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女性的光辉
—《简爱》中的简爱和《傲慢与偏见》中伊莉莎白的人物对比
摘要
《简爱》中的简爱和《傲慢与偏见》中伊莉莎白是文学史上两个杰出的女性角色。她们有许多相似的优秀品质也有不同的缺点。不管怎样,她们都值得仔细分析和学习借鉴。她们都清楚地认识到女性的价值—自尊自爱,不畏强权,追求真爱以及善良真诚。所有这些品质都通过她们的行为生动地展现出来。除了这些相似点,简爱和伊莉莎白也有许多的不同。简爱更主动地追求爱情,更独立和坚强,这些品质帮助她忍受了精神上和肉体上的痛苦。而伊莉莎白则比简更幽默大方。她的优点使得她显得可爱而倍受欢迎。
我们现代女性应该扬长避短,吸取她们的长处,摒弃她们的缺点。我们要培养优秀的品质，使自己成为完美的女性并创造我们自己的辉煌。
关键字：简爱和伊莉莎白；相似处；不同点；女性；光辉
Women’s Brilliance
-- Comparison and Contrast between Jane Eyre in Jane Eyre and Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice
Outline
Thesis statement: Jane Eyre and Elizabeth share lots of valuable qualities but also have distinctive characteristics, which set shining example for modern female to pursue self-achievement.
Ⅰ. Introduction
The two novels’ main ideas and the two characters’ main experience
Ⅱ. The similar points of Jane Eyre and Elizabeth’s character
A. Jane Eyre and Elizabeth are both self-respected.
B. Jane Eyre and Elizabeth both defy power and influence.
C. Jane Eyre and Elizabeth both pursue true love.
D. Jane Eyre and Elizabeth are both kindhearted.
Ⅲ. The different points lying in Jane Eyre and Elizabeth’s character
A. Jane Eyre pursues love more bravely and freely, while Elizabeth seems a little passive.
B. Jane Eyre pursues independence and self-reliance, while Elizabeth hasn’t much this consciousness.
C. Jane Eyre is more strong-minded than Elizabeth.
D. Elizabeth is humorous and poised while Jane is reserved.
Ⅳ. Conclusion
Woman’s brilliance
--Comparison and Contrast between Jane Eyre in Jane Eyre and Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice
Ⅰ.Introduction
The 19th century witnessed the emergence of many outstanding female writers. And the British author Charlotte Brandy and Jane Austen were among them. Their typical works Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice respectively leave great impression on the mind of people all over the world. On the first sight, the two novels diversify in many aspects. Jane Eyre describes an orphan girl Jane Eyre is ill-treated by her aunt in her childhood, then endures unimaginable hardships in a boarding school, where she grows strong and talented. After that, she works as a tutor in Thornfield, falls in love with a noble Mr. Rochester, leaves him when knowing he has a mad wife and returns to him finally after his accident. While the Pride and Prejudice mainly demonstrates a few couple of views on marriage, especially petty bourgeoisie girl Elizabeth treats her marriage cautiously and rationally despite her prejudice in the past. Both of the main characters have left much for us to study. They have some in common and also diversify in some respects. No matter their commons or differences deserve to be analyzed comparatively.
Ⅱ. The Similar Points of Jane Eyre and Elizabeth’s Character
A. Jane Eyre and Elizabeth are both self-respected.
Jane Eyre and Elizabeth are both self-respected, which is one of the most valuable qualities in a century when men ruled almost all social fields and women were denied almost the basic respect. Jane Eyre has the realization of self-respect even in her childhood. When her aunt regards Jane as a liable and vicious girl in the presence of Mr. Brocklehurst, she is deeply hurt for her dignity is deprived of crucially. No matter how hard it is, she never devaluates herself or boasts herself. She always thinks highly of her inner self where exist sound reason and regulation. She falls in love with Mr. Rochester partly for she is respected by Mr. Rochester and partly for she believes herself qualified enough to win the love of a man with equally noble mind. And she demonstrates her self-respect further by her determination to leaving her master upon knowing he has a mad wife. “Who in the world cares for you? ... I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.”1 From ancient times, women were considered weak, unintelligent, ignorant and should be applied with men. Surrounded by these absurd lies, women were unconfident and doubted their capability. Thus, self-recognition is the first step toward women emancipation.
