An Archetypal Reading Of The French Lieutenant's Woman

John Fowles's novel The French Lieutenant's Woman, is of the most studied English novels in the 20th century. With its postmodernist structure, its existentialist elements and its characterization, in particular the mysterious character Sarah, it has drawn wide international critical attention. Sarah enchants everyone, including the author, who raises a question in the novel itself, "who is Sarah? Out of what shadows does she come?" Since the author did not probe into his character's mind in his narration, Sarah remains to be an enigma in many ways: a fallen woman, a seducer, a hysteric caused by sexual repression, or a seeker of freedom? This thesis attempts to analyze the character of Sarah from the archetypal perspective, with the aim to show her existential awareness in the course of her personal development from a fallen woman in a small town to new woman in London.This thesis has five chapters. Chapter One is the introduction, stating the purpose of the research and reviewing existing literature on this novel both in China and abroad.Chapter Two presents the theoretical framework of this study, the archetypal and Jungian approach. In literary criticism, the archetypal approach attempts to find out archetypes and apply them to the interpretation and analysis of literary works so as to dig out general patterns and underlying meanings of literary works.Chapter Three and Chapter Four study Sarah in terms of the archetypes of Eve, Satan, scapegoat, and resurrection. Sarah's stay in Lyme echoes the pattern of Eve, who is a fallen woman and has strong self-consciousness. In the eyes of Lyme people, she deserves the punishment of loneliness and shame. The archetype of Satan reveals Sarah's manipulation of and guidance to Charles. After meeting Charles, Sarah finds out that he is the person who can understand and help her. She seduces Charles step by step for manipulation. Her unyieldingness and her courage to take action against social convention put her in association with Milton's Satan, who fights against his rival — God. Then Sarah's actions are identified with the archetypes of scapegoat and resurrection. What Sarah does is in great conflict with the conventions of Victorian society. Viewed as a sinful, scandalous and Satanic woman, she is dismissed by her...