论文总字数：43900字

本科毕业设计(论文)

2019年 6 月

An Analysis of Female Consciousness in Shirley: A Case Study of Shirley Keeldar

by

Cui Guangmin

Under the Supervision of

Zhang Zhifang

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree of Bachelor of Arts

English Department

School of Foreign Languages and Literature

Nanjing Tec University

June, 2019

Declaration

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, I didn’t plagiarize from any material published before or finished by other people or papers which have been accepted as award for any other degree or diploma at any university or other institute of higher learning, except where due acknowledgment has been made in the text.

Signature:

Name: Cui Guangmin

Date: 2019.5. 29

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments i

Abstract (English) ii

Abstract (Chinese) iii

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Research background 1

1.2 Need of study 1

1.3 Literature review 2

2. Female Consciousness in Shirley 4

2.1 Female characters 4

2.1.1 Shirley 5

2.1.2 Caroline 6

2.2 Male characters 8

3. Analysis 11

3.1 The creating background and methods 11

3.1.1 Background 11

3.1.2 Methods 12

3.2 Charlotte Bronte’s view on marriage 14

3.2.1 Shirley v.s Robert Gérard Moore 15

3.2.2 Shirley v.s Louis Gérard Moore 17

4. Conclusion 19

Works Cited 21

Acknowledgments

Upon the completion of this thesis, I have to give my most profound gratitude to all the friends and professors who have helped me during the process of my writing. Without their selfless help, the thesis would not have been easily finished.

First off, I am inclined to show my sincere thanks to my supervisor, professor Zhang Zhifang, for her constant support and guidance. Without her effective and efficient instruction, my paper could not have developed to this stage.

My sincere gratitude also goes to my dear teachers who have imparted knowledge to me and gave proper guidance to me in the past four years. They not only taught me but also gave me significant suggestions in the language studies.

Finally, I want to say thank you to my loving families who have always supported me and took care of me for these years without a word of complaint. I also want to express my appreciation to my friends, roommates and classmates who have shared their information with me and offered their help to me when I met difficulties.

Abstract (English)

Shirley is another sensational literary novel written by Charlotte Bronte after Jane Eyre. The novel is based on the social background that British textile workers spontaneously destructed the machines in the early 19th century. It has successfully shaped the two complementary female images different from the past: Shirley and Caroline. Through these two female images of Shirley and Caroline, we can know Charlotte's attitude towards women's issues. At the same time, as the author deeply attacked men’s tyranny and showed her sympathy towards women’s frustrations, we can easily have a clear understanding of Charlotte’s relentless exploring about women’s love, women’s status, women’s destiny, women’s needs and women’s future. Besides, by weakening the male images deliberately, the novel showed us Charlotte’s ideal marriage relationship, the balance between body and soul, not perfect but real. She advocates the independence and dignity of women's personality, and seeking the harmony of the gender relationship in the equality sense. It is also the main female consciousness that Charlotte wanted to express through Shirley. Charlotte Bronte is a pioneer in feminist literature. By studying this work, we can further observe the growth of Charlotte Bronte’s female consciousness and further promote gender equality.

Keywords: Shirley; complementary female images; gender equality；Charlotte’s female consciousness

Abstract (Chinese)

《谢利》是夏洛蒂·勃朗特在《简·爱》之后出版的又一本小说，并再一次震惊文坛。小说基于当时英国纺织工人自发损毁工厂机器的背景下,成功地塑造了两位不同于之前作品的两位女性形象——谢利和卡罗琳。通过谢利和卡罗琳这两个女性形象,我们可以看到夏洛蒂在妇女问题方面所持有的态度。与此同时,作者对男性的专横进行了抨击，并且对女性的所遭遇的挫折表达了深深的同情。通过这些，我们能够清楚地感知到夏洛蒂对女性的爱情、女性的地位、女性的命运、女性的需要和女性的未来所做出的孜孜不倦的探索。除此之外，通过作品中刻意弱化的男性形象，小说向我们揭示了夏洛蒂理想的婚姻关系——在身体与灵魂的平衡下，虽然不完美却十分真实。她倡导女性人格独立，获得尊重,实现自身的价值,并寻求平等意义上的两性关系的和谐,这是夏洛蒂想通过《谢利》所要表达的主要的女性意识。夏洛蒂·勃朗特是女性主义文学的先驱，通过研究《谢利》这部作品，我们能够进一步观察夏洛蒂的女性主义的成长历程，并进一步推动两性的平等。

关键词：《谢利》；互补女性形象；两性平等；夏洛蒂的女性意识

Introduction

1.1 Research background

Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) was an outstanding novelist as well as a poet in modern England and was a pioneer of women's literature in the nineteenth century in pursuit of freedom and equality. Charlotte Brontë’s work, especially her novels can be undoubtedly regarded as the most classic creations in the researching of gender consciousness and female literature. The writers in later ages were influenced by her to different degrees when dealing with female themes. Herbert Read (1893) holds that Charlotte’s influence on the development of English fiction is far more profound than most people think. Charlotte Brontë’s works often indicate her strong desire to encourage women for independence and equality. The most noted ones are Jane Eyre, Shirley and Villette, etc.

