1、a study on charlotte brontes femaleconsciousness in jane eyrea thesissubmitted to the school of foreign languagesshenyang normal universityin partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree ofbachelor of artsby under the supervision oflecturer april 2011abstractcharlotte bronte is a remarkabl

2、e female writer in the 19th centuryher masterpiece jane eyre received comprehensive attention and reception after it publishedjane eyre is the most popular one among her books for its spiritually attractive cinderella-like heroine in love story. the heroine, jane eyre, is a passionate woman full of

3、affection, which is unseasonable in her age. first of all, the thesis gives all introduction to the theory of feminism in the literary snd the wakeness of women in victorian times about their social status, right, freedom, etc. this paper also gives a brief review on charlotte brontes life experienc

4、e and her view of point as a feminist from the novel because the heroine jane eyre embodies charlotte brontes personality and shares much in conmmon with the female consciousness.key words: jane eyre, charlotte bronte, female conciousness 摘 要夏洛蒂勃朗特是十九世紀英國杰出的女作家，她的代表作簡愛自出版以來受到讀者和文學評論者的廣泛關注和歡迎。從很大程度上講

5、，簡愛被認為是作者的心理歷程的自傳體小說。夏洛蒂把自己的很多的人生經(jīng)歷和性格特點都賦予了她作品中的女主人公一簡愛。外表平平、孤獨貧苦、無依無靠的簡愛在作品伊始就一直處于社會的邊緣地位，因而經(jīng)歷了一個漫長的確定自己女性意識的痛苦的心理歷程。此篇論文旨在從女性主義的角度，通過對作品中女主角簡愛和作者本身的分析，揭示這部小說中所反映的維多利亞時期女性性別意識的覺醒和當時女性的社會地位、權利以及自由等等。同時本文也透過勃朗特自身的經(jīng)歷，從而了解到作為一個女性主義者，她是如何將女主人公的性格以及女性意識與自身緊密相結合的。關鍵詞：簡愛，夏洛蒂勃朗特，女性意識 contentsabstract in en

6、glish.abstract in chinese.i. introduction.1 a. a brief introduction to charlotte brontes jane eyre.11.a brief introduction to charlotte bronte12.a brief introduction to jane eyre.2 b. the purpose of this paper .3 c. the significance and limitations .3ii. female consciousness in the english literatur

7、e a. female consciousness in the english literature .5 1. the definition of female consciousness.5 2. the development of female consciousness .5 b. the research on the female consciousness in other peoples eyes. 6iii. a study on charlotte brontes female consciousness in jane eyre.10a. a study on cha

8、rlotte bronte10 1.the growing background of charlotte bronte.10 2. the development of charlotte brontes female consciousness .11b. the analysis of charlotte brontes jane eyre.12 1.janes miserable experience.12 2.janes determination and personality in the struggle of love and equality.15c. the compar

9、ison of jane eyre and charlotte bronte .19iv. conclusion.21 a. the significance of the female consciousness21 b. female consciousness in the modern society.21 works cited.23acknowledgements.25 a study on charlotte brontes femaleconsciousness in jane eyrei. introduction a. a brief introduction to cha

10、rlotte brontes jane eyre1.a brief introduction to charlotte bronte charlotte bronte was one of the productive english writers in the middle of the 19th century. she had set a milestone in the history of english women literature and her work embodied her eagerness for love and freedom and considerati

11、on towards womens destiny. she was born in thornton, yorkshire, the daughter of an anglican clergyman. after the death of her mother, charlotte was left with her sisters anne and emily and her brother branwell to the care of their strictly religious aunt elisabeth. during a somewhat unhappy childhoo

12、d the children created imaginary worlds as an escape from their everyday life. she attended the clergy daughter school at cowan bridge but returned in the same year due to the harsh conditions, which she later suggested as the cause of her elder sisters deaths and her own melancholia. in 1839 charlo

13、tte was a governess with the sidgwick family at skipton, and in 1841 with the white family at rawdon, however her attempts to earn a living as a governess were constantly hampered by her terrible shyness, her ignorance of children and her longing to be with her sisters. jane eyre was published in 18

14、47 and achieved immediate success. it is the story of a penniless orphan who becomes a teacher, obtains a post as a governess, comes into an inheritance from an uncle and finally marries the byronic hero, clearly reflecting an autobiographical influence. in 1854 charlotte married her fathers curate,

15、 arthur bell nicholls. she died during her pregnancy on march 31st in 1855. over the past fifty years her reputation has risen greatly, and her work has been shown to speak up for oppressed women of all ages.2.a brief introduction to jane eyre during the 1800s, the period in which jane eyre was writ

