《德伯家的苔丝》与《屋顶丽人》的女性主义分析_英语论文

A Feminist Reading of Tess of the D’Urbervilles and “A Woman on a Roof”

摘要

托马斯·哈代(1840-1928)是十九世纪末二十世纪初的英国诗人和小说家，批判现实主义文学伟大的代表作家之一。他一生创作颇丰，发表了诗集8部，长篇小说近20部，还有许多以“威塞克斯故事”为总名的中短篇小说。其中最著名的当属《德伯家的苔丝》。苔丝是一位纯洁、善良、吃苦耐劳的农村姑娘，但她最后因为杀人而被绞死。这样悲惨的命运和她缺乏自我的性格息息相关。在男权主义思想的压制下，像苔丝这样的英国女性普遍缺乏自我，更不懂得如何提升自我。她们不独立，不自由，如果不依靠外在的力量，就无法生存下去。苔丝是这类女性的代表，哈代通过苔丝表达了女性要不断提升自我，加强自我意识的观点。

多丽丝·莱辛（1919-2013）是英国当代著名女作家，2007年诺贝尔文学奖得主。莱辛是一位多产的作家，除了长篇小说外，她还著有诗歌、散文、剧本、科幻小说等。短篇小说也有许多佳作，《屋顶丽人》（1963）就是其中一个。在《屋顶丽人》中，晒日光浴的女人是20世纪60年代言与行皆独立的女性代表，甚至可以说是当时颇为激进的女权主义者代表。她在两性权力的话语中绝不妥协，力保自我，致使两性矛盾日益尖锐而且持久存在，甚至有循环往复的可能。莱辛曾经这样说过,“我不喜欢60年代，我不喜欢女性那时的所说所为。”可见，丽人的我行我素是莱辛极不赞成的。

苔丝带有妥协性的反抗和丽人高调的反抗有着巨大的反差，本文通过对比分析苔丝和丽人性格上的优缺点，进而挖掘哈代与莱辛的女性主义思想。

关键词：托马斯·哈代；多丽丝·莱辛；苔丝；丽人；自我提升；两性和谐

Abstract

Thomas Hardy is a British poet and novelist. He published nearly 20 novels, among which the most famous was Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Tess was a pure, kind-hearted and hard-working girl in countryside, but she eventually became a murderer. Such a tragic fate was closely related to her character as she lacked self-awareness. Under the oppression of patriarchy, women generally lacked of self-awareness and did not know how to improve themselves. They were not independent and free, so they could not survive without external power. Tess was the representative of this kind of women, and the author, through this tragic image of Tess, expressed the view that women should improve themselves and enhance their self-consciousness.

Tess’s resistance was compromised, and it formed a great contrast with the resistance of the sun-bathing woman in “A Woman on a Roof”. Doris Lessing, the author of this short story, mainly expressed the idea of harmony between the sexes. In this story, the sun-bathing woman was very independent, so her resistance was uncompromising, and even radical. However, although she was a symbol of independence and freedom, she also revealed the antagonism and conflict between the sexes.

Our society is made up of men and women, and the harmonious society needs the harmony between men and women. By the comparing the two female characters—Tess and the sun-bathing woman, this paper analyzes their personality differences and expounds the importance of women’s self promotion and the importance of gender harmony. It makes the reader realize that the harmonious society depends on independent individuals and harmonious development between the two sexes.

Key words: Thomas Hardy; Doris Lessing; Tess; the sun-bathing woman; self-improvement; harmony between men and women

Contents

Acknowledgementsi

Abstract & Key words in Englishii

Abstract & Key words in Chineseiii

Introduction 1

1. Literature review 2

1.1 A brief introduction to feminist criticism 3

1.2 About Hardy’s feminist tendency 4

    1.3 About Lessing’s feminist idea 6

2. A feminist analysis of Tess and the sun-bathing woman6

2.1 Tess’s strong points and weaknesses 6

    2.2 The sun-bathing woman’s strong points and weaknesses7

3. Hardy’s and Lessing’s feminist thought 8

3.1 Importance of the gradual improvement of women’s self 9

3.2 Importance of achieving gender harmony through common efforts 9

Conclusion 10

Notes 11

References 11