Shirley was one of the most important works of Charlotte Brontë’s, published in 1894 under the background of Napoleonic Wars in the early the nineteenth century and the Anglo-American War of 1812. During the creation of Shirley, Charlotte’s three siblings passed away in succession. The novel shocked the British literary arena with its profound social theme and unique women image and it also brought Charlotte Brontë a higher reputation and a further consolidated statue in the literary world. Shirley is not as famous as Jane Eyre, but compared with the later, it has more substantial contents. Besides, Charlotte Brontë endowed the novel with more social values and in the novel, she considered more about the history and society.

1.2 Need of study

Female consciousness is one of the important criteria of female literary criticism. Writers, especially female writers usually convey their consciousness to the readers through their works. The so-called "female consciousness" often refers to women's subjective consciousness, self-consciousness and equality consciousness. It is difficult for readers to track the origin of female consciousness, but we can analyze different literary works written in different periods of time and social circumstance to know the development of female consciousness. Studying the female consciousness, even those tragedies that happened to women, we can easily understand women’s living condition and the importance of advocating gender equality.

However, female consciousness and equality are not widely accepted by all people in today’s society. Although many scholars have done researches on feminism, the forms of discrimination faced by women are varied. In the workplace, comparing with men, women have less choices and opportunities. Even in some backward regions in China, for instance, in the small villages of Shandong province, women even cannot share the dining table with men on the Chinese New Year’s Eve. Therefore, the female literary works, like the ones of Shirley and Jane Eyre, show us women’s thinking and struggling, encouraging women to fight for equality and freedom and letting people know the importance of equality with the help of literature.

1.3 Literature review

Shirley is not as greatly influential as Jane Eyre, but it still has its special position in Charlotte Brontë’s works. Some scholars do researches from the perspective of images of female characters in the novel. Huai Baozhen (2004) and Wang Changchen(2014) analyzed the changes of female characters in Charlotte’s novels including The Professor, Jane Eyre, Villette, Shirley and Emma, leading the readers to explore the cases of the changes and reveal the reality in the process of striving for women’s right. It provides people with an overall consideration. Chen Ningning (2017) researches the subversive heroine image, Shirley Keeldar, and points out Charlotte’s deep intention to establish the ideal marriage and relationships. In her opinion, Charlotte subverted the images of males and females in traditional literature, portrayed a distinctive heroine Shirley and a marginalized male figure, and tried to establish her ideal marriage and relationships. Susan, Z. (1991), Henry T. (1979) and Emily G. (2008) attached their importance on cultural and historical background and analyzed the revisionist tactics used by Charlotte, which can provide readers with a new aspect to analyze Charlotte’s characteristic creation.

Female Consciousness in Shirley

2.1 Female characters

In this work, the main female characters are represented by two people. One is radical and sharp, and the other is quiet and gentle. Jane Eyre, a single and prominent character, has disappeared. The radical state of women has been weakened and replaced by two complementary figures. At the same time, they also represent Charlotte's exploration of on the issue of women.

Shirley Keeldar (she had no Christian name but Shirley: her parents, who had wished to have a son, finding that, after eight years of marriage, Providence had granted them only a daughter, bestowed on her the same masculine family cognomen they would have bestowed on a boy, if with a boy they had been blessed)—"Shirley Keeldar was no ugly heiress.”(Charlotte Bronte: 1894:162) Shirley is open-minded, bold, unconventional, enthusiastic and direct. Being influenced by her personality, she is warm and unconstrained both in her language and behavior. As a proud girl who has a good position and wealth, she is indifferent to the abuse and criticism from others, and has a more open-minded and romantic temperament. In order to let Robert say good night to Caroline, she took Caroline across the path and intercepted Robert, but soon said goodbye to him, whether Robert liked it or not. Compared with Caroline, something that Shirley peruses like personal space and freedom is independent. She is brave in fighting for her independence and self-esteem. She has a clear requirement and orientation for her life. She argues with her uncle on the issue of marriage, never yielding to the oppression of authority.

