Predicament And Pursuit Of Ideals Of Modern Intellectual Women-an Existentialism Interpretation Of Margaret Drabble’ S The Millstone

Margaret Drabble is one of the outstanding British women writers. She isalways concerned with the fate of intellectual women and their existing state in hernovels. The Millstone, published in1965, is Drabble’s third novel which is a storyabout an unmarried mother. Many researches on The Millstone have been conductedfrom the perspectives of feminism, the writing techniques and so on. It is found thatthe absurdity of the world, the alienation of the existence and the pursuit of thefreedom are revealed in The Millstone. What Margaret Drabble focuses oncorresponds with the concerns of the existentialists. However, there are fewsystematic and detailed analyses about existential elements in The Millstone.Therefore, on the basis of existentialism by means of close reading of this novel, thisthesis tries to explore Rosamund’s predicament by employing the three majorconcepts of existentialism. Through analyzing the absurdity of Rosamund’s socialworld and her emotional world, the alienation of Rosamund’s interpersonal relationsand Rosamund’s free choice, this thesis attempts to demonstrate that it is possible forthose intellectual women to seek self-actualization in the absurd and alienated world.In this sense, it not only reexamines the life of women at that time, but also enlightensthe modern intellectual women.