摘 要

随着时代的发展，女性的地位越来越引起人们的关注。作为一名早期的女性主义作家，简·奥斯汀在代表作《傲慢与偏见》中表现了她追求女性解放和男女平等的思想。作为同样以女性为中心的小说，《红楼梦》塑造了很多品德高尚的女性，歌颂了她们在封建社会中的抗争精神。论文围绕《红楼梦》和《傲慢与偏见》中女性地位的对比展开，本文分为六个部分：第一部是引言；第二部分介绍两本小说的作者和创作背景；第三部分对两本小说中女性的经济地位进行对比，从财产继承和职业状况两个方面进行分析；第四部分对女性家庭地位进行对比研究，展现了两本小说中女性和父母之间不同的关系；第五部分探讨了女性婚姻地位的异同，并从宗教和社会习俗等方面分析了原因；第六部分为结论。对于女性地位的研究，不仅有助于中国与英国的社会环境和传统价值观的探索，也能对女性地位有更清晰的洞察。

关键词：女性地位；《傲慢与偏见》；《红楼梦》

Abstract

Along with the time development, women’s status draws ever more attention. As an early feminist writer, Jane Austen represented her pursuit of women’s liberation and her views on gender equality in her master work Pride and Prejudice. As a novel which is also female-centered, A Dream in Red Mansions shaped many women with noble intentions, praising their struggling spirit in feudal society. The thesis develops around woman’s status by the comparison of A Dream in Red Mansions and Pride and Prejudice. The body of this thesis consists of six parts. The first part is an introduction. The second part introduces authors and creation backgrounds of the two novels. The third part makes comparisons of women’s economic status, analyzing it from the aspects of inheritance and career situation. In the fourth part, it makes a comparative study of women’s family status, displaying different relationships between women and parents in the two novels. The fifth part discusses similarities and differences of women’s marriage status, and analyzes the reasons in terms of religion and social custom, and so on. The sixth part is the conclusion. The research on woman’s status not only contributes to the exploration of social environment and traditional values in China and Britain, but also can gain a clearer perception of women’s status.

Key words: women status; Pride and prejudice; A Dream in Red Mansions

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Backgrounds of Pride and Prejudice and A Dream in Red Mansions 3

2.1 Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice 3

2.2 Cao Xueqin and A Dream in Red Mansions 3

3 Comparison of Women’s Economic Status 5

3.1 Different Inheritance Right out of Law and Family in Pride and Prejudice 5

3.2 Daiyu’s Inheritance and Working Women in A Dream in Red Mansions 6

3.3 Women’s Inferior Position of Inheritance and Different Limitations 7

4 Comparison of Women’s Family Status 9

4.1 Marital Autonomy and Education Equality in Pride and Prejudice 9

4.2 Arranged Marriage and Neglect of Education in A Dream in Red Mansions 10

4.3 More Oppression for Women in A Dream in Red Mansions 10

5 Comparison of Marriage Status 13

5.1 Women’s Affiliated Position in Pride and Prejudice 13

5.2 Relationship between Women and Mothers-in-law in A Dream in Red Mansions 14

5.3 Less Liberation for Women in A Dream in Red Mansions 14

6 Conclusion 16