永恒求索--福尔斯《法国中尉女人》三个结尾之试析

永恒求索--福尔斯《法国中尉女人》三个结尾之试析 河北大学 硕士学位论文 永恒的求索--福尔斯《法国中尉的女人》的三个结尾之试析 姓名杜丽娟 申请学位级别硕士 专业英语语言文学 指导教师容新芳 20040601 中文摘要 摘 要 约翰 福尔斯在其著名小说 法国中尉的女人 中通过三个迥然不同的结尾 向读者展示了男主人公查尔斯由于自己在人生的道路上所做出的三种不同的抉择 而导致的三种截然不同的人生命运 进而揭示出选择在人生中的重要性 整篇小说 洋溢着存在主义的自由观 通过分析比较三种结尾的可信性 最终在第三种结尾中 读者认识到 只有摆脱各种陈规旧俗 不欺骗自己的心灵 独立自主地做出人生选 择 并永恒的求索之 才会最终获得自信 自由而快乐的人生 亦即第三种结尾乃 至整篇小说的寓意 本文从三方面论述该小说的第三种结尾是最可信的结尾 第一章 从小 说文本 来分析 第三种结尾是最可信的结尾 第二章 从存在主义哲学来分析 第三种结 尾是最可信的结尾 第三章 从作者福尔斯本人来分析 第三种结尾是最可信的结 尾 关键词 三种结尾 可信 选择 求索 自由 i 英文摘要 Abstract Through The French Lieutenants Woman hroughtheanalysis of the novel finally in the thi undertaking a life-long quest towardones goal oflifea confident at last be gainedThis is the theme of the thirdending arrangement and even the theme for the whole novel This paper intends to probe theissue is to analyze thatthe third ending is the mostpossible existentialpoint ofview intends to prove that thethirdending is the mostcredibleone Chapter three from John Fowless ofviewpoint wants to show that Key Wordsthree endingscredibilitychoicequestfreedom ii Acknowledgment instruction and his thought- other courses enhanced whose 目录 Introduction The novelThe French Lieutenants Womanis John Fowlesmost successful work to date Since its appearance in 1969 the novel has received a string of favorable academic reviews andbeen translated into nineteen languages By 1977 over more thanthree million copies been sold out outselling all Fowless other writings and this novelhas increase in tourism in Lyme RegisIn a long front-page essay inthe New York Times Book Review Ian Watt called the novel attractive and humanFor this literature Fowles won the WH Smith awardin EnglandMore recently English critic Malcolm Bradbury praisedThe French Lieutenants Woman as and [1] Fowles asone of our great writers WhyThe French Lieutenants Woman is is that it isa pleasing narrative construct The novels panorama of Victorian England bears close- an [2] and pastoral England However mong all thea characteristics that attract thecritics attentionit isthe triple endingsthatset the novel apart from alltheother novels oneoccurs in chapters 43- and entered her father 1 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 h Charles and Sarah rejected each other andCharles left Sarah alone This paper will explore which ending isthe mostcredible one in the theirdaily life But before The storyofThe French Lieutenants Woman bega Charles Smithson and his fiancé s womanSarah Woodruff Charleswas a middle-agedman and amateur her in her aunt conventional young woman whowasa pennilessex-governessandan outcast n intense Charleswa his duty to Ernestina me of suspense a thing happened which would change Charles social position and even affect his fate One day where his uncle announced hissudden marriage to a wido and the baronetcy which are the thingsthat s father marries her daughter for Feeling bitter Charles managed to not timegoes by told Ernestina about his uncles marriage Ernestina cursed Charless uncle and reacted s Charless incompatible feeling toward her because Charles always felt himself a - 2 - 绪 论 gentleman who himBut s [3] daughter in her Under this new circumstancesMr Freemanpressured vulgar Thencomes the firstendingin whichCharles accepted his fate submissively married Ernestina and entered feeling himselfone of lifesvictims p289 However in the second ending things happen in Submitting to his passionCharles where Sarah and stay faithful to Ernestina he made love with Sarah Sarah disappeared his two years search for SarahHe checked edeverywhere he visited But there was no result Finallyitwas Sam that -Raphaelite artist and poet Dante was Rossettis his pleadingExtremely angered to leave At this moment Sarah revealedtheirdaught andthe second ending is finished here The last ending resumes from Charles but ing awayalonein anguish The wholenovel thencomes to the ending Since the very beginning of - 3 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 questing hisheart for what hedesire him between what hedesire However in the third ending of the story he to live a lifehe really desires Since an author probe into his work Fowles -on-Sea an only child five years in French and German literature philosophy of life war and the Nazi blitz had one good effectby driving Fowless family out of the London regionT and his familylived in that country refuge to the end of the war and it was while thereFowles cultivate his disposition as a writer his serving in the army Fowles teaching literature - 4 - 绪 论 country as in Oxford or abroad like inFrance Aegean GreeketcIt is in Aegean that John Fowles affected both his writing and his lifeOn the second d decades Hampstead and at St Godrics College until after Fowlesquitting his teaching job theymovedinto southwest country not far from his boyhood beloved natureThenin 1968 the town s Womanand they have lived there ever since It could be said tha endowedhim works For exampleFowles ar eastern used that