A Comparative Study of the Heroines of Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre

孫嘉璐等

摘 要：簡?奧斯丁和夏洛蒂?勃朗特是十九世紀英國杰出的女作家，她們各自的代表《傲慢與偏見》和《簡愛》自出版以來受到讀者和文學批評者的廣泛關心和歡迎。我將從女權主義的角度分析兩部作品的女主人公——伊麗莎白?班納特和簡?愛，從而發現了她們的共同點和不同點。本文第一部分簡要地介紹了兩個女作家及其作品以及女權主義。第二部分從女權角度分析了伊麗莎白?班納特和簡?愛第三部分對伊麗莎白?班納特和簡?愛的性格以及她們對愛情和婚姻的態度做一比較。盡管伊麗莎白?班納特和簡?愛都具有反抗精神和追求平等的精神，但是與簡相比，伊麗莎白的反抗精神和追求平等的精神并不徹底。第四部分分析了她們的不同產生原因，并把它們的不同歸因于各自創作者的家庭，社會背景以及個性不同。最后一部分是本文總結。伊麗莎白?班納特和簡?愛在一定程度上反映了她們創作者所處時代的社會現實，女性地位和意識。通過比較，分析他們的不同，本文認為隨著時代的發展，女性地位和意識都得到了不同程度的提高。

關鍵詞：女權主義；愛情；婚姻；

中圖分類號 ： JO 文獻標識碼：A 文章編號：1674-3520（2015）-08-00-02

Abstract：Jane Austen and charlotte Bronte are both remarkable women writers in the 19thcentury English literature. Their representative works --- Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre --- have been enjoying enormous popularity since their publication. By analyzing the two heroines ---Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Eyre from feminism, I find that they are in common; however, they also have differences. The first part briefly introduces the two writers their works and feminism. The second part analyzes -Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Eyre from feminism. The third is a comparison between Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Eyre from their characters and their Attitudes and Marriage. The fourth one is the reasons for the differences between Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Eyre in their characters and attitudes towards love and marriage. The last part is the conclusion. The comparison shows that, with the passage of time, womens position and womens female consciousness have been improved. Their contributions and position in feminism can not be neglected today.

Key Words: feminism love marriag

I. Introduction.

Pride and prejudice and Jane Eyre are two of the famous novels written by women in England in the 19th century and they are among my favorite novels. Through the comparison, I hope 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 woman; position with passage of time. And also, I hope that the findings can shed some light on the present and into the future.

II．Analysis of Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Eyre based on feminism

Feminism is concerned with the marginalization of all women; that is, with their being relegated to a secondary position. In general, the target of feminist criticism is to awaken womens individual consciousness, so as to expose the fraudulent values of patriarchy, break the shackles it has long since imposed on the female and call for their resistance against the unjust treatment to them.

2.1 Analysis of Elizabeth Bennet

Jane Austen lived a quiet life in the country and kept her eyes upon the people and incidents about her, and wrote the small world she lined in. Jane Bennet is portrayed as such a typical fair lady in that time, a perfect “angel”, being gentle, kind, amiable and graceful.

2.2. Analysis of Jane Eyre

Charlotte Bronte was the third of the five daughters in her family. Her novel Jane Eyre shows many feminist views. She was among the first feminist writers of her time/ third novel embodies the ideology of equality between a woman and a man in a marriage, as well as in society at large.

III. Comparison between Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Eyre

Jane Austen was born in late 18th century and published her masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice, in early 19th century, while, Charlotte Bronte was born and published her masterpiece, Jane Eyre. As it has been introduced, both have attracted great attention from the public since their publication.

3.1 A Comparison between Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Eyre from their Characters

In a world where woman has no voice, no matter it is a real world or an imaginary world of literature, it seems that the roles and personalities of women are predestined and expressed by logocentricism as being either angels or whores.

3.2 A Comparison between Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Eyre from their attitudes towards love and marriage

No one can deny that marriage, family and love are the most everyday but most profound concerns of all women and it is also true for the two heroines, Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Eyre. They both believe that marriage should be based on mutual respect and understanding.

IV. The Reasons for the Differences between Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Eyre in their Characters and Attitudes towards Love and Marriage

Both writers lived in a period when the women were severely oppressed by the patriarchal system, which men expected women to be devoted and submissive, playing the role of “angle in the house”. They begin to use pen to express their dissatisfaction of the patriarchal society and modify the women roles in mens work. They became aware of their rights and status in the society. From them, the preliminary spirit of feminism, desiring to be equal and liberal, has been expressed. In addition, women seized the pen and female self-consciousness brought heroines to literature.

V. Conclusion

In short, both Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Eyre reflect the social realities, womens position and womens female consciousness in the certain period their creators were in to some extent. The comparison shows that , with the passage of time, womens position and womens female consciousness have been improved. Their contributions and position in feminism can not be neglected today.

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