An Exploration Of Lucy's Identity In Villette From The Perspective Of Sartre's Existentialism

As an outstanding representative of English female writers in 19 th century,Charlotte Bronte puts more brushworks to depict the single female intellectuals who suffer great tribulations in life in order to arouse the awakening of the female in Victorian Era.As Charlotte Bronte's last complete novel written in the mature period of her creation,Villette expresses her greater concern and consideration about female issues.The novel narrates an adrift,lonely and unmarried woman's hard process of searching for existential value and confirming self-identity in foreign land.Sartre's existential thoughts: absurdity of the world,man's alienation and anxiety,are roundly and deeply embodied in the protagonist Lucy.The difficult life situation makes Lucy perplexed and confused about her existence and identity.However,she faces up to the reality of life instead of giving up hope through taking free choices to push the limit of being-in-itself to realize being-for-itself,which additionally accords with Sartre's main principle: self-transcendence.In addition,during the process of self-transcendence,because of her survival need and others' influence,Lucy constantly awakens and strives to explore and construct her own identity,and ultimately realizes her identity: finding her self-identity in affection and career,and attaining respectable social status.This paper makes an attempt to interpret Villette from the prospective of Sartre's Existentialism to analyze Lucy's survival state and her identity problem by explicitly analyzing the novel text,aiming at dissecting the concrete manifestation of Sartre's existentialism thoughts in the novel and revealing the great effect of her existential predicament on her identity.This research can help us get a more comprehensive and profound apprehension of this novel and lead us to understand female survival state,their awakening and rebellious consciousness in Victorian age.Meanwhile,it can also give modern people some enlightenment: Sometimes one can't choose his external circumstances,but can choose his attitude towards the life.Even in distress,if one can give full play to his own initiative,take active action,constantly transcend self,and strive to create a better himself,eventually he will break through the restrictions of the environment and find a suitable position which can demonstrate his value in the society.