资源描述
An Analysis on Male-centered Consciousness in The Lady of the CamelliasAcknowledgementIn writing this thesis, I have benefited from the presence of my teachers and my classmates. They generously helped me collect materials I needed and made many invaluable suggestions. I hereby extend my grateful thanks to them for their kind help, without which the paper would not have been what it is.Particularly, I am deeply indebted to Chen Ke, who guided me throughout my writing of this thesis. She carefully read the whole draft and offered painstaking and precious criticism. Her standards of academic excellence have made my revision an exciting and gratifying experience. Furthermore, none of this would have been possible without the help of those individuals and organizations hereafter mentioned with gratitude: the Foreign Language Department, the University Library and its staff. An Analysis on Male-centered Consciousness in The Lady of the CamelliasAbstractThe Lady of the Camellias was a masterpiece of world literature and even was presented on the stage for many times. And as we all know, The Lady of the Camellias was the first foreign novel that entered our country. It played an important role in modern Chinese literature. It was a tragic love story between Marguerite Gautier, a prostitute and a young bourgeois, Armand Duval. Marguerite was not only a prostitute but also a beautiful girl with pure heart. She sacrificed everything she had for love, even her own life. This essay analyzed the tragic story of The Lady of the Camellias from the prospective of male-centered consciousness.The paper is divided into four parts: the first part introduces the author, the writing background, story itself, and other basic information; the second part introduces the gender theory and male-centered consciousness which belongs to it; the third part analyzes the domination of Alexandre Dumas Filss male-centered consciousness on the Novel from different aspects, such as heroines identity, character, life experience, indication, womens thoughts, the uneven relationship between woman and man, the authors narrative technique; the fourth part sums up the paper and puts forward its practical significance.The tragic ending of the heroine was due to a multitude of reasons. But the main reason should be the domination of male-centered consciousness on the society and peoples thought. We should realize that the male-centered consciousness impacted not only literature works but also every aspects of peoples life.Key Words: Gender theory; Male-centered Consciousness; The Lady of the Camellias摘要茶花女是法国亚历山大小仲马的代表作，是一部世界文学经典，曾被多次搬上舞台银幕。这是部凝聚永恒爱情的小说，以女主人公玛格丽特的生活经历为主线，真实细致地描写了一位外表与内心都像白茶花那样纯洁美丽的巴黎风尘女子，为了自己不被认同的爱情而被命运遗弃。众所周知，茶花女是第一部翻译过来的外国小说，在我国的近代文学史上也有举足轻重的地位。本文将以茶花女为研究对象，从男性中心意识的角度解读茶花女的悲剧故事。论文的第一部分主要包括小说的背景知识，其中包括亚历山大小仲马生平，作品简介以及写作历史背景知识。第二部分主要介绍性别理论及其包括的男性中心意识。第三部分具体解读亚历山大小仲马的男性中心意识在小说女主角性格、身份、社会经历及女主角的象征物茶花、女性思维、社会男女对等问题以及作者叙事策略等方面的体现。最后，对小仲马及茶花女进行总结性的评价以及点出本文对现代人的启示。小说中女主角的悲剧是多方面造成的，其中历史上长期存在的男性意识为主导的社会及人们的思想是其中一个主要原因，从这个角度来看茶花女的悲剧是必然的。人们应意识到长久以来存在的男性中心思想不仅体现在文学作品中而且还渗透入人们生活和社会的各个方面.关键词：性别论；男性中心意识；茶花女 Table of ContentsChapter Page1 Introduction11.1 The Introduction to the Author11.2 The Introduction to the Background11.2.1 Social background11.2.2 Novels background22 Overview of Gender theory42.1 Gender Theory42.1.1 Gender theory in foreign area42.1.2 Gender theory in China42.2 Male-centered consciousness53 The Domination of Male-centered Consciousness on the Novel63.1The Domination of Male-centered Consciousness on the Heroine63.1.1 Heroines social identity63.1.2 Heroines character73.1.3 Heroines life experience83.1.4 Heroines symbol93.2 The Domination of Male-centered Consciousness on Social Culture93.2.1 Womens thoughts93.2.2 The uneven relationship between woman and man103.3 The Domination of Male-centered Consciousness on Plot Setting114 Conclusion14Bibliography16An Analysis on Male-centered Consciousness in The Lady of the CamelliasChapter 1Introduction1.1 The Introduction to the Author Alexandre Dumas Fils (1824-1895), an outstanding writer and playwright. He was a son of Alexandre Dumas, born in Paris, France, and he was also the illegitimate child of a dressmaker. When he was seven, his father legally recognized him and made sure that he received the best education, but still did not recognize Alexandre Dumas Fils mother as his wife. Alexandre Dumas Fils suffered a lot in his earlier school life because of his illegitimacy. The cruel taunts and malevolence of his companions rankled through life, and left indelible marks on his personality. His mothers agony inspired Dumas Fils to write about tragic women. Most themes of Alexandre Dumas Fils were women, marriage and family problems. His novel truly reflected the life of the capitalist society and emphasized the importance of moral values. The Lady of Camellias was the