Resolution Of Tension Upon New Women In Anthony Trollope's Can You Forgive Her?

Anthony Trollope (1815-1882), a great and prolific realistic writer in the Victorian age. Palliser novels play a rather significant role in his numerous novels, and Can You Forgive Her? is the first and very important work. Trollope was commented by his contemporary critics as the truth mirror which reflects the status quo of Victorian era. With the dramatic changes in the mid-Victorian society, in the novel of Can You Forgive Her?, Trollope has shaped many images of new women characters who subvert the traditional roles in their quest of independent personality. Obviously, great conflict and tension will appear between the personalities of these new women and male characters,also between new women and Victorian values. By integrating text analysis and social-historical perspective, this paper explores the conflicts and dilemmas and their resolution upon the new women characters in Can You Forgive Her?, then gets a hint of Trollope's attitude towards them.In the introduction part, the thesis briefly introduces Trollope and his work Can You Forgive Her?, and presents the critical reviews on the novel in China and the West, then also the historical background of this novel. The main body of the thesis includes three parts to give the detailed analysis of resolution of the tension upon three new women characters. In the first chapter, it focuses on the three new women characters who have independence awareness, and try hard in their pursuit of self. These women are full of passion and desire for love, but at the same time are confined by the unequal marriage system and traditional moral values, thus there appear great conflicts by the choice between reason and passion in their process of searching fulfillment, and end with choosing various settlements by different personalities. The second chapter analyzes the conflicts between the rebellious and unconventional characteristics of these new women and the corresponding conventional men, and the tension between new women and the restraints of women roles in this era, and also further explores the solution. The third chapter analyzes the tension between three new women who have independence awareness and the limitations of society. By the predicament of reality, they made disparate choices and find the stances of self with the ideal image of new woman for Trollope. Greenow keeps on independence by the compromise of her suitors; Alice has to rely on Grey to realize her political ambition by the confined female roles; Glencora's marriage coordinates self with society, thus they all get the settlement to resolve the tension. By the meticulous analysis of the tensions between passion and reason, individuality and conventionality, independence and assistance and also the resolution of these tensions, this paper probes into the attitude of Trollope towards new women: he not only praises and understands those intelligent, self awared and independent women, taking them as the social group with independent emotional awareness and autonomy capability, but also through the conflicts upon these women characters express his views on women's issues, and his concern for their living conditions by the tentative construction of his ideal new woman images.