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毕业论文网 > 文献综述 > 文学教育类 > 英语 > 正文

The Awakening of Female Consciousness in the Western World: a Comparative Study of the Heroine’s Growth in Gone with the Wind and A Doll’s House 西方世界女性意识的觉醒:《飘》与《玩偶之家》中女主人公成长路径的对比研究文献综述

 2020-04-18 08:04  

1. Introduction 1.1 Research background Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), well-known as a Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet, is honored as ”the father of realism”. People often said that he is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare. During that period of time, the theatre in European was expected to show the life people lead and what they supposed to obey. Meanwhile, Ibsen#8217;s works examined the realities hiding behind what people can easily get, with his critical eye on the family life revealing the hidden issue at his era. By the early 20th century, A Doll#8217;s House became one of the world#8217;s most popular plays. Under the background of the upsurge of the women#8217;s liberation movement in Norway, Ibsen was inspired to write this significant play which is mainly about the fate of a married woman, Nora. It tells a story of a traditional woman#8217;s awakening and struggle to break out of the authority of husband. In 1879, the drama was staged in Denmark when it was published just two weeks ago. Then it was performed in Oslo, Norway, Germany, England and many other countries. In China, people were able to watch it till the May 4th movement. A Doll#8217;s House not only has a profound impact on the European feminist movement but also greatly promoted the development of feminist literature. In the early 19th century, there is another world-renowned novel named Gone with the Wind. Margaret Mitchell(1900-1949), an American novelist and journalist,wrote and published only one novel the whole life. Gone with the Wind won the National Book Award for Most Distinguished Novel of 1936 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937. The novel depicts the life in Southern Americans during the American Civil War and the love story between Scarlett and Rhett. Scarlett is the crucial character in the novel, its a complex and unique figure. The greatest feature of her is the coexistence of femininity and masculinity. Different from the other women at that time, she is charming not only for her appearance but also her independent personality which makes her dare to love and hate. Compared to what Ibsen shows us in A Doll#8217;s House, we can easily find that Nora and Scarlett are totally different in terms of their characters at the beginning, but finally they all chose a path which leads them to come out of the cage and find their true self. And this paper will make a thorough study of the different growth trace in their life and analyse what urges them into the awakening of female consciousness. 1.2 Need for the study Practically speaking, feminism is always regarded as an eternal theme in literary circle. Both A Doll#8217;s House and Gone with the Wind are the magnum opus of feminist literature. No matter what their ending is, those two characters inspired lots of women in that period, and its influence even spread to countries and centuries far from them. Although Nora and Scarlett have different life experience which shaped their different individuality, what their stories coveys is a kind of positive energy. Therefore, a study of female consciousness in these novels will offer a deep understanding of the feminism under the specific background, making it easier to compare them with the former Women#8217;s study in a dialectical eyes. What#8217;s more, several scholars have researched on this topic for many years and done lots of works in order to enlighten the people to further their studies. Thanks to their contributions, it is feasible and meaningful to do an in-depth study in this field. 2.Literature review A Doll#8217;s House#8217;s and Gone with the Wind#8217;s prevalence attributes to the specific background. Since Ibsen wrote the play in 1897, it was adapted to many languages and generated heated discussion in literature circle. Also, people can see lots of discussion of Gone with the Wind after it was created. People talk about the play and novel from different perspectives. Some hold the view that we are supposed to regard it as the construction and loss of self-consciousness, while others consider it a higher level than individual meaning: a symbol of awakening of female consciousness. Domestically, Huang (2010 )compared Wang Xifeng in Dream of Red Chamber (1979) with Scarlett to analyze their similarities in background and personality. Besides, Chen (2013) laid emphasis on the liberation in A Doll#8217;s House and how can we adapted it in China. While Gu and Wang (2003) took the awakening of female consciousness as their study orientation. As to overseas research, it is more likely to connect the works with the research perspective. Take Shaun (2016) for example, Nora#8217;s leaving reminds him of Confucian critique of ”unencumbered self”. Or we can also see the study of background such as what influence the war makes on the heroine. Through the documents we get in previous study, people may find that there are not many comparative studies on the differences among heroines of female consciousness. As for those two books, most scholars focus on the story itself or the character itself. Even if someone compare one to another, they are more likely to find their common points rather the differences. As the saying goes, there are thousand Hamlets in a thousand people#8217;s eyes. Everyone may have his or her own opinion with regard to the theme or main idea of a literary work. Therefore, it is necessary to do more research so as to deepen our understanding of the female consciousness awakening theme. As to the further study, primarily we are not supposed to judge which one is better after reading the story of Nora and Scarlett. Both of them are images of braveness and liberation. Also, there is need to admit that those two women have many traits in common, as is shown by many scholars. However, what I would like to highlight is why they came to the similar situation. And how the differences in their growth background influence their awakening. A Doll#8217;s House and Gone with the Wind seem like a women#8217;s revolution history to some extent. Under the authority of husband in a male-dominated society, it is quite hard for women to live for themselves. The most familiar word to women is ”obedience”. Wherever there is oppression, there is resistance. Nora decided to break shackles of her tragic life and Scarlett gradually became powerful and independent under the trials of war. Although the heroines are uncertain to get what they want, their great attempt which has great impact of traditional society inspired people all over the Europe and after several years, it even works as a cultural force to influence the whole world. This is the charms of literature#8212;sometimes the words on paper can have significant influence on the realistic world. The reasons why these two works are able to win world-wide recognition and fame till today are not hard to understand. Doing continuous study is the drive of literary and social development. Meanwhile, the good qualities embodied in both Nora and Scarlett are worth learning, which brings a far-reaching significance in the study. References 1.Ibsen, H. (2016). A Doll#8217;s House. Penguin Classics. 2.Holledge, J. E. (2016). A Global Doll#8217;s House:Ibsen and Distant Visions. London:Palgrave. 3.Margret, M. (1993). Gone with the Wind. New York:Warner Books. 4.Pamela, J. C. Virginia, S. (1993). ”Gender,Feminist Consciousness,and War”. Hoboken:American Journal of Political Science. 5.Shaun, O. D. (2016). Ibsen's Nora and the Confucian Critique of the ”Unencumbered Self”. Online:Hypatia. 6.陈传芝(2013),《玩偶之家》的”中国化”阐释与新文学聚焦的”解放”,湖南:湖南师范大学。

7.顾韶阳,王丽艳(2003)《飘》与妇女觉醒#8212;#8212;《飘》中女性价值观浅析,《西安外国语学院院报》。

8.何成洲(2018),易卜生与世界文学:《玩偶之家》在中国的传播、改编与接受研究,《戏剧(中央戏剧学院学报)》。

9.黄林涛(2010),王熙凤与斯嘉丽性格比较,《科技创新导报》。

10.李想(2016),《飘》中郝思嘉形象的深度解读,《现代交际》。

11.孙中欣(2007),《女性主义研究方法》,上海:复旦大学出版社。

12.吴阿敏(2017),从精神分析学角度分析自我意识的建构与丧失#8212;#8212;以《玩偶之家》中娜拉为例,《海外英语》。

13.周文娟,许建忠(2015),国内关于《飘》郝思嘉人物研究现状分析,《名作赏析》。

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