Abstract:Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), was a great English novelist and poet in the 19th century and he was also a typical critical realist. Tess of the D’Urbervillies is Thomas Hardy’s masterpiece and this novel involves Hardy’s ecofeminist consciousness.

Ecofeminism was first put forward by a French feminist, Francoise d’Eaubonne, in 1974. The term is skillfully employed by Thomas Hardy in his writing. This thesis tries to interpret the novel from the ecofeminist perspective, so to explain Hardy’s individual understanding on the relationship between women and nature. It also tries to express that in the patriarchal society, women and nature both exist as Others. They both suffer from the oppression of the patriarchal society. At the same time, this thesis mainly interprets the root of women’s tragic fate and attempts to awake human’s ecological consciousness and the consciousness of gender equality, so as to finally build a society that men and women have equal rights and human and nature can exist harmoniously.

Keywords:  Tess of the D’Urbervillies  Thomas Hardy  ecofeminism

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 A Brief introduction to Thomas Hardy and Tess of the D’Urbervilles-1

1.2 Recent Studies of Tess of the D’Urbervilles-2

1.3 The Composition of the Thesis-2

Chapter Two Ecofeminism and Hardy’s Ecofeminist Consciousness-4

2.1 Definition of Ecofeminism-4

2.2 Features of Ecofeminism-4

2.3 Hardy’s Ecofeminist Consciousness-5

Chapter Three An Ecofeminist Interpretation of Tess’s Tragedy-6

3.1 Daughter of Nature-6

3.1.1 Tess’s Consistency with the Scenes of Nature-6

3.1.2 Tess’s Consistency with Seasonal Changes of Nature-6

3.2 Victim of the Ruthless Society-7

3.2.1 Domination of the Patriarchal Society-7

3.2.2 Oppression of Capitalist Industrial Civilization-8

Chapter Four The Awakening of Women’s Consciousness-10

4.1 The Fight for the Equal Rights between Men and Women-10

4.2 The Pursuit of Harmonious Relationship between Human and Nature-11

Chapter Five Conclusion-13

References-14