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摘 要

随着生态女性主义的形成和发展，生态女性主义被广泛运用文学研究领域中的文学批评中去。生态女性主义认为，女性相较于男性更贴近自然。然而在价值二元论思想的影响下，男权社会中的女性与工业化进程中的自然遭受着同样的难难和折磨。

虽然关于《德伯家的苔丝》的研究已经非常多了。但是从生态女性角度进一步研究该作品，将会帮助我们更好的理解哈代想要表达的观点。本文的第一部分关于苔丝是自然的女儿从4个方面对该论点进行论证。从苔丝的外貌到苔丝的个性，从苔丝与自然中季节交替相对应的命运到苔丝的两面性，该部分将会逐步展示苔丝与自然的亲密关系。第二部分则分析了传统农业与现代工业的关系。随着工业革命的不断发展，传统农业逐步瓦解，以苔丝为代表的农民阶级遭遇了许多痛苦与折磨。最后一个部分分析了小说中的三名男性角色，他们与苔丝的悲剧有着密切联系，该部分探究了苔丝在工业化进程和父权制社会下的悲惨命运。

总之，生态女性主义理论帮助读者从一个新的角度去理解《德伯家的苔丝》，由此强调哈代对于女性和自然观点中的理性因素。

关键词：女性生态主义 父权制 工业革命 自然 德伯家的苔丝

1. Introduction

1.1 A brief introduction of Thomas Hardy and his writing style

Thomas Hardy, as an English critical novelist and poet, is considered as the last important novelist of the Victorian age. In The Second Common Reader, Virginia Woolf once claimed that “when we say that the death of Thomas Hardy leaves English fiction without a leader, we mean that there is no other writer whose supremacy would be generally accepted, none to whom it seems so fitting and natural to pay homage”. (266) His novels were called Wessex Novel, for most of them took place in the “partly-real, partly-dream” county of Wessex. He grew up in Wessex and that’s why he typically set his fictions in the semi-fictional. In general, Wessex Novels explored how tragic characters struggling against their passions and social circumstances.

1.2 An introduction of Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Tess of the d’Urbervilles is one of the representatives of Tomas Hardy who is a famous English critical realistic novelist. It is also one of the tragic fictions in English literature. This novel depicts the miserable fate of a girl in the rural area. In the subtitle of this novel, Hardy regards the main female character as an innocent lady, which publicly challenges the hypocritical social morality in Victoria Age.

Tess was born in a poor vendor family and her parents forced her to visit the rich D’Urbervilles to claim kin. As a result, she was seduced by Alec. And then, she fell in love and engaged with priest’s son-Angle. However, at the night of wedding, she confessed her misfortune to her husband and wasn’t forgiven. Therefore, they were separated. After several years, Tess met Alec again and had to live together with him because of poverty. Under this circumstance, Angle returned from abroad and regretted his indifference. Tess thought it was Alec that made her lose her husband at the second time and killed him desperately. As a consequence, she was arrested and punished by the gallows.

1.3 An introduction of ecofeminism

With the vigorous development of environment protection movement and women's liberation movement among the whole world in the 1970s, a new view of digging into the relationship between human and nature, women and men came into being. Ecofeminism described movements and philosophies that link feminism with ecology. The term was believed to have been coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in her book Le Féminisme ou la Mort (1974). From arguments that there were particular and significant connections between women and nature, ecofeminism interpreted their repression and exploitation in terms of the repression and exploitation of the environment. Ecofeminists believed that these connections were illustrated through traditionally "female" values such as reciprocity, nurturing and cooperation, which are present both among women and in nature. Women and nature were also united through their shared history of oppression by a patriarchal Western society.

In The Second Sex, Simon de Beau voir states that "he is the Subject, he is the Absolute~she is the Other'(4) In the patriarchy society, women were roughly classified into two categories. One, submissive and self-sacrificed, was an angel, the other, independent and rebellious, was a siren.

Thus, ecofeminists look forward to arousing the consciousness of ecology and gender equality in people’s mind and to establishing a harmonious society with harmony between man and nature.

2. Literature Review

2.1 General criticism at Home and Abroad

As a classic work of Thomas Hardy, numerous study of Tess of the d’Urbervilles has emerged. Most of them focus on tragic theme analysis. Many scholars pay attention to the individual factors that lead to Tess’s tragedy. In her internal factors of Tess, Liu Jingjing pointed out that “Tess’s own characters bring the tragedy. Tess comes from a peasant's family，the old moral concepts and fatalism shackle her mind. When she is subjected to persecute of public and traditional morality，she thinks that she is guilty. Her selflessness and self-sacrifice provide the opportunity for the wicked power. Her pureness and sin-cereness which she pursues make her miss the happiness.”(129). Another scholar who stand in the same side with Liu, Lu Nan believed that Tess’s tragedy is inevitably related with various factors, while among these factors, the personal factors are the most vital and essential ones. In her thesis Analyze the Personal Factors Leading to the Tragedy of Tess, Lu analyzed from Tess’s ambivalent characteristics ( weak and strong, self-esteem and self-abasement) to Alec D’Urbervilles who tricked the innocent young girl and possessed her ,Angel Clare who abandoned destroying all her dreams and finally Tess’s parents who dominated her life irresponsibly and push her to the edge of tragedy time and time again.(71)

Some other scholars might also study the reasons of Tess’ tragedy form surrounding circumstances. For example, in her paper Social Environment Elements in Tess’s Tragedy, Sun Qiongying introduced the clash between the Agrarian Life and Industrialization, the hypocrisy of Victorian Morality and its conflict with modern idea and the clash between theology and modern idea.