beginning of his fame and it was also his masterpiece which denounced the hypocrisy of bourgeois morality and also reflected the truth of the human, tolerance and respect between people, and the love of humanity. Such thoughts and feelings resonate with different people so they are generally welcomed.1.2 The Introduction to the Background1.2.1 Social background The story happened in The July Monarchy. The aristocracy held the French rule of power. The social conflicts were extremely acute. Free competition ruined some people and helped some people make a great fortune. The former lived a luxurious life but the latter lived a vagrant life. Country girl came from home to the city, such as Marguerite, just began to be chased by bourgeoisies who spent billions of dollars and lived a luxurious life. In that kind of society, money was everything, even the interpersonal relations was measured in monetary. These beautiful young women were treated as playthings, but when they become old, they would be cold-shouldered aside, thus they became the victim of society. Marguerite said: Our lives are no longer our own. We arent human being, but things. We rank first in their pride and last in their good opinion (The Lady of the Camellias, 2005, p.105).This complaint was of blood and tears. This was a tragic to the prostitute, Marguerite, and all the other people from underclass. Thousands of years of traditional male-dominated society, women had been living in the bottom of society. They did not have the rights to participate in politic. They had no right to be educated, no right to participate in social life, and no ability to determine its own destiny. In this kind of society, men had all the authority of the position in the political, economic, legal, religious, educational, military, family area and so on.1.2.2 Novels backgroundThe Lady of the Camellias told us a love story between Marguerite Gautier, a prostitute and Armand Duval, a bourgeoisie. Armand fell in love with Marguerite and ultimately became her lover, convincing her to turn her back on her old life and live with him in the countryside. Then Armands father showed up and ruined their life. Armands father worried that the scandal created by the illicit relationship may destroy his daughters chance of marriage, so he convinced Marguerite to leave Armand. Nevertheless Armand didnt know the truth. Instead, Armand thought that Marguerite betrayed him. So Armand hurt her feelings in every way he could. Ultimately, Marguerite passed away with her love to Armand. When Armand finally found out the truth, it was already too late. Armand lived with regret in the rest of his life.The author used the technique of flashback to begin the whole story. Firstly, the novel gave us the death of the heroine, and then it told us the story from the very beginning. In this way, the whole story became more vivid and appealing. With the technique, the author also created a feeling of suspense and made the story well-structured. In general, the language style of the lady of camellias was quiet natural and realistic. The whole novel had a strong sense of lyric and fluent language.Chapter 2 Overview of Gender theory 2.1 Gender Theory 2.1.1 Gender theory in foreign areaSimone de Beauvoir published The Second Sex in the year of 1949. Since then, The Second Sex has been translated into forty languages and has become a landmark in the history of feminism. Simone de Beauvoir (1998) claimed that man fundamentally oppress woman by characterizing them, on every level. Man occupies the role of the self, or subject and woman is the object, the other. He is essential, absolute, and transcendent. She is inessential, incomplete, and mutilated. He extends out into the world to impose his will on it, whereas woman is doomed to be the immanence, or the inwardness. He creates and invents; she waits for him to save her. This distinction is the basis of all Beauvoirs arguments.2.1.2 Gender theory in China Lin Hong claims (2004) that since the rise of the second wave of feminism in the 1970s, feminist scholars have challenged the existing knowledge-system. They not only found the womens absence in this system but also saw the patriarchal relation of male-centered culture in the process of knowledge production and the biased and fallacious part of common sense which affected by the male-centered relation. They have done a lot of academic research. They criticized, deconstructed and reconstructed the male-dominated culture. In short, the Western feminist scholars saw gender as an institution, a power relation. The theory they built up in the process of gender analysis gave us a lot of references.After the founding of the New China, a series of legislation and policies were established to eliminate sex discrimination. From that moment women changed their social status. But the traditional gender culture still had great influence on our modern life. Most time, it performed like a kind thinking mode or an ideology. For example, the work chance and payment between men and women were unequal, not alone for some policy designed to protect human right. When promoting the policy on equality and human right, we always unconsciously injured womans rights. Scholars could not realize the existing problems so that they always simply thought it was because of the economy. Till now, the research in our country could not resist or fight against the influence of traditional thinking mode of gender theory. 