An Eco-feminist Reading Of Far From The Madding Crowd

As one of the most predominant writers in the Victorian era, Thomas Hardy,particularly renowned for his pioneering novels of “Character and Environment”, hadlong-term repercussions in prospecting the future of our society. Although livingunder a straitened circumstance, Hardy published his Far from the Madding Crowd in1874, a masterpiece which successfully turned his writing career into a prolific one.At the same time, the publication of Far from the Madding Crowd brought valuableinspiration and a new angle to get a better understanding of their condition inpatriarchal society. It also aroused heated discussion and controversy over the issuesof feminism and ecological movement. People began to pay attention to the dilemmawhich women and nature are trapped in and their tragic fates under the overwhelmingwheel of patriarchal society and the Industrial Revolution. With the development ofindustrial civilization, the ecological system is confronted with more seriouschallenges than ever before and the freedom of women is also highly restricted. Undersuch circumstances, ecological movement and feminism movement come into being.During the process of the two movements, the affinity between women and naturebecomes much stronger than ever before, which accelerates the combination ofecological movement and feminism movement. And finally, the Eco-feminism theorycomes into being. According to Eco-feminists, the fates of women and nature areclosely tied together. The root of ecological destruction and the tragic fate of womenare the oppression and persecution of patriarchal society. They call for a sustainablepattern of economic development that benefits both men and nature. Only in this waycan man truly respect and protect the diversity of all life forms, including theirexpressions of each culture. In that case, man can finally establish a healthyrelationship in which man and nature coexist peacefully and harmoniously. This thesis, by evaluating the famous Far from the Madding Crowd in anEco-feminist approach, looks alternatively at the relationship between nature andwomen, and therefore interprets women’s tragic destiny in an industrialized andpatriarchal society. The whole paper is divided into six parts. The first part brieflyintroduces Thomas Hardy and his novel Far from the Madding Crowd. The secondpart reviews the current studies on the novel at home and abroad and introduces thedevelopment of Eco-feminism serving as the basis for the analysis of the novel. Thethird part is mainly to interpret the tragic fate of Bathsheba from the natural andcultural ecological perspective of Eco-feminism. The fourth part demonstratesBathsheba’s rebellion against the patriarchal society. The fifth part is an Eco-feminismreading of the harmony among men, women and nature. In the end, the author draws aconclusion that the female character Hardy creates is closely related to nature.The thesis explains the combination of Hardy’s view of women and view ofnature through the Eco-feminist reading of Far from Madding Crowd. Meanwhile, thethesis demonstrates the dilemma and misfortune which women and nature areconfronted with in order to attract people’s attention to women and nature. At present,the ecological damage is going worse and the iron heels of the industrial civilizationcontinues to trample on the homeland of human beings. Patriarchy culture stillprevails in the society. Therefore, the thesis points out the practical significance of theEco-feminist research with the aim to create a new society in which women are equalto men and human and nature are in harmony.