An Ecofeminist Interpretation Of George Eliot’s The Mill On The Floss

George Eliot is a progressive writer who has been influenced by her contemporary ideologists in the Victorian age. The Mill on the Floss is a novel written by George Eliot; and in the novel the consciousness of ecofeminism is clearly reflected. Ecofeminism, opposing the pressure on women and nature under the domination of patriarchal view of the world, attempts to explore the links between devaluing women and nature and proposes to build harmonious relationships between female and male, nature and human being. The novel describes in detail the lives of Tom and Maggie Tulliver, a brother and sister who grow up by the river Floss near the village of St. Ogg’s in England. Both the river and the village are fictional. The novel lasts a period of10to15years, from Tom and Maggie’s childhood up until their deaths in a flood on the Floss. In the novel, due to the industrial revolution Maggie’s father Mr. Tulliver goes bankruptcy. Besides, under the pressure of the Victorian morality Maggie sinks into a dilemma of her romantic relationships with Philip Wakem and Stephen Guest. In a word, in the Victorian age women were under severe oppression of men. They must be submissive and obedient. On the other hand, due to the industrial revolution initiated by men nature was damaged and at the same time the society became more and more utilitarian. At the end of the novel, the brother and sister are drowned in the flood on the Floss.In the light of ecofeminism this thesis mainly explores the close relationship between the female protagonist Maggie and nature, the oppression of female by the male-authored society and the oppression of nature by the male-colored industrialization. Since the plots of the Victorian novels in Eliot’s age are often unfolded against a social background it is very necessary for this thesis to study the social background of the novel. From these explorations this thesis is expected to find out Eliot’s pursuit of the harmony between nature and human beings and the harmony between women and men.Analyses will be carried out mainly from two aspects:firstly, the links between Maggie and nature; secondly, the oppression on nature and female by a male-dominated society. To be specific, in chapterl introductions to the theory of ecofeminism, George Eliot and the novel The Mill on the Floss will be presented. The literature review on the novel is also given in which the previous studies on the novel are summarized.In addition, the significance and originality of this thesis are explained in this chapter. In chapter2the links between the heroine Maggie and nature will be discussed. Maggie’s links and identification with nature will be exposed from three aspects:the symbolic links, the experiential links and the links in the aspect of social status. Chapter3will mainly present Maggie’s awakening and struggle against the male-dominated society. Chapter4will show George Eliot’s wish that reflected in the novel:the harmony between female and male and a conclusion of this thesis will be presented. With the hope to arouse the consciousness to create a harmonious society and a harmonious world this thesis has been done.