On the contrary, Caroline has delicate feelings, and rich emotions. In this work, she is full of warmth. She puts her slender hand on Robert's hand, saying in her pleasant voice "Caroline is yours". To Mrs. Pryor, Caroline mutters tenderly, "Dearest Mom" with her attachment to her mother. Here, Caroline is a gentle angelic girl. Her heart is full of love, and she is gentle and submissive to people and things around her. In the eyes of old clergyman Hall, child Martin, and Mrs. Pryor, Caroline is lovely and warm

2.1.1 Shirley

Shirley in the novel is different from the so-called "angel" shaped by traditional male writers. She is neither a person who stays at home all day, full of dependence, nor a passive person who always begs others. She is not a housekeeper, nor a housewife, but an absolute master. She possesses all that the heroes in other contemporary novels have, magnificent and elegant houses, groups of servants, outstanding features, graceful temperament, cheerful and enthusiastic personality, wealth, and status. Shirley is the heir to the Keelder family as well as Robert’s creditor. She is a young woman with a man's name, a huge fortune and even a man's courage. She has a position like a man in Yorktown. Even the arrogant diocese has to visit her personally. “Really the word makes me conscious I am indeed no longer a girl, but quite a woman and something more. I am an esquire!” (Charlotte Bronte: 1894:164) Shirley calls herself "Esquire" and is able to take part in asking about the town's major issues and expresses her own views, which was almost impossible at that time for a traditional woman. She has her own opinions about participating in regional affairs, rather than just donating money and doing nothing. She also has a proactive and keen judgment. When she discovered sharp conflicts between workers and asset owners, she donates her own financial resources on her own initiative to alleviate the hatred of workers, and provided a large number of loans for Robert, who is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Shirley is confident, but also proud and conceited. She has an innate sense of superiority, and her wealth and position have deepened her sense of superiority. The resulting strong feeling of self-esteem makes her often reckless in maintaining her dignity. After being laughed by Dunn, she becomes extremely arrogant different from the usual. Shirley's impulsive behavior inevitably pushes her image one step further toward extreme and sharpness. If women want to achieve complete freedom, economic independence is the only basis, and the key point is spiritual independence. Shirley obviously made it. Whoever interferes with her independence and freedom, even her uncle or even the priest doing harm to her self-esteem, she tries to resist. Charlotte deliberately endows Shirley with more freedom, power and higher social status, all of which serves as the basis of equality, enabling her to get rid of the shackles of traditional female gender roles. She can seek the dual emancipation of spirit and body, gaining independence and self-awareness, and eventually complete the recognition and identification of her gender identity, thus making her own decision on her own life. Shirley Keeldar is definitely a more idealized character than Jane Eyre. She is passionate and powerful, with an outstanding appearance. In her character, she is bright and enthusiastic, but a little sharp. Shirley didn't show up until nearly a third of the story went on, but she can't be ignored as soon as she appears. This is an eye-catching woman with Jane Eyre's passionate personality and wealth, status and beauty. On the whole, Shirley is an ideal female image. From the perspective of feminism, Shirley can be regarded as ideal in women's minds especially when they are in the social environment in which women's status is low and all aspects of life are restricted by male authority. Her life is an ideal state for women after they realized their own situation.

2.1.2 Caroline

As for Caroline Helstone, because of her father's early death and her mother's departure, she has been living in her uncle's house since childhood. Her uncle is a person who thinks that a woman is carefree and emotionally indifferent as long as she is quiet and silent. Her uncle never puts himself in Caroline’s shoes, but lets his niece run the whole family and takes care of his life. He plans to leave her a small amount of property in the future. But Caroline is a talented and thoughtful girl. She is mature, courteous, gentle and elegant. She has a strong thirst for knowledge, mainly learning by herself. She is deeply worried about her situation and future and hopes that she would have the skills to live on her own. She volunteers to go to her distant relative Robert Moore's house, where Moore's sister can teach her French.

