安．勃朗特的經濟寫實:《艾格妮絲．格雷》與《懷德菲爾莊園的房客》中女性成長和信用社會

Abstract

本論文旨在探討安．勃朗特(Anne Brontë)小說中的經濟寫實。安．勃朗特研究的興起是受女性主義影響，而本文即可反映此思潮。本論文所研究的文本為安．勃朗特的兩本小說：《艾格妮絲．格雷》(Agnes Grey) 與《懷德菲爾莊園的房客》(The Tenant of Wildfell Hall)。安．勃朗特於此兩部作品中探究十九世紀年輕女性經濟受限的困境，以反思她對該時代女性議題的關心。本文針對十九世紀的信用經濟社會脈絡，詮釋此兩本小說。本文嘗試提出「女性經濟成長」一詞，作為架構，藉以評估小說女性主角的成長，明確指出女性在信用經濟事務中不同階段的發展。透過安．勃朗特時代的寫實經濟脈絡框架分析文本，得以看到加諸小說女性角色的各種桎梏。另外，運用信用經濟體系的要素，女性角色所建立的信用行為得以呈現。安．勃朗特在第一本小說《艾格妮絲．格雷》中描述女主角雖察覺自身受困於經濟，卻沒有運用信用經濟以獲得經濟獨立成長。於第二本小說《懷德菲爾莊園的房客》中，女主角原先雖遭受丈夫的經濟壓迫，卻激發她邁向經濟成長的過程。她最終學會十九世紀社會的信用建立方法，享受穩定的生活。當將兩本小說按年份依序閱讀時，更能突顯安．勃朗特的寫實手法與她有層次的描繪下，女性主角的經濟成長。

In response to the feminist renewal of scholarly interests in Anne Brontë, this thesis investigates the issue of economic realism in Anne Brontë’s writing on nineteenth-century women. The texts examined in this thesis include Agnes Grey (1847) and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848). Both novels are Brontë’s inquiry into the plight of young nineteenth-century women suffering a restricted life. For analyzing Brontë’s exploration of realistic economic situations for women in these two texts, this thesis presents an interpretive method incorporating the nineteenth-century credit economy context. Based on the credit system of that era and the Bildungsroman tradition, I venture the term “female economic Bildung,” which frameworks the growth of the female protagonists to identify the varying stages of their credit economic development. This framework accentuates the realistic social ideology and institutions in Brontë’s era which imposed limitations on the female characters. Also, utilizing the concept “female economic Bildung,” the female characters’ credit establishment behaviors could be evaluated. Aided by this approach, I argue that Brontë in Agnes Grey first depicts the life of female protagonists Agnes and Rosalie, who are aware of the economic limitations yet fail to utilize the credit economy and achieve economic Bildung. I then argue that the female protagonist Helen in the second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, initially suffers from her husband’s economic oppression. Fortunately, she eventually acquires the credit establishment methods in the nineteenth-century society. By situating the two novels chronologically for literary interpretation with the credit context, I am able to highlight Anne Brontë’s realistic and layered portrayal of female development in the nineteenth century.