Freedom Of Choice: An Existentialist Reading Of Lessing’s Love, Again

Based on in-depth textual analysis, this paper aims to expound the theme of love,again from the perspective of existentialism, so as to reveal Lessing’s philosophicalthinking over human existence and her deep concern for the living conditions of modernman.Besides the introduction and the conclusion, the thesis is composed of four chapters.The first chapter is devoted to the discussion of man’s inauthentic existence in the world.It cites examples from the novel to analyze this universal phenomenon of Being-in-itself.The second chapter continues with a concern over man’s existence of Being-for-itself. Itis a transitional period in one’s knowledge of his inner self, which will fall into a senseof anxiety felt over a long time. Main characters’ living experiences are analyzed toillustrate this point. The third chapter is devoted to the discussion of the role of theOther in every individual’s life. The existence of others contributes to an individual’sknowledge about himself and relations with others should be carefully dealt with, or theOther might prove to be “hell” to us. In the forth chapter, the first part reveals thedifferent choices of the characters: Julie’s active intervention in life, Stephen’s escapeand Sarah’s choice of living with an acute consciousness. The second part discusses theresponsibility accompanying free choices. Everyone is free to choose one’s own way oflife, thus no one can be called victim of a certain destiny. The conclusive part exploresthe common ground in Lessing’s love, again and Sartre’s existentialist ideas. Besides,the realistic significance of the thesis is also presented in this part.