Caroline herself has no assets, and no status. Her only way out is to find someone willing to marry her, but the hope is very slim. Caroline is the representative of a group of women at that time: They obeyed the domination of patriarchy and worked hard for the whole family. The reason that they existed was their selfless dedication. Although Caroline has good qualities and rich knowledge, she is still passive because of the restrictions of customs and ideas under the authority of men. In social terms, Caroline seldom associates with others. Often after a pleasant visit, she confines herself at home the next day. She almost adopts a waiting and withdrawing attitude towards love. In the book, her love for Robert Moore is almost passive: when Robert shows his concern to her, she fantasizes about happiness. When Robert shows his indifference to her, she is sad and desperate in her tears. Caroline seems to be perfect in everything. She is a real lady, but she can't master her life. For others Caroline is perfect, but cruel and weak for herself. As a woman, because she can't be responsible for herself, she is always controlled by life. She has also fantasized about getting married to Robert to get rid of this tragic fate, but her fantasy is shattered after her lovelorn break-up. She tries to divert her grief and convince herself to live like those women who cannot marry. However, she finds that those single women who have been selflessly dedicated, poor but generous have not received any understanding and respect. They live in a lonely and miserable life, and their spirits have been greatly suppressed and impaired, thus they become eccentric and neurotic. The discovery of the unhappy lives of these single women once again destroys Caroline's will. She falls into despair and loses her desire to survive. Fortunately, the appearance of Mrs. Pryor, her biological mother, saves her life and restores her health condition with kinship. Her love for Robert is still the same. When Robert is injured and Caroline manages to see him, Robert finally accepts her love. Caroline's bitter waiting and secret love finally comes to fruition. Caroline's love for Robert is touching. She lingers outside his window many times late at night and kindly reminds Robert to be tolerant to the workers. When the workers riot, she is afraid that her beloved Robert will get hurt and wants to rush to accompany him regardless of the danger. She is worried about Robert and dreams about him, but she is timid. She believes that Robert could perceive her love, but she never dares to express it bravely. She just waits quietly until her beloved one received her.

Compared with Shirley, Caroline is emotional, submissive, and also weak. But such an image is more impressive than Shirley. Caroline, this character is much more universal and real. This woman represents the general living state of women in the society at that time. Charlotte tries to make her novel real, and shows universal human beings here. This sense of reality enables most people to relate to their own experiences when they were reading this book. As a typical female figure in Charlotte's works, Caroline is not analyzing the environment with her thoughts, but always feeling the people and things in her own heart. As many women in the situation at that time, nurtured by male religion, etiquette and thought, Caroline's thought and image in many ways conform to the "angel at home" in male culture, and her feelings always give way to her responsibility. Women were required to possess a quality of self-restraint, and their emotions and demands were always in a controlled position. Their happiness came from self-sacrifice. These were not only Caroline's problems, but also many women's problems in the society at that time. Therefore, the figure Caroline is more informed by a certain sadness and tension.

2.2 Male characters

Charlotte Bronte wrote in a letter to W. S. Williams in 1848: Since childhood, she has not been interested in those characters who are called typical heroines and heroines in fiction. She never thinks that they are natural, nor does she want to imitate them at all. As she said, the male images in Shirley are also quite different from the men in the writer’s works of the same era. Compared with the prominent female images, the male images in the novel Shirley can be said to be gray, and all male roles are consciously marginalized by the writer. The men in Shirley are no longer omnipotent. They all have different shortcomings. Robert Moore, the most narrative hero in the novel, is also feminized in his status and economy. Robert comes to Yorkshire as a stranger and has to depend on Shirley. He rents Shirley's factory for production and has to rely on Shirley's help to make ends meet when his business is at a low ebb. In the novel, Robert Moore has been waiting for an early end of the war, waiting for his luck to change. Until the end, he cannot really take any action or control his own destiny, and is always in a state of waiting for others to redeem him, even his love and marriage.

Shortly after the beginning of the story, Bronte puts Robert in the teeth of the storm of gender confrontation. For example, when it comes to the rumored marriages, Robert denies everything he can. He defines everything as gossip and says, "I seek female society about as assiduously as you do, Mr. Malone." （Charlotte Bronte:1894:18）Reverend Marlon admires it very much. He thinks marriage is the extremely annoying. "Two beggarly fools agreeing to unite their indigence by some fantastic tie of feeling." (Charlotte Bronte: 1894:18) Compared with women and happy and warm life, Robert "cherishes the machine as the root of life." Therefore, factories and machines are his preferred choices, and marriage and love should serve this purpose. For this reason, Shirley condemns him and says, " You would immolate me to that mill, your Moloch!"（Charlotte Bronte: 1894:428） Robert tries so hard to avoid the "women's circle" that he often cooks alone in the factory, preferring to spend one night in the factory with his foreman, Joe Scott, rather than returning to his home with his sister. Reverend Malone praises the separation, believing that it is an effective guarantee for men not to be "governed by women", and is proud of their misogyny.

