艾德娜·庞特里昂注定的悲剧——双性同体视角下的《觉醒》解读.pdfVIP

Abstract The American female writer Kate Chopin is well known for her exposure of the suffocating living conditions of middle class women in the traditional patriarchal society. The Awakening is her masterpiece and can mostly express such deep concern. Although trying her best to pursue independence and to establish her self-autonomy, Edna Pontellier, the heroine of the novel who has developed androgynous traits, still fails in the end by committing suicide. As Chopin’s most crucial work, The Awakening has aroused great interest among critics. Compared with other interpretative angles, a few scholars have appreciated the novel from the androgynous perspective. Among those researches, nearly all critics think highly of Edna’s androgyny. Few scholars notice the negative side of Edna’s androgyny and the consequence it has caused. Androgyny is the combination of masculinity and femininity within one person. This thesis is designed to reveal Edna’s tragedy from the perspective of androgyny. The thesis has designed three essential questions to expose Edna ’s tragedy from the angle of androgyny: What is the problem of Edna’s androgyny? What has caused Edna’s androgyny problematic? How does the problematic androgyny affect Edna and bring her tragedy? Based on the theory of androgyny, the thesis firstly points out two lethal flaws of Edna’s androgyny by analyzing Edna’s masculinity and femininity. The predominant oppression of one gender trait over the other makes Edna’s masculinity and femininity hardly coordinate. The development of passive feminine traits further deteriorates Edna’s androgyny. Secondly, the thesis probes into causes of Edna’s problematic androgyny through an examination of Edna’s positive femininity， her blind love with Robert and her masculin