The Search For Freedom-An Interpretation Of The Male Protagonist In The French Lieutenant's Woman From The Perspective Of Archetypal Criticism

John Fowles is an outstanding writer in the literary arena of 1960s in Britain. His works are warmly accepted by the common people and the scholars. His three novels The Collector (1963), The Magus (1965) and The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969) are among the best-sellers in England and America. John Fowles is greatly obsessive with the search for freedom which is intensively reflected in The French Lieutenant's Woman.The classic literature such as the Greek and Roman mythology and the Bible has posed great influences on the later literary creations. Scholars represented by Northrop Frye noticed the phenomena, and they developed the school of archetypal criticism based on the researches by British anthoropologist J. G. Frazer and Swiss psychologist C. G. Jung. Though archetype criticism has been used to interpretat many classic works, the interpretation of The French Lieutenant's Woman was rare. The author of this thesis will intend to interpretat the male protagonist of The French Lieutenant's Woman Charles Smithson's search for freedom from the perspective of archetypal criticism with the help of three archetypal images, archetypal characters and archetypal themes respectively.This thesis consists of six chapters.Chapter One is the introduction. It gives a brief overview on the background of this thesis, John Fowles, his view on the theme of freedom, his representative work The French Lieutenant's Woman along with the framework of this thesis.Chapter Two is the theoretical basis and literature review. The author of the thesis introduces the archetypal criticism supported by Northrop Frye in section one. Section two is about the wholesome development of the archetypal criticsm from its origin in Western literature to its localization in China. Section three is the previous researches on The French Lieutenant's Woman. The interpretations of The French Lieutenant's Woman has almost covered all the perspectives except the archetypal criticism, and the interpretation of the male protagonist Charles Smithson was rare, thus the author of this thesis will intend to interpretat the male protagonist Charles Smithson from the perspective of archetypal criticism.Chapter Three discusses three archetypal images in The French Lieutenant's Woman, showing the awakening of Charles. Section one is about the fossil. The fossil not only refers to traditions of the Victorian society but also functions as a bridge of the acquaintance between Charles Smithson and Sarah Woodruff, furthermore, it also reflects the rebellious spirit buried in Charles. Section two is about trees, it is in the forest that Charles met Sarah who helped Charles meditate on his life, and it is because of Sarah's temptation that Charles Smithson broke away from the Victorian society. Section three is about the sea. Sarah Woodruff was as mysterious as the sea, and her mystery attracted Charles so much that it led him to break away from the Victorian society.Chapter Four mainly uses three typical archetypal characters to interpretat Charles. This chapter aims to make a deeper analysis of Charles, showing the tough road in which he broke away with the Victorian society. Section one is the interpretation of Charles with the help of the archetypal character Adam. Just like Adam, Charles could not resist the temptation of her "Eve", Adam went to his doom, but Charles began to break away from the Victorian society. Section two is the comparison between Charles and the Greek hero Odysseus who went back to his home after ten years'tedious voyage. Charles stood the spiritual ordeal like Odysseus. Section three is the interpretation of Charles from scapegoat, since Charles broke the conventions of the Victorian society, and he was fighting against the whole society, thus he was doomed to be driven out the society and became the scapegoat of the society.Chapter Five adopts three archetypal themes to show Charles's final gaining of freedom. Section one is analyzed from the perspective of paradise. Charles was originally a member of the Victorian society living in the paradise of innocence. However, Sarah's appearance totally disrupted his peaceful life. Similar with Adam, Charles was tempted by his Eve Sarah and made big mistakes, thus losing his paradise. What made difference is that Sarah was Charles's mentor; Charles gained his real freedom under Sarah's mentorship. Section two analyzes Charles's quest with the help of the traditional quest pattern. Section three adopts the death and rebirth pattern to present that Charles's Victorian thoughts were dead and he gained his new thought about freedom which is supported by John Fowles, that is, he was moving from the prison of known into the state of self-consciousness and freedom.Chapter Six is conclusion. Section one summaries the above chapters, though the male protagonist of The French Lieutenant's Woman Charles was driven out the the Victorian upper class, he gained his freedom finally. Section two is the implicature of the research. Section three is the limitation and the future trend of the research. Because the shortage of knowledge and material, the research is not comprehensive and systematic.