Louis is like Cinderella in a fairy tale. Although he has the wisdom to match Shirley, he has no money and no status. Although he knows his feelings for Shirley, he does not have the courage to speak it out until Shirley rejects all the suitors and quarrels with his uncle. He finally breaks the silence. Then Shirley accepts him, and the development of the story changed both of them. Shirley does not go through the relationship that she dominates. She begins to let Louis take charge of the family's affairs, claiming that she will "let it go" because otherwise, "Louis will never know how to manage". At the end of the novel, Shirley admits that Louis is her guardian. From this, it can be easily found in Bronte's eyes that the ideal state between the sexes is based on mutual understanding, but under the precondition of taking each sex as the main body. Bronte's ideal female image should be a woman who not only makes men deeply admire, but also gets along with men equally and harmoniously. She emphasizes harmonious gender relations based on mutual trust, tolerance and understanding.

Analysis

From the beginning, British female writers took human nature as their themes, artistically expressing the situation and mentality of a particular era, society and character, and examining the fate of women and people from the perspective of women. Charlotte Bronte came to realize women's concerns, anxieties, experiences and expectations of self-worth earlier and more consciously, and described women as independent people, which was a step-in advance in the nineteenth century.

3.1 The creating background and methods

3.1.1 Background

On October 26, 1849, Charlotte Bronte published her final work Shirley. In this novel, Charlotte tries to present the whole social life of Britain in the early 19th century, especially Yorkshire, instead of simply writing about personal experiences. Since its publication, Shirley has been in a situation of mixed reputations, and critics have different opinions on the novel. The author gets rid of the shackles of traditional gender stylization and creates distinctive and unusual characters. Shirley, the heroine, has a distinct personality, and her literary image is unique throughout the 19th century. It is of great significance that the book could be published at that time.

As is known to all, in the 19th century, women's behavior and thoughts were strictly restricted and restrained. They did not have independent personality and social status, let alone literary creation in such a social environment. Despite the flourishing authority of fiction in this period, fictions began to become an orthodox literary form, which attracted the attention of the public. However, because women were deprived of the right to speak, female writing was regarded as a disgraceful act, and women writers were subjected to taunt and attack. In order to continue writing, many female novelists had to use masculine pseudonyms for literary creation and publication. Charlotte's masterpiece Jane Eyre was under the pseudonym Cole Bell. The attitude of the public towards male and female writers differed greatly. Female writers often did not get the respect and attention they deserved. Those who dared to express themselves and openly opposed the patriarchal culture were even insulted and slandered. Female writers never gave up their authority of discourse. They dare to speak their feelings out. Shirley is such a work.

3.1.2 Methods

When Charlotte portrayed her two protagonists, she endowed these two characters with diametrically opposing personalities, but retained their own shortcomings and left each character to regret. Shirley is passionate but sharp while Caroline is gentle but not strong enough. Both of them are not perfect but real. In Charlotte's works, an often-involved topic is the discussion of the relationship between reality and ideal, responsibility and happiness. The image of Shirley’s bright and largely is idealized, but it is lack of sense of reality. How many women would exist in this way when they were in such a society? Caroline won't never become Shirley because she has no such an advantageous living condition. She has no wealth, no status, no ancient and long-standing family name. By Caroline’s side, there is only a traditional and stubborn uncle, a priest, a relative indifferent to his family. The happiness of women performed by Shirley only exists in ideal, which is a living state pursued by Charlotte and the women who felt severely oppressed by men at that time. However, combined with the real life of Victorian women, this remote ideal also makes Shirley's image too conceptual and lack of tension because of the discord with reality. Being different from Shirley, Caroline reflects the real sense of reality faced by women, which makes the female readers at that time relate to themselves better. The so-called responsibilities impose on women restricted women's development in many aspects, such as marriage, love and family. Although in Caroline, the author also shows the necessity of responsibility and self-control in many aspects, but she also mentions that these responsibilities sometimes make normal people intolerable, because they will exclude happiness, and stop women's steps towards their ideals. Ideal and reality are opposed in many ways, but throughout the work, people can tell that the author is trying to find ways to reconcile the contradictions between the ideal and reality, responsibility and happiness. Compared with other works such as The Professor, Jane Eyre, Villette and Emma, there are obvious antagonism and struggle between female characters, such as Frances and the headmaster, Mrs. Jane Eyre and Reed, Bertha, Britney, Mrs. Chalfant, Mrs. Baker and so on. But in Shirley, they even make alliances. Caroline and Mrs. Pryor, Caroline and Shirley are all the combination of these alliances. Women's alliance promotes the integration of two personalities in Charlotte’s novel. For example, Mrs. Pryor's pain caused by Shirley’s sharp personality during the process of assisting the factory, is appropriately settled and comforted by the gentle Caroline. When riots broke out in factories, Caroline was so impulsive but she is finally stopped by rational Shirley from rushing into the factory. When the two personalities can complement each other and merge, things are always heading in the right direction. Therefore, life can also have a desired change in the integration of reality and ideal. People should be guided by ideals so as to find a direction to change reality, and the correct guidance of ideals to reality should also be based on rational grasp of reality.

