重塑女性臉孔與身體形象：《奧蘿拉·李》視覺經驗的認知式解讀

Abstract

本研究探討《奧蘿拉·李》如何以獨特的方式挑戰維多利亞時期女性圖像化的美學傳統。源自於浪漫時期的靈視美學，此女性圖像化的傳統將女人的身體視為一空洞的符號，而男性所定義的圖像可以任意地強加於上。我認為在《奧蘿拉·李》中，女主角藉由觀看女性身體和臉孔的經驗挑戰了此男性主導的詮釋框架，並且幫助女主角重建對女性的理解。 我將女主角的視覺經驗定義為一種認知實踐。我採用了具身認知學和融合理論作為理解她認知實踐的框架，並用此兩種理論來分析她和另一位女性視覺互動的認知以及神經科學的基礎，並且解釋這樣的視覺經驗如何讓她重整對於女性的觀念。 藉由建立神經學基礎，我對於《奧蘿拉·李》的認知式解讀強調了此作品對女性主義論述的貢獻，也揭露了此作品在維多利亞時期社會脈絡裡的文化價值。我將證實，女主角對於同時代的性別刻板印象及父權符碼的反抗，是藉由認知的方式來完成。

This thesis explores how Aurora Leigh provides a unique way to challenge the aesthetic tradition of female iconization in the Victorian Era. Deriving from Romantic visionary aesthetics, tradition of female iconization is an artistic tendency defining women’s faces and bodies as a hallow sign, onto which male-defined images are superimposed arbitrarily. I suggest that in Aurora Leigh, the female protagonist’s experiences of watching female faces and bodies challenge this male-dominated interpretive paradigm and help rebuild her understanding of womanhood. I define the protagonist’s visual practice as a cognitive practice. To build a comprehensive framework of her cognitive practice, I adopt the approach of embodied cognition and blending theory. I will use these two methods to illuminate the cognitive and neurological basis of the protagonist’s visual experiences with another woman, and explain how the visual experiences enable her reconceptualization of womanhood. My cognitive reading of Aurora Leigh highlights its unique contribution to feminist values and discourse by establishing cognitive grounds. On the one hand, the cognitive reading of the visual practices provides solid neurological basis for the protagonist’s gazing experiences with another woman, which plays a crucial role in her development. On the other hand, the cognitive reading also offers firm neurological foundations for Aurora Leigh’s cultural significance in the social context of Victorian Era. The protagonist’s resistance to gender stereotypes and patriarchal codes of her time will be proved to be a cognitive form of female rebellion.