A Feminist Study On George Eliot's Ambivalent Thoughts In The Mill On The Floss

George Eliot(1819-1880) as a prominent Victorian writer is one of the female writers in the history of British literature. Comparing with her contemporary female writers, she lives an unconventional life. She sets foot in some intellectual field which are only open to the male in Victorian area, such as religion works, acting as a reviewer and the like. She accepts advanced ideas in both science and society, discards original religion belief, and chooses not to accompany her father to Trinity Church to show her belief determination.Much more adventurously, she lives with George Henry Lewes who has been a married man. No wonder Virginia Woolf , a marked feminist pioneer in the twentieth century, says that George Eliot"is the pride and paragon of the female"1.The literary figures created by George Eliot, especially her heroines, not like George Eliot herself, are traditional and conventional. There is a sharp contrast between George Eliot and her heroines. Obviously it is a matter of dispute whether George Eliot is a real feminist or not. In fact, the dispute is largely due to Eliot's thoughts on women. On the one hand, as a literate woman, she bravely challenges the society, supports women in terms of marriage, education and occupation, and devotes herself to the writing career. But on the other hand, she does not support absolute equality between man and woman, and believes that the ideal women should be supportive and submissive to men.From the above two aspects, it can be concluded that George Eliot's thoughts on women are ambivalent. Just because of her ambivalence for women, there is much dispute among feminists. So it is particularly necessary to make a further analysis and exploration of George Eliot's thoughts on women. Hence on the basis of George Eliot's living experiences, from the perspective of feminism, this thesis tries to analyze her ambivalence for women presented through her second novel The Mill on the Floss which is an autobiographical one and is closer to George Eliot's living experiences.A brief introduction of the development of feminism, women's status and female writers'position in the Victorian Period and George Eliot and her thoughts on women are going to be made first. In addition, the research purpose, methods as well as the structure of the thesis are also mentioned. George Eliot and heroine, Maggie's desire and Maggie's study are to be illustrated. Meanwhile the thesis explores the root of her ambivalent thoughts on women, and points out that the principle of Religion of Humanity results in Eliot's ambivalent thoughts on women.Lastly, a summary is going to be made to conclude the significance of this thesis. Furthermore, this paper will definitely provide some information about British women's living state and female writers'position in the nineteenth century. Also, the thesis will be of some help to those who are interested in this issue and provide some references for them.