摘要

巴斯妇(the Wife of Bath) 是中世纪英国杰出诗人杰弗雷•乔叟在其《坎特伯雷故事集》中所创作的一个女性形象，也被学界称作是表现乔叟女性主义观的代表人物。海斯特是19世纪美国小说家纳撒尼尔•霍桑的代表作之一《红字》中塑造的女性形象。本篇论文从女性主义角度来解读这两个女性人物，通过对巴斯妇和海斯特的思想及其反抗的分析，既可以让我们了解作者的女性主义观，同时也揭示了一种女性主义精神的升华，还具有一定的理论和现实研究意义，因为她们是身处不同的时代，其女性意识的觉醒和对社会黑暗的反抗的方式和态度是不同的，对当今女性谋求性别公正、自身发展和自由等方面有很多有益的启示。

关键词：女性主义;海斯特;巴斯妇;反抗

Abstract

 The wife of Bath from The Canterbury Tales is a female figure by a medieval distinguished British poet Jeffrey Chaucer. And she is also a feminist representative of Chaucer in the academic field. And Hester from The Scarlet Letter is a typical representative by Nathaniel Hawthorne a famous American writer of the 19th century. The thesis analyses two females from the perspective of feminism. And through the analysis involving Hester’s consciousness and rebellion, the thesis not only allows us to know the author’s feminist concept, but also reveals the elevation of the spirit of feminism. In addition, it has a certain theoretical and practical significance for they are living in different times and their awakening of female consciousness and the way resistance of society’s darkness, as well as attitude is different. What’s more, it inspires that women today need to pursue gender justice, self-development and freedom.

Key words: feminism; Hester Prynne; the wife of Bath; rebellion

1.    Introduction

With the development of women’s literature, the female literary studies have become increasingly active. And the general trend of female literary studies in recent years is undoubtedly pleasing including the comprehensive examination of the rise of female literature; characteristics of the female literature which is full of rational speculation; and debates of feminist consciousness and women’s right. Although these studies can not cover the whole field of female literary studies, they play pivot roles.
Both the wife of Bath from The Canterbury Tales by Jeffrey Chaucer and Hester from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne show the awakening of female consciousness and the pursuit of gender justice in varying degrees and at different levels.