Power And Resistance ——Atheoretical Study Of Muriel Spark's Fiction The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie

Muriel Spark, a female Scottish, is an ingenious and inimitable figure among the postwar novelists, known as a Catholic satirist, a surrealistic writer, and a moral philosopher. With delicate perception, pyrotechnic wit and remarkable invention, she makes an attempt at literary works with various genres, covering a wide range of subjects. Her masterpiece, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, makes her reach the summit of her writing career.The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie reveals a series of binary opposition or contradiction such as control and resistance, devotion and falsehood, trust and doubt, support and betrayal. Its unique artistic features, special Edinburgh background, and particular thinking mode and language style of typical Scottish add to the acknowledgement of the novelist among the reading public.By applying Foucault's theory of power including power and truth, power and discourse to the study of the novel, the thesis intends to disclose the power net of interpersonal relations, the resistance against power, the interaction between control and resistance, the significance and limitation of resistance. In two groups of power-resistance relationship, Miss Brodie, the core of this interpersonal power net, plays a role of resistance and control respectively. Such a role shift makes the power net more complicated and vivid. Miss Brodie who seems to control others, is actually in resistance, as control is just a way of her resistance. Whichever method she appeals to, her resistance is doomed in failure, for individual power is always too weak in face of powerful conventions. The conclusion at which this thesis arrives, different from the previous studies, is expected to leave some revelations.The thesis falls into six parts.Besides the initial part which offers an academic introduction to Muriel Spark and the study of her literary works, the thesis provides a theoretical framework for this study in chapter one, intending to explore the novel on the basis of Foucault's theory of power.Chapter two examines how Miss Mackay, the headmistress and the representative of the power of traditional teaching, executes disciplinary power on Miss Brodie. In such an environment as a Panopticon,the disciplinary power of traditional teaching spreads the wide net to make a ubiquitous observation on the Brodie set, named after and led by Miss Brodie. Accordingly, where there is power, there is resistance. The Brodie set also fights back as a group, resulting in the failure of the headmistress's discipline at the end.The third chapter discusses from another perspective the changed position of Miss Brodie, who owes the power of control. With fascist control over all the people related to her, such as her students, her male colleagues and even religion, she demonstrates in her control another way of resistance against old conventions. And her control meets with resistance from her trusted students her beloved ones and her worshipped God, who have all betrayed her, indicating that all her efforts turn out to be failure.Chapter four gives the enlightenment after an analysis of the relationship between power and resistance, namely interaction between control and resistance and displays the significance and limitation of resistance. One in attempt to control others must encounter their resistance, but the resistance is doomed to failure in face of the powerful conventions.The conclusion reached is that people should rise up against the old conventions even if the personal power is weak in front of them. The analysis based on Foucault's power theory offers readers a new perspective in interpreting modern literature.