A Reading Of The Transmutation Of Patriarchal Culture In The Dark Flower From The Perspective Of Gaze

John Galsworthy (1867-1933) is one of the distinguished realistic writers in England,who was honored the Nobel Prize for Literature in1932by virtue of The Forsyte Saga, aseries of family novel. The Dark Flower is an important work written by Galsworthy beforeWorld WarⅠ. Taking the clue of time from “Spring” to “Summer” and then to “Autumn”, thenovel tells three periods of distorted love experiences in the transformation of times. With itsplot spanning from1880to the middle of Edwardian age, the novel represents the historicalcontext and cultural characteristics in the transitional England.“Gaze”, as a key concept in the visual culture studies, refers to a way of seeing whichcarries power operation or desire ravel. Sartre, Lacan, Foucault and feminist Laura Mulveyhave paid attention to the hidden power operation and subject construction mechanism in itfrom different perspectives. Sartre and Lacan mainly explore the relationship between “gaze”and subjectivity. They point out that the individual identity is not always stable during theprocess of gaze. It often transforms from being gazed to gazing and then to interior gaze.However, Foucault focuses on the power’s permeation in ways of seeing. Mulvey extends thegaze theory into the field of feminism. As far as she is concerned, male gaze is an obviousrepresentation in the patriarchal society and patriarchal culture has become a social premiseof the oppression and discrimination on women. Therefore, the criticism of gaze has becomea sharp weapon for more and more cultural critics to fight against the patriarchal centralism.By combining the gaze theory and patriarchal culture, with the hero’s transformation ofidentity in gaze as the penetrating point, this thesis aims to interpret the transmutation ofpatriarchal culture in The Dark Flower from three phases as “delusion”,“construction” and“decline”, hence the representation of its characteristics during the social transformation. Tobegin with, a literature review and a brief introduction to the gaze theory are given. Then, thisthesis firstly is devoted to the analysis of delusion of patriarchal culture. Lennan in “Spring”,nineteen years old, is one of the few humanistic intellectuals in the Victorian era. He pursuesliberty and equality, but inevitably enslaved by the gaze field in the patriarchal society,degrading into the puppet of patriarchy eventually. Afterwards, this thesis focuses onconstruction of patriarchal culture. When Lennan is twenty-six in “Summer”, after his enslavement, he interferes in Olive’s marriage and realizes the role of conqueror in gaze byplanning an elopement with her, yet at the price of her death, which alludes to Galsworthy’sserious indictment of patriarchal culture. At last, this thesis is concerned with decline ofpatriarchal culture. In “Autumn”, Lennan is forty-seven and gets married as well. However,the inner desire emerges again and leads him to an extramarital relationship. Faced with hiswife Sylvia’s bravery and firmness, he is trapped in a moral dilemma. In the end, he choosesto revert to the family, by which he earns the self-redemption during the process of interiorgaze. On the basis of the above analysis, the conclusion indicates that through therepresentation of typical social and cultural conditions in the transformational England,Galsworthy expresses his criticism and reflection of the residue of patriarchal culture left overby Victorian era. Otherwise, his portray of the transmutation implies his expectation andconfidence in a new better moral order.