3.1.4 Existence of Men’s Adoration to Women 8

3.2 Differences in Feminist Consciousness 9

3.2.1 Difference in the Characters’ Personalities 9

3.2.2 Difference in Personal Views of Marriage 9

3.3 The Roots of Feminist Differences 10

3.3.1 Different Social Backgrounds 10

3.3.2 Different Mindsets of the Authors 10

4 Conclusion 11

References 13

A Comparative Feminist Study between Pride and Prejudice and A Dream of Red Mansions  

1 Introduction

1.1 An Introduction to Cao Xueqin and A Dream of Red Mansions

A Dream of Red Mansions was a great Chinese novel. It took the vicissitude of the Jia family, the Shi family, the Wang family and the Xue family as the background. It laid emphasis on the tragic love story between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu. Cao Xueqin's real intention of creating A dream of Red Mansions was to defend the rights of Chinese women, and to speak up for their unfair treatments. Through the shaping the female characters, he expressed his value orientation to a new generation of women. They dared to break the shackles of feudal ethics and express their strong confidence, initiative, independent consciousness, firm and indomitable will in the patriarchal society.

1.2 An Introduction to Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice

After males had dominated the literary world for a long time, many female novelists sprung up in the nineteenth century. Jane Austen was one of them. In the history of English literature, she was one of the earliest writers who embodied the feminine consciousness in her works. Her masterpiece Pride and Prejudice was regarded as the embodiment of feminism at that time. Pride and Prejudice was a novel about women's love and marriage. Jan Austen showed some females’ characteristics and destinies to the readers with her own unique female insight in the book, such as those of Elizabeth, Charlotte Lucas and Jane.

1.3 An Introduction to Feminism

In the 1960s, France took the lead in launching a vigorous feminist movement. Then this movement swept the Anglo-American countries and spread to China. Seeking equal social status and political power were the whole connotation of feminism. This was a behavior of rebelling against the oppression of the patriarchal society. Patriarchal culture established strict hierarchal norms and patterns. Women in the patriarchal society had no status and dignity. The feminist movement was to resist this unfair treatment. Innocent women suffered from injustice of the reality. The movement brought order out of chaos. Women separated themselves from patriarchy. They sought for their own life-style and obtained equal rights with men. The key point of feminism was type, but they enjoyed the same human rights as men.