Subversion,Containment And Negotiation: A New Historicist Reading Of The Prime Minister

The Prime Minister is the second in the series of novels known as Chronicles of Palliser,written by the Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope.In this series of novels,the author shows readers the social situation in the mid-Victorian Age with keen insight and delicate brushstrokes,and reflects the social system as well as the living conditions of British people under this social system.His masterpiece,The Prime Minister,reveals multiple themes related to social,politics,gender,family and so on.Although some scholars at home and abroad have analyzed the novel from different perspectives,they have all concentrated on Trollope's ethical and moral views and political views.In order to further explore the literary value and social significance of the novel,this thesis uses Stephen Greenblatt's new historicism to interpret and analyze the novel from different angles.This thesis uses the three major functions of literature under the New Historicism theory: subversion,containment and negotiation to explore the relationship among the writer,text and social context in Victorian era by analyzing the female characters in the novel.New Historicism emphasizes the subject's motile ability and thinks that the writer works as a negotiator in the process of literary creation and realizes his negotiation through literary works.This function is realized in the dynamic relationship between subversion and containment.The subversion function in the novel is mainly realized through a series of rebellious behaviors to patriarchy by Mrs.Emily and Lady Glencora and realized the patriarchy containment function from their rebellion to the final integration.Therefore,while the novel is full of subversive elements,it also reflects the containment force,thus realizing the negotiation function of New Historicism.New Historicism believes that when a writer creates his novels,he shapes his characters through negotiations with politics,poetics and ideology in social networks.He is not only dynamic in negotiation with historical context but also submissive to historical context.The female characters in the novel are not the product of Trollope's individual will,but a balanced and compromised product of joint powers.They are the products of cultural situation,at the same time they can exert influence upon social powers and leave their traces in social discourse.Following the ideas of subversion,containment and negotiation,this thesis analyzes how women groups try to get rid of the control of patriarchal culture.They try to subvert the patriarchal rules,meanwhile they are usually contained in mainstream culture.Through the record of the life journey of Emily and Lady Glencora who live in the patriarchy society,this novel reveals Trollope's inner conflict as a male writer and reflects the complexity of individuals and society.By looking at the relationship between women and social ideology in the nineteenth century from the New Historicist perspective,this thesis sheds new light on the deep social and historical connotation of the novel.