Deconstruction And Reconstruction Of Female Selfhood In Iris Murdoch’s Fiction

Iris Murdoch is a renowned female novelist and philosopher in the20thcenturyEnglish literature. In her literary creation, she has a preference for male narration and holdsa reserved attitude to women’s movements with reluctance to be considered as a feministwriter, which permits her realistic depiction of female characters and dispassionate thoughton women’s problems. After the Second World War, the fact that the traditional logos andmoral values have been wrecked deconstructs the traditional female selfhood. Thus, thereconstruction of the selfhood became one of the main focuses in Murdoch’s essays andfiction, especially that of women who are the vulnerable groups in the binary opposition.Considering Murdoch’s philosophical ideas and the sociohistorical background, thedissertation conducts a comprehensive study and analysis of the female characters toillustrate the progressive changes in the deconstruction and reconstruction of femaleselfhood in her fiction from the growth of female-consciousness, to the establishment offemale identity, and to the integration of female self on the pilgrimage to goodness.The introduction presents Murdoch’s major works and achievements of Iris Murdochas a novelist and philosopher. Then, it undertakes a critical review of the studies onMurdoch’s female characters in China and abroad and argues for the significance of thedissertation for it aims to make up the insufficient integrative research on the femaleselfhood in Murdoch’s fiction. Besides Introduction and Conclusion, there are fourchapters in the dissertation.Chapter One, with the interpretation and redefinition of the concepts as consciousness,identity and self in Murdoch’s philosophy, analyzes the fragmented self of three femalefigures in The Flight from the Enchanter respectively from the perspectives of self-consciousness, identity and self. The lack of self-consciousness disables the young woman,regardless of the wealthy and decent family background, to escape from the economicexploitation, emotional control and sexual assault of the male. Besides, the femaleimmigrant endures racial and sexual oppressions and finally fails to establish her femaleidentity even though she has been economically independent. Furthermore, the femaleintellectual, too indulgent in her own world to know the reality, fails in her attempt to existas a power figure in the life of two Polish brothers for the gender advantage of the male ismuch more powerful than her racial privilege, which reveals the male dominance in thegender relationship.Chapter Two demonstrates the growth of female self-consciousness along withrethinking their life and reevaluating themselves with full self-consciousness in A Fairly Honourable Defeat. Murdoch applies her philosophical concepts of form and contingencyto the characterization of female figures and attempts to combine the fixed form of theworld with the uncertainty of life. The vacillation in women’s opinion between form andcontingency proves their speculation quality, which is essential for the growth of self-consciousness. Murdoch focuses on the characterization of the siblings Hilda and Morganrespectively as a typical example of traditional women and modern educated women.Compared with Morgan’s emotional perplexity, economic hardship, and male contempt,Hilda’s affluent life, happy marriage and her popularity among the male indicateMurdoch’s reluctant admission that women still live in the androcentric world where thewomen’s self-improvement are not widely welcome.Chapter Three explores how women could reconstruct their identity as a self-consciousindividual in the social life in The Black Prince. Murdoch’s view on the reposition ofwomen’s identity is exemplified by Julian’s choice of her life path after she owns morefreedom of choice. Besides, Murdoch illustrates that economic and spiritual independenceis a necessity for female identity through the different ways of Priscilla, Rachel andChristian to survive marriage crisis. Further, Murdoch assigns the narration of a first male-narrator followed by four postscripts in which other characters (three of them are female)get a chance to speak their own view of the events. The well-designed experimentalnarrative mode makes the male-female dialogue on the basis of equality possible.Chapter Four reveals the difficulty in the formation of female self by portrayingfemale characters’ personal growth through increased awareness of themselves and therelationship with others in The Good Apprentice. Murdoch illustrates that blind hatred andrevenge as well as the lies all hinder women from the integration of female self and fromreaching the state of Goodness. Besides, Murdoch indicates that the woman, as the winnerin the fight against the gender inequality and patriarchal oppression in the family, is likelyto continue the male dominance instead of liberating herself from the male supremacy andattaining the perfect life. Furthermore, Murdoch explores the way for the woman to bringthe life back to the real world and reconcile with the contingency in life. Meanwhile,Murdoch endows the female character with an unusual trait that is seldom found in herother female characters: the consideration of others’ welfare and attention to others’ life.This is just what Murdoch advances in her philosophy as the way to achieve goodness.This dissertation concludes that at the beginning of her career, Murdoch confined hernarration to the true state of deconstructive female selfhood. And along with thesociocultural changes, she turned to concern about the growth of female self-consciousnessand the establishment of female identity in the novels of her middle period. Apart from the integration of female selfhood, Murdoch has also explored how women could achievehappiness and reach the state of goodness in her later period to a greater extent than in herearly period. While Murdoch conveys her philosophical thoughts in her novels, hercreation of characters and plots in turn enriches and deepens her philosophy.