Sarah: A Woman Character Without A Female's Voice

John Fowles (1926-2005) is regarded as one of the most famous writers in the 20th century in Great Britain. Of his works, The French Lieutenant's Woman is the most acclaimed. Since its publication, it wins widespread attention from critics at home and abroad from the perspective of the theme of existentialism, the narrative structure of postmodernism, and the characterization of the enigmatic woman character Sarah. To date, critics write vast quantities of literary articles about the deep significance of the novel by applying various theories. Most critics claim that Sarah is a typical representative of a new woman, which will be analyzed again in the thesis. It concludes that Sarah, in the novel, does not cry out her own voice, and cannot be called a new woman. Although the novel is named for Sarah, Charles is the actual protagonist and the story really belongs to him: it is focused on his search for selfhood or self-realization and understanding sparked by his encounter with Sarah and his developing relationship with her. Whereas Charles's actions and motivations are closely examined, Sarah's remain ambiguous and uncertain. She exists largely as a symbol, a figure of myth. In Jungian terms, she is the archetype of the anima, whose role in relation to Charles is to lead him to an awareness of his buried, feeling side so that he can realize his potential as a human being. She is the object of the projection of male desires and the construction of male ideology. Her behaviors still fall into the abyss of male ideology and she does not have an awakened feminist consciousness.The thesis is divided into five parts. The introductory gives a brief introduction to John Fowles and his works, especially The French Lieutenant's Woman. It summarizes the literature review of the novel and puts forward the idea of the thesis. Chapter 2 discusses the independence of Sarah by using Jung's theories of archetype and individuation. She exists as the anima of Charles, and she is the projection of Charles's desires. Chapter 3 focuses on the analysis of Sarah's behaviors which shows that Sarah is still the product of male ideology and her feminist consciousness is not awakened. Chapter 4 analyzes the narrative perspective about Sarah, indicating the absence of the description of Sarah's inner thoughts and feelings. Sarah's story is the construction of Victorians with patriarchal concepts, and she does not cry out her own voice. At last, it concludes that Sarah is a woman character without a female's voice, and she is the projection and production of male desires and imagination. She is a woman character dependent on Charles and does not have her own personality. Her behaviors are still identical to the definition of male society imposes on women and her feminist consciousness is not awakened. Only when they shake off the fetters of male ideology, can women achieve the true freedom.