The Feminine Consciousness of Victorian Period in The Tenant

本科生毕业论文

题 目：

《怀尔德菲尔的房客》中的维多利亚时期的女性意识 女性意识 英文题目：

The Feminine Consciousness of Victorian Period in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall 姓 名：

x 玥 学 号：

xxxx 学 院：

英语学院 专 业：

英语（国际商务） 年 级：

2011 班 级：

11107 指导教师：

xxxx 职称： 副教授

2015年5月

The Feminine Consciousness of Victorian Period in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

A Thesis Presented to the

Faculty of the School of English Studies

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the degree

Bachelor of Arts

by

Yue

April 2015

毕业论文诚信声明

本人郑重声明：我所提交的毕业论文《<怀尔德菲尔的房客>中的维多利亚时期的女性意识》是我在指导教师指导下独立研究、写作的成果，论文中所引用他人的无论以何种方式发布的文字、研究成果，均在论文中加以明确标注；有关教师、同学和其他人员对本文的写作、修订提出过并为我在论文中加以采纳的意见、建议，均已在我的致谢辞中加以说明并深致谢意。

如在论文中涉及抄袭或剽窃行为，本人愿承担由此而造成的一切后果及责任。

论文作者

时间： 2015 年 5 月 13 日

致谢

在完成论文之际，我真心感谢那些帮助我论文写作的人们。

首先，我由衷感谢我的导师xxx。在我写论文的整个过程中，导师的指点、建议与教导对我启发很大。没有导师的帮助，我的论文将不可能完成。

我也衷心感谢本科四年教我的所有老师，他们精彩的课程扩大了我的知识面，丰富了我的学术视野。

最后，我要感谢我的父母及我的朋友对我的关爱与支持。

Acknowledgements

At the completion of my thesis, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all those who have contributed to this thesis. First of all, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, for her invaluable comments, enlightening advice and illuminating instructions in the whole writing process of my thesis. Without her help, the completion of this thesis would have been impossible.

My sincere thanks should also go to all the teachers during my four-year undergraduate studies whose fantastic lectures have expanded my scope of knowledge and broadened my vision.

Last but not the least, I would like to express my thanks to my parents and my friends for their love and support.

Contents

Abstract (in Chinese)

Abstract (in English)

Introduction

A.The significance of study

B.Thesis statement

C.Literature review

fd8d14d9f12d2af90342e64eanization of the paper

Chapter Ⅰ. The female status of the Victorian age

A.Victorian social background

B.Women’s plight in Victorian age

C.Feminism in Victorian England

Chapter Ⅱ. Anne Bronte and the novel

A.Personal experience of Anne Bronte

B. Status of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Chapter Ⅲ. Feminine voice in the novel

A. The dutiful wife

B. Resolved escape

C. Victimized salvation

Chapter Ⅳ. Helen Graham’s female consciousness ⅠⅡ1 1 1 2 4 5 5 6 7 10 10

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13 13

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A. The dilemma confronting Victorian Feminine

B. The pursuit of feminism

Conclusion

Works Cited 21

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23 25

摘要

安妮·勃朗特是十九世纪英国杰出的女作家，她的代表作《怀尔德菲尔庄园的房客》带有强烈的自传色彩，自其发表以来就受到各种各样的评论。本篇论文旨在运用女性主义批评论，通过结合作家的生活经历和当时的社会背景，来分析作品中女主角海伦·格雷厄姆。通过海伦·格雷厄姆的性格特点及其经历进一步揭示了维多利亚时期的女性对父权社会的挑战和反抗，体现了这一时期女性主义的进步与发展。总体来说，随着时代的发展，女性地位和女性意识都得到了不同程度的提高。

关键词：安妮·勃朗特；女性主义；父权制度；平等；自由

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Abstract

Anne Bronte is an extraordinary British writer in 19th century literature. Her masterpiece The Tenant of Wildfell Hall has received comprehensive attention after its publication. This paper aims to analyze this book through the main female character—Helen Graham from the perspective of feminist criticism, concerning the writer's life experience and social background of Victorian Era, which will further reveal how women at that time began to challenge inequality and fight against the traditional ideology, thus reflect the progress and development of female consciousness in that period of time.

