英語畢業(yè)論文 從女權主義的角度比較《傲慢與偏見》和《簡愛》中的女主人公

Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 1 A Comparative Study of the Heroines in Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre from a Perspective of Feminism ABSTRACT Both Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte are remarkable and prominent women writers in the history of English literature. Their representative wo rks Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre have been enjoying great popularity ever since their publication. By analyzing the two heroines Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Eyre from the perspective of feminism, the thesis is an attempt to find what they have in common and what revelation they have to the contemporary women . The body of the thesis consists of three chapters, besides Introduction and Conclusion. Chapter One is mainly about the lives of the two women writers, Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte. Chapter Two introduces briefly the stories in Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre. Chapter Three gives a comparative study of the two heroines in Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre based on feminism. Key Words: independence, freedom, equality, feminism Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 2 從女權主義的角度比較 傲慢與偏見和簡愛中的女主人公 摘 要 作為十九世紀英國兩位杰出的女作家，簡 奧斯汀和夏洛蒂 勃朗特各自的代表作傲慢與偏見和簡 愛自出版以來深受廣大讀者的歡迎和文學評論者的廣泛關注。論文從女權主義的角度分析了兩部作品中的女主人公 伊麗莎白 班納特和簡 愛，旨在從她們身上找到一些對當?shù)嘏杂兴鶈⑹镜墓餐c。 論文除引言和結論外，正文共分三章。引言主要介紹女性主義及其研究方法，以及論文的寫作目的。第一章介紹了 簡 奧斯汀和夏洛蒂 勃朗特這兩位女作家 的生平。 第二章主要介紹了 傲慢與偏見和簡 愛兩部小說的故事梗概。 第三章從女性主義的視角對兩部作品中的兩個女主角進行了比較分析，并提出了自己的見解。 關鍵詞：獨立 自由 平等 女權主義 Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 3 CONTENTS Abstract- 摘 要 - Introduction-1 1 Two Female Writers Lives-2 1.1 Jane Austen-2 1.2 Charlotte Bront-4 2 Stories in Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre-6 2.1 Pride and Prejudice and Jane Austens Own Shadow-6 2.2 Jane Eyre and Charlotte Bront-8 3 The Comparative Study of Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre Based on Feminism-11 3.1 Elizabeth Bennets Life in Pride and Prejudice-11 3.2 Janes Life in Jane Eyre-11 3.3 My View about the Two Heoines from the Two Female Novelists-12 Conclusion-15 Introduction Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre are two of the most famous novels written by women writers in England in the 19th century. Ever since their publication, both have attained great popularity among readers and attracted a lot of attention from critics. According to Collins Cobuild Advanced Lerners English Dictionary, feminism refers to “the belief and aim that women should have the same rights, power, and opportunities as men” (2003:527). Sociologically, feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. It first appeared in France. Then, it began to spread through England and America and gradually became popular. Feminist theory emerged from these feminist movements and includes general theories and theories about the origins of inequality, and, in some cases, about the social construction of sex and gender, in a variety of disciplines. The movements history has been divided into three waves by feminists and scholars. The first wave is mainly concerned with womens right to vote and it refers mainly to womens suffrage movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The second wave refers to the ideas and actions associated with the womens liberation movement in the 1960s. The third wave, beginning in the 1990s, refers to a continuation of, and a reaction to, the perceived failures of second-wave feminism. There are four significant current practices of feminist approaches, which are gender studies, Marxist feminism, psychoanalytic feminism and minority feminist criticism. Marxist feminist criticism focuses on the relation between reading and social realities and combines study of class with that of gender. According to Marxist feminism, personal identity is not seen as separate from cultural identity. Indeed, feminism and feminist literary criticism are often defined as a matter of what is absent rather than what is present. In its diversity, feminism is concerned with the marginalization of all women； that is, with their being degraded to a minor and subordinate position. Feminists have been trying to explain how power imbalances resulted from gender are reflected in or challenged by literary texts. Literature often reflects the cultural assumptions and attitudes of its time, and that of course includes attitudes towards women their status, roles, and expectations. Generally, the target of feminist criticism is to awaken or increase womens individual consciousness, so as to break the shackles it has long since imposed on the female and call for their resistance against the unjust treatment to them. After World War II, feminist criticism, a comparatively new kind of criticism, appeared as a literary branch of the womens liberation and is still popular today. In the later part of the 20th century, it becomes common for literary critics to pay attention to the feminist elements in Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre. This