An Analysis of Tess from Modern Female Perspective从现代女性视角看苔丝.docx

1、An Analysis of Tess from Modern Female Perspective从现代女性视角看苔丝An Analysis of Tess from Modern Female Perspective从现代女性视角看苔丝AcknowledgementsMy deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to my supervisor, Wang Kelu, for his constant encouragement and guidance. He has walked me through all the stages of th

2、e writing of this paper. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation for his time and efforts in reviewing and revising this thesis, for his constructive suggestions and critical judgments on this paper. His earnest attitude to research will influence me greatly in my future study. Second,

3、I am also greatly indebted to all the professors and teachers at the Department of English, who have instructed and helped me a lot in the past three years. At last, my thanks would go to my beloved family for their loving considerations and great confidence in me all through these years. I also owe

4、 my sincere gratitude to my friends and my fellow classmates who gave me their help and time and helping me work out the problems of my thesis. ABSTRACTTess of the DUrbervilles, published in 1891, was one of the most famous works of Thomas Hardy. It has received much criticism from the day it was pu

5、blished and the heroine Tess was generally regarded as a passive victim of fate and circumstances. As far as Im concerned, fate and circumstances were not all the reasons for Tesss tragedy. In the late Victorian Times, Tess was really new female image for she was brave to revolt feudalism and tradit

6、ional morality and laws. However, analyzed from modern female perspectives, Tesss characters had demerits which also were the cause of her tragedy. This paper tries to analyze the image of Tess from modern female perspective first, and then summarize Hardys feminist thinking.Besides introduction and

7、 conclusion, this paper is made up of three parts. Introduction part puts forward the argument of this research. Part one gives a brief introduction to Tess of the DUrbervilles, including the historical background, the writer and the plot of this novel. Part two analyzes the image of Tess from moder

8、n female perspective. Part three summarizes Thomas Hardys feminist thinking based on the analysis of Tess. Conclusion part makes conclusion of the whole thesis and gives some personal suggestion to modern women.KEY WORDS: Tess; Thomas Hardy; feminist thinking; modern female perspective摘 要德伯家的苔丝出版于18

9、91年，是托马斯哈代最有名的小说之一。自出版以来，这本书便受到了广泛地评论。主人公苔丝被视为命运和环境的受害者。在我看来，命运和环境并不全是苔丝悲剧的全部原因。在维多利亚时代，苔丝勇于反抗封建主义，敢于同法律和传统的道德作斗争，可以称得上是一个全新的女性形象。然而，从现代女性的视角分析，苔丝性格上的缺点同样是她悲剧成因的一部分。这篇文章将先从现代女性视角去分析主人公苔丝的形象，然后以此来总结哈代的女性观。这篇文章除了引言和结语，正文由三个部分组成。引言部分提出本文的论点。第一部分简要介绍德伯家的苔丝创作的历史背景，作者简介以及小说的主要情节内容。第二部分从现代女性的视角出发，详细地分析了苔丝的

10、人物形象和性格。第三部分以第二部分所作的分析为基础，总结托马斯哈代的女性观。结语部分对整篇文章做出总结，并对现代女性给出了相应的个人建议。关键词：苔丝; 托马斯哈代; 女性观;现代女性视角ContentsI. Introduction.7II. An Introduction to Tess of the DUrbervilles.82.1 Historical Background.82.2 Thomas Hardy.82.3 The Plot of Tess9III. The Understanding of Tess from Modern Female Perspective103.1

11、 Tess- the Idealized Image of Men.113.2 Tess- Regarding Love as the Most Important Thing in Her Life123.3 Tess- Having Dual Character133.3.1 Being Brave to Revolt Traditional Morality and Hypocritical Religion. 133.3.2 Failing to Extricate Herself from Traditional Morality Thoroughly14IV Hardys Femi

12、nist Thinking in Tess of the DUrbervilles. 154.1 Hardys Supreme Sympathy towards Women164.2 Hardys Prejudice against the Female 17V Conclusion18VI Bibliography 19An Analysis of Tess from Modern Female PerspectiveI IntroductionThomas Hardy (18401928）, born in 1840 near Dorchester, was a one of the gr

13、eatest English writers in the 19th century, and was honored with “Shakespeare of British novels”. He carried forward and developed the literary traditions of the Victorian age. He vividly described the tragic fate of the heroine Tess in his great novel Tess of the DUrbervilles, which revealed his st

14、andpoints of women and society he lived in. Tess of the DUrbervilles, as a masterpiece of Hardy, has been studied by scholars from different aspects since its publication. Tess are thought to be pretty, noble-minded, pure, brave in the traditional view, however, if analyzed from modern female perspe