Key words：Feminism; patriarchy; equality; freedom; Anne Bronte

II

Introduction

A. The significance of study

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall(henceforth referred to as Wildfell Hall), was published in 1848, written by one of the greatest British writers––Anne Bronte, the novel is regarded as the most searing, truthful, and damning accounts of male and female relationships of all 19th century fictions. In her book Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte not only describes the situation of female marriage, but also vividly and visually portrays the future way out of female figures. The heroine Helen Graham is a rare rational rebellious woman with lofty morality, and ideal pursuits. Compared with the heroines of Anne’s sisters, Helen's rebellion offers more realistic and effective measures for women in struggle for independence, freedom and dignity. This book has earned the author a position in English literature in her own right.

B. Thesis statement

This paper aims to focus on Anne Bronte and explores her work—Wildfell Hall by applying the theory of feminism. Through the analysis of all protagonists and the predicament of Victorian women in the patriarchal society, this paper intends to arouse readers’ female consciousness for freedom, equality and independence.

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C. Literature review

Wildfell Hall is a typical example in the history of 19th century literature. Though at that time most critics regarded Wildfell Hall as a severe attack on Victorian morals, there have been both foreign and domestic critics doing research on Anne Bronte and her works.

The first biographical study of Bronte sisters was from their contemporaries. Elizabeth Gaskell's book The Life of Charlotte Bronte symbolically introduces some of Anne Bronte’s family members, paintings, and letters exchanged between them. However, during the time from 1860 to 1940, Anne’s works had been neglected; formal biography research did not emerge until the 20th century. During 1959, Winifred Gerin describes Anne as ―the most glorious sunset ever witnessed‖ (318).

In addition to the biography about Anne, critics abroad have been studying Anne Bronte’s writings from different perspectives. The majority of the scholars attempt to analyze Anne’s works with the application of feminism artistic techniques. The reason is that around the 19th century the feminist movement raised itself into a new height in literature review. John Ruskin considers heroine Helen as ―enduringly, incorruptibly good; instinctively, infallibly wise‖ (112), while The Women of England;

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their Social Duties and Domestic Habits comments her as ―moral greatness‖(Ellis 86). Although Anne Bronte is not as famous as her sisters, more and more studies about Wildfell Hall are conducted during recent years. Farideh Pourgiv and Sara Ebrahimi Rahmati analyze Wildfell Hall by arguing ―female maturity is not equated with marriage‖ (1), while other research states that Helen ―challenge the primacy of marriage and domesticity in the construction of female identity‖ (Schroeder 11).

In China, people who are ardent for literature are more familiar with Charlotte and Emily than Anne. The majority of research are either directly translated or based on foreign research.

A History of British Women’s Fiction states that the heroine of Wildfell Hall represents ―the new image of Victorian era‖ (Li Weiping 166). Li Fangmu, on the other hand, analyzes the novel from the perspective of pseudonyms: ―the gender elements behind the popularity of pseudonyms i n Victorian Britain‖ (115). Nevertheless, most of the studies in China tend to analyze Victorian wri ters in general which contain Anne’s work, for instance, The Victorian Fiction That Reproduces the Mindset of Single Girls explores ―the [Victorian] single girls’ anxiety and frustration‖(Yang Jincai 46) of the Victorian novels. This thesis shows that women can seek their own happiness and freedom.

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Despite the fact that there are not many research about Wildfell Hall, most of them are about heroine Helen. Scholars tend to ignore the heroes—Huntington and Markham since Wildfell Hall is a well-known feminism novel. However, this paper intends to analyze feminism from both the side of heroine and heroes. By combining those characters together readers can develop a clearer insight on the oppression of patriarchy system, thus this paper can demonstrate the fact that women can only obtain equal rights by constant fighting.