thesis intends to make a comparison between the two heroines from a perspective of feminism. Through the comparison, the author hopes to find out the reflection of social realities in the literary works and womens position in a certain period of history and the improvement of womens position with the passage of time, hoping that the findings can shed some light on the present and into the future as well Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 5 1 Two Female Writers Lives 1.1 Jane Austen More than two centuries ago, two female pioneering novelists from England, Jane Austen and Charlotte Bront started a tough road to independence and equality. They were both smart and determined. What they insisted on have been put into their works and have deeply influenced many readers from all over the world. They hoped that one day women would have the same status and have right to pursue their own value in career, family and the society. They both claimed that women should be assured of justice to fight for their own value in different areas, even though the road was thorny and rough. As is known to all, being pioneers to encourage women to pursue what they really want at that period was such a difficult thing that might lead the two female novelists to predicament. They knew the situations of themselves, too, thus they wrote two brave girls in their works to claim that even if they couldnt see the day of success, they would advocate this spirit always. Jane in Jane Eyre and Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice are both aspired to be independent and equal at least in their little families. They are not only kind-hearted and pretty, but also strong and self-reliant. Two heroines are the ideal women of the two novelists, bearing the weight of two novelists wishes and expectations. Whats more, their happy endings are the novelists best wishes to all women in the world. Jane Austen was born in a country clergymans family on December 16, 1775, in the parish of Steventon. She was brought up in an intelligent but restricted environment. Her father was a rector and a scholar with a private library. She was educated at home. In her fathers library, Jane acquired a thorough knowledge of eighteenth-century English literature. Although she did move to several places like Bath, Southampton and Chawton, she lived a quiet, retired and uneventful life. And her closest companion was her elder sister Cassandra, who, like her, never married. Austen began as a child to write novels for her family entertainment. Her works were later published anonymously due to the prejudice against women writers then. In 1817, she died in Winchester. “Generally speaking, Jane Austen was a writer of the eighteenth century, though she lived mainly in the nineteenth century. She holds the ideals of the landlord class in politics, religion and moral principles； and her works show clearly her firm belief in the predominance of reason over passion, the sense of responsibility, good manners and clear-sighted judgment over the Romantic tendencies of emotion and Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 6 individuality. As a realistic writer, she considers it her duty to express in her works a discriminated and serious criticism of life, and to expose the follies and illusions of mankind. She shows contemptuous feelings towards snobbery, stupidity, worldliness and vulgarity through subtle satire and irony. And in style, she is a neoclassicism advocator, upholding those traditional ideas of order, reason, proportion and gracefulness in novel writing.”(Zhang Boxiang, 2005:223) The works of Jane Austen are among the greatest achievements of English literature. With sharp observation and in meticulous detail, she presents the quiet, day-to-day country life of the upper-middle-class English. Her characteristic theme is that maturity is achieved through the loss of illusions. Faults of character displayed by the people of her novels are corrected when, through tribulation, lessons are learned. Even the most minor characters are vividly described in Austens unique lucid style. All these show a mind of the shrewdest intelligence adapting the available traditions and deepening the resources of art with consummate craftsmanship. Because of her sensitivity to universal patterns of human behavior, Jane Austen has brought the English novel to its maturity, and she has been regarded as one of the greatest of all novelists in Britain by many critics as well as by many readers. Austens main literary concern is about the personal relationship of human beings. Therefore, her novels have a universal significance. It is her conviction that a mans relationship to his wife and children is at least as important a part of his life as his concerns about his belief and career. As for her interest in the study of human beings in their relationships with other people in daily life, Jane Austen is particularly preoccupied with the relationship between men and women in love. She always argues that it is wrong to marry just for beauty or for money, but it is also wrong to marry without them. When