16、ten, women were judged only by two standards: wealth and appearance. thus, they never had rights to develop a mind of their own. charlotte bronte established a kind of new feminine image by creating a heroine, jane eyre, who possessed nothing beyond her character. she has the pesistent pursuit for e

17、qual personality and completely true love as men do. her attractive character has influenced thousands of female readers all over the world in their life, mind and passion.jane eyre ranks as one of the greatest and most popular works of english fiction. although the poor but plucky heroine is outwar

18、dly of plain appearance, she possesses an indomitable spirit, a sharp wit and great courage. she is forced to battle against the exigencies of a cruel guardian, a harsh employer and a rigid social order. all of which circumscribe her life and position when she becomes a governess to the daughter of

19、the mysterious, sardonic and attractive mr rochester. however, there is great kindness and warmth in this epic love story, which is set against the magnificent backdrop of the yorkshire moors. b.the purpose of this paperthis paper tries to explore the writers female consciousness embodied in these w

20、orks from the anthors experience , the appearance and the main character in the novel jane eyre. it focus on charlotte brontes own life experience and her view of point as a feminist because the heroine jane eyre embodies charlotte brontes personality and shares much in common on the female consciou

21、sness. first of all, i will study charlotte brontes life experience, her view as a feminist from the novel and female consciousness in the english literature in that period. then, basing on the above study, i will study the female conciousness of charlotte bronte in her masterpiece jane eyre. finall

22、y, i will analyse the significance of the female conciousness in charlotte brontes eyes to the english literature and the study on the feminism. the purpose of this paper is to get a brand-new understanding of feminism the anthor wants to express through further analysis of charlotte bronte and her

23、jane eyre.c.the significance and limitationsthe awakening of women began in the 18th century. with the wakeness of the female conciousness, feminism flourished and was rooted in england which had a traditional sense of independence and freedom. in feminism, a large number of women writers utilized t

24、heir literary works as the weapons to fight against masculinity. jane eyre, a novel by charlotte bronte, was published in 1847. charlotte bronte created a typical and successful female image that has the courage to rebel and fight for the freedom and the equality. this paper does some studies on the

25、 history and development of the female conciousness in the process of the feminism. and it intends to make contributtions to the research of womens studies and the comprehension of the female conciousness.this thesis examines the nature of charlotte brontes pioneering literary feminism，and both the

26、positive and negative characterizations of jane eyre in the text reveal the writers feminist value in the victorian england. it also demonstrates the positive development of female consciousness and the limitation of female consciousness in the middle of 19th centuryfemale consciousness in the engli

27、sh literaturea. female consciousness in the english literature 1.the definition of the female consiousnessthe female consciousness is a collection of social theories, political movements, and moral philosphies largely motivated by or concerned with the liberation of women. in simple terms, feminism

28、is the belief in social, political and economic equality of the sexes, and a moment organized around the belief that gender should not be the pre-determinant factor shaping a persons social identity or social-political or economic inequality between sexes which favors the male gender, some have argu

29、ed that gendered and sexed identities, such as “man” and “woman” are socially constructed. feminists disagree over the sources of inequality, how to attain equality, and the extent to which gender-based identites should be questioned and critigued.the female consciousness is womans self-consciousnes

30、s of status, influence and value as the subject in the objective world. it is a personal motive to stimulate womens pursuit for independence, freedom, initiative and creativity. concretely speaking, the female consciousness means women wake up and fulfill their historical missions, social responsibi

31、lities, personal obligations, meanwhile they know their self-features well and take part in social activities in their own ways.2. the development of the female consciousnessthe establishment and development of female consciousness are the process of changing and enrichment with the changes and deve

32、lopments of the society. the standards of the female consciousness status are still in research. peking university scholars fu xin and wang sufang claimed that the wakening and improvement of female consciousness manifest in four main aspects: women realize themselves as the subjects in the society,

33、 this realization is one of the universal attributes of human beings, according to human beings overall necessities to establish their lives spontaneously; they realize womens special qualities and portray a real female quality in harmony with their physiology and psychology; they understand and pla

34、y a variety of roles in balance; they regards man properly and can work with man in harmony. i think the standards of wakening should include the sex consciousness, which requires women to be self-respective and self-confident but not self-abased and self-flabby; they can take a correct judgment on

35、the two sexes, insisting on sexual equality, but not the male superiority nor the female inferiority or woman supremacists; the female groups consciousness awakening begin with self-respect, self-confidence, independence, and towards to female groups self-reliance.b.the research on the female consci

36、ousness in jane eyre in other peoples eyesany criticism of a literary work is a juxtaposition of individual perceptions and prevalent cultural or social values. when jane eyre was published in 1847, it became a bestseller. the reviews were on the whole favorable. there was much speculation about whe

