The Image Of Female Characters In The Moon And Sixpence-a Feminist Perspective

William Somerset Maugham is a famous writer and novelist in Britain in the20 thcentury.Many of his books are well-known to the public.The Moon and Sixpence is one of his masterpieces.This book is completed in 1919 and it is based on the life experience of Paul Gauguin,a famous French painter.The Moon and Sixpence portrays the life story of a broker,Strickland who gives up everything to chase his dream of art.Strickland has love affairs with three females in the book but none of them can escape from the destiny of being abandoned.Through reading the novel and some related articles,the author of this thesis discovers that there are so many unfavorable words belittling women.Therefore,the author tries every effort to understand and analyze the three main female characters of the book and aims to find out the rationale of Maugham's characterization in that way so as to deepen the understanding and raise the attention of public to the discrimination against females by patriarchy and the pursuit of gender equality.The thesis will be divided into four main chapters:Chapter one mainly introduces the research goals,research significance and methods as well as the related theories applied in this thesis.By the brief introduction of the novel and Maugham,the author has literature review from different aspects and clarify the research question.At the same time,the author illustrates the research significance and introduces the proper methodology so as to provide the detailed background information to readers.Chapter two is an in-depth analysis of the archetypes that the three female characters represent.Maugham divided the three main female characters into three types of women: Mrs.Strickland,the hypocritical woman who had totally different faces towards different people;Blanche,the dissolute woman who was crazy about love and revenge;and Ata,the simple local woman who was the perfect wife for Strickland.They have different personalities but they share the same man.So in this chapter,the author will analyze these three women one by one.Chapter three demonstrates the similarities between these three female characters:they regard Strickland as their spiritual pillar;they never truly walk inside their husband's mind;and they are lack of self-awareness in chasing for Strickland.In the novel,most of the female characters created by Maugham are greedy,selfish and easily controlled by lust.Chapter four is to find out the inside rationale of Maugham's characterization.The reasons are mainly as follows: the influence of Maugham's original family,his spirit of Phallocentrism and his discrimination towards women.In this chapter,the author of this thesis will analyze the reasons by carrying out in-depth research and drawing on relevant viewpoints of Phallocentrism and feminism.Chapter five is the conclusion of this thesis.It summarizes the author's view points and raises people's deep thoughts about drawbacks of patriarchal society so as to call for the realization of gender equality.To sum up,by reviewing and re-understanding the three main female characters in The Moon and Sixpence from the perspective of feminism,the author aims to reveal the impact of Maugham's patriarchal spirit to his characterization and to reflect the patriarchal discrimination towards female from the female characters in the novel so as to raise people's attention about gender equality and problems of gender relationships.