it comes to Jane Eyre, the structure is extremely deft or skillful； the characterization is very memorable； the irony has a radiant shrewdness unmatched elsewhere. At the heart of the novelists exploration of the marriage, property and intrigue lies the exhilarating suspense of the relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Darcy, and Jane Austens delicate probing of the values of the gentry. The moments of high comedy in the novel are always related to deeper issues. Elizabeths rejection of the odious Mr. Collins suggests her independence and self-esteem. Some readers may think that Elizabeth was just the girl that Jane wanted to be. Though she didnt get married in her life, she, just like Elizabeth in her novel, held a firm attitude that the essential of marriage is love, not anything else. 1.2 Charlotte Bront Charlotte Bront was born on April 21, 1816. Her mother died in 1821, which created a lot of chaos. Three years later, Charlotte and her two older sisters, Maria and Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 7 Elizabeth, were sent to the newly-opened Cowan Bridge Clergy Daughters School. However, conditions there were rather bad even by the standards of the time, and it was not long before Maria and Elizabeth became ill enough to be sent home. Soon they both died of consumption in the spring of 1825. Patrick brought Charlotte and her younger sister Emily, who had recently joined them at the school, back home as soon as the other girls became ill, but Charlotte never forgot what the school had been like. In 1842 Charlotte went to school in Brussels with Emily, but her time there was less than two years, and it led to her eventual writing of Villette. Back home, Charlotte fell into chronic unemployment and severe hypochondria, actually thinking she was going blind. In 1846 the three sisters published a book of Poems, and though sales were very slow, the reviews were good and spurred on further literary endeavors. Charlottes novel of this time, The Professor, was actually rather bad, suffering from a less-than-believable main character. In August of 1846 Charlotte began writing Jane Eyre. It was published in 1847 and turned out to be a great success. However, this success was followed up by tragedy her family were all dying off. In September 1848, Branwell died； in December 1848 and May 1849, Emily and Anne died from consumption respectively. Charlotte and her father clung to each other for comfort and support. Charlottes grief was plain in the last third of her novel Shirley. Later, Charlotte spent some time in London, meeting other writers of the day. Her fathers curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls, proposed to Charlotte, and Patrick was absolutely furious about this, forbidding the marriage and saying some rather awful things about Arthur. In spite of her fathers objection, Charlotte seriously considered marrying Arthur, which she did, in June of 1854. Fortunately for Arthur and Patrick, theyd learned to get along. They were of great comfort to each other after Charlottes death, which for some reason, was the signal for a lot of gossip, some of it malicious, in the newspapers and magazines. To counteract this, Patrick and Arthur eventually asked Mrs. Gaskell, an author friend of Charlottes, to write an authoritative biography. Unfortunately for them, Mrs. Gaskell got nearly all of her information from Ellen Nussey, who took great advantage of this to make Arthur seem a villain, and Patrick ended up represented as a stern, overbearing father. This was all accepted as true for many years, and made all of Charlottes critics suddenly feel sorry for her. “Charlottes works are all about the struggle of an individual consciousness towards self-realization, about some lonely and neglected young women with a fierce longing for love, understanding and a full, happy life. But brought up with strict orthodoxy, Charlotte would usually stick to the Puritanical code. She loves the beauty of nature but despises worldly ambition and success. In her mind, mans life is composed of perpetual battle between sin and virtue, good and evil. All her heroines Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 8 highest joy arises from some sacrifice of self or some human weakness overcome. Besides, she is a writer of realism combined with romanticism. On one hand, she presents a vivid realistic picture of the English society by exposing the cruelty, hypocrisy and other evils of the upper classes, and by showing the misery and suffering of the poor. Her works are famous for the depiction of the life of the middle-class working women, particularly governess. On the other hand, her writings are marked throughout by an intensity of vision and of passion. By writing from an individual feelings, fiery passions and some extraordinary personalities, by resorting to some elements of horror, mystery and prophesy, she is able to recreate life in a wondrously romantic way. So, whatever weakness her work may have, the vividness of her subjective narration, the intensely achieved characterization, especially those heroines who are totally contrary to the public expectations, and the most truthful presentation of the economical, moral, social life of the timeall this renders her works a never dying popularity.”