B. Jane Eyre and Elizabeth both defy power and influence.
Apart from self-respect, neither Jane nor Elizabeth is cowered before power and influence. It is not only an excellent quality that should be owned by female in modern times, but also a valuable characteristic be shared with whole human beings. Jane Eyre explicates her spirit of revolt from her childhood. Without care of parents and her kind uncle, Jane has to struggle to live under ill-treatment of her uncle’s widow and her children. In face of the threat of her cousin, Jane breaks out eventually. She shouts to him, “Wicked and cruel boy -- You are like a murderer, -- a slave-driver -- you are like the Roman emperor”.3 Even knowing she will be punished seriously, she condemns her cousin’s wrongful doings with great courage and justice. In the days when lives with her aunt -- Mrs. Reed, little Jane endures unbearable humiliation. Though Mrs. Reed hates her and tortures her, Jane never fears of her. Little girl as she is, she dares come before Mrs. Reed and says, “I am glad you are no relation of mine … and if anyone asks me how I liked you and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty … How dare I? Because it is the truth. You think I have no feelings, and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness, but I cannot live so, and you have no pity.”4 It is incredible that a 10-year-old child can say so indignantly. In fact, it is the call from her inner soul -- fight against unfair treatment in the presence of strong rivals. Power and prestige makes many ordinary men frightened, and become slaves of it. But Jane Eyre is indifferent to this. She has her own yardstick to judge things. When Jane is asked to meet her master Mr. Rochester for the first time as a tutor in Thornfield, she also shows her unique quality. When Mr. Rochester asks her question in rude and satire attitude, Jane doesn’t feel a little anxiety. Instead, she answers calmly and airs her views freely. “harsh caprice laid me under on obligation -- a decent quiescence, under the freak of manner, gave me the advantage.”5
C. Jane Eyre and Elizabeth both pursue true love.
As we know, no matter in the past or at present, love is always the most sensitive point of female. And in the two novels, plots are developed through “love”. Heroines’ fate of love always arise great attention among readers, especially their rightful attitude toward love -- pursuit of true love. Jane Eyre is an orphan and treated badly+by Mrs. Reed and latter by severe condition of Lowood. Her lonely soul is extremely thirsty for love. The communication with Mr. Rochester lights her fire of love. Though as her master, Mr. Rochester respects her. “I have not been trampled on. I have not been petrified. I have not been buried with inferior minds and excluded from every glimpse of communication with what is bright and energetic and high. I have talked, face to face, with what I reverence, with what I delight in, -- with an original, a vigorous, an expanded mind”.7 She gets what she cherished for a long time. “His attention to her delights her, his questions about her history, his comments on her pictures, his confidences about his past feed her vanity and challenge her intelligence and wit. His eccentric manners only pat her at ease. His teasing enchants her.”8 She knows Mr. Rochester is the very man deserving her affection without other vulgar considerations, be it his ugly appearance or high social status. And she also sees through Mr. John’s selfishness and cold blood. He insists Jane be his wife just because she is suitable to help him not for he really loves her. So Jane refuses his proposition of marriage resolutely and condemns him, “I scorn your idea of love, -- I scorn the counterfeit sentiment you offer: yes, St. John, and I scorn you when you offer it.”9 At last, she returns to Mr. Rochester after knowing that he becomes disabled and the mad wife dies in an accident. She chooses to stay with Mr. Rochester -- her true love and finds out a road toward her own happiness.
