A Life-Long Quest

Through three totally different lives due to three completely different choices made by the hero Charles Smithson in The French Lieutenant' s Woman by John Fowles, the significance of choice in one' s life is emphasized. The whole novel is prevailing with existential freedom. Through the analysis and comparison of the credibility of the three endings of the novel, finally in the third ending, readers realize that, only by shaking off the restrictions of convention, making independent decisions, undertaking a life-long quest toward one' s goal of life, a confident free happy life could at last be gained. This is the theme of the third ending arrangement and even the theme for the whole novel.This paper intends to probe the issue that the third ending is the most credible one from three aspects. Chapter one, from the novel itself, is to analyze that the third ending is the most possible one. Chapter two, from existential point of view, intends to prove that the third ending is the most credible one. Chapter three, from John Fowles' s of viewpoint, wants to show that the third ending is the most credible one.