This article will comment on two women from different countries: one is Hester Prynne, the heroine portrayed by the American romantic writer Nathaniso Hawthorne (1804-1864) in his "The Scarlet Letter". One is the heroine Elina, whom the Russian realist writer Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818-1883) extols in his "The Eve". The former was a poor British immigrant living in the continental United States in the 1850s, and the latter was a Russian-born and aristocratic lady in the 1860s. They have different backgrounds in different regions, but in the journey of striving for human freedom, defending the dignity of the personality, and developing the autonomy of marriage, they all showed their tenacity and fortitude with the ultimate strength.
A feeling, once loaded with thoughts and ideas, will become more staunch, brave, and indomitable. Hawthorne's Hester Prynne was originally a pure and quiet village girl. When she realized that her free choice was in line with her ideal, and this ideal needed her own strength to maintain, she became abnormal. Courageous and persistent. She is a woman of "slender stature, complete and graceful to a grandiose level". Fate drove her to marry Chillingwoth, a deformed, hypocritical and ruthless warlock. Bai Lan did not obey this arrangement of fate. Following her will, she fell in love with youth pastor Dimmesdale. In order to defend the love she chose, she did not turn to the consolation of possible reality, did not succumb to the coercion of worldly rationality, and was single-handedly accused of adultery, and endured the scolding of the world with astonishing courage. In order to defend the freedom of individuality and the dignity of personality, she lived in isolation and lived in poverty. She knew that the road she was going to take was bumpy, twisty, and boundless, but she gritted her teeth and insisted. Prynne does not take refuge in Chillingworth, the "approachable" who has returned, nor does she leave the "unapproachable" lover Dimmesdale. Her love is not emotional, not a whim. Her love is thoughtful, self-determined, firm and powerful. Even though Dimmesdale died and their daughter Pearl had grown up and settled in a foreign land, Prynne still returned to the place where she knew, fell in love, and fell in love, and lived a strong life. Her beloved Dimmesdale once sighed: "A woman's sincerity has amazing power!" Yes, Bai Lan's sincerity has forged her iron will. She does not shy away from the marks on her body. With her unique fire of heart, she ignites the A word symbolizing shame on her chest, and burns the dead branches and leaves on her way forward. On this road, she smears blood one step at a time. Advance against the wind, torment yourself, and warm others.
Hawthorne uses a gradual method to make Bai Lan step by step from ignorance to knowledge, from cowardly to strong, and slowly stands in front of the reader. On the other hand, Turgenev put Yelina in a special space environment, and sublimated her character through Yelina's feelings about the surroundings and refraction. The small environment in which Ye Lina lives is closely connected with the larger environment of the times. Yelina's love is the love of the times, Yelina's hate is the hate of the times, and Yelina's wish is the wish of the times. She hated feudal patriarchy, she hated patriarchal tyranny. When she was a teenager, her parents' disharmony made her form an independent personality. The death of her beggar friend, little Katya, instilled in her a compassion for the poor. "The poor, the hungry, the sick make her yearn, disturb her, trouble her". By the age of 20, as her consciousness matured, she looked forward to "a soul who could understand her, who could echo her divine feelings, help her, and teach her what to do." However, all those who broke into her youthful grass garden were a group of vulgar people. From her point of view, Subin was spoiled, laziness stifled talent, remorse led to self-contempt, self-contempt turned into arrogance, she could talk big but couldn't do big things, in short, "there is nothing lasting and reliable". Bolsenev has some knowledge, but is short-sighted and cowardly. Yelina yearns for "a person who has a set goal, can never return, and can lead others to struggle together." So she fell in love with Inshalov, a poor civilian college student in Bulgaria. Parents, family, and those in her camp were firmly opposed to the mismatched marriage. However, the incredibleness of the world shows Ye Linna's uniqueness and foresight. Ignoring the obstacles of feudal morality and family rules, she ran to Insharov's lodging alone. Listen to their last eloquent conversation - Yingsharov: "Then, you will follow me to anywhere?" Elina: "Anywhere, the horizon, the end of the earth! You go there, I Elina go Where."... Yingsharov: "You know that I have dedicated myself to that arduous and thankless cause, I..., we not only have to go through danger, but maybe also endure deprivation, humiliation?" Yelina: "I I know, I know, I know everything,...I love you!"