The perspective of psychoanalysis has also been applied by some scholars. Psychoanalysis created by Freud in 19^th century, is one of the most popular theories. It has influenced the analysis of novel characters. In On Tess’s Multiple Personality from Psychoanalytic Perspective, Chen Yan and Xu Shiyang described from four aspects.

Firstly, losing virginity caused much hurt on Tess. Secondly, they described the fight between ego and id. Thirdly, they described the opposition between losing virginity and inner virgin. Fourthly, they demonstrated the outbreak of Tess’s ego. They believed that this novel reflected the inner fight between ego, id and superego of human beings.

2.2 Criticism from the perspective of eco-feminism

Ecofeminism, as part of the western feminist movement in the 1970s, is the combination of the feminist and ecological movements. Recent years, with the introduction of ecofeminist approach, there is a research boom in which the reevaluation of literary classics has become a big issue. As one of Thomas Hardy’s most representative work, Tess of the D'Urbervilles is of great significance in the history of literature, which demonstrates several value conflicts between people and nature, man and woman, and industrial and ecological environment. Though the novel was created before the birth of eco-feminism, the eco-feminist thoughts in it have long attracted scholars at home and abroad to conduct researches on Tess from the perspective of eco-feminism

From the perspective of eco-feminism, Zhang Ming holds the opinion that oppressed by patriarchy and capitalism, Tess is doomed to be the victim of the society. She thought that Tess's tragedy took place in the social transition from feudalism to capitalism. Tess's destruction typically represents the tragic fate of the peasants who have collapsed economically because of the Industrial Revolution and the introduction of capitalist machinery on a large scale and who have declined into wage workers.(36)

Another eco-feminist, Wei Yafei regard Tess Durbeyfiled as the daughter of nature, who has a mysterious affinity to nature, and her fate complies with the alternation of seasons as the plot progresses, turning to nature for consolation. By contrast, Wei thought Angel and Alec are quite distant from nature. “Influenced by androcentrism and materialism respectively, Angel and Alec have jointly cornered Tess to death mentally and physically. However, Tess' tragedy is more a social tragedy. With the intrusion of industrialization in the countryside, Tess is forced to be

separated from nature when the traditional country life is overturned. She has no escape in the society which has already been preoccupied by patriarchal values. Therefore, industrialization and patriarchy have become the root of Tess' death,’’ said Wei.(3)

2.3 Purpose of writing

Throughout Hardy’s writing career, he had given much attention to the relations between human and nature, men and women, especially in the novel of Tess of the D’Urbervilles. This thesis will evaluate Tess of the d’Urbervilles in the sight of ecofeminism. Ecofeminists criticize hierarchical dualism and the logic of domination in men’s relation with women and nature. Their common aim was to reweave a net of life and establish a world interdependent with nature. Viewing from the perspective of ecofeminism, this paper will analyze Hardy’s views of nature and women, practically explores the close relationship between Tess and nature and Tess’s tragic fate as the result of industrialization and patriarchal society, which will help the reader to understand Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles from a new angle and thus to highlight the rational elements of Hardy’s views on nature and women.

3. An Ecofeminist Reading of Tess of the d'Urbervilles

3.1 Tess and nature

Ecofeminist believes that woman has an innate affinity to nature, and compares the relationship between human and nature to mother-child relationship, holding the view that there is a biological connection between woman and nature. Such as menstruation, pregnancy, and giving birth to a baby of the woman’s physical process is similar to the natural ecological cycle, which makes woman born closer to nature than man. Its main representative Susan Griffin used poetic language to express the special relationship between women and nature: “Women and nature co... language she could listen to the voice from the depths of the earth... breeze blowing in her ear, tree whispered to her.” (175) At this point, Hardy stated,

But those of the other sex were the most interesting of this company of binders,

by reason of the charm which is acquired by woman when she becomes part and parcel of outdoor nature, and is not merely an object set down therein as at ordinary times. A field-man is a personality afield; a field-woman is a portion of the field; she had somehow lost her own margin, imbibed the essence of her surrounding, and assimilated herself with it. (58)

Obviously, Hardy was deeply influenced by the ecofeminism, which could be found out by the description of Tess, a female character in the novel, “What a fresh and virginal daughter of Nature” (110)

How did Hardy shape Tess as the daughter of nature? It will be analyzed in four aspects, including the appearance of Tess, the personalities that she possessed, her fate corresponding with the alternation of seasons，and two contradictory sides in Tess.

