A Study On The Female Characters In Forster's Novels

Edward Morgan Forster(E.M.Forster,1879-1970)is a well-known novelist and literary theorist in the history of British literature,and is equally famous with Virginia Woolf,Lawrence and Joyce.From many aspects,Forster conducted in-depth researches on the living conditions and the mental state of the middle class under the background of British industrialization.He devoted his entire life to the study of the relationship between people,and tried to find a way of "connection" to save “the undeveloped heart” of the British.Although only six novels have been written in his life,the profound thoughts of his works are memorable and beneficial.Forster created a large number of vivid female characters in his novels.They appeared in different ways,conveying Forster's concept of "connection".However most of the studies on the female characters in Forster's novels focus on individual characters,there is still room for the overall research.Based on the different attitudes of the female characters to the mainstream values of male-domination,colonialism and hierarchy at that time,this article will describe the four categories of main female characters in Forster's novels A Room with A View,Where Angels Fear to Tread,Howard Ends and A Passage to India.This dissertation is divided into five parts:The introduction part simply presents Forster and his works,and makes a brief analysis on the research status of Forster's works at home and abroad over the past ten years.Then it puts forward the innovation,methods and purposes of this thesis.In the first chapter,the background of the shaping of the female characters in Forster's novels will be discussed in two aspects.Firstly,it briefly expounds the survival plight of women in the context of male-domination and the development of Feminism in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries.Secondly,combined with Forster's personal experiences,it explains the emotional foundation of the shaping of the female characters.The second chapter focuses on the analysis of the female characters in Forster's novels.As mothers,female relatives,daughters and female elders in middle class families,the women in Forster's works correspond to the four categories of social roles of rulers,subordinates,rebels,and transcendental females.This chapter starts with the meticulous explanations of the women' s family roles and social roles,and discusses the distinctive personality identities' features of the four types of female characters of the clenched women in male-dominated society,the wandering women in male-dominated society,the rebellious women in male-dominated society,and the transcendental women in male-dominated society.The third chapter illustrates the value of the shaping of the female characters in Forster's Novels.First of all,it affirms that Forster broke the stereotypical writing patterns of female characters.He fully reappeared the women who were “watched” and the women who was “watching”,and enriched the female image album.Secondly,it affirms the aesthetic value which was contained in his works,by analyzing the artistic characteristics of the symbolization of the story space,the musicalization of the story rhythm and the family-oriented characteristics of the relationships in the process of the modeling of the female characters.The conclusion part firstly puts Forster into the literary creation of the entire era,summarizes the characteristics of the shaping of female characters in his works and affirms his important value.Afterwards,by analyzing the obstacles encountered by females in the process of rebelling against the society,this part points out that due to the strong and stubborn social ideology,Forster's exploration of “connection” and the self-realization of women were proceeding in twists and turns.