2.2 Male-centered ConsciousnessMale-centered consciousness means that people should center on, emphasize, or be dominated by male or masculine interests. It places male human beings and the way they view the world at the center. It indicates that it should be men who control the world. Women could only be on the edge of the society, and they should obey the rule and regulation men made for them. They must be domesticated and meet mens needs in the way they want. It defines women how they should act in relation to men within a male-dominated society and household. Thus male-centered consciousness could be understood as a mindset on masculinity whereby all things originated. Masculinity is normative and all things outside of masculinity are defined as others. Its life patterns and mindsets are claimed general while female ones are considered as deviance.Chapter 3The Domination of Male-centered Consciousness on the Novel3.1The Domination of Male-centered Consciousness on the Heroine3.1.1 Heroines social identity In terms of heroines social identity, Marguerite, as a prostitute, was in the lowest level of the society and was treated unequally. People saw prostitute as a commodity. Prostitutes sold their bodies in exchange for money. The female body could be things to be bought and sold while the dignity of human nature was completely lost. Men offered money to buy this kind of service that provided by prostitutes. So we could see that men completely dominated this special trade. Men were superior no matter it was in recognition of psychological, ethical value judgments, or social status. Once you became a prostitute, the identity became your shame forever. The community saw the male-centered consciousness as the center so it discriminated against prostitute from mens interests. The deprivation of the rights of prostitutes was the inevitable result of the impact of male-centered operation on state power. All of these were dominated by male-centered consciousness.Marguerite said, “This love of us, my dearest Armand, is no ordinary love. You love me as though Id never belong to anyone else, and I trembled for fear that with time, regretting that you ever loved me and turning my past into a crime to hold against me, you might force me to resume the life from which you took me. Remember this: now that Ive tasted a new kind of life, I should die if I take up the old one. So tell me youll never live me” (The Lady of the Camellias, 2005, p.123).Alexandre Dumas Fils male-centered consciousness dominated heroines speech and behavior. In authors eyes, womens existence depended on men. Women should behave the way men wanted, do what men wanted them to do, and say what men wanted them to say. In this novel, Marguerite feared that Armand would leave her or Armands love for her would fade away some day. Deeply in Marguerites heart, she was shamed of what kind of person she was, and what she did for a living. All of these were because of the influence Alexandre Dumas Filss male-centered consciousness. He gave the heroine a kind of identity that the whole society could look down upon her, even the heroine herself would be shamed of. Male-centered consciousness affected peoples thoughts and judgments about prostitutes.3.1.2 Heroines characterIn terms of heroines character, Marguerites soul was noble. To some degree, Marguerites normal body hid a soul that can sacrifice and forbear anything for love. Although she was misunderstood or even hated by the one she loved, she just suffered the pain in silence, not arguing a word. This noble soul was typically affected by male-centered consciousness. Men wanted women to sacrifice anything for them, such as life and beauty. Women were not allowed to have an independent life. Their lives depended on men. Whats more, they could not live without men. Men wanted to be the center and everything of womens lives. Male-centered consciousness gave the heroine a kind of character that would sacrifice everything she had. Male-centered consciousness dominated the heroines character which made the character meet the demand of the man.