Freedoms In The French Lieutenant's Woman

Based on the previous studies, this thesis discusses the problem of freedom in The French Lieutenant's Woman from different perspectives. As far as I am concerned, none of the characters in The French Lieutenant's Woman has got real freedom. They may own a kind of relative freedom by substituting freedom with other values, but the unconditional absolute freedom is beyond their reach. The real freedom cannot be substituted by anything and lies in the individual's understanding of both outside circumstances and the inner world. In fact, 'freedom', which is usually mistaken for other values, has become an overloaded concept, but the understanding of freedom in the novel still depends on other concepts, such as religious belief, morality, social progress, identity, and so on. Or we can say it is a pity that freedom, as a concept, is itself not free at all—it cannot be separated but always related to other notions.First, a great number of readers believe the novel is an embodiment of existentialist ideas, but the novel cannot narrowly be interpreted from the existentialist point of view. There is obviously more than one freedom on the table in the novel, and the existential freedom should not be interpreted only as 'free choice' and 'inevitable responsibility' but be regarded as a kind of subjective truth. Second, religion explains the unintelligible world we live in to some extent, so it can give the mass of mankind a sense of security and permanence, which in turn induces a kind of freedom. However, the hypocrisy of religion and the following rigid conventions in the Victorian era actually restricts the freedom of individuals by denying their own judgments and values. Third, 'progress', which is embodied in the twin concepts of revolution and evolution in the novel, may become a condition for personal freedom, and yet it does not necessarily mean freedom itself. Only when one understands his existing situation in nature and in the society can he get the sense of freedom. Last but not least, personal freedom is based on the construction of identities through socialization. Those who have no problem with identity will feel free, but at the same time they lose their individuality, which makes freedom become an aim again for seeking. In a word, what the characters get is just relative freedom, because they cannot shake off all the bondages as Zhuangzi suggests in his thoughts. Only when one can shake off all the bondages to uniform with all things in the world, can he transgress all the boundaries and then get the unconditional absolute freedom.