Thomas·Hardy's Modern Female Consciousness

At the late half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, that is Victorian Age, British people were very active in the culture and thought fields, and there was no exception of the female concept, which in all, on one hand, not only inherited the Victorian tradition, but also developed the theory of female enlightenment, and on the other hand, due to the development of economics, people's female viewpoints tended to vary, and thus made the modern female consciousness born. As one of the most outstanding realistic literary giants in Britain and even in the world, Thomas Hardy has always been concerned about the fate of the female.Although Hardy has never stated clearly about his own viewpoints of the female, we can learn about his unique understanding of the female through his drafting of a colorful and meaningful female world. At the same time, Hardy has thought and paid the warmly attention to the liberation and happiness about the female, that was very apocalyptic and encouraging (especially to female). Still to today, when we use it to scan the survive estate about the modern female, we can feel his deep and careful thinking about the female's liberation. This deep discussion still leads us to think about the problems to which the modern female will face. And naturally, this is also the theoretical value and operation significance of probing into Hardy's opinion.This thesis is composed by six parts.The preface makes an introduction both about Hardy's writing experience and his novels, and about the theme and innovation of the thesis.The first chapter discusses the traditional Victorian female society and the uprising of feminism and makes readers have a clear view of the origin and development of Hardy's female consciousness.The second chapter exposes Eustacia, Tess and Sue's attitudes towards love and urban life respectively, by which illustrates part of Hardy's modern female consciousness: craving for ideal love and luxurious urban cities.The third chapter begins with the explanation of Tess of the D'Urbervilles. It shows the author Hardy's modern female viewpoints: to rebel against the restrain of the old tradition, to long for independence and to obtain the equality to the male by the analysis of Tess's character and sufferings.The fourth chapter analyses Tess and Sue's attitudes towards marriage and sex, by which dissects Hardy's modern female concept on marriage: marriage is a contract, and if there's no love in marriage, the couple should get divorced, and at the same time he shows us what the modern sex concept is.The last part comes to the conclusion naturally, in which the nature and historical meaning of Hardy's modern female consciousness is stated clearly by making the summary of the three female characters: Eustacia, Tess and Sue.