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

孙嘉璐等

摘 要：简?奥斯丁和夏洛蒂?勃朗特是十九世纪英国杰出的女作家，她们各自的代表《傲慢与偏见》和《简爱》自出版以来受到读者和文学批评者的广泛关心和欢迎。我将从女权主义的角度分析两部作品的女主人公——伊丽莎白?班纳特和简?爱，从而发现了她们的共同点和不同点。本文第一部分简要地介绍了两个女作家及其作品以及女权主义。第二部分从女权角度分析了伊丽莎白?班纳特和简?爱第三部分对伊丽莎白?班纳特和简?爱的性格以及她们对爱情和婚姻的态度做一比较。尽管伊丽莎白?班纳特和简?爱都具有反抗精神和追求平等的精神，但是与简相比，伊丽莎白的反抗精神和追求平等的精神并不彻底。第四部分分析了她们的不同产生原因，并把它们的不同归因于各自创作者的家庭，社会背景以及个性不同。最后一部分是本文总结。伊丽莎白?班纳特和简?爱在一定程度上反映了她们创作者所处时代的社会现实，女性地位和意识。通过比较，分析他们的不同，本文认为随着时代的发展，女性地位和意识都得到了不同程度的提高。

关键词：女权主义；爱情；婚姻；

中图分类号 ： JO 文献标识码：A 文章编号：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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