(Zhang Boxiang, 2005:256) Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 9 2 Stories in Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre 2.1 Pride and Prejudice and Jane Austens Own Shadow Pride and Prejudice mainly tells us the love story between a rich, proud young man Darcy and the beautiful and intelligent Elizabeth Bennet. Mr. Bennet, a clergyman who has married young and rashly, is skeptical of conventional marriage and has no good words for his beautiful daughters except Elizabeth. Mrs. Bennet is a beautiful but empty-headed, snobbish and vulgar woman whose only goal in life is to marry her five daughters to rich, handsome young men. Darcy comes to the neighborhood with his friend Bingley who is an immediate success in local society and falls in love with Jane, the most beautiful and good-natured eldest daughter of the Bennets. At a party, Darcy, with his proud and seemingly cold disposition, makes a bad impression on the local people. He slights Elizabeth and hurts her dignity by refusing to dance with her. In their later meetings, however, Darcy begins to admire the girl, but Elizabeth, on account of her prejudice against him, tries to bring down his pride and has the satisfaction of refusing him a dance, too. Once in a town, Elizabeth makes acquaintance with a charming young officer Wickham and learns from him that Darcy is a cold-blooded, selfish man who has deprived Wickham of his fortune. With her own suspicion that Darcy might be responsible for the separation of Bingley and Jane, Elizabeth readily believes Wickhams story. Later when Darcy makes an honest but proud proposal of marriage to her, Elizabeth, annoyed by his separating her sister and Bingley and prejudiced by Wickhams deceiving, rejects him promptly. She soon regrets for what she has said when she receives a letter from Darcy explaining his justified of Wickham who is, after all, a vain, wicked-minded man. Then Elizabeth sets on a tour with her aunt and uncle to Derbyshire and happens to pay a visit to Pemberley, the big, grand house of the Darcy family. Unexpectedly, the master of the house returns, much to the embarrassment of the young lady. What surprises Elizabeth more is that this time he is very polite to her and her relatives and even introduces his younger sister to them. When their impaired relationship is well on the way to improvement, Elizabeth is suddenly summoned home because her youngest sister Lydia has eloped with Wickham. And it is only through the generous intervention of Darcy, who arranges to have them properly married, that the Bennet family is able to get out of the disgrace. The revelation of Darcys generous help further assures Elizabeth of his feelings towards herself and at the same time makes her realize how truthful his accusation of lowliness of her family is. As Elizabeth is meditating on the hopeless situation of her union with Darcy, Lady de Bourgh, aunt of Darcy, comes to Longbourn, on hearing some rumor, to force Elizabeth into a promise of never consenting to marry Darcy. Out of anger and contempt for the arrogant and bad-mannered lady, Elizabeth refuses to promise anything. With indignation, the old lady goes to her nephew, intending to give him a picture of a disrespectful, Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 10 ill-mannered Elizabeth； but fortunately this enlightens him about the young ladys heart and encourages him to go to Longbourn and make a second proposal, which is finally accepted by Elizabeth. Besides the main story of this happy pair, also told are the minor ones about the union between the rich bachelor Bingley and the beautiful, mild Jane； about the servile clergyman Collins, cousin of the Bennets and heir to the Bennets property, who first proposes to Elizabeth and, when refused, marries the plain, 27-year-old Charlotte Lucas, the best friend of Elizabeth； and about the thoughtless couple Lydia and Wickham. The old Bennets too are vividly portrayed. Jane Austen was born in a clergymans family, not so rich but she was exactly an apple in her parents eyes. They gave her good education and trained her being considerate； she was such a lovely girl that she was kind and sincere. The love from both her parents and her sisters made her knew exactly what she wanted and what was suited for her. She never improperly belittled herself though she hadnt a rich family； she cherished emotions between families and never wanted to marry a rich man just for the superior life. It was more than 200 years ago that Jane already knew exactly that happiness could not depend on money, but the person who you live with and whether you are serious or pay efforts to it. Above all were what Jane Austen was, which were also what Elizabeth Bennet was. Heroine in Pride and Prejudice was so familiar to Jane herself, maybe we can say she put an ideal ending that she was dying to have to Elizabeths life to make up the pity that was on her. She understood women may surrender to