15、ctive, the image of Tess, I think, is not perfect. Thus, this thesis aims to analyze the image of Tess from modern female perspective, and further to explore Thomas Hardys feminist thinking based on the analysis of Tess.Tess was brave to revolt traditional morality and hypocritical religion, neverth

16、eless, she judged herself by using traditional standards as other people did. She was deeply influenced by patriarchal society which made her not extricate herself from traditional society thoroughly. Its not difficult to find that besides Tesss purity and bravery, she still had some shortcomings wh

17、ich were part of the causes of her tragedy. From mainly analyzing Tess, we can find out Hardys feminist thinking. On the one hand, he had great sympathy towards women as he exposed the hypocrisy of the traditional morality that stressed the purity and chastity of women. And on the other hand he had

18、prejudice against women for he arranged women to be, more or less, the inferiors to men.II. An Introduction to Tess of the DUrbervilles2.1 Historical BackgroundThe story Tess of the DUrbervilles happened in the late Victorian Times. Since the 1830s, capitalism had been built up completely in England

19、, and many parts of the country were affected by it. And even in the southern area, where ancient traditions had been kept for many years, was affected too. In the late 19th century, capitalist industry and agriculture invaded remote countryside and destroyed small-scale peasant economy. Many peasan

20、ts had to face the ruthless exploitation of landowners and were threatened by survival crisis. Capitalist economy replaced traditional economy.Besides, in Victorian Times, morality was highly emphasized. Women were fettered by feminine tradition seriously. A womans chastity was her husbands privileg

21、e. The important standard to judge whether a woman is pure was that whether she was a virgin. Hence, once the chastity had been lost before marriage, the woman would be regarded “impure” and “bad woman”. As a sequence, the woman would be excluded by her husband and other people.In addition to the in

22、fluence from industrialization and traditional morality, religious belief was another essential part of the life in the Victorian Times. Peoples spiritual life had been controlled by religion for thousands of years. And Tesss tragedy was staged in such a complicated background.2.2 Thomas HardyThomas

23、 Hardy, born on June 2, 1840, in the village of Upper Bock Hampton, England, was an English novelist, poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest English writers in the 19th century. His father was a stone mason and building contractor. His mother enjoyed reading and relating all the folk songs and

24、legends of the region. He often made journey to the countryside to play for dances. And this experience of rural life made up a large part of his works. His first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady, was written in 1867, but the book didnt bring him success. His first popular novel was Under the Greenw

25、ood Tree, published in 1872. And then his other popular novels are as follows: Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Return of the Native (1878), the Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), the Woodlanders (1887), Tess of the DUrbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895). In addition to these large works,

26、 Hardy published three collections of short stories and five smaller novels.All his works revealed that he was a kind and gentle man who was aware of the pain human beings suffered in their struggle for life. In his works, especially in Tess of the DUrbervilles, Hardy showed his deep sympathy for En

27、glish lower classes, particularly for rural women like Tess. As Thomas Hardys last and most significant work, Tess of the DUrbervilles is a novel in which the characters were confronted by endless moral choices.2.3 The Plot of TessTess of the DUrbervilles is about the tragedy of a 16-year-old simple

28、 country girl, Tess Durbeyfield, who was born in a poor peasant family. In a chance, Tesss farther John Durbeyfield who was lazy and vain discovered that he was the descendent of an ancient and knightly family of the DUrbervilles. It was just at that time, their horse, the familys only means to make

29、 a living, died. Thus, John and his wife Joan persuaded Tess to visit the DUrbervilles clan at Tranreidge. The purpose of Tesss parents was to get help and benefits from their so-called “relative”. After Tess arrived there, Alec was attracted by Tesss beauty and arranged Tess to take care of his bli

30、nd mothers poultry. And at one night, Tess was deduced and raped by Alec. Tess felt sorrowful and left Alec unhesitatingly. Then she gave birth to a child. But unluckily, her child died very soon.In order to forget the miserable past and begin a new life, Tess moved to a fairy farm and became a milk

31、maid. There, she met Angel Clare, who was a pastors son. Quickly, they fell in love with each other. But Tess refused Angels love in the beginning because she thought she was not pure and had no right to marry anyone else. After hesitating for a long time, Tess accepted Angels proposal of marriage. At their wedding night, Angel made a confession to Tess about his wrong doing in the past. Tess felt happy and forgave him and told him her past too, thinking that he would forgive her as she did. Howeve