That Troubled Spirit-The Anxieties Of The Female Characters In Daniel Deronda

George Eliot and her works have often been the center of disputes among feminist critics. They cannot settle down on Eliot's attitude, as reflected in her works, towards the realization of gender equality. Their arguments can be roughly divided into two categories. In the first category, they find the fates of her heroines too discouraging, especially when compared with that of her own, she being one of the most reputed writers in her age. So they consider her work as the demonstration of her internalization of the patriarchal ideology; the other side shows more support to Eliot. Not only do they acknowledge her contribution to the development of feminism, but also try to label her as a feminist.My point of view towards this question is much different from ideas belonging to the first category and slightly different from those in the second category. In my opinion, George Eliot's works are of great significance to women's emancipation at her age and the feminist movement hereafter. And her major contribution lies in the realistic presentation of women's problems and limitations as have shown in the recapture of the anxieties of the female characters in her last novel, Daniel Deronda. But such contribution does not necessarily mean that she is a feminist. Never in her life did she claim herself a feminist. As a matter of fact, she often refused to participate in the women's emancipation movement in her time.The present thesis, excluding the introduction and the conclusion, is organized in four parts. Based on textual analysis, the first chapter centers around the presentation of the anxieties of the four selected female characters; the second chapter will be a historical study of women's condition in the mid-nineteenth century England, from which we can see how Eliot's heroines accord with the real situation; a biographical study of the author, George Eliot will be given in the third chapter and also her preference towards the realistic approach in literary works will be demonstrated; the last chapter is devoted to presenting the significance of Eliot's recapture of the female anxieties in Daniel Deronda.