An Analysis Of The Mayor Of Casterbridge From The Perspective Of Feminism

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) receives a high reputation as a novelist and poet inthe canon of English literature as well as the world literature. Among all his novels,what has really made him a world-wide famous novelist are his novels set in Wessexincluding The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), which has been heatedly discussed sinceits first publication for its astonishing plots as well as its well-organized structures.As one of the representatives of the feminist movement, Simone de Beauvoirmakes a detailed analysis on women s destiny under different situations in The SecondSex. She thinks that women are not born, but rather, they are forced by the socialcustoms and education they received from family and society, that they have no choicebut to conceal their transcendence, to behave in immanence and to become the absoluteother. The only way, she thinks, to gain liberation for women is to emerge fromsolitude, admit their subjectivity and behave in transcendence. This thesis makes adetailed analysis on three women in The Mayor of Casterbridge from the perspectiveof Simone de Beauvoir s feminist theory and explores the situations of women in thepatriarchal society and their pursuit of liberation as well, which helps us know betterabout Hardy s view on woman. Through the analysis, we can know that Hardy caresmuch about women s destiny. He thinks that the traditional women are doomed tosuffer a tragic destiny because of their femininity. For those new women who have theconsciousness of their unfair situations, they should stick to their subjectivity ratherthan wavering between their subjectivity and otherness, because this will immediatelylead to their tragic destiny. Hardy thinks that the way for women to achieve equalityand freedom is to be independent in economy and in mind. Women should admit theimportance of their existence and then behave in transcendence.This thesis offers a detailed analysis of the female characters in The Mayor ofCasterbridge and explores the situations and fates of three different kinds of women inthe patriarchal society and exposes the way to achieve liberation for women. Beingdifferent from the former studies with male characters to be their objects, this thesisfocuses on its female characters providing a comparatively new perspective for studieson The Mayor of Casterbridge.