[Abstract] This paper attempts to explore the novel The Thor(7)

4. Tracing back to Western women’s faith
As many other countries, before the campaign of Women’s right in 1830s, the history of Western countries were always ruled by men, whose concepts and authority absolutely dominated the society and the people of the time, so did the history in the western countries. In English language, great and marvelous works, especially novels, always emerged in an endless stream. However, almost all works were written by men, and they did describe some heroines in their works. But in English female writer Virginia Woolf’s opinion, “most of them virtually knew little about women, creating their heroines just with men’s views and imagination, and few of them paid attention to what the women really needed and wanted.”[23] Then more and more great female writers began to emerge in England during the second half of the 18th century, and most of them chose to write distinguished novels to express women’s true feelings, which meant the independent feminism was emerging on the horizon. They placed all their hopes on their heroines, who were filled with the writers’ senses and desires. “But some gifted women of the 19th century made such contributions to the development of the English novels that they have justifiably won their places in the front ranks of the brilliant realists”[24]. Yet what was more significant was that the women novelists had their heroines call for equal rights with men and men’s respect to women and women’s belief. They made men conscious of women’s existence and changed their former attitudes to women; they made other women overcome the difficulties and hold firmly to their faith. These remarkable women novelists include Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and George Eliot.
In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth, the key heroine of the novel, is born in a common middle class without plentiful dowry, which is difficult for her to marry a gentleman. However, her easy, unaffected personality and lively talents make the noble gentleman—Darcy fall in love with her soon. But because of Darcy’s pride, her self-esteem cannot allow her to accept his proposal. She senses that “His sense of her inferiority—of its being a degradation—of the family obstacles which judgment had always opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to the consequence he was wounding, but was very unlikely to recommend his suit.”[25] The lesson she teaches Darcy shows that the true love shall not be profaned by any additional requirements. But once she finds her wishful love, nothing can threaten her to give it up, in spite of the pressure of social decorum, nay and interest. When Darcy’s aunt tries to persuade Elizabeth not to marry him, she does not defer and says,