To Set The Darkness Echoing

Based on feminist critique on the Catholic Church,the thesis has carried out an in-depth study on the representation of religious violence,its impacts on women as well as women’s resistance against religious violence,making it easier to further the understanding about Heaney’s thoughts.Meanwhile,the thesis also provides a new feminist perspective towards the research of Heaney and his poetry.Feminism believes that religions are patriarchal in nature and maintain men’s rule.Under the patriarchal system,the Bible of the Catholic Church is imbued with androcentric ideology and female images such as the Virgin Mary that has greatly repressed women’s spirit and self-consciousness.Meanwhile,feminists point out that the patriarchal text of the Bible has frequently justified psychological and physical violence of religious traditions,legitimizing men’s violence against women.To dispel religious psychological repression and physical violence against women,feminists strongly criticize the patriarchal ideology of the Bible and religious traditions,advocating to deconstruct the thought pattern and hierarchy of binary opposition between men and women,subverting the traditional female images that are filled with androcentric ideology and reshaping female images.Eventually,the patriarchal hierarchy and ideology that encourage violence can be overturned.Heaney is a great Irish poet and he has strong concern consciousness towards women,devoting himself to revealing and criticizing the dark religious violence under the traditional Catholic culture and traditions.Hence,based on feminist critique on the Catholic Church,the thesis mainly explores the religious psychological and physical violence against women in Heaney’s poems as well as women’s resistance.Through the in-depth study,the author found that most women in Heaney’s poems are surrounded by all kinds of visible and invisible religious violence.On the one hand,women suffer from psychological violence of traditional religious culture.Under the religious value,women’s inner mind and spirits are repressed and they have to live submissively.At the same time,the traditional religious culture also provides a reasonable defense for male violence against women,which makes women the victims of men’s physical violence and seriously jeopardizes their physical and mental health.As a poet,Heaney frequently digs into the dark religious psychological and physical violence with his “squat pen”,presenting women’s living plight in the dark.On the other hand,under the religious culture and patriarchal rule,women become perpetrators of violence in the course of resisting violence.And female-conducted violence can be violence against others and violence against themselves.The thesis argues that women’s resistance represents Heaney’s effort “to set the darkness echoing”,reflecting the poet’s deep concern to women’s development.In Heaney’s efforts,women’s resistance can be conveyed to society,appealing people to listen to the inner voice of women in the dark.Through digging into various types of dark religious violence against women as well as women’s resistance,Heaney has made his response to the violent environment at the time,pointing out that women’s resistance is helpless and negative.It is the extreme product of religious violence,for women themselves are the ultimate victims of religious and patriarchal violence.Based on the analysis,the author holds that situating in the special social background of Northern Ireland,Heaney’s frequent digging of the dark religious violence is an important way for him to express his deep concern for women.Through digging into the living plight and tragedy of women,Heaney has exposed the social roots that lead to religious violence against women,criticizing the double oppression and constraint of the religious and patriarchal violence on women’s mind and body.Meanwhile,by helping women in the dark to make their echoes,women’s helpless resistance is conveyed to the society at that time,appealing to people to introspect the turbulent environment.