D. Organization of the paper

First of all, this thesis briefly introduces readers about central argument, literature review as well as the overview of this paper. Then the first chapter focuses on the social background, women’s plight and feminism in Victorian Age. The second chapter introduces the personal experience of Anne Bronte and briefly states the status of the novel—Wildfell Hall. The third chapter analyzes Helen’s pursuit of equality and freedom by demonstrating the oppression of patriarchy from the main male characters. The last chapter reiterates the feminism idea that the only way for women to thrive is to reject their domestic roles assigned by male-dominated society. The last is the conclusion. All in all, by analyzing the feminine consciousness of the Victorian

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novels, this thesis shows that women can also seek happiness and freedom by themselves within the social limits.

ChapterⅠ. The female status of the Victorian age

Due to the great change in society, women have realized their low status and fought for equal rights with men. This chapter mainly discusses the Victorian social background, women’s plight and the rise of feminism in the Victorian Era.

A. Victorian social background

Victorian era literature coincided with the Victorian reign, which period began in 1837 when Queen Victoria came into power and ended in the year of 1901. It goes without saying that this period is the m ost glorious time in Britain’s history. After the establishment of the Reform Bill in 1832, the state power moved from the hands of decadent aristocracy to a new emerging industrial middle class. The invention of the steam engine and other applications in technology improved productivity. The industrial revolution changed the life style of Britain and the living conditions in the middle class. At this time, working class appeared.

During this period, rapid industrial development worsened the living conditions of workers. Strict factory disciplines, low

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wages, and periodic unemployment all contributed to workers suffering. In order to make a living, women and children were hired to work in factories or as miners in the dangerous mines. In such situations, people called for political and economic reform. These increasing class contradictions finally broke out and led to the famous British Chartist Movement in 1836. Despite the campaign declining in 1848, this achievement marked the awakening of working class. This revolution not only changed people’s living conditions, but also influenced women enormously. Ever since the capitalist age of enlightenment, with the development of society and the unremitting efforts of feminisms, some women began to have the same opportunity as males did when it came to receiving proper education, making more and more women start to stand up and join in the feminist movement.

B. Women’s plight in Victorian age

According to the Victorian social norms, both men and women had their own ideal roles to play: while men work outside, women would stay at home to care for their husbands and children because they were generally believed to be frail and weak. Women were deprived of the right to get education, love, and equal treatment. Their inferior situation in the family and society made their lives full of miseries.

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Married women in the Victorian Era were deprived of all legal rights. Victorian women were expected to abandon all their personal wealth, and leave these properties to their husbands. A married woman cannot have any recourse unless it was sponsored or approved by her husband. She had no right to file for porce or to claim custody of her children because she was only an attachment to or a subject of her husband. She is nothing but a sacrificing mother, an industrious housekeeper, and a devoted domestic servant.

C. Feminism in Victorian England

Feminism first appeared in France, which refers to ―the belief and aim that women should have the same rights, power, and opportunities as men‖ (Cobuild 527). Then, it gradually became popular and began to spread through England and America. With the advance of the French Revolution, couples of progressive concepts like natural rights and freedom and equality have been widely accepted. Some keen women began to realize that they should have the right to receive appropriate education and obtain employment. A group of progressive female writers emerged during this time, such as Mary Wollstonecraft. Her book A Vindication of the Rights of Women was viewed as the earliest and the most famous feminist works in history. In her book, Mary

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believes that woman should have equal rights of education with men because ―society will degenerate without educated women‖(102). However, Mary’s voice was too weak to arouse the public’s attention. It is not until the 18th century that women began to realize that they need to express their own feelings clearly. John Stuart Mill laid the foundation of feminism in Victorian England. In the Subjection of Women, Mill states:

Women had always hitherto been kept, as far as

regards spontaneous development, in so unnatural a

state, that their nature cannot but have been greatly

distorted and disguised ... the society not only

tolerated but even insisted upon such invidious

distinctions between the sexes that turned women into

virtual slaves. (55)

The most important feminist literary critics were Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir. Woolf discussed many serious problems of women, saying in Professions for Women that: ―Women should go out to kill the angel in the house‖ (2153). While Simone de Beauvoir in The Second Sex states that ―It is not women’s inferiority that has determined their historical insignificance: it is their historical insignificance that has doomed them to inferiority‖ (151). Both of them called on people to care

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about women’s status and encouraged women to compete with men and take part in social activities.