the cruel reality eventually in that period even they have struggled for their whole lives, thus she made Elizabeth an easy life relatively. Experiencing difficulties was inevitable； however, Jane gave Elizabeth a splendid rainbow in the end. If we look back to the reality of Jane Austen, we may really understand the so-called dismal. Jane has no marriage in her life. She has a great gift for being a novelist, but the ending of her could not comfort readers hearts. She used the defects of her life writing another womans happiness, and all she wished may be the imaginative happiness of her herself. The ideal love with the man was just like Elizabeth with Darcy, not for money, status or anything else, just for love and a common wish. She couldnt realize it in her real life, so she made her heroine to realize it instead of her, which could also make her satisfied. Elizabeths happy ending was the fact that Jane wanted to tell the readers that though love is attractive, money is indispensable. Its certain that we should follow our hearts and lead lives that can obey the principles of our own, especially when it comes to love and marriage. Meanwhile, we should also know clearly that a satisfactory ending needs the combination of rational emotion and material guarantee. When you are practical and also insist on the voice from the bottom of your heart, you may find your own happiness is just around the corner. Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 11 2.2 Jane Eyre and Charlotte Bront “Jane Eyre, the story opens with the titular heroine, Jane Eyre, a plain little orphan, at Gateshead Hall with her aunt and cousins. Her aunt, Mrs. Reed, a selfish and cold-hearted woman, and her three children all treat Jane very badly. One day, in an outbreak, Jane fights back and is shut up in the horrible red room. To get rid of this eye-sore, Mrs. Reed sends her away to Lowood, a charity school for the orphaned or unwanted children. Jane suffers a lot there, both physically and mentally, only to be consoled by the kindness of a teacher, Miss Temple and the friendship of Helen Burns, a pupil who dies as a result of the bad conditions there. Jane stays at the school for eight years, first six as a student and the rest two as a teacher. An advertisement gives her the chance to be a governess at Thornfield Hall. There she falls in love with the master of the house, Mr. Rochester, a grim-looking, energetic, quick-tempered but an understanding middle-aged man. He too is attracted to the little plain governess for her quick wit, honesty, frankness, loving heart and her spirit of independence and self-dignity. But their wedding is canceled on the ground that Rochester is already married and his wife, though raving mad, is still alive. Shocked and deeply hurt, Jane makes up her mind to leave Rochester. She flees into the moorland. She would have died of starvation but for St. John Rivers and his two sisters. It turns out that the Rivers are really her cousins, and from them she also learns that she is now a rich heiress. One day, St. John Rivers, a very handsome clergyman who is determined to devote himself solely to God, asks Jane to marry him and accompany him to India for missionary work. Just when Jane, now desperate of her union with Rochester, is about to accept Johns loveless proposal, she hears Rochester calling for her. Following her own heart, Jane returns to Thornfield. She finds the burnt-down Thornfield Hall and its master, now a blind but free man. The two lovers are finally united and live happily ever after.”(Zhang Boxiang, 2005:257) The work is one of the most popular and important novels of the Victorian age. It is noted for its sharp criticism of the existing society, e.g. the religious hypocrisy of charity institutions such as starvation and humiliation, to be humble slaves, the social discrimination Jane experiences first as a dependent at her aunts house and later as a governess at Thornfield, and the false social convention as concerning love and marriage. At the same time, it is an intense moral fable. Jane, like Mr. Rochester, has to undergo a series of physical and moral tests to grow up and achieve her fina l happiness. The success of the novel is also due to its introduction to the English novel the first governess heroine. Jane Eyre, an orphan child with a fiery spirit and a longing to love and be loved, a poor, plain, little governess who dares to love her master, a man superior to her in many ways, and even is brave enough to declare to the man her love for him, cuts a completely new woman image. She represents those middle-class working women who are struggling for recognition of their basic rights and eq uality Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 12 as a human being. The vivid description of her intense feelings and her thought and inner conflicts brings her to the heart of the audience. Lets look at Jane Eyres life in an overall situation, then we may understand why she is so tough and determined in her inner heart. Jane is an orphan and grows up in her aunts family that makes her go through the hurts both physical and mental. Not