landscape known as theUndercliff Lyme as the central setting ofThe French Lieutenants Woman The authors fondness of nature ca in the French Lieutenants Woman especially in Charles Charles felt thatthe appallingennui o the s triumphant throat p208 were also taken place in the wild valley So losely related to or a synonym of nature freedom isof course the author andconcern - 5 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 one [4] This existential theme of life- novel The French Lieutenants Woman themes of Victorianism and moder what is especiallyinteresting uspended is which ending isprobablythe mostcredible Theprocess of exploring theanswer to this question may peoples lifein today to cope with the vario well as helps readers ChapterO credible one from the he previous Charles any more He has g first two endings ChapterT credible one by using - 6 - 绪 论 isolation and he is to go ChapterT credible one from John Fowles point of view Fowles the ending that and that ending is the third one - 7 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 The French Lieutenants Womanpresents readers witha conventional Victorian backgroundunder g to be fossils away from it that is to say to pursuetheir ownfreedom Thedifferent completely different life of s case T on i unhesitatingly Her duty was to her husb s case inthe novel thereby reinforcing the dominant society [5] Social norms are very powerful pparent -esteem that itself important whether or [6] rewards Lyme Regis where most of the novels activity such a typical social norm- - 8 - 第一章 从小说文本来分析 第三个结尾最可信 attered along was section of the hills s community was close- times a sign of mental illness - choices he makes fo novel At thebeginning of the story entleman Charlesenjoyshissocial privileges whichafford such as and physical comfort etc OnceCharles even made the conventional pleasures of married life little face asleep beside him--- God and man beside him p74 On the other hand however he isalsoa prospective existential hero - 9 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 He and is ready tounderstand new things romanticallyAt thirty-two he has asked life many questions but has foreign travel as a marriage- by He does not enjoy the bystanders safety and detachment Thus his negative but comfortable English soul is a bland mix of to one part conventionSince he lacks the pe force to become atrueDarwinist or atrueDickens and lazinessis probably his distinguishing trait Charles isonly a spiritual Victorian tradition Charles s conventionality ismainly caused appearanceand duty the need to The sense ofdutyis the thing thatcause of it restraining Charles s Church he did not go right back to Sarah becausehe felt Consequently hewent to Ernestina first and only wrote a letter toSarah telling her abouthis duty to Ernestina [7] In a word Charles duties bargained for For example ed gloomily - 10 - 第一章 从小说文本来分析 第三个结尾最可信 his fate was sealed He wished it so concerned he described himself in the earlierun 60 asa ghost a shadow a half- from [her] Duty then is very far from wha [8] 44 but in Fowless own terms it is still conventional hero Besides his sense of duty Charlessgentlemanlike thing that confines him to be conventional competently in his own worl and he ng and lunch we may explain it biologically by Darwins phrasecryptic coloration survival by learning to blend with ones surroundings p127 s true self is discreetly hidden away and mask confused and somewhat frustrated heartthrobbing And driven by his unquiet heartCharles against convention Though Charlesenjoys very much thecomfortable - 11 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 material life of conventional Victorian spiritual lifeSocial changes both closing on him is and on the beach but he can He is confused and While the life of idle squirearchy thinks of Winsyatt his uncles estate as adomain shooting of theimmortal bustard one of the last birds ofthat breed shows there l life He is -interest He abhors meeting the petty demands of Ernestina the ego and the shadow While maintaining his conven with In shortwhenthe story begins constantly analyzing his lifes purposes Then Sarahappears This sleeping beautygradually dissolves his [9] conventional shellandCharleseventually resurrectshis truest self The desire for freedom lurking in Charles - 12 - 第一章 从小说文本来分析 第三个结尾最可信 is awakened by the sleepingSarah back There was something intensely a bedroom overlooking the Seine p64 restraint and it was a common thing that heslept arms Now Charleswas back to this small convention-dominated town he had to conform to socialnorms restrain this sleeping Sarah makes all thedifference Charlescannot any more That face unsettled him and haunted h but some emotion some possibility she symboli deprivation p114 rescues LaterSarah further helps Charles by herreaction to Charless language and w - 13 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 language ability to socialize in hissurroundings