D. Jane Eyre and Elizabeth are both kindhearted.
Besides this, Jane and Elizabeth demonstrate their traditional female enchant, that is, kindness and goodness. In her childhood, Jane treats her friend with great passion. Helen gives Jane courage when she is insulted publicly thus wins Jane’s friendship. When Helen is seriously ill, Jane insists to look after her at the risk of infection deadly pneumonia. “It opened clear on my comprehension that Helen Burns was numbering her last days in this world, and that she was going to be taken to the shock of horror, taken a strong thrill of grief, then a desire -- a necessity to see her.”10 She even sleeps beside Helen and leaves her warmness at her last period of life. After that, “She bears the snubs of her cousins with a new equanimity and pitied her helpless aunt with all her heart”11. Though her aunt ill-treats her when she is young, she is determined to look after her at her quest. She forgives Mrs. Reed’s vicious acts upon her after sees her in terrible misfortune. Though her two cousins leave deep hurts on Jane’s young soul, she also tries to comfort them and helped them. In fact, in the process of forgiving all the wrong doings upon her in the past, Jane herself makes her soul distillation. “I still felt as a wander on the face of the earth, but I experienced a firmer trust in myself and my own powers, and less withering ahead of oppression. The gaping wound of my wrongs, too, was now quite healed; and the flame of resentment extinguided.”12 Latter on, in Moor House, she shares her surprise fortune -- legacy from her uncle with her 3 cousins, who have helped her in her most difficult times. She relieves them, especially her two cousins from miserable situation. Her kindness is also reflected on her attention toward little Adele. Mr. Rochester thinks she would cold-shoulder a child of a French dancer, instead, Jane says, “Adele is not answerable for either her mother’s faults or yours; I have regard for her; and now that I know she is, in a sense, parentless-- forsaken by her mother and disowned by you, sir -- I shall cling closer to her than before”13 . To friends, Jane brings affection; to people who have hurt her, she forgives them; to people who have helped her, she keeps great concern; to parentless child, she pays great attention. Jane owns a heart with real magnanimousness and kindness.
Ⅲ. The Different Points Lying in Jane Eyre and Elizabeth’s Character
A. Jane Eyre pursues love more bravely and freely, while Elizabeth seems a little passive.
Jane seeks for love more bravely and freely while Elizabeth seems a little passive. Jane is not only satisfied being loved but also is courageous enough to love. She positively and naturally conveys her affection to Mr. Rochester, “I am strangely glad to get back again to you, and wherever you are my home -- my only home”14. Her initiative comes to a climax when she asserts her declaration of love, “Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! ... And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now foe me to leave you.”15 Her brave pursuit of love is quite rare in the 19th century when women were expected to keep “fair lady” image and be a passive love receiver -- wait for men to propose love by tradition. But Jane insists to break off the unreasonable rule and gains Mr. Rochester’s enthusiastic reaction. Rochester himself admits it is Jane who expresses love first.
B. Jane Eyre pursues independence and self-reliance, while Elizabeth hasn’t much this consciousness.
Apart from this, Jane Eyre seeks for independence and self-reliance, while Elizabeth has little such realization. Jane Eyre begins to support herself after graduation from Lowood and becomes a teacher in that school. Later on, she finds a position as a tutor in Thornfield. Friendless, relativeless as she is, Jane can’t live under protection. She has to regenerate through her own efforts, which cultivates her independence. So when Mr. Rochester proposes to bring her a large amount of jewels and beautiful clothes, she declines. She doesn’t want to be a substitute to her husband. “Her rejection of his extravagant gifts is entirely in keeping with her sense of dependence and memories of humiliation, and her hard-won independence and dignity comes out convincingly in her relations with the Ingrams, her wary pride as she keeps Rochester at a distance”.17 She even wants to be the teacher of Adele after she marriage with the payment of 30 pounds a year by Mr. Rochester. It looks absurd at the first sight. As she marries wealthy Rochester, she would have one half of his fortune and needn’t come to work any more. However, in Jane’s mind, only by doing this can she win independence economically thus enjoy equal rights with her husband in marriage. Self-reliance gives her sense of self-respect and supports her human dignity. Of course, we can easily understand her departure with Mr. Rochester, for being his mistress is absolute denial of her self-independence. So she resolutely gives up her love and thrown herself in unknown future.