to mention she never feels the warmth from her aunt or other relatives, she even experiences the so-called irony of relationships between relatives. After that, Janes aunt sends her away to Lowood, a charity school for the orphaned or unwanted children, she also suffers a lot in there though she meets some people who are kind-hearted. As a result, Jane becomes forceful and strong gradually in her growth； she learns how to protect herself from others hurts and also understands how to become tougher and tougher that other people cannot hurt her any more. Meanwhile, as a young girl who is lack of love and warmth from her parents and family, she is eager to meet a man who would totally understand not only the strong mask of her appearance, but also the fear and loneliness in her inner heart. Thus, when she meets Mr. Rochester, a married man who is much older than her and already has several children, she couldnt help falling in love with him not for his possession or status, but for his maturity and love, which could dote on her and forgive her just like the deep love from father. However, when she realizes it she becomes upset because the love between Mr. Rochester and her would not be accepted by the society in that period. There is a big gap between them in age, possession and status, and each of the difference between them would lead to a bad ending of the love. As a woman with self-esteem, she looks squarely at her own emotion and never wants to escape that, but she would not bear the discrimination from the society, either. Therefore, when forced to confront Mr. Rochester, Jane desperately and openly declares her equality with him and her love for him. She is such a brave woman that never afraid of difficulties, thus Mr. Rochester, a grim-looking, energetic, quick-tempered but an understanding man, is deeply attracted by her. What Jane says to Mr. Rochester to declare her love and equality is so moving and powerful that even today, more than 200 years passed, Janes attitude to her love and life should be learned by the young girls who are ready to face the society and every kind of unimaginable hardships in the future: “I have as much soul as youand full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty, and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, or even of mortal flesh: -it is my spirit that addresses your spirit； just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at Gods feet, equalas we are!”(Jane Eyre, 2010:156) Although Jane insists on her love for Mr. Rochester, she is shocked and deeply hurt on her own wedding with Mr. Rochester that he is already married and his wife, though raving mad, is still alive. That is unbelievable and Jane makes up her mind to leave Rochester. The plot gets a dramatically change that the Rivers are really Janes Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 13 cousins, and from them she also learns that she is now a rich heiress. Just when Jane decides to accept Johns loveless proposal, she finally changes her mind to follow her own heart. She finds the burnt-down Thornfield Hall and its master, a blind but free man. She is not hesitating to make up her mind that she would live with Rochester and takes care of him in her whole life. We may be a little skeptical about Janes attitude that her appearance was so thin and weak, how could she accumulate such strong power that astonishes everyone. Jane Eyre is not a novel only about love, but it was often been used to talk about love, maybe to teach girls how to love is more accurate. Because the novel records the growth of a girl, also the choices and strength that she has to learn. Charlotte Bronts families left her one by one, she suffered huge pains in her life, but she was still tenacious to face the reality. She had not a satisfactory marriage in the end. Although she made Jane and Rochester go through series of difficulties, she made her heroine get a happy ending eventually. Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 14 3 The Comparative Study of Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre Based on Feminism 3.1 Elizabeth Bennets Life in Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen and Charlotte Bront were both advocates of feminism. They claimed that women should have their own pursuit of career and marriage, but not being arranged by men or anyone else. They advocated that everyone was equal and unique, and women should be brave enough to fight for their own independence, freedom and equality even in the patriarchal society. Jane and Charlotte might be good friends if they could live in the same period； however, we can find some obvious differences between the two female novelists from the endings of their works. Elizabeth Bennet was an apple in her parents eyes though her family was not so rich. She grew up in a wealthy and comfortable environment that made her character not so tough. Its certain that Jane made her own astonishing encouragement to fight against conventions and old rules, even when she faced the challenge from her lovers aunt. She could also conquer her fear and rise to the challenge. She told