upside down as Charles comes across SarahWhenSarah pleaded withhim to hear her confessionCharles they hold fo but there was that in Sarah clean It took the recipient off balance p127 d retreated into verbiage advantage of your unhappy situation progressively mor back to him p223 which makes Charles realize that is and what he really desires to be of Charles possibility of the most appropriate ending Sarah appearance firstIn an nd submissive Sarahs dark hair is - s superiority over the to Another thing that reflects her freedom is her free spiritAs the novel - 14 - 第一章 从小说文本来分析 第三个结尾最可信 goes rare kindIt was an uncanny people word She was born with a computer in her heart p50 Sarah convention and endows her a soundjudgment InThe French Lieutenants Woman Sarah makes her in a lush green precivilized place arrangements are thrown askew endowing fertility nature and wilderness make people reli them feel free Sarahs begotten name the French lieutenants woman her apart from ordinary peopleand Victorianwomen could only dream ofSarah said Sometimes I I am the French Lieutenants Whore p153 In short in the novel Sarah is a synonym of freedom Sarahs passion and - 15 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 and cheap Charles with freedom Charles once told herYou are both so [10] stranger spirit kissingHe a hawk rising p303 Charless contact with Sarahbreaks up his repressed self and he is relieved from convention a se freedombeingobtained iii Charles Charless social status is irretrievable sixty-seven-year-old bac -imposed exile [11] from England after breaking with Ernestina like a city struck out of a quiet sky by an atom bomb p305 And Charles If you wihses for hattention pray ring for one of theotel domestics p334 andwhen he was forced by Ernestina declaring that he had gentleman p355 However instead offeel - 16 - 第一章 从小说文本来分析 第三个结尾最可信 W he All these make his former social status irretrievable and conventional way of life and therefore The first ending appears d his insipid fiancée Ernestina Freeman going tostifle his fire of lifeWe are told that pily ever after but they lived together p292 deprivation of inheritance when hisuncle But this ending was quickl narrator revealed that might happen es not like p295 He does not like it becauseit his discoveries revelations and revisionsthat is through in his former yearsare one of life p289 Also novel has been moving toward Therefore this first ending incredible - 17 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 In the second ending after two year reunitedwith Sarah a against aspects First of all when Charles finds Sarah after twoyears span he is already a changed manDuringthe two years search strengths are fighting fiercely in Charlessheart other is new spirit Americans is very fascinating to Charles iveHe saw himself at home among the sweet belles and in the final analysis He was no longer himor given him backwas a kind provinciality of his hosts as a condition a tendency to take the law into ones own hands---a process which --- violence caused by aLiberté- justification in Charless eyes p373 By now the former social-norm conformed Charles hasdisappeared gradually said that Charles is nearly a free man bothspiritually and materiallyand he has shrugged off his conventional layers to a great degree - 18 - 第一章 从小说文本来分析 第三个结尾最可信 yet t Mr Freeman had extorted p371 inwhich gentility ould by Sarah many of these American faces he saw a shadow of Sarah p371 Therefore h obtainingtotal freedom remaining to be thelast Old habits die hardCharles bene This powerful conventionis never gotten past by him darkness p It i apart from his conventional self d imagined Charles saw a totally newSarah with her bright clothes star clasp which also enclosed the pink-and- blouse long- back by a red ribbon two years younger p379 - 19 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 Being a sharpcontrast with Sarah costume shocks Charles unexpectedlynevertheless afterwards by Sarah shocks him evenfurther first hat a husband marriage work--- such I am I believe I to be bereft p385 Sarah her fitness into Rossetti painful and wo -cut [12] his old conventional self Then right afterCharlesscompleteawakening the t - 20 - 第一章 从小说文本来分析 第三个结尾最可信 diverged reunited d happily afterwards This a wish-fulfillment Sarah prove himself a wort to herMrs Charles Smithsonand she acquiesces So far every which is be credible Among all things t novelAfter so much having been exper that Sarah represents or Charlesis just out If once s personal happiness seems doubtful sincein the story with Sarah Charle marriage The artificiality of the sceneis also ingAs herself to be a gentle andsentimental wifeThis ending surrenderedtobecome a - 21 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 conventional woman this ending Charles has not taken hisjourneyto freedomto its end and tur [13] finallydisappear into a crowd Readers Besides and who is the key to Sarah and Charles it is