In this book, Shirley and Caroline are at each end of their personalities, but when they get along with each other, their dispositions become similar to each other rather than to what they first showed readers. While the author describes Caroline's despair, she also shows us her strength and courage. When she found her Long-lost biological mother Mrs. Pryor, the strong defense of this feeling lets people know that women in reality also have a persistent pursuit of their own ideals. Shirley, in the face of Louis Moore's love, also shows her hesitation, sensitivity and self-denial. Here, there is no absolute ideal and reality, responsibility and happiness. In the process of women's pursuit of their own happiness, they should not always stand on the opposite side of reality. Caroline grows up as an ordinary woman in the novel and her happiness comes from what she experienced, which gradually makes her stronger and braver. This change enables her to face her life at a more sedate pace and embrace the eventually coming happiness. In the end, the author sets up a happy ending for both of them, which shows that the author is happy to see their successes.

3.2 Charlotte Bronte’s view on marriage

Shirley seems to tell people the exclusiveness of the relationship between men and women, and the eternal conflict and incompatibility between the male world centered on industry and the female world centered on nature. However, from the happy ending of two female characters, it is easy to know that gender conflict is not the main purpose of Bronte's narration. Between the lines, we can see the unspeakable idea of female writers that the pure female world is, just like the pure male world, incomplete, and it is unnatural and inhuman to intentionally exclude the complementary ones. Charlotte never gives up her long-standing goal of achieving an ideal and perfect human nature. However, how to achieve a complete gender world? How to achieve an ideal and perfect human situation? Reading the text carefully, the author's challenge and backlash to the traditional and dual gender roles are clear. We encounter a situation of complementarity and integration between the two sexes in the gender confrontation. The ubiquitous confrontation between the sexes in the novel is not the main writing purpose of female writers. On one hand, it reveals the historical and cultural reality of gender in the eyes of female writers; on the other hand, it shows the hegemonic position of men in the history through the inscription of gender confrontation, revealing the fact that women are oppressed, discriminated and subordinated to men. This confrontation shows the resistance consciousness of women, which is a powerful demonstration launched by women to male/patriarchal rights, and more importantly, it reveals the fact that women were trying to resist.

In Charlotte's view, there has never been a simple confrontation or pure blending between the sexes. The profundity of her writing lies in her pluralism and contradiction. In terms of feminist criticism, the positive writing of Shirley in the book is a symbolic "theft" of "Phallus" by female writers, thus subverting the male/patriarchal social order internally. In addition, the integration of confrontation has always been Charlotte's hope for the perfection of human nature. The starting point of exploration is the prerequisite for the ideal realm of gender as the main body. The perfect combination of the two sexes is based on the unity of yin and yang, androgyny rather than opposition, equality rather than imbalance. From the narrative perspective of the novel, Charlotte also changed her mind in The Professor, Jane Eyre and Villette, neither in the male voice or in the female voice, but in a recessive perspective, which in itself embodies the idea of the unity of the sexes and the androgyny.

3.2.1 Shirley v.s Robert Gérard Moore

When women acquire self-consciousness, the pursuit of equality in love is a major problem they are facing. Charlotte often criticizes the irresponsible marriages and marriages in pursuit of money and social status. Despite this, economic independence does not entirely free her from the influence of patriarchy. Charlotte's own understanding of women's rights is reflected in her refusal to marriage. This refusal to marriage is highlighted in Shirley, who refuses six marriage proposals before she accepts Louis, and tries to fight against her uncle who exercises his rights as Shirley’s parent. Mr. Simpson is a male ruler who strictly abides by the social tradition and order. As an elder, he makes great efforts to marry Shirley off. Whether Shirley's husband conforms to her class standard concerns his status and face, and her interests are closely related to himself. Mr. Simpson has always believed that Shirley should find a so-called right husband with no mortgage burden, a solid foundation and a good family background. Unfortunately, Shirley never thinks of herself as a kind of obedient and gentle woman with humility, submissiveness, sacrifice and selflessness. So, these clauses are totally unacceptable rules for Shirley, who loves freedom and has a strong sense of rebellion. Shirley repeatedly refuses Mr. Simpson's appointments for her. Her reason for refusing Sam Wynne is that " his feelings were blunt, his tastes course, and his manners vulgar." (Charlotte Bronte: 1894:376) Love is on the basis of mutual love. If he ignores other factors just because Shirley is rich, these two people will not be happy. She refuses Sir. Philip Nunnely for because he is too naïve. To refuse Robert Moore's proposal is because Shirley sees through his cold selfishness and greed. Shirley dares to transcend the huge gap between the solemn concept of family status and social status, to pursue love with dignity. She yearns for the love that man and wife can respect and admire each other. If there is no such love, she would rather be single, which was totally contrary to the values of male-centered society, and could not be tolerated by the society at that time, so she also suffers. Her rebellion far surpasses Jane Eyre at the ideological level. She breaks through the traditional concept of family status with her own practical actions and finally is married to Louis Moore, a poor home teacher.

