The Camellia Swinging in the Storm-- A View on Awakening of Women's Self-consciousness in the East and West from the Comparison between the Tragic Fate of Marguerite and Chen Bailu
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DOI: 10.25236/icclah.18.066
Corresponding Author
Yueying Yao
Abstract
In the novel Camellias (La Dame aux Camélias), the French writer Alexandre Dumas tells us about the lingering love story of the party girl Marguerite. Margaret is a typical woman at the bottom of the emancipating society in the developed period of French capitalism. She has produced a weak awakening and resistance for love in order to change her tragic fate. This is the patriarchal rule and the awakening of women's own consciousness, which is the inevitable result of the conflict. Since the twentieth century, especially since the May Fourth Movement, China's own social system has undergone tremendous changes. At the same time, under the influence of Western feminist consciousness, Chinese female literature has finally broken away from the shackles of male standardism and has achieved fundamental development. The drama Sunrise by Chinese dramatist Cao Yu shows the awakening of female consciousness by telling us about the tragic life of social white Chen Bailu. This paper will explore the awakening of women's consciousness in the East and West through the comparison of Marguerite and Chen Bailu.
Keywords
Alexandre Dumas, Cao Yu, Marguerite, Chen Bailu, Feminism, Comparison