Abstract

John Fowles (1926-2005) is generally regarded as one of the most influential British novelists in the twentieth century. Fowles produced a lot of works, which have been translated into various languages. The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969) is by far Fowles' s most successful novel and it has gained an extensive popularity among readers since its publication. The French Lieutenant's Woman succeeds in providing a panorama of the Victorian Age, which mirrors many social reforms of Victorian England, such as the great changes in social structure and the beginning of the women’ s liberation. The main character Sarah Woodruff in this novel is a woman with intelligence and independence ahead of her time. She fights against the social moral to achieve her female identity and freedom, and finally she successfully becomes a thoughtful, free and independent new woman. 

The thesis is mainly divided into four chapters. Chapter One is the brief introduction of John Fowles and The French Lieutenant’ s Woman, literature review, framework and the layout of the thesis, as well a brief introduction to feminist literary criticism which is the basis of this thesis. Chapter Two analyzes the Victorian society and the society’ s influence on Sarah Woodruff. Chapter Three illustrates Sarah Woodruff as a representative of feminism from two aspects: Sarah woodruff’ s resistance and independence. Chapter Four comes to a conclusion that Sarah is an outstanding new woman and a successful feminism fighter in that old age.

  Key Words: feminism, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Sarah Woodruff, John Fowels

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Chapter 1 Introduction-1

1.1 John Fowles and The French Lieutenant’ s Woman-1

1.2 Literature Review-3

1.3 Theoretical Framework-3

1.4 The Layout of The Thesis-5

Chapter 2 Sarah’ s Formation of Feminist Consciousness-7

2.1 The Victorian Society-7

2.2 The Society’ s Influence on Sarah-8

Chapter 3 Sarah as a Representative of Feminism-11

3.1 Sarah’ s Resistance-11

3.2 Sarah’ s Independence-13

Chapter 4 Conclusion-16

References-18