Charlotte's heroines break some of the rules in patriarchal society. These rules prohibit women from being equal to men in love and they cannot openly express their love as strongly as men. Shirley is passionate and independent with a radical view of marriage. Shirley embraces Louis in front of her uncle, breaking the tradition of women's silence and expressing her love publicly. This action is considered to violate the hypocritical moral norms of Victorian gentlemen and ladies. If women want to strive for spiritual emancipation and independence, they must begin with the pursuit of a marriage with love and the end of marriage without love. Charlotte's basic requirement is actually to restore and obtain women's minimum human rights, which is the recovery and awakening of women's consciousness and the declaration of women's self-respect.

Robert Moore is Charlotte's ideal man who is transformed into a man meeting woman's standard through analysis, criticism and negation. At the beginning, he is conceited and arrogant to women, but then he becomes a sympathetic listener for women with the same heart. This transformation is of great significance. This is the eternal hope and desire of the pilgrimage goddess for the one she admires. It is a painful and persistent dream of harmonious compatibility and love between the sexes. But in any case, people finally see this hope in the novel, although it is an illusory ideal. Moore, who loses face and male pride in front of Shirley, and makes a radical change at the end of the novel. It is because of this change that Moore begins to recognize and believe in the gentle side of a man's character. This tender side has long been regarded as his weakness. The side of femininity, eventually attracts him to Caroline and leads him to her, and also to happiness.

3.2.2 Shirley v.s Louis Gérard Moore

Louis Moore, one of the heroes of the novel, disappears in the first half of the novel, which is deliberately done by the writer. Through such plot settings, Bronte clears the way for shaping subversive roles. In the novel, the male role is no longer the eternal center, or even the "green leaf" foiling female characters, thus breaking the gender settings in traditional culture, making the male image in the novel different from the men in traditional literary works. Louis Moore is a completely male version of governess teacher. As a governess of the Simpsons, he has no status, no property, and no outstanding appearance. He is almost translucent in the novel. It is precisely because that Shirley's image is highlighted, as if his existence is to foil Shirley's independence.

The novel reconstructs Charlotte's ideal sexual relationship by describing Shirley's emotional entanglement with Louis. Shirley's criterion for choosing a husband is: "And I know full well any man who wishes to live in decent comfort with me as a husband must be able to control me."( Charlotte Bronte: 1894:441) Though she is the master and Louis is a tutor, the latter turns out to be her spiritual master, the guardian of Shirley's leopard in the woods, and ultimately the manager of Shirley's family business.

Charlotte Bronte's view of marriage will naturally be embodied in her text. Shirley’s expectation and pursuit of love reflect Charlotte's own desire for love and marriage. Like Shirley, she hopes to meet a man who really understands her, loves her and can tame the beast in her heart. With an idealistic feeling, she hopes that her future husband would reach the point where she loved and worshipped, so that she would be willing to devote everything to him, including her own life. Charlotte Bronte says in her letter to her friend: if she ever gets married, she must have a feeling of adoration for her husband. Compared with the smallest wish of him, the whole world is as light as air. In Shirley, the relationship between Louis and Shirley shows the dominance and submission relationship vividly. Shirley argues with his uncle and says, “My husband must be thirty, with the sense of forty.” " Did I not say I prefer a master—one in whose presence I shall feel obliged and disposed to be good; one whose control my impatient temper must acknowledge; a man whose approbation can reward, whose displeasure punish me; a man I shall feel it impossible not to love, and very possible to fear?". (Charlotte Bronte: 1894: 441) Louis says, “Oh could I find her such as I image her! Something to tame first, and teach afterwards; to break in, and then to fondle.” (Charlotte Bronte: 1894: 498)

Obviously, Shirley's husband, first of all, must be a person worthy of her love. This person is not a so-called "idol" she blindly worships, but a person who can really conquer her soul. Shirley's idea of "master" is neither the embodiment of status and money nor a tyrant. " A tyrant would not hold me for a day, not for an hour," but a strong man who can be spiritually connected with herself and share the same interests. He can conquer herself with his intelligence and character, and he is a teacher who can teach her.