If Hester Prynne, in defending his beloved, showed that kind of female-specific softness on the outside and firmness on the inside. Then Yelena, when she knew that the Insharov she loved was engaged in a great cause of eradicating evil for the society, when she understood that the one she loved was a man who "devotes himself to hard work without being grateful" people time. Her love has become a rock in the ocean that stands above the sea, with a deep foundation, and will never move even under the wind and waves; it will become a raging fire, burning all the people inside and outside who dare to stop her pursuit. The fence of true love. She took the initiative to express her wishes to the person she pursued. For her true love, she secretly married Insharov; for her true love, she would rather lose her huge inheritance rights and go to a foreign country with the impoverished Insharov. Even when Insharov died tragically and her mother wrote to let her go home, she resolutely chose to stay in her husband's home country to continue her husband's legacy.
From ancient times to today, how many people have been deceiving themselves and others all their lives: they love people they don't love, listen to what they don't want to hear, and do things they don't want to do. The main reason why Hester Prynne a hundred years ago has been praised from generation to generation is that she was a different kind of person. She doesn't lie to herself or others, she loves the person she wants to love, and she does what she wants to do. She started out as a woman under the oppression of husband, religious, and political power. The cruel situation made her see the truth of the society. She uses her intuition to observe and identify everything around her. She stays true to her feelings and keeps her true to herself. When she can't feel the truth in her discordant marriage to Chillingworth. She doesn't want to pretend, she doesn't want to deceive herself; she doesn't play tricks, she doesn't want to be in the same bed; she hates the life of duplicity, and she hates love without true love. She considers it a desecration of divine love to trudge through the marital quagmire that dries up love. So she betrayed, she fought. She uses her conscience to measure her behavior, and she doesn't care whether it is a sin or a fault. She dares to love, dare to hate, dare to affirm "self-desire". She is not willing to stand on this side and look at the freedom of the other side. She is willing to enter the difficult journey and attack the other side of freedom. In her day, the spirits and minds of those who watched her march were distorted by the shackles of Puritan canon. People watched helplessly as she struggled but remained indifferent, and she endured this merciless and cruel torture. However, she loved Maysdale, she hated Chillingworth—the core of her spirit, the beginning and end of her life. To this end, she consciously carried out the emotional cleansing and the painful tempering of soul casting, she bypassed the "confession furnace" of the Puritans and went straight to the top of freedom in life. She firmly believes that self-esteem is the only weapon to maintain personality, and the dignity of personality makes her condescending and fearless. Bai Lan clearly distinguishes between good and evil with her own unique eyes. She was clearing the way forward for herself and others, and she finally "became a free man". Her independent thinking is becoming more and more mature, and her autonomous actions are becoming more and more clear.
Sometimes, the goal of life is not achieved and the historical expectations are not realized. It is not all because of the wrong goal and the wrong expectation. In many things, it is due to the lack of perseverance of the pursuer. Heroes who have been affirmed in literary and artistic works and in real life in the past often sacrificed their lives. In fact, in reality, when a person pursues a goal and suffers that kind of momentary pain, it is often too late to appreciate the intensity of the pain; on the contrary, it is the continuous torture that lasts for a long time. split lung. Through Chapter 23 of "The Scarlet Letter", "The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter", we can see how a long-lasting pain buried under the volcano turned into a hot and scorching lava intertwined with remorse and love, which erupted through the priest's mouth. come out.
We can say that Hester Prynne is a sleeper on the road of women's liberation, lying there silently, propping up the cold rail with her breast, and making the road go forward section by section; then As for Elina lying in front of Bai Lan, we should say that she is not only a sleeper, but also a signpost that guides the historical train. She not only worked hard for women's rights, but also contributed to the liberation of women and even the liberation of mankind. Elina's time was a time of turbulent times in Russia. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the country was turbulent, the peasant uprisings increased sharply, the social atmosphere was tense, and the crisis was imminent. Russia is on the "eve" of great change. The agricultural rights system is in jeopardy, calls for change keep coming, and forces of various factions are colliding with each other. The revolutionary character of the nobility gradually disappeared, and the initiative of the revolution was gradually transferred to the hands of the civilian intellectuals. Wonderful yearning and empty theories can no longer constrain the current situation and guide the progress of history. The times need newcomers who dare to act, and at this critical moment, Turgenev introduced Yelena and Yingsharov as representatives of the newcomers.
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