Abstract

Gong with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell, was published in 1936, and Jane Eyre was written by Charlotte Bronte in the 19th century. Both of them successfully portray two famous female characters — Scarlett and Jane Eyre. This paper begins with a brief introduction to the authors and the novels, then compares the two heroines’ similarities and differences through analyzing their personalities, concepts on life and love, and thus shows the two heroines’ feminist consciousness.

Key words: Scarlett, Jane Eyre, comparison, feminism

摘  要

    《飘》是美国女作家玛格丽特•米切尔1936出版的小说，《简•爱》是十九世纪英国著名的女作家夏洛蒂•勃朗特的代表作。这两部小说都成功塑造了女性人物 — 斯佳丽和简•爱。本论文首先简要介绍作者与小说，然后通过分析两位主人公的个性、人生观和爱情观，比较她们的共同点与差异性，进而展现出两位人物女性主义意识。

关键词:  简•爱； 斯佳丽； 对比； 女性主义

I. Introduction
The English writer Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) was born in the family of a poor country clergyman at Haworth, England. She and her sisters were sent to a charity school where they were cruelly treated. Her Jane Eyre is one of the greatest and most popular works in the history of British literature. Charlotte has poured too much of her own experiences and deep feelings in it, such as her experience at Lowood school and her life as a governess. This novel mainly describes Jane’s life and the love story between her and Rochester. Although Jane suffers a lot in her unhappy childhood, she finally grows into an independent and strong woman. Her distinctive personality wins Rochester’s love and respect. After many tribulations, they finally get married and harvest their happiness.
Gone with the Wind, an all-time best-seller by the American writer Margaret Mitchell, is a legendary recollection of the last brilliance of the Old South. Scarlett, the legendary character, is a dark-haired, green-eyed Georgian belle who struggles through the hardships of the Civil War and the Reconstruction after the war. She is a beautiful woman from a rich family, and she tries to achieve everything she wants by all means. Her career is very successful because she exhibits more of her father’s hard-headedness than her mother’s refined Southern manners. However, Scarlett is not successful in love and marriage life. When she is a girl, she dreams to marry Ashley Wilkes who she thinks she loves very much but marries another woman. In Scarlett’s first marriage, she becomes a most peculiar widow because of the war, and is then compelled into a second marriage in continuation of her struggle for the salvation of Tara, her father’s plantation. Her last marriage to Rhett Butler is also jeopardized because of her secret, stubborn ardency for Ashley. In the end, Rhett Butler leaves Scarlett.