• 영어어문교육
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.171-194
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• 2005

The essay attempts at a critical reading of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) in terms of character and socio-cultural change. Juxtaposing the story of Michael Henchard's career with the social and economic changes in the agricultural town, it attempts to elaborate on the complex ways in which Hardy relates the old modes of life and thinking to the material culture. Though the novel is centered on the story of Henchard, the Henchard-Farfrae clash represents the conflict of "old" and "new" modes of socio-economic organization and consciousness. The story of the rustic man of character struggling with his contradictory traits of strong will-power and emotional collapse suggests that Hardy's literary representation of the rural community and the rustic protagonist is deeply rooted in historical reality. However, while there is the interlocking of the changes in personal fate and social change, the representation is a "reinvented" literary construction with complex mediation. Despite the narrator's emphasis on Henchard's immutability, peculiarity, and resilience, his character is, in a complex, mediated way, shaped by the material conditions of English rural community in the late 19th century. The mediating role of Elizabeth-Jane as a narrative resolution embodies Hardy's ambivalent historical position concerning the period undergoing change and conflict.

• 영미문화
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.71-90
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• 2009

David Harris argues that mass media suppress counter-hegemonic factors in order to reach audience. According to Harris's theory, the success of the film "Tess" depends on its effective adaptation from Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891). Tess (1979), directed by Roman Polansky, casting Nastassia Kinski for Tess, was acclaimed as a professional and commercial success, awarded with various prizes. Hardy's aim at criticizing Victorian English social and moral standard through Tess appears obscure in Polansky's film which focuses on the aesthetics of human body and capital. Polanski's Tess with urban white beauty does not emerge victimized by poverty, which the late twentieth century audience under the capitalist umbrella may abhor. To examine his use of music, sound effect, visual images by means of camera operation—angles, distances, close-ups and frequent movements—light and color, and mythic elements in the film, show Polansky's sharp perception of his contemporary audience's desire and conscientious work upon it.

• 영미문화
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.189-213
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• 2018

This paper aims to show how Thomas Hardy overturns conventional ideas in opposition and eventually disrupts the hierarchical order of ideas in the Victorian society of Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Divided into four sections, such as feeling/reason, purity/impurity, femininity/masculinity, and death/life, it examines how these binaries are deconstructed in the heroine's tragic life journey. The heroine Tess of the book, who boldly crosses the boundaries marked by traditional society, turns her image as a fallen woman into that of divinity, erasing the boundary between evil and good. In doing so, Hardy leads the reader to question the system of established values and reveals the illegitimacy of absolute values, thence stressing what all one can grasp in this world is nothing else than an absence of a central value. The relativity of truth and the power of overturning established value systems advertised in the book have significant implications for today's readers as well as for the Victorians.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.366-382
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• 2023

Among the many novels penned by Thomas Hardy, the novel "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" came into print in 1891.In this novel, Hardy portrays Tess who was born and raised in a rural middle-class family but ends up working as a laborer, trapped in a society where she is subjugated by the men's wealth, leading a life marked by loneliness and isolation. The novel presents the status of women, moral struggles, and the challenging fate that they must overcome. It highlights the powerlessness of women living in a structurally unreasonable social environment, forced to depend on the ever-changing twists of destiny. This story delves into the complexities of love between the genders, moral conflicts, and the societal criticism that must be confronted. By utilizing the life of the young woman Tess, it underscores the struggle for existence and elucidates the roles, expectations, and constraints imposed on gender during the Victorian era. This research paper aims to compare the roles of women in the Victorian era in Britain and woman in contemporary Korean society. The Victorian era featured rigid gender norms, confining women to prescribed roles. In contrast, modern Korean society blends tradition and modernity, empowering women to play vital roles and reshape societal norms. Our research explores the interplay of tradition and change, providing a comprehensive understanding of women's evolving roles in both historical and contemporary contexts. We will present our discussions regarding the enduring roles that women have faced in both periods. Furthermore, we aim to highlight the distinctive roles women are called upon to play while dealing with the swift transformations in contemporary Korean society, recognizing them as essential agents in the agents in advancing Korean society.