37、ther the writer was a man or a woman and whether the bells were really three persons, two persons, or just one person. when it became known that a woman had written such a passionate novel and seemed so knowing sexually, the reviews became more negative. introducing womens studies praised the novel:

38、 this is not merely a work of great promise; it is one of absolute performance. it is one of the most powerful domestic romances which have been published for many years. it has little or nothing of the old conventional stamp upon it, but it is full of youthful vigour, of freshness and originality,

39、of nervous diction and concentrated interest. the incidents are sometimes melo-dramatic, and, it might be added, improbable, but these incidents, though striking, are subordinate to the main purpose of the piece, which is a tale of passion, not of intensity which is most sublime. it is a book to mak

40、e the pulses gallop and the heart beat, and to fill the eyes with tears (robinson,victoria,1997)jane eyre is, indeed, one of the coarsest books which we ever perused. it is not that the professed sentiments of the writer are absolutely wrong or forbidding, or that the odd sort of religious notions w

41、hich she puts forth are much worse than is usual in popular tales. it is rather that there is a tendency to relapse into that class of ideas, expressions, and circumstances, which is most connected with the grosser and more animal portion of our nature; and that the detestable morality of the most p

42、rominent character in the story is accompanied with every sort of palliation short of unblushing justification. sally shuttleworth, who wrote charlotte bronte and victorian psychology, assumed a connection between unrestrained passion and political rebellion: jane eyre is throughout the personificat

43、ion of the unregenerate and undisciplined spirit, the more dangerous to exhibit from that prestige of principle and self-control which is liable to dazzle the eye too much for it to observe the inefficient and unsound foundation on which it rests. it is true jane does right, and exerts great moral s

44、trength, but it is the strength of a mere heathen mind which is a law unto itself. no christian grace is perceptible upon her.( sally shuttleworth,1996 )altogether the autobiography of jane eyre is preeminently an anti-christian composition. there is throughout a murmuring against the comforts of th

45、e rich and against the privations of the poor, which, as far as each individual is concerned, is a murmuring against gods appointment-there is a proud and perpetual assertion of the rights of man, for which we find no authority either in gods word or in gods providence-there is that pervading tone o

46、f ungodly discontent which is at once the most prominent and the most subtle evil which the law and the pulpit, which all civilized society in fact, has at the present day to contend with. we do not hesitate to say that the tone of mind and thought which has overthrown authority and violated every c

47、ode human and divine abroad, and fostered chartism and rebellion at home is the same which has also written jane eyre (charlotte bronte, 1847). underlying this harsh criticsm is a fear of social unrest. in 1847, the working classes were organizing political protests in england, as well as on the con

48、tinent. the chartists, regarded by the affluent classes as revolutionaries threatening the foundation of government and order, were demanding such rights as the vote for working men, a shorter work week, and a secret ballot. in 1848, political protest erupted in so many revolutions on the continent

49、that historians call it the year of revolutions.iii. the study on charlotte brontes female consciousness in jane eyrea. a study on charlotte bronte1.the growing background of charlotte bronte charlotte bronte was one of the productive english writers in the middle of the 19th century. she had set a

50、milestone in the history of english women literature and her work embodied her eagerness for love and freedom and consideration towards womens destiny. all her achievements would attribute to her growth environment and family education. charlotte bronte was born in a poverty-stricken family, growing

51、 up in a remote backward country far from city, her father patrick bronte who was both cold and violent, and of a gentle, an anglican clergyman of irish birth, educated at cambridge. their sickly mother died early leaving five daughters and a son to the care of her sister. in august 1824, charlotte

52、was sent with three of her sisters to the clergy daughterss school which she would describe as lowood school in jane eyre. its poor conditions permannently affected her health and physical development, and hastened the deaths of her two elder sisters who died of tuberculosis soon after they were rem

53、oved from the school. at home in haworth parsonage, charlotte and the other surviving children were influnced by their fathers library. in 1839, charlotte bronte had choosen the first of many positions as governess to various families in yorkshire, a career she pursued until 1841, and these experien

54、ces supplied her with material to make the characters in her novels vivid and lively especially jane eyre. in june 1854, charlotte married arthur bell nicholls, her fathers curate. she died nine months later during her first pregnancy. in fact, charlotte is presenting through the character of jane s

55、ome of her own most deeply felt convictions of permanent importance in human life such as the right of the humblest person to affection , self-realization , honesty and integrity , the right to speak out frankly and the claims of morality and religion. as a great book, jane eyre not only awakens its early readers of the victorian age, but also stimulates and encourages modern womens movement.2. the development of charlotte brontes female conciousnessjane eyre was published in 1847, in the early years of the victorian period.