An Interpretation Of Disgrace From The Perspective Of Feminist Ethics

As one of the most influential contemporary writers, J.M. Coetzee was awardedBooker Prize respectively in1983and in1999and Nobel Prize for literature in2003.Coetzee’s masterpiece Disgrace (1999) tells a story about Professor Lurie’s disgraceof losing his teaching position due to his affair with a student Melanie and hisdaughter Lucy’s disgrace of being raped by three blacks. This novel reflects the nativeSouth Africans’ attempt to get rid of colonial shadow and explore their future life inpost-colonial era and meanwhile it also probes into the themes on social morality andthe universal human nature.This thesis tries to employ feminist ethics as its methodology, and choose themoral values of feminist ethics, namely, women’s pursuit of gender equality, their carefor others, their focus on interpersonal harmony in specific context, and the advocacyof maternal thinking as theoretical frame. Through the analysis of women’s uniquemoral values and moral experience, the moral appeals of the female characters in thenovel can be well understood, and Coetzee’s positive attitude toward feminist ethicalvalues can also be seen.This thesis includes six parts. Introduction firstly is about Coetzee’s life andliterary creation, and the theme of Disgrace. Secondly，it elaborates the ethical literarycriticism and the feminist ethics theory, including its social background and the maintheories and concepts applied in this thesis. The emphasis is put on the interpretationof the moral values of feminist ethics, such as Carol Gilligan’s ethics of genderequality, Nel Noddings’ ethics of care, Joan C. Tronto’s contextual morality as well asSara Ruddick’s maternal thinking, and the moral differences between men and womenare also presented. The second half of this chapter provides the literature review andpoints out the research purpose and significance of this thesis in analyzing Disgracefrom the perspective of feminist ethics. Chapter two analyzes four female charactersfrom the perspective of gender equality as well as the contrasting relationshipsbetween them and Lurie, revealing women’s unique moral values of pursuit ofindependence, equality and freedom. Chapter three elaborates on different femalecharacters from the perspective of care ethics, presenting women’s care and forgiveness for other people. Chapter Four analyzes women’s contextual moralitythoughts, showing women’s endeavoring to create harmonious human relationships.Chapter five expounds Lurie’s great love for his daughter and Lucy’s selfless love forher unborn baby from the view of maternal thinking.Based on the above, the thesis comes to a conclusion that Disgrace containswomen’s unique ethical thoughts and moral values. Through the modeling of femalecharacters, the novel reflects Coetzee’s concern for and thinking about women’sethical values. Meanwhile, it also expresses Coetzee’s hope of giving care for othersand creating a harmonious society.