The Evolution Of Female Consciousness

Agatha Christie is honored as "The First Lady of Mystery". She opened up one golden age of detective fiction. Her fictions receive world-wide detective fans and are especially popular among female readers. In the history of detective fiction, males dominated the field. Females in their works are fewer in number and distorted in portrayal. Agatha Christie challenged the tradition. She depicted female images from a female’s perspective. Under the influence of a series of feminist movements and her personal experiences, she created new female images from these in males’works. In her first period of literary creation, she was under the influence of the male-dominated society and detective predecessors and she imitated more. However, on the basis of these predecessors, she made a certain innovation. Her female consciousness began to bud. Then, she created more female images and female criminals occupied a large part. The frequent appearance of intellectual females who dared to challenge the society hinted Agatha’s good wish for females’pursuit of economic independence, struggling from social and family bondage to go for happiness. More females’images also indicated Agatha’s growing female consciousness. In the mid-late period, she created the first female detective which presented readers an independent, intelligent and fresh female image. The first female detective expressed Agatha’s already mature female consciousness.The thesis analyzes these female images in Agatha’s detective fiction under the instruction of feminist theory. Through the analysis, the thesis intends to draw out an evolutional line of the writer’s female consciousness. The three stages also correspond with Showalter’s notion on female literary writing:feminine period which is mainly an imitation, feminist period which is protest, and finally female period which is self-discovery. In domestic research, there are not many comprehensive studies on Agatha’s females from the perspective of feminist theory and no data on the evolution of Agatha’s female consciousness. So, the thesis has its significance.The thesis is made up of three main parts:the introduction part, the main body and the conclusion part. The introduction part is about Agatha and her literary achievements, a brief introduction of detective fiction and researches of Agatha home and abroad. The main body discussed Agatha’s female consciousness from the budding stage, growing stage to the mature stage. The main body has three parts and discusses Agatha’s female consciousness from analyzing different female images:the first part analyzes the traits of the angel and monster image in traditional males’ works and then analyzes them in Agatha’s works. Thus, the thesis points out the innovational portrayal and new meanings of these images. The second part talks about female criminals. Compared with the subsidiary and passive roles in traditional males’works, Agatha gives female criminals equal intelligence and ability. The third part focuses on the female detective—Miss Marple. Combined with the fictions, the thesis interprets Miss Marple’s womanliness and unique way of detection which are different from male detectives. The thesis also pointed out the significance of Agatha’s portraying the female detective.The paper makes a conclusion through interpretation of female images in three chapters, thus get the process of Agatha’s evolution of female consciousness. In the conclusion part, the thesis explains reasons and causes for the evolution of Agatha’s female consciousness. Thus, readers get to know a more real female writer as well as colorful female images in her works. After knowing these, readers can also understand better of feminist movements and theory, and the study may be some enlightments to some females in modern society.