A Contrastive Study Between Jane Eyre's And Lin Tai-yu's Different Fates From The Perspective Of Culture

At the end of the nineteenth century, Comparative Literature presented itself as a new discipline and has developed rapidly ever since. From its emergence on, the theories of Comparative Literature have undergone three major stages of development, namely, Influence Study, Parallel Study and Cross-cultural Study. And nowadays, on the researches, there are four main trends: 1) the study of culture: the study of cultural theories and the comparison of different cultures in specific literary works 2) the further study in the traditional fields 3) the comparative study between the occidental literature and its oriental counterpart and 4) the increasing importance of the study of literary translation. Therefore, in this paper, Jane Eyre, an occidental character and the heroine in Charlotte Bronte's masterpiece Jane Eyre, and Lin Tai-yu, an oriental character and at the same time the main female character in one of the four Chinese classical novels, that is, A Dream of Red Mansions, will be compared and contrasted in order to find out the underlying reasons for these two women's different fates from the perspective of culture.In Chapter One, the life experiences of Jane Eyre's and Lin Tai-yu's are compared and it is evident that they both cherish certain awareness of revolt. In every phase of her life, Jane is always revolting comparatively positively against the mistreatments she suffers from. Tai-yu's awareness of revolt is expressed, to a great degree, in her everyday remarks and behavior, and also in her poetry.In Chapter Two, the two women characters'financial and spiritual conditions are compared and contrasted. Before becoming a teacher at Lowood, Jane has lived a dependent life at the expense of her aunt, Mrs. Reed. Through being a teacher or a governess and the heritage from her uncle, Jane gains her financial independence, and at the same time her spiritual independence, which enables her to make the decision to leave Thornfield and to live alone but respectably, on her wedding day when she realizes that Mr. Rochester has already been a family man whose wife is still alive though insane. The temporary departure is bitter, but in some sense, it works as an activator to assist Mr. Rochester and Jane to obtain their lifetime happiness. However, Lin Tai-yu is in different circumstances. She has lived a dependent life at her grandmother's house since her mother's passing away. And in feudal society, for an aristocratic lady, it is impossible to live on her own. Tai-yu's financial dependence leads to her great spiritual dependence on Pao-yu. Therefore, when she identifies that it is Pao-chai instead of herself who is the selected Second Young Mistress would-be, she is so desperate that she gives herself up and dies an early death.Chapter Three is about the contrast of Jane Eyre's and Lin Tai-yu's personality. Jane's personality is much positive, and with her self-help and self-control, she overcomes many problems and gains happiness at length. Tai-yu is over-sensitive and petty-minded which does not help her but impedes her way of becoming Pao-yu's wife, for the old lady, the final decision-maker, does not admire Tai-yu's over-sensation.In the last chapter of the paper, the underlying reasons for the two ladies'different fates are to be found out. Jane Eyre shows the social situations of the nineteenth century England. That time, rapid industrial development worsened workers'living condition. Strict factory disciplines, low wages, periodic unemployment and high prices all put workers into suffering. Later on, the Chartist Movement broke out. Besides workers, there were another group of sufferers–women who were confined to the domestic chores and functioned as their husbands'attachments or slaves. And the spirit of equality in the Chartist Movement made one believe that women should have the very right to ask for equality with men. Therefore, thanks to her education at Lowood, Jane was able to work as a man did to earn her own financial independence and also her spiritual independence, then eternal happiness. A Dream of Red Mansions describes the picture of a feudal China. In feudal society, the social values are firmly based on Confucianism, which is especially true in the Ching Dynasty. Confucianism's rationale for organizing society begins with its hierarchy of superior-inferior relationships: parents are superior to children and men to women. With both of her parents'death, in the Chia family, the Lady Dowager and Lady Wang serve as her superior and they have the final say to Tai-yu's future marriage arrangement. And feudal marriage stresses on the seniors'opinions. Tai-yu's frailty and over-sensation are not praised by her grandmother, but Pao-chai's still-waters-run-deep way of behavior, her harmonious relationship with the people around and her experience in household management which all gain high appraisal from the old lady. And Lady Wang is Pao-chai's aunt from her mother's side. She is satisfied with Pao-chai's comforting others. Another element is usually considered when a feudal marriage is arranged, that is, the family background. The Hsueh family is one of the four powerful families of Chinling and is prosperous enough to match the Chias. While the Lins cannot be compared with the four powerful families, though it used to be a prosperous one. As a result, finally it is Pao-chai who marries Pao-yu. In feudal society, women are inferior to men, thus to some extent, women depends on men spiritually. After realizing that it is impossible to marry Pao-yu, Tai-yu loses the courage to live a future life without Pao-yu and dies an immature death.On the whole, it is different cultural elements that lead to the two women's different fates. In some way, culture influences the formation of one's personality. A positive personality accelerates one's development, while a negative one may impede one's development. Nowadays, in many fields, great changes have taken place. The status of the female in society as well as in family has improved dramatically, but there is still much to be done to make the females develop themselves in a better way.