper will introduce Emma’s feminine consciousness according to the analysis of female consciousness of freedom and independence, family dominance and self-worth in Emma. This thesis can be divided into four parts. Part one introduces the development of feminism and Jane Austin’s writing background. Part two explains the feminine consciousness which is represented in Emma deeply. Part three reveals the limitations of Jane Austin’s feminine consciousness. Jane Austin believes that family is the final destiny for women and women must marry men. The last part draws a conclusion for the above three parts pointing out that Emma as a typical female novel provides us with an insight into the development of a young lady in the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century whose life experience and psychology have great influence on readers. Through the analysis of female consciousness in Emma from different perspectives, the thesis aims to arouse women’s awareness all over the world to struggle for their equal rights and achieve their values, which can be used as reference to the research on present females.

Key words: feminine consciousness; Emma; marriage; equality; self-worth

1  Introduction
Many scholars have found feminist elements in Austen’s works. Throughout all her novels, Emma is often treated as the most. “Feminism demonstrates, without any possibility of doubt, that the social sciences are sexist, biased, and rotten with patriarchal values.”(Juliet, 1996) The historical implication of “feminism” usually means a collection of movement and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defining equal political, economic, and social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. The feminism started in the 1960s which was focused not so much by the traditional women.