the old woman what her position was and what she would stick to in every single word. She never showed her fear or weakness, and all she expressed were determination and her tough attitude. In the end, her courage rewarded her with a kind man and a beautiful marriage. In a more accurate expression may true love defeated outdated rules. All above may be in correspondence with Jane Austens own experiences and her attitude to love. As a great writer, Jane enjoyed her fame all over the world, especially in women readers. She told the girls that we should be in pursuit of our pure love and marriage, but insisting on our principles may be even more important than a marriage during the process of pursuit. However, what about herself or her own marriage? The fact is that Jane had no marriage in her short life. We cant deny it and we also find it such a pity that all the readers feel sorry for her. Of course she loved someone once, but the sufferings she went through might be the reason why she chose to be on her own at last. Just because of the pity, Jane decided to give her heroine a perfect ending and she didnt want to let her go through so many difficulties. As we know, although Elizabeth and Darcy almost missed each other at first, they clear up the misunderstanding and understand each other soon, and then they conquer the obstacles from the others and the society and get married. These may all be related to Janes romantic period. Her work reflects some of the facts, while overlooking many other cruel facts. What she expressed are beautiful wishes in peoples minds. 3.2 Janes Life in Jane Eyre Comparing with Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Eyre was not so lucky and happy in her childhood. The first difference was that Jane was an orphan and grew up with her aunt, Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 15 Mrs. Reed, a selfish and cold-hearted woman, and her three children all treated Jane very bad. She had not enjoyed the warmth of home or the love from parents even a single day； whats more, she was sent to a charity school for the orphans or unwanted children by her aunt. Jane suffered a lot there both physically and mentally, o nly to be consoled by the kindness of a teacher, Miss Temple and the friendship of Helen Burns, a pupil who died as a result of the bad conditions there. Jane stayed at the school for eight years, first six as a student and the rest two as a teacher. Later an advertisement gave her the chance to be a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she fell in love with the master of the house, Mr. Rochester. Their love experienced different kinds of tribulations and Rochester even became a blind man later. Jane also made great efforts to gain her equality and independence. Janes father was also a clergyman while her mother died of cancer when she was only five years old. Jane had five sisters and brother that her father could not afford all his childrens lives, so he sent the sisters to a school for clergymans daughters. That school had poor conditions and strict school regulations. However, children in there could not have a full meal and they had to walk for a few miles to the church both in hot summer and cold winter. Her two sisters died of typhoid fever not so long after they were sent to the school, and the lovely Helen in Jane Eyre was the origin character of Charlotte elder sister Maria. The real Charlotte was not married until she was thirty-eight years old, but the marriage was not a happy one. Charlotte got the typhoid fever during a trip and died later. What Charlotte suffered in childhood and the later life might be much more than Jane Austen, so she made her heroine experience much more sufferings before she got the happy ending. Jane Eyre was stronger and tougher than Elizabeth, because life and environment pushed her that she had to be like that. She overcame her inferiority and fell in love with Rochester, she declared bravely her love, her independence and equality to Rochester, she left firmly when she found Rochesters wife was alive in her wedding, and she followed her heart and was determined to return to Rochester when he was a blind but free man. All she had done was so astonishing but encouraging at that time, and she never knew what the so-called fear or cowardice was. From my point of view, the ending of Jane was Charlottes best wishes to herself. She was eager to have a warm family even though she had experienced so many difficulties before that. She put her experiences to Janes growth to make her strong and tough, letting her overcome hardships before she got her happiness. Jane Eyres life was Charlottes ideal life. Though there were a lot of sufferings, there was still a happy ending waiting for her, which was the reward of her determination. 