The characterization of Shirley is not only the embodiment of Charlotte Bronte's own personality, but also the appeal to women in that situation through the characterization of women represented by Shirley. Shirley, although she is the representative of avant-garde, is equally oppressed by the secular world. She is eager to realize her value in life. She has explored how women should do and what career they should pursue in order to find a way out for herself. She has also explored what kind of love she should choose. She has no doubt that marrying a great, kind and handsome man is a great luck, but she also understands that such a man is very difficult to meet. In the end, Shirley overcomes secular prejudice through hard struggle and wins her love.

Conclusion

Just as Charlotte said, her hero should struggle on his own way of life, just as she has seen people struggling in real life, Shirley tells people that the ideal woman should be independent and equal in economy, social status, family and be loyal to love, which makes readers believe it deeply through the portrayal of two heroines with different personalities. Shirley's pursuit of political equality elevates women's liberation to the level of competing with men politically. Caroline, who is accompanied by Shirley, protests against the unequal society between men and women, although she is weak in her pursuit of love. These two women express their rebellion against social concepts and traditional customs, and their pursuit of personal dignity and self-worth, and reflect the common pursuit of all women for thousands of years -- freedom, equality, independence and love. The establishment of women's subjective consciousness is fully reflected in Charlotte's Shirley who is full of Charlotte's desire for love and freedom and her reflection on women's fate. Women should pursue sincere and equal friendship and love. This is women's sense of self-determination and equality. Women want to win happiness and realize the equality of their value and intelligence. They strive for it by their own strength, independent spirit, courage and wisdom instead of compromise. The future lies in their own hands.

Charlotte Bronte is a pioneer of feminist literature. By studying her work, we can further observe Charlotte's growing process of feminism and further promote gender equality. For a long time, due to the success of Jane Eyre, people have not given Shirley much attention. In fact, this is unfair. Certainly, compared with Jane Eyre and other works, Shirley focuses more on society than on individuals, but its characteristics are still obvious. Whether in narrative or characterization, Shirley is a pioneering work on the basis of Jane Eyre and should be paid enough attention to. Through this novel, Charlotte establishes women's subjective consciousness in literature. Like Jane Eyre, Shirley carries Charlotte's ideals about social morality and women's liberation, and also embodies a brave attempt of female writers to construct female subjects in their texts in order to win women's right to speak.

By studying Shirley, readers can learn more about women's living conditions in Victorian times. Only by understanding the difficult situation of women can people realize the importance and necessity of achieving gender equality.

Works Cited

[1]Brontë C. Shirley[M]. Wordsworth Editions, 1993.

[2]Griesinger E. Charlotte Brontë's religion: faith, feminism, and Jane Eyre[J]. Christianity amp; Literature, 2008, 58(1): 29-59.

[3]Moore, Tara. Women and myth narratives in Charlotte Bronte’s Shirley[J]. Women’s Writing, 2004, 11(3):477-492.

[4]Taylor H. Class and Gender in Charlotte Bronte's Shirley[J]. Feminist Review, 1979, 1(1):83-93.

[5]Zlotnick S. Luddism, Medievalism and Women's History in "Shirley": Charlotte Brontë's Revisionist Tactics[J]. Novel A Forum on Fiction, 1992, 24(3):282.

[6]陈宁宁, 冯茜. 超越男权话语的女性叙事——论夏洛蒂·勃朗特的小说《谢利》[J]. 名作欣赏:文学研究旬刊, 2017(8):39-41.

[7]怀宝珍. 论夏洛蒂·勃朗特的女性意识[D]. 山东师范大学, 2004.

[8]李银河. 女性主义[M]. 上海:上海文化出版社, 2008.

[9]王畅晨. 激进·互补·沉静·失语——论夏洛蒂·勃朗特小说中女性形象的衍变[D]. 东北师范大学, 2014.

[10]夏洛蒂·勃朗特.《谢利》[M]. 徐望藩，邱顺林译. 北京：北京燕山出版社，1981.

请支付后下载全文，论文总字数：43900字