Tragic Fates of Pan Jinlian and Mrs Bertilak Under the Fetter of Feudal System

解倩

Abstract： As two representatives of women living during the period of feudalism， Pan Jinlian and Mrs. Bertilak come from different social classes and they have different personal experiences. However， the two of them share the same pursuit of free love and both of them take active actions， trying to change their lives. But their efforts end up with tragedy under the fetter of feudal system. The tragic fates of Pan Jinlian and Mrs. Bertilak under the fetter of feudal system reflect vividly the negative influence of feudal system on the fates of women.

Key words： Pan Jinlian Mrs.Bertilak feudal system fetter tragic fate

After reading Water Margin and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight， readers may find that two characters in these two works share the same enthusiasm towards free love but both end in tragic fates. The two of them are Pan Jinlian and Mrs. Bertilak. To further explore the reasons for their tragic fates， the societies in which they live cannot be neglected. The thesis discusses that it is the feudal system that shackles the two of them from various aspects and finally leads to their tragic fates.

Ⅰ.Pan Jinlians Tragic Fate Under the Fetter of Chinese Feudal System

Pan Jinlian is a Chinese lower-class woman who lives in the Song Dynasty. Forced to marry with Wu the Elder， she is not satisfied with the marriage and try her best to pursue free love boldly. She firstly tries her best to seduce Wu Song， but in vain. Then she has love affairs with Xi Menqing and manages to poison her husband. In the end， the poor woman is killed cruelly by Wu Song.

China is a country once well-known for its persecution to women. Under the fetter of Chinese feudal system， millions of Chinese women end up with tragedy. In the Chinese patriarchal society， partly due to the negative influence of Confucius and Mencius， the social status of Chinese women is much lower than that of men and they enjoy much fewer rights than men， with very few of them resist against the unfair treatment. The life of feudal Chinese women is not a happy one， with the responsibilities and obligations unequal to each other.

This largely contributes to Pan Jinlians tragic life. Step by step， as an untraditional feudal Chinese woman， Pan Jinlians pursuit of free love is put an end by the Chinese feudal system. However， if Pan Jinlian lived in modern Chinese society， maybe things would be quite different， which worth thinking.

Ⅱ. Mrs. Bertilaks Tragic Fate Under the Fetter of European Feudal System

Mrs. Bertilak is the hostess of an ancient European castle. Compared with her counterpart in China， she with no doubt enjoys more rights in the marriage. But she only plays a secondary role， as some kind of property to her husband. Mrs. Bertilaks pursuit of free love is doomed to fail. Sir Gawain shows his admiration to her at the first sight. However， such admiration is only the normal feelings of a knight to his hostess. It is only a kind of spiritual affections， having nothing to do with secular love.

As for the tragic fate of Mrs. Bertilak， following factors of European feudal system are concerned： women view of the church， the worship of the Virgin Mary and women view of the knightly love. On the one hand， Mrs. Bertilak is a noble lady of real beauty and pride with relatively high social status； on the other hand， her failure in pursuit of free love shows that women are still not equal to men. Both the worship of Virgin Mary and the women view of the church play a significant part in the refusal of Sir Gawain. Although Mrs. Bertilak enjoys a relatively high social status， she is in fact one of the belongings of her husband.

By analyzing the tragic fates of Pan Jinlian and Mrs. Bertilak， what can be concluded is that women are doomed to live unhappily and unequally as long as they are under the fetter of feudal system. In such patriarchal societies， women are thought to be inferior to men and they are forced to obey the social rules that are extremely unfair to them. The nature of Chinese and west European feudal systems remain the same in spite of their different geographical locations and customs. So is their oppression of women.

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（責編 田彩霞）