An Existentialist Feminist Interpretation Of The Characters In The Moonstone

Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone is acclaimed as the first and greatest English detectivenovel. This thesis investigates the characters in The Moonstone through the application ofSimone de Beauvoir’s existentialist feminism, aiming to explore the theme of feminism in thenovel.Simone de Beauvoir is one of the most important representatives of modern feminism. Inher book The Second Sex (Le Deuxième Sexe, June1949), Beauvoir makes an insightfulexistentialist explanation of women’s situation in patriarchal society:“One is not born, butrather, becomes a woman.”From the perspective of Beauvoir’s existentialist feminism, the author of this thesismakes an in-depth study of the new images of women and the subverted images of men in TheMoonstone. On the one hand, the novel’s three rebellious female characters strive forsubjectivity by challenging the role as the Other imposed on them by man and the repressivepatriarchal system. Rachel fights for her self-identity by means of challenging the patriarchalauthority, public opinion and repressive propriety. Rosanna strives for her individual existenceby transgressing the conventional male-dominated courtship, sexual act and discourse. Lucystruggles for her authentic existence by ridding herself of males. On the other hand, the novel’sthree male characters are dispossessed of male superiority and subjectivity and reduced to theOther. In the novel, Godfrey, the subverted image of a gentleman, is deprived of maleauthority and objectified by woman, which undermines man’s subject position in patriarchalsociety. Sir John, the subverted image of a husband, plays the role of the Other in his marriage,which destabilizes man’s subject status in traditional marriage. Betteredge, the subvertedimage of a father, is dispossessed of subjectivity and superiority, which destabilizes the subjectposition of the traditional father in patriarchal family. Collins’s unique characterizations in TheMoonstone challenge the patriarchy and embody his feminist consciousness.The existentialist feminist approach to reading The Moonstone provides a newperspective, which serves to enrich the study of the novel. It rectifies the fact that most criticshave misinterpreted The Moonstone as a novel embodying patriarchal ideology. Theinvestigation of feminist consciousness in the novel will inspire scholars to make furtherstudies of Collins’s literary works.