Nature And Women As Victims Of Patriarchy

As one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage,A Midsummer Night's Dream has described a beautiful eco-friendly scene through the happy endings of four couples.Although this comedy has been studied from various perspectives,it still lacks some studies exploring A Midsummer Night's Dream from the perspective of the eco-feminism.Nowadays,modern people are enjoying the benefits of scientific achievements and technical innovations.However,the unprecedented environmental challenges are prevailing.Therefore,detailed analysis on A Midsummer Night's Dream from the perspective of eco-feminism will provide new ideas on both the theory and the practice.Employing eco-feminism to analyze the patriarchal features in Shakespeare's play could foster the deep understanding of his works.In addition,with the consideration of Shakespeare's eco-feminist consciousness,this thesis provides a new perspective compared with other contributions.In this study,A Midsummer Night's Dream affirms the important value of women and nature by showing the close relationship between women and nature.It also showcases that both the nature and women are victims of patriarchy and on the edge of patriarchal society.What's more,it reflects its exploration of an ideal ecological society with human beings and nature living harmoniously together.These eco-feminist thoughts could not only deepen the textual analysis of A Midsummer Night's Dream,but also provide inspiration for the current construction of harmonious society.This thesis mainly consists of five chapters.Chapter 1 makes a literature review about the topic and the research methodology,significance,thesis statement and thesis framework.Chapter 2 presents the literary theories of this thesis,including feminism,ecocriticism and eco-feminism.Chapter 3 presents the influences of patriarchal culture on Midsummer Night's Dream,analyzing the patriarchal culture in English Renaissance,and furthermore,the hidden meaning of Titania's rebellion against Oberon in this play.Chapter 4 describes the influences of English Renaissance proto-eco-feminist ideas on Midsummer Night's Dream,which finally showcases Shakespeare's eco-feminist ideal.Chapter 5 is the conclusion of the thesis.Like other humanist writers of the same period,Shakespeare expresses his fighting enthusiasm of the up-rising class,criticizing Roman Catholic Church and feudalism.A Midsummer Night's Dream is such a comedy that concentrates on the spirit of Renaissance and humanism.Considering this,this thesis employs the ecofeminist theory to reveal the relationship between women and nature,women and men,as well as the relationship between man and nature in A Midsummer Night's Dream.I sincerely hope that this research will inspire and encourage more scholars to study early modern literature in the framework of eco-feminism.