certainlypossible -to- ef but also his travel time for two-and–a- room and bedroom Charles attributed the happy ending toGods hands p392 Lalage The two years spanis another thing thatsome the Fowles joins the two years Charless mother daughter with rty-one had worked as a prostitute and alsowiththe two years that passed between Charles and daughter areghosts revivified images sister launched into fantasy-life by the nearby Thames that arch-symbol of birth the novel Charles s he does - 22 - 第一章 从小说文本来分析 第三个结尾最可信 dandled and amused with his s instant [15] There is s dead sister in the novel When Sarah finished Varguennes Charles tried by letting his mind wander a hidden truth He looked ought about traveling again to the broken columns mystery p155 The mention of Charles rhetorically to his sister a soul sistera double and a sharer From these second ending is impossible In thethirdending Charles rejected Sarahand walked a bitter heart He left Sarah forever Charles cutsoff After breaking off his engagement andnowshrugging off his ages burdensome conven freedom-questingtheme of the - 23 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 novel in which Sarah keeps her freedom intact and Charles hascompleted traveling The French Lieutenants Woman Arnolds To Marguerite Charles hadcommitted to heart p365 - is p365 The poems between them ordained always and foreverthe unplumb [14] sea Charles bitterly realizes thatlife one riddle endured p399 Thispoetry-tuned ending and reasonableness of Charless leaving Sarah In a word to live a life belonging to ones true self - 24 - 第二章 从存在主义哲学来分析 第三个结尾最可信 the Th Existentialism is prevailing in The French Lieutenants Woman Sarahs free spirit Charles Existentialism which art and theology War II In the sheer scope or its infl beenachievedby ing systematic and schematic thought existentialists concentrate their attention on human situation individualsThey of man rn is about mans active Existentialism ispermeated inThe French Lieutenants WomanSo it isquite reasonable to analyzethe of existentialism In correspondence with Sartre the third ending is the most credible one [15] in the world and defines himself afterward The French Lieutenants Woman to this theory - 25 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 Sarah defines herself after her existence She a tenant- her f class- Charles condemned to solitude As if it has been ordaine p149 So just before she canresist to her and feels quitelonely andlost In order to identified she has to redefine herselfresorting to fallen woman to make herself noticeable Sarah explained Why I sacrificed a woman should point at meshould s Whore p152 - 26 - 第二章 从存在主义哲学来分析 第三个结尾最可信 Through a parody of fallingSarahlocates anothe the grim falling action of the scarlet- freedom She has who singsI am what I am one of life [16] that exists outside of By gaining this negative identitySarah emerges with from Victorian notions of what women should be her own Charles also has to define himself Being bereft of his parentsCharles had since lived on his father remaining to be but still vigorousuncle RobertSo justbefore hecan isplaced in an environment Beyond thisirresistible existenceCha to redefine himselfjustas Sarahhasdo in a crowd To fulfill this definition Charles occupies and traveland becomesa fairly skilled paleontologist he is alsoa quite p47 He has toyed with religion and hedonism becoming a real scientist and to verify this he often haunts in spite of all the hardships Norfolk breeches of - 27 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 long coat to match a canvas wide- out an already p45 Thus Charlesdefi some degree a Victorian rebel out of an upper class Thus s coher to the end also typically In the Charles-marry- carry on his just anotherfossil was a common scene in Victorian s existential self- disappointing and incredible ending In the Charles-marry- complete hisself-definition Charles falls into a typical romantic love- In this caseCharless former effort of self- the end As coherence is a necessity inliterary - 28 - 第二章 从存在主义哲学来分析 第三个结尾最可信 cannot be said credible end - forever leaving Sarah in the final endingCharles reborn thoughwith with the babys helplessness again -four ears of struggling upwards total as hers Sarahs to realize that lifeis to beendured p399 With faith in his heartthoroughly with the old being able toachieve his self-definition existentially Sartre accepts Nietzsches announcement thatGod is dead and takes seriously Dostoevskys notion thatif God did not e be permitted There cannot now be anygood himself Apar objective system of values no built- nodeterminism Sartre saysNothingness lie like a worm - 29 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 [17] individual must make sense of it d life very last ending is the most credible one d Freedom Individual responsibility according to Sartre [18] f given way nor is ther and I am totally free This individual responsibility and The French Lieutenants