Elaine Showalter, one of the leading feminist critics, has fingered three phases of the deve lopment in women’s literary: ―The Feminine phase as the period from the appearance of the male pseudonym in the 1840s to the death of George Eliot; the Feminist phase from 1880 to 1920, or as known in winning the right to vote; and the final phase in 1920 to the present‖ (Showalter 3-36).

The British political, economical, and cultural developments of the 19th century provided the fertile soil for the emergence of feminism. Women started to actively take part in social activities and wanted to improve their status through their own efforts. The feminist movement developed quickly during 1850s, lots of leading figures started gathering together to campaign for changing the troubling conditions of women. Emily Davies, Sophie Bryant, for instance, concentrated on the issue of women’s education, Maria Grey and Bessie Parkes on the other hand focused their attention on the circumstantial problems of female employment. Since then, some women began to take up the occupation of writer and therein reflected women’s pr oblems in their works. The most influential Victorian female writers were the

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Bronte sisters. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall thus constitutes a genuine political contribution to the feminist cause. In the book Feminism, Marriage and the Law in Victorian England, 1850–1895, Mary Shanley explains that ―although the term feminist was not used until late nineteenth century, it makes sense to apply it to the mid-century activists … who urged the liberation of women from restrictive social custom and law alike‖ (3).

Chapter Ⅱ. Anne Bronte and the novel

In the world of literature, Anne Bronte was regarded as one of the initiators of realism in the 19th century. Many themes of Anne’s works were from her own experience, reflecting the features of realism—describing life realistically. Reflecting society through her work is perhaps the greatest value of Anne Bronte’s novels.

A. Personal experience of Anne Bronte

Anne Bronte, born in 1820, is the youngest of the three Bronte sisters. After Anne mother’s death their aunt Elizabeth Barnwell moved into the now famous Haworth Parsonage to raise them. Anne had a very close relationship with her aunt, like the mother and the daughter. She was deeply influenced by her aunt’s religious idea and believed in Calvinism’s predestina tion and

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religious views of God's chosen people. Anne's works are filled with the spirit of Christianity, and she praised highly on the idea of enterprising spirit and worldly asceticism. Unlike her two sentimental sisters, Anne’s restrained personality ma de her more able to endure the unjust situation of life and made her live and work dutifully.

In order to support their family, Anne insisted on doing tutor four years in a row. Although the job destroyed her health and required her to bear it in loneliness and depression, these real life experiences also helped Anne to create the image of her characters in her books and to achieve her literary dreams. Anne Bronte had a strong sense of moral self-discipline, which was also reflected in her work, like the heroine Helen, who just like Anne, holds a high moral standard to herself and those around her.

Anne’s works contain not only her own sense of justice, but also emphasize the outcome of being good or evil. Woman in her novels usually has a relative rewarding or punishing ending. Such as the heroine in Agnes Gray, who has her own career and love, but the arrogant Miss Murray finds herself caged when she falls into a loveless and merciless marriage; Helen in Wildfell Hall inherits the legacy and marries the squire who loves her deeply, but Annabelle who conveys no sense of morality is porced and abandoned.

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B. Status of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Wildfell Hall is one of the most astonishing novels of Bronte’s works, Anne's description of Huntingdon’s a lcoholism and debauchery were profoundly agitating to the people of nineteenth century. The bold depiction of alcoholism and Helen's struggle are considered by some critics as an inappropriate subject for woman. Even her sister Charlotte also held harsh opinion towards this book, for she judged the whole enterprise as a mistake. The Brontes records Charlotte’s opinion to Anne as ―cut out to shed light on disturbing realities; though her motives were pure, they were also slightly morbid‖ (Glen 101). For all these reasons, it has been neither well known nor well loved in almost one-hundred-and-fifty years since its publication.

This novel is the reflection of women’s true living conditions of the Victorian Era. Through her keen perception of living conditions of women, Anne Bronte was aware that women’s status was low and they could not enjoy the equal rights with men in the society and family. Therefore, she created new women images in her novel Wildfell Hall that laid the foundation for western feminism. This novel challenged the traditional concept that society imposed on women, thus encouraged other women to rebel against the patriarchy to get their financial independence and

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