1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述）

there are many classic female characters with distinctive personality in modern british and american literature. they are created by writers with different backgrounds and experiences, showing different spirit and personality. usually, people interpret characters from language, action, appearance and the development of plot, rarely from suit description. however, costume description plays an indispensable role in characterization. costume culture, in a certain degree, reflects human material life and levels of spiritual civilization. costume is a symbol of human culture, and a part of literary works.

in her dissertation the role of garment description on shaping images, chinese scholar huang sha argues that character is the soul of literary work; likewise, garment description, which is the most direct and significant way of creating characters, depicts outside features of a character. what’s more, it can reflect colorful internal world of the character. american scholar richard h. nagasawa agrees that the development clothing culture has made a deep mark in the novels to form complex images. he puts forward the idea that the clothes of the characters in the novel not only meet the needs of literature but also portray the history; not only embody the character’s inner emotion, social status and personalities, but also represent the outer aspects of social lives during the specific history period. in the dissertation from the dress and adornment to the look and spirit, shen weiyan contends that costume is the condensation of both material culture and spiritual culture. known as “the second skin of human beings” and “the silent language”, it is the extension of a person’s shape.

on the other hand, at home and abroad, most of the interpretation of people’s inner world is affiliated to the category of philosophy or religion. based on the different religion systems and philosophical thoughts, the concepts of spiritual life and spiritual realm are diverse between the east and the west. western scholar sri chinmoy consider that the spiritual life is something that is natural and normal. the spiritual life is normal and natural precisely because it knows its source. its source is god the infinite light and god the eternal truth. people are all seekers. each seeker represents the ideal and the real. the ideal is self-transcendence and the real is god's all-pervading consciousness. as to spiritual realm, in the heavenly or spiritual realmdele oke mentioned, it refers to the “heavenlies” as a label for the spiritual realms that exist alongside the physical world. the spiritual realms are just as real as the physical world that we can see. these two realms overlap and interact with each other.

2. 研究的基本内容与方案

this paper set its goal to explore the relation of female external feature and inner world via analyzing the costumes of representative female characters in western literary works. this paper focus on the analysis of typical female suits in literary works, including analysis of texture and fabric, color, decoration etc., to reveal female characters’ inner world, that is, their spiritual life and spiritual realm.

for the first part, the background is recited. the possibility of revealing female inward outlook by analyzing their suits will be examined. costume is not only the consumer goods for material life, but also the spiritual and multi-culture product. apparel colors, patterns and details often imply symbolic meanings.

the second part will demonstrate the theme—state of suits is the state of souls, with the examples of literary female characters in western literary works. for instance, some are utilitarian-oriented as choosing suits, such as scarlett o’hara in gone with the wind. others are instinct-oriented, such as the josephine march in little women. still others are moral-oriented, such as jane eyre.

3. 研究计划与安排

before 26th, december settlement of the title

before 25th, february submission of the outline

before 25th, april submission of the first draft

4. 参考文献（12篇以上）

[1]balog, a amp; baker, l amp;walker, a. religiosity and spirituality in entrepreneurship: a review and research agenda[j]. journal of management, spirituality and religion , 2014(2):159-186.

[2]drew, c. the progress of souls [j]. america , 2016(18):22-23.

[3]huss, b. spirituality: the emergence of a new cultural category and its challenge to the religious and the secular[j]. journal of contemporary religion, 2014(1):47-60.