Woman that the most credible Sarah may have lived a life just like other governess becoming ed a story of a fallen womanwho was waiting the lieutenant come back and told the story to peopleFurther other seldom being visited places became her favorite resorts Sarahs self against theotherandagainst the social - 30 - 第二章 从存在主义哲学来分析 第三个结尾最可信 psychological impact upon Charles Consequently Sarah got her desired freedom and the local people labeledher with thebad famethe French lieutenants woman It could be own action she al Sarahsbehavior affects Charlesslife s transformation h for himself Sarah never to Charles himself For instance in another occasion p145 in order to display her ankles and calves in her behavior but just like many othe lend ablind eye But Charles does not he beca f hisattachment to Charlesis her leaving only the hotel deep inside Sarahmighteagerly expect Charles EndicottFamily Hotel and even had alreadydiscreetly planned the prospective meeting she repressed her feeling and only sent the name of uld - 31 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 and freedom Charles is a a person to undertakeBeingornb into a rich upp an amateurpaleontologist relationship with acast-out Sartre says in a classic phrase that man is condemned to be free A obliged to act in asituation his actions Charles isdestined worldview Charles has asked life a answer just make lifesimple buryhis quest ofpurposes of ed in Charless life Charles evoked Therefore with the provided open-mindedness and Sarah the yeast Charles as intact as he had his quest again make a series ofchoices and actions that he will takethe - 32 - 第二章 从存在主义哲学来分析 第三个结尾最可信 responsibility of and that will endow his freedom hero figure is not easy to make a way out thro the total responsibilityfor In the first ending Charles resolved to forgetSarah ErnestinaBut when hewa was at Charles felt a sense of sadness monstrous pipe p288 This is apparently an end chooses it is that he thinks thing -calledmorality Charles betrayshimself a sense of for his turning - Charless freedom anddoes not accord with Sartres existential an ending incredible In the second endingthe again goes against the existential philosophy of indi because thetwo years searching of Sarah is notso muchout of love as out of Charles - 33 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 on and it own real need And this marriage would furtherharm and all his previous struggle and yearning for freedomwould be ended in void Meanwhile this marriage would hurt Sarah built up so far in the novel would hissecond freedom and is incredible to the end and is the most credible oneThe les now Charles all Also an insight is gained that he can her existential freedom hehasgained a his age his ancestry and class and countryWhile through disobedience of one Charles acceptsSarahssexualityas a means leading tohisself-realization and to achieving whole sight of life himself becoming an existential hero integrated to the overall text of the novel andan endingencouraging to people All in all a major theme ofThe French Lieutenants Womanis the evolution of Charles his dawning existentialist awareness ofthe anxiety of freedom The - 34 - 第二章 从存在主义哲学来分析 第三个结尾最可信 obviously not a prope ending in which Charles re-unites obedience to social convention choosesto marrythe figurethat has both It is in short another kind of wish- Victorian-romantic side of Charless personality first the last ending the internal logic of the book and is the credible one triumph notonly s personality but of theexistentialistavant la letter was really at stake in The French Lieutenants Woman existential freedom The novels open- Charle to that of the lovers who will winnear the goal ofThe French Lieutenants Woman s vision Charles stands in the last chapter with - 35 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 celibacy of heart as total as Sarah existentialism Charles s s third ending l pondering doubt- ntial questtowardlife is the ultimate goal conveyed by the author - 36 - 第三章 从作者本人来分析 第三个结尾最可信 Chapter IIIFromthe Authors Viewpoint John Fowles has acknowledged that hisfirst ambition as a writer was toalter the society [he] live[s]in a totally unfulfilled hope helped a little in altering peoples view of life I feel I must of life Fowles and his love toward nature and freedomand Fowless philosophy of lifeinform thecentraltheme ofThe French Lieutenants Woman s life This theme is conveyed virtuallyon every pageof The French Lieutenants Woman edible one i Fowles Fowles is a great lover of nature drove Fowles s endNowJohn still and the country life lived a sort of hunted Cities have been exile for me ever since Since 1968 Fowless family pruned - 37 - 河北大学文学硕士学位论文 loves andisalmost crazy about nature philosophy are deeply rooted in nature Fowles Natu s convention and rules The rows of intense and continuing dislike of mankinden mass to conform operating in our mass society he says inThe Aristos another novel wr