A Comparative Study On Elizabeth Bennet And Lin Tai-yu From The Perspective Of Cross-cultural Context

Jane Austin and Tsao Xue-shin are respectively realistic writers of British and Chinain18thcenturies. Their master piece Pride and Prejudice and A Dream of Red Mansionsare both famous in the world. Pride and Prejudice was created in England whencapitalism was developing, while A Dream of Red Mansions was set up in Qing dynastywhen feudal system was gradually declining. Both works were created in the same agebut different social backgrounds, taking family life as the core, and love and marriagebetween men and women as the subjects, exposing the social inequality by depictingdaily life. Both heroines are successfully created in the works, Elizabeth and Lin Tai-yu,who share some similar characteristics but gain different fates, adding more comparativeaspects to two great works. There are plenty of comparative researches about Elizabethand Lin Tai-yu. Most of those researches start from the perspective of feminism,characters’ conversations, or affections expressed through eyes, however, comparativeresearches about the same characteristics but different fates and the underlying reasonsleading to their fates are not as many as those researches. The thesis, applies theresearching method of comparative literature, from a perspective of cross-cultural contextand through intensive reading of the work, and tries to analyze the respectivecharacteristics and personalities of two heroines, and their similarities and differences.The focus is to analyze the underlying reasons behind from the aspects of social systemof China and the west, physical value of China and the west, the aesthetic standards offemale personality of China and the west, and the perspectives of love and marriage inChina and the west, so as to illustrate the importance of cross-cultural research, thus toenhance the mutual understanding and communication of people from different nationsand people nurtured by different cultures, and manifesting research value and realisticsignificance of the thesis.This thesis consists of three parts, namely an introduction, a main body and aconclusion.The introduction generally introduces the developing stages and researching trendsof comparative literature, as well as the development state of comparative literature inChina. Meanwhile, the thesis also gives a brief introduction of studying state of Prideand Prejudice and A Dream of Red Mansions home and abroad. The second part is the main body which contains four chapters.Chapter One is literature review, concluding two sections. The first section is anintroduction to basic theory of Comparative Literature. The second section is theintroduction to development and methodologies of China’s Comparative LiteratureChapter Two analyzes the characteristics and personalities of Elizabeth Bennet andLin Tai-yu. This chapter contains three sections. The first section gives an introduction toJane Austin and her Pride and Prejudice, and Tsao Xue-shin and his A Dream of RedMansions. The second section mainly analyzes Elizabeth Bennet’s characteristics. As themost outstanding heroine, Elizabeth Bennet is full of reason and intelligence. She seesthough Miss Bingley’s discrimination and mocking to her mother and sisters, in whoseeyes, Miss Bingley is quite nice and friendly. Elizabeth has strong revoltingconsciousness. When she knows her beloved sister Jane is sick, in spite of muddy road,she walks on foot for three miles to visit her. She is bold enough to revolt against LadyCatherine, who is the representative of patriarchal power and feudal ethics. Besides,Elizabeth is self-knowledge and can do self-improvement. Finally, she sheds off hermisunderstanding against Mr. Darcy and gains ideal love. The third section mainlyanalyzes Lin Tai-yu’s characteristics. Tai-yu is petty-minded and easily to take offence.People’ random remarks would arouse her anger. She is sensitive and sentimental. Sheintends to associate what people say and do with herself, and then, she would feel blue.However, Tai-yu has revolting consciousness as well. In Grand View Garden, Tai-yu isthe only one person who does not encourage Bao-yu to read books for money and officialstatus.Chapter Three makes a comparative study of the similarities of Elizabeth and Tai-yuand the underlying reasons. This chapter consists of two sections. The first section is thesimilarities of Elizabeth and Tai-yu. Both of them two are sensitive in front of the menthey love. When Mr. Darcy is told that Lydia and Wickham have eloped away, Elizabethfeels very anxious, for she fears her position in Mr. Darcy’s inner heart would becomelower because of her worldly mother and audacious younger sister. As to Tai-yu, once the“gold and jade match” is mentioned by others or thought of by her, she would be worriedabout her “wood and stone alliance”. Another similarity is both of them have certainawareness of feminism, for they both pursue free love and ideal marriage. The second section is the underlying reasons. There are mainly three reasons for the similarities, firstis women’s nature for ideal love, and second is the bondage and oppression of patriarchalsystem, third is the influence of the budding of feminism.Chapter Four is the analysis of the differences of two heroines and the underlyingreasons, which is made up of two sections. The first section is differences of Elizabethand Tai-yu. Elizabeth’s revolting consciousness is more direct and resolute, whileTai-yu’s revolting is quite implicit. Elizabeth bravely gains her ideal love and marriage,while Tai-yu ends in a tragedy. The second section is the analysis of the underlyingreasons, which mainly lies in the difference of two author’s genders and their livingbackgrounds, differences of social system of China and the west, differences of physicalvalue of China and the west, differences of aesthetic standards of female personality ofChina and the west, and differences of perspectives of love and marriage in China andthe west.The third part is the conclusion. Combined with the authors life and socialbackground, this part analyzes the causes of these differences and their influence onsociety, so as to further understand different nationalities, different cultures of differentregions, and to enhance mutual understanding of the people who live under the differentcultures.