Narrative Strategy And Construction Of Female Conscriousness

The governess novel,regarded as a subgenre of the novel today,appeared frequently in the nineteenth century.Emma;Emily,the Governess;Agnes Grey;Discipline and Caroline Mordaunt,all fall under this genre.One of the famous Bronte Sisters in the English literature,Charlotte Bronte,showed special preference to the governess novel.In most of her novels,the heroines all had the experience of working as a governess.The type of novels generally conveys distinctive female consciousness and gender characteristics,and possesses unique female meticulous observation as well as tender feelings.Furthermore,based on the true feelings and objective view of women,it constructs a veritable female world which goes beyond the traditional male convention or anticipation.To some extent,the authority of male discourse is challenged,and the social spirit of protest and the sense of criticism presented.Why did a large number of governess novels appear in the nineteenth century?What strategies did the governess novels adopt and what kind of female experience and consciousness did these governess novels reflect?All these questions are worth discussing.By relying on the text of the nineteenth century governess novels,and by taking female consciousness as the focal point,this dissertation deeply explores the problem of how the governess novels establish the female consciousness through choosing certain narrative strategies from the perspective of narrative intervention,narrative point of view,narrative voice and narrative mode.The dissertation is divided into seven parts.Introduction provides a general survey of the research background.Firstly,it reviews and summarizes the international and domestic studies in the nineteenth century governess novels in terms of its genre,its image,and its historical context.Secondly,the theoretical principles and methods of the dissertation——Feminist Narratology is briefly introduced.Thirdly,the research problem,research methods,the research significance are explicated.Chapter One firstly studies the historical background of the rise of the governess novel in the nineteenth century.It mainly analyzes the causes of formation of the governess novel from three aspects,namely,the thought of the times,the historical reality and literary tradition,on the basis of which,it supplies a definition of the governess novel as a genre.Then,the chapter teases out and analyzes the concept of female consciousness,and explores the origin and development of the female consciousness in the nineteenth century British novels.Chapter Two takes Agnes Grey and Emily,the Governess as an example,and works out from the strategy of narrative intervention how the novelists build the female consciousness through writing of reality and fiction,and attraction and alienation.I think that the narrative intervention in the governess novel is a strategy for women to intervene the real world which reflects the feminine temperament and the female discourse consciousness.By means of narrative intervention,the female novelists achieve the goals of literary intervention into the reality and further more play the novels' potential of social improvement.At the same time,the novelists'female consciousness of concerning for women's living conditions and seeking for a change is effectively expressed by using this narrative intervention.Chapter Three takes Caroline Mordaunt and Emma as an example and elucidates how the novelists build the female consciousness through employment of narrative point of view.In Caroline Mordaunt,the novelist adopts a female narrative point of view and challenges the masculine hegemony and constructs a self-subjective consciousness of women by using the heroine's focalization.The alternative use of internal focalization and the first person external focalization reveals the heroine's inner monologue and unfolds the process of her growth and maturity in front of readers' eyes.The female's resolute and critical stance,her self-confidence and her consistent consciousness are displayed through the shift of internal and external points of view.In Emma,the author's narrative point of view,the narrator and the characters become the carriers of female consciousness.It is the author who decides what should be revealed or concealed according to her needs.Mingling the inner and external points of view makes readers get access to Emma's inner heart,so that they could develop an understanding of and compassion for her instead of feeling repulsion to and antipathy for her wayward and conceited behaviour.With the separation and superposition of narrative points of view,the novel manifests the process of Emma's self-realization and self-improvement.Simultaneously the readers will feel purified and improved.The author's utilization of the point of view as the carrier of the female consciousness not only constructs the female narrative authority but also shows her personal sense of female independence and freedom.Chapter Four investigates the relationship between narrative voice and the construction of female consciousness with a focus on four governess novels:The Governess,Caroline Mordaunt,Discipline and The Governess or Politics in Private Life.The Governess adopts the authorial voice to establish certain public authorities by keeping an effective distance between the narrator and the female characters.A new female character with the quality of being confident,independent and strong is portrayed while she is fairly evaluated.The feminine personal voice adopted in Caroline Mordaunt and Discipline expresses a women's genuine thought and feeling,and manifests the awakening of a female sense of independence and her rebellion against the subordinate status and the tragic destiny.The communal voice adopted by The Governess or Politics in Private Life successfully establishes the discourse authority that solely belongs to the female community through the use of“single”form-“I”and“plural”form-“we”.In this way,the governess,longing for recognition and respect is declared.Chapter Five discusses the relationship between narrative mode and construction of female consciousness on the basis of reading of Emma and Jane Eyre.In Emma,the double self-modification of the narrator and the heroine is fulfilled with the use of free indirect speech tactfully.The author deconstructs the male authority through the mode of the male discourse and successfully constructs female subjectivity through the mode of the female discourse,which at the same time expresses the female consciousness of her own growth and the gender harmony.In Jane Eyre,the heroine's psychological conflict is staged in a multi-voice mode with the use of free indirect speech and the technique of slipping.The double voice built up by such kind of narrative mode presents women's struggle for survival and inner conflict,wins readers' understanding and sympathy.Meanwhile women's persistent pursuit for gender equality and freedom with independence is expressed.The last part of this dissertation is conclusion,which states again and emphatically reveal the relationship between narrative strategies and construction of female consciousness in the nineteenth century governess novels.In this genre,the narrative strategy adopted by the novelists is characterized by indirectness and detour,which suggests their practical needs to gain the right of speech at that particular time.Meanwhile,the special use of narrative strategy,the novelists' own female consciousness is more effectively expressed.The conclusion also points out that the nineteenth century governess novel deconstructs the male hegemony,constructs the female's sense of subjectivity,and establishes the female authority of discourse,which accordingly draws more extensive attention to them from the society.More broadly,the governess novel shows the female's strong sense of longing for equal right and dignity,and of struggling for their own independence and gender equality.