3.3 My View about the Two Heroines from the Two Female Novelists After reading these two novels, I often sigh with emotion that women, especially those who have some outstanding abilities, always have more difficulties in leading a quiet and peaceful life than common women. They spent a lot of time and energy Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 16 training them to have some abilities that they want, maybe training was not enough, and they always force themselves to be more excellent than others. They dont want to surpass anyone. For all they have made efforts and insisted on their principles, they just want to be easier in the future living. Elizabeth is a little princess in her parents heart. She reads many books and knows what is precious for her, what principles she should stick to and never force herself to the man she doesnt like. She never sighs mournfully about her familys status； she is always positive and confident to face the life and the world. Even when she meets Darcy, the man she loves, she would not break her principles but tells the man what she cares about. Jane Austen tells the readers that marriage is not a simple combination. Before making up your mind, you should think carefully whether the man is worth loving, whether two families are consistent on value system, and above all, whether you love him. Elizabeths story tells us that we should judge clearly before we decide. Once making a decision, we should be determined to stick to our choice. Dont let misunderstandings and rumors hide the eyes and reason, and what we should do is to trust the man and trust ourselves. Jane Austen was a realist. She tried to declare through her novel and her heroine that not only love is beautiful, but also marriage can be beautiful as long as you are practical and treat it naturally and seriously. On the way to independence and equality, its certain that women should stick to their principles and their encouragement of being a fighter. Besides, women should also stick to their beautiful wishes to love, marriage and the pursuit of happiness. We must live in practical mind, while at the same time we should have pure and good wishes. Comparing with Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre is a novel of realism. Charlotte states a main theme that the value of human being is dignity and love. There are two main pursuits in Janes life, one being the spirit of passion, imagination, revolution and persistence, the other being the desire to freedom and happiness, and the pursuit of higher spirit realm. Charlotte shapes a model of female who is not satisfied with the reality and doesnt bear the humiliation and has tough character that rises to fight for freedom and equality. The novel has a bright endingthough Thornfield Hall is destroyed and Rochester himself a blind man. Those leads to a condition where there is no conflict between dignity and love, thus Jane doesnt need to pace up and down. She is satisfied when she finally get married with Mr. Rochester. She owns both dignity and love. Through the novel, Charlotte tells us that the excellent life of human beings is living with dignity and love, which is the reason why she gives her heroine such kind of life. As a matter of fact, Charlotte was a realist, but the ending of Jane Eyre is so perfect that some readers think it is not so real. However, we should still pay respect to novelists ideal life. In the modern society, more and more people will not give up true love or superior life just for defending self-dignity and equality. Whats more, there are some people who destroy true love and give up self-dignity because of money and status. Jane, as the heroine of the novel, is strong and tough when she Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 17 protects her independence and equality from humiliating. The spirit of her shocked not only Mr. Rochester, but also all the readers who read this novel. We admire her persistence and appreciate her power because we are not sure that well do the same when we are in the same condition. Xx 學院 2011 屆畢業(yè)論文 18 Conclusion Now we are facing great pressure from society as well as different kinds of temptations. Charlotte and her heroine Jane were more than 200 years far from us, and the society with rapid changes may eliminate and change many things including conventions or principles of living. However, despite the changing period, we should stick to the standards in our inner heart, not letting them destroyed by the reality. In the long run, the pursuit of independence, equality and freedom of women still has a long way to go. What is known is that we will face many unimaginable difficulties in spite of the hardships we have overcome. Even if it is dangerous that our ideals may wither on the vine or be destroyed by some kind of violence, those cannot be the reason why we drop our pursuit. Look at Elizabeth, she is neither so pretty nor that wealthy, but she never looks down upon herself or her family. She has such confidence that she knows what she wants and what kind of person she wants to be. She loves Darcy and never hides her sincerity, even though she could not bear his aunts humiliation that she argues and fights for her self-dignity. Just because of her courage and persistence, Darcy admires her and protects her from being hurt. Elizabeth is such a smart girl that she gains her happiness with her kind-heartedness and determination. Think about Jane, the girl is an orph