3.1.1 Daughter of nature

The main character Tess is the daughter of nature. She was often put in the natural environment by Hardy and bestowed natural beauty on her. Tess was born in countryside where was close to nature. The vibrant natural power in her body should not be neglected. She loved nature and possessed many similarities to nature, among

which the most obvious one embodied in her appearance.

“but her mobile peony mouth and large innocent eyes added eloquence to colour and shape. She wore a red ribbon in her hair, and was the only one of the white company who could boast of such a pronounced adornment.”(6)

Tess’s simple yet authentic appearance distinguished her from those secular beauties, signifying her intrinsic affinity to nature.

Not only her physical appearance but the personalities she possessed shaped her as daughter of nature. Her personalities can be divided into two parts. For one part, she took compassion on others especially the little animals. For another, Tess’s rusticity and tolerance were other personalities that link her to nature.

Firstly, her close contact with nature was also reflected in the harmonious relations with animals. She loved little animals and could not bear to hurt a fly or a worm. And she could even cry at the sight of a bird trapped in a cage. Tess was abandoned by her husband, trudging on her way to an upland farm. It was clear that Tess was suffering a hard time. She was tender, scared and poor yet no help was offered. But when she saw many badly wounded pheasants lay about under the trees, she knew that the birds were suffering a shooting-party, and those badly wounded ones had escaped and hidden themselves away, waiting in despair to the final death. Tess’s first thought was to put the still living birds out of their torture, and to this end with her own hands she broke the necks of those poor pheasants, with her tears running down when she killed the birds. Hardy believed that people in the world were just like birds in the cages, which could not avoid the arrangement of fate. Birds, the most common little animals in Wessex, were numerously used in the novel. They were always connected with Tess’ fate. The action of breaking the bird’s neck seemed to indicate the final death of Tess.

Secondly, Tess was rustic. In the novel, when Tess came to the Talbathays to find a job, she drank a little milk as temporary refreshment, which surprised the Dairyman. When Tess’s parent asked Tess to visit the very rich Mrs D'Urberville, asking for some help， Tess refused her parents without hesitation, and said “I'd rather try to get work.” (21) She always maintained the virtues of a working people,

despising the noble family, and insisted that she is a farmer's daughter, living on her own work.

Besides, Tess was tolerant and strong-willed as the daughter of nature. She was capable of doing a variety of field work. From the Talbathays to the Flintcomb-Ash, from milking to swede-hacking, Tess overcame the severe weather and exhausting work out of tolerance and earned money to support her family, indicating her talents as the daughter of nature.

3.1.1.1 Tess’ fate corresponded with the alternation of seasons

Tess, as the daughter of nature, her fate corresponded with the alternation of seasons. The crucial turning throughout the whole course of Tess’ life was foretold by seasons in alternation.

In the novel, the story was unfolded in the time of May when everything is fresh and full of vitality. Tess, a pure and innocent country girl, was provided with a job by Mrs. D’Urberville. At that time, she was full of hope and vitality. However, she lost her chastity in autumn, a season standing for decline. Then In winter, which means coldness and death, Tess has gone through a bad time in her life. Sorrow, her poor baby died.

Then, with the coming of a new spring, she left home for the Talbothays where she met Angle. She fell in love with him in the summer, spending her happiest time through her life there. They got married in the cold winter before New Year's Eve that was on behalf of the alternation of old and new. It heralded an impending turning point of Tess’ fate.

In general, vibrant spring and hot summer were always used to symbolize Tess' hope and happiness, while the declining autumn and cold winter were used to depict her sorrow and disaster. Apparently, the happenings of key turning point in Tess’ fate followed very closely to the alternation of nature. Hardy deliberately arranged these plots to demonstrate that Tess’ life also went over the natural recycle of sprouting, growing, fruiting and withering, just like the plants in nature, which resembled to the view of ecofeminism that women and nature were united through their sharing history of oppression by a patriarchal Western society.

3.1.1.2 Two contradictory sides in Tess

According to Carolyn Merchant, nature represents herself in two sides. She is “a kindly beneficent female who provided for the needs of mankind in an order, planned universe. But another opposing image of nature as female was also prevalent: wild and uncontrollable nature that could render violence, storms, droughts and general chaos” (2) In the novel, Tess showed herself in compliance with the two contradictory sides of nature. On one hand, Tess was mild and obedient, while on the other hand, she was resistant and uncontrollable.

Most of the time, Tess submitted herself to her family. She has done everything she could for her family even at the cost of sacrificing herself. She agreed to claim kin to the D’Urbervilles and there begun her tragical life. For the second time, Tess returned to Alec, asking for financial support. For her family, Tess was so selfless, behaving as a mother which was quite the same as our mother nature.

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