意絲理作品中女性的積極美德

Abstract

The thesis seeks to delineate Ann Yearsley’s idea of active virtue has been rooted in her struggle against her patroness and it is embodied in her heroines who are struggling against the patriarchal oppression and the Proper Lady ideology. The image of herself as an undaunted laborer is translated into the strong women and mothers in her poems and play. While previous scholarship focuses on Yearsley’s class struggle, the thesis argues that Yearsley joins other middle-class, pro-women writers in confronting the social expectation and limitation on women. Because of Yearsley’s social background and her personal experience, Yearsley provides a unique role model to oppressed women of all classes. The discussion of her life and her poems aims to show that her idea of active virtue mainly means to confront the oppression with confidence, to question the illegitimate power, to think and act independently, and to uphold personal liberty. This thesis first discusses poems that reveal Yearsley’s independent spirit and then discusses poems of strong women who confront patriarchal oppression and protest against the government during the political chaos in the wake of the French Revolution.