《使女的故事》的女性哥特主义分析_英语论文

Female Gothicism in The Handmaid’s Tale

摘要

玛格丽特·阿特伍德是当代加拿大著名的文学评论家、诗人和小说家，被誉为“加拿大文学女王”。她的作品有着很强的女性主义和生态主义意识。长篇小说《使女的故事》描写的是未来之事，却不是通常意义上的科幻小说，它讲述的是已成历史的未来。小说通过一位基列国的使女录在磁带里的声音，即小说的女主人公奥芙弗雷德的讲述，向读者再现了发生在未来二十一世纪初的荒诞经历。本文围绕“女性哥特主义”这个关键词，从女性空间、性别角色和人际关系这三个方面展现女性艰难的生存境况，揭示小说背后的隐喻意义。

除去引言和结论外，本篇论文包含三个章节。第一章从被束缚的女性空间出发，着重分析由物质空间和精神空间营造出的女性哥特主义恐怖氛围。女主人公住在一个没有任何隐私的房间里，生活起居都被限制与监视，连同伴之间的交谈都是机械式的问候。外在的封闭空间对应着令人绝望的精神空间。奥芙弗雷德的身体和心灵都在怪异的环境中备受煎熬。第二章从被禁锢的女性角色出发，主要分析使女和夫人这两种女性角色。使女作为当权者的生育机器，只能作为一个工具而存在着；而大主教夫人，也只是空有妻子的头衔。不论其社会地位如何，基列国的女性都变成了这个怪异世界的牺牲品和陪衬品。第三章从被异化的人际关系出发，通过分析畸形的两性关系和对立的同性关系，剖析整个基列国极权统治下的扭曲的人性。上述三个方面的分析，可以加深我们对女性哥特主义的理解，也为我们对《使女的故事》的理解提供新的角度。

关键词：玛格丽特·阿特伍德；《使女的故事》；女性哥特主义

Abstract

Margaret Atwood is a celebrated contemporary Canadian literary critic, poet and novelist, known as “the Queen of Canadian literature”. Her work reflects her strong consciousness of feminism and ecologism. Her novel The Handmaid’s Tale describes a future world that has already become the past history. Through the taped voice of Gilead’s Handmaid Offred, the heroine of the novel, it recalls some absurd experience of the early twenty-first century. Revolving around the keyword “female Gothicism”, this thesis looks into the difficult living conditions of women from three aspects—female space, gender roles and interpersonal relationships and reveals the metaphorical meaning behind the story .

In addition to the introduction and conclusion, this thesis contains three chapters. The first chapter starts from the descriptions of confined female space, focusing on the female Gothic atmosphere of terror created by physical space and mental space in the novel. The heroine lives in a place that has no privacy, where her life is limited and monitored, even the conversations between the companions are mechanical greetings. The externally enclosed space corresponds to the desperate spiritual space, reflecting Offred's physical and mental suffering in this weird environment. The second chapter is mainly about the bound gender roles, taking two kinds of female characters, the handmaid and the Wife, as examples. The handmaid is taken as a reproductive tool while the Commander’s Wife is only a figurehead. Regardless of their social status, the women of the Gilead have become the victims and accessories of this weird world. Chapter three discusses the alienated interpersonal relationship, through the analysis of distorted relationship between man and woman and antagonistic relationship between woman and woman, and it analyzes the distorted human nature under the totalitarian rule of the Gilead. The above analysis not only helps to deepen our understanding of female Gothicism, but also provides a new perspective to the comprehension of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Key Words: Margaret Atwood; The Handmaid’s Tale; female Gothicism

Contents

Acknowledgements I

Abstract II

摘要 III

Introduction 1

Chapter One  The Confined Female Space 8

1.1 Confined Physical Space 8

1.2 Stifling Mental Space 11

Chapter Two  The Restricted Gender Roles 13

2.1 Handmaid as an Instrument 13

2.2 Wife as a Decoration 15

Chapter Three  The Alienated Interpersonal Relationship 18

3.1 Distorted Relationship between Man and Woman 18

3.2 Antagonistic Relationship between Woman and Woman 20

Conclusion 23

Works Cited 24