C. Jane Eyre is more strong-minded than Elizabeth.
Besides the above two points, Jane and Elizabeth leave us much more to learn. Jane Eyre is a strong-minded woman. Elizabeth falls behind her regarding this. However ill-treated, Jane Eyre never gives in. She fights against fate no matter in the Read Mansion or Lowood as well as her emotion in Thornfield and Moor House:
With her passions, Jane combines qualities more rational, equally sympathetic, which every reader’s vanity flatters him he possesses too; sound common sense, the power to see herself as others see her, ---the power to act right under the most powerful of temptations, and survive the most testing physical conditions.19
D. Elizabeth is more humorous and poised while Jane Eyre is reserved.
So far, most people may tell that Jane Eyre is more excellent than Elizabeth in so many ways that Elizabeth bears no quality exceeding Jane Eyre. That isn’t the case. Elizabeth is humorous and poised in contrast to Jane’s reverence. Elizabeth handles a butcher’s cleaver skillfully in almost all social circumstances. She accepts Bingley’s invitation to dance as well as Wickham’s addresses. She faces Miss. Bingley’s provocation and Mrs. Hurst’s slightness unperturbedly. She also opens her heart to communicate with Mr. Fitzwilliam naturally without any affectedness or anxiety. Her charm “may perhaps consist in the addition to her playfulness, her wit, her affectionate and natural disposition of certain fearlessness very uncommon in heroines of her type and age.”23 Though a woman, she is also humorous, which helps alter tense atmosphere and cheer herself up. However humorous, Elizabeth is never satiric for the comfort of other’s feelings. “She has inherited her father’s sense of humor and irony but without his cynicism.”24 “Even nasty ones, from the fascinating Wickham, Elizabeth, with nothing offensive, nothing vigorous, nothing of the “New Women” about her, has by nature what the best modern women have by education and experience.”25
Ⅳ. Conclusion
All in all, the two characters Elizabeth and Jane Eyre bring us many considerations. Their common virtues -- self-respect, defying power and influence, pursuit of true love, kindheartedness encourage millions of female to respect ourselves, protect ourselves and shape ourselves. The advantages and disadvantages reflected by the contrast between them let us give up the bad and take the good. Jane’s courage, independence and strong will, Elizabeth’s humor and poise induce us to trust ourselves, support ourselves, temper ourselves and relax ourselves. Jane Eyre and Elizabeth set up brilliant examples to female. Taking their combined valuable qualities, we modern women can write a glorious chapter in female history by ourselves.
Notes
1 Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), 321.
2 Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (London: the Zodiac Press, 1978), 18.
3 Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), 11.
4 Ibid., 37.
5 Ibid., 121.
6 Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (London: the Zodiac Press, 1978), 127.
7 Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), 255.
8 布莱克本著, 郝佳秀译 《夏绿蒂•勃朗特的〈简爱〉》：英汉对照，北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1997（7），第120页。
9 Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 413.
10 Ibid., 80.
11 布莱克本著，郝佳秀译 《夏绿蒂•勃朗特的〈简爱〉》：英汉对照，北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1997（7），第120页。
12 Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), 230.
13 Ibid., 146.
14 Ibid., 248.
15 Ibid., 255.
16 Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (London: the Zodiac Press, 1978), 262.
17 Laurie Lanzen Harris, ed., Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, v-8, (Book Tower: Gale Research, 1985), 67.
18 Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (London: the Zodiac Press, 1978), 290.
19 Laurie Lanzen Harris, ed., Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, v-8, (Book Tower: Gale Research, 1985), 74.
20 Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), 322.
21 Ibid., 326.
22 Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (London: the Zodiac Press, 1978), 211.
23 Cherie D Abbey, ed., Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, v-13, (Book Tower: Gale Research, 1986), 59.
24 菲茨帕克里著，张洪莲译 《简•奥斯汀的〈傲慢与偏见〉》：英汉对照 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1996(12)，第75页。
25 Cherie D Abbey, ed., Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, v-13, (Book Tower: Gale Research, 1986), 59.
26 Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), 121.
27 Ibid., 140.
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发表于 2006-8-22 13:37:26