The Evolution Of Female Consciousness In The 19th Century British Women Writers' Novels

In the male-dominated literary field, the female images are always distorted intotwo patterns- the idealized images of men's desires"Angels"who are pure, innocentand docile, as well as the demonic images of men's resentments and terrors"Devils"who are destructive, malicious and greedy. These two depictions reflect the men'sinterests, emotional needs and fears. Moreover, the woman receives less educationthan man for their marginal social status, and female writers have kept in a silentcondition for a long time in the literary field. So for a long time, the woman's culturalidentification is merely the"Other"to man. The inauthentic depiction of femaleimages in literary field is regarded as a kind of oppression from the masculine society.In Britain, the feminine literature in its true sense begins from the 19th century.The 19th century in Britain witnessed the golden period of feminine works. More andmore female novelists appear on the history stage, breaking the females'long-termsilent station in literary field, denouncing the unfair oppression in patriarchal authoritywith their pens, among whom Jane Austen, the Bronte Sisters and George Eliot aremost representative ones. They change the established female images ofsentimentality and weakness into a new image of firmness, independence andconfidence. The rebellious spirits, pursuit of independence and equality reflected intheir works are taken for the early awakening of female awareness. Jane Austen'ssarcasm of the temporal social customs, affirmation on women's intelligence andidentity, Bronte Sisters'exposure of females'survival condition, encouragement of theestablishment of women's independence, and George Eliot's appeal of women's equalrights of receiving education propel the development of feminism in the 19th century.Their struggle for equality and freedom in different phases is considered as anevolution of western female consciousness. Based on the main female novelists andtheir works in the 19th century, this thesis aims to explore the female consciousness'evolution in this period.