“By the time you read this, Armand, I shall be another mans mistress. Consequently, all is finished between us.Go back to your father, my dear. Go and see your sister. Shes a pure young woman who knows nothing of our miseries. With her, your will very quickly forget what you have suffered at the hands of a fallen creature named Marguerite Gautier who, for an instant, you truly loved and who stands in your debt for the only happy moments in her life which, she hopes, will not last much longer” (The lady of the camellias, 2005, p.151).This was a letter Marguerite wrote to Armand after Armands father secretly met and talked to her. Armands father convinced Marguerite to leave Armand, so that Armand could live a better and more decent life. Because of Marguerites true love for Armand, and her kind heart, she agreed to live Armand secretly without telling him the truth. She told Armand that she had already become other mans mistress. She sacrificed her own happiness for her lovers. When she was suffering a disease, she still did not tell Armand the truth. Ultimately, she sacrificed all her short life for her lover. This result was obviously dominated by male-centered consciousness. Marguerite had this kind of character that was willing to sacrifice everything for the man she loved and the society which was controlled by men only. The key to her character was giving. In her whole life, she kept giving. She gave everything she had to the cruel world, her whole love and futures hope, and ultimately her life. She never got a chance to be herself. 3.1.3 Heroines life experienceMarguerite, a country girl, came from her home to the city to make a living. At that time, life was not easy for a country girl. Marguerite had no ability to fight against the reality so she finally became a prostitute. The society she lived in was dominated by men and their male-centered consciousness.After Marguerite met Armand, she began to believe that there was true love waiting for her, and then she finally found the courage to live a new different life with Armand. This kind of courage was given by Armand, the man she loved with her whole heart. It was reasonable that her courage would disappear when the love fade away. At that time, love was the only thing that supported Marguerite.Although Armand truly loved Marguerite, he did not have enough ability to help her out of her misery. Armands father did not agree their relationship and lied to Armand to break their relationship. In this novel, Armands father stood for the power of the society which did not allow women to have the life they wanted. Women only could have a kind of life which was given by men.At the end of Marguerites life, she still kept the secret for her lovers bright future. Her love for Armand was so great that she was willing to sacrifice her own life. Her love for Armand was so noble that she gave everything she had to him, not with the purpose of receiving anything in return. This kind of result was due to the male-centered society. It was the only reasonable outcome in the society.We could see that the authors male-centered consciousness dominated Marguerites whole life, from the beginning till the end. Throughout Marguerites life, we could say that she never stopped giving. To some extent, we could say that she gave everything she had to the society. Her tragic life was completely manipulated by men. 3.1.4 Heroines symbol “Whenever a new play was performed, you could be sure of seeing her there with three things which she always had with her and which always occupied the ledge of her box in the stalls: her opera-glasses, a box of sweets and a bunch of camellias.For twenty-five days in every month the camellias were white, and for five they were red. No one ever knew the reason for this variation in color which I mentioned but cannot explain, and which those who frequented the theatres where she was seen most often and her friends too, had noticed as I had.Marguerite had never been seen with any flowers but camellias. Because of this, her florist, Madame Barjon, had finally taken to calling her the Lady of the Camellias, and the name had remained with her” (The Lady of the Camellias, 2005, pp.8-9).From these passages, we could see that Marguerite liked camellias very much. She always had it with her. In this novel, Alexandre Dumas Fils symbolized Marguerite with a flower intentionally. The camellias represented purity, beauty, weakness, and fragility of women. And these are also the characteristics of the heroine. Alexandre Dumas Fils wanted the heroine to be beautiful, weak and fragile. This was a typical image that men wanted. And the withering of the camellias revealed the ultimate end of the heroine. 3.2 The Domination of Male-centered Consciousness on Social Culture 3.2.1 Womens thoughtsOn one hand, the tragic ending of the heroine was because of the absolute control of male-centered consciousness in the society. On the other hand, it was also due to the jealousy and indifference which came from women themselves
展开阅读全文