An Analysis Of The Characters In The Bell From The Perspective Of Psychoanalytic Feminism

Iris Murdoch is one of the excellent novelists in England after Second World War, andher novel The Bell established her position as a professional writer in English literature fromthen on. Because Murdoch is a famous philosopher in Europe, her novels are labeled as themoral philosophical novels, with the universal themes of freedom, virtue and love. Shebelieves that literature is the best form of art to transmit aesthetics and virtues, teachingpeople how to behave in this modern society. Therefore, she depicted characters very vividlyand creates her moral theory. The thesis through analysis of the characters in the novel interms of psychoanalytic feminism in order to find out how phallocentricism influences thedevelopment of personality of both men and women in patriarchal society.This thesis comprises four chapters with the introduction and the conclusion. Theintroduction not only gives a general introduction to the author and reviews on the study ofThe Bell, but also presents the central argument, theoretical foundation and the significance ofthe thesis. Chapter One briefly introduces the contents of the psychoanalytic feminism theory,mainly including Freud's personality theory and Karen Horney's feminine psychology.Chapter Two gives a careful analysis of the female characters in the phallocentric culture,showing its influence on their personality. The phallocentric culture is mainly based on men'sexperience and forms the cultural norms that ignore women's rights to express themselves intheir own way, so women are in the secondary place in the society, and their personality issuppressed all the time and is gradually twisted. In terms of the theory introduced in ChapterOne, a careful explanation is given to deepen our understanding of the characters and thetheme of the novel. At the same time, it shows the Murdoch's attention to the issue ofwomen's rights and status in the society after the Second World War, and her attempt to showpeople her moral philosophy as a solution to this problem. Chapter Three is the analysis ofmale characters in the phallocentricism, telling us that the phallocentric culture not onlygreatly influences the development of female's personality but also that of male's personality.Through the analysis of male characters in terms of the psychoanalytic feminism, readers canget the clear picture that men are also tortured physically and mentally by the patriarchalculture, especially in the postwar years when great changes especially in spiritual aspects havetaken place. Therefore, the analysis shows the moral problems people faced in the post warsociety. Murdoch expresses her anxiety, and tries to help people out of their moral dilemma. Lastly Chapter Four explores the significance of the characterization, that is, to arousepeople's attention to the social problem― the moral dilemma; and Murdoch's creatingprocess of The Bell tells readers the relations between her and her novel and at the same time,shows how Murdoch presents her own theory of moral psychology, the centre of which is"good" in the novel as a solution to people's problems. And it emphasizes that both men andwomen should always concern themselves with the existence of others, and try to adjustthemselves to the postwar society by setting up a new belief in this society.The conclusion summarizes the argument of the paper, pointing out that characters in thenovel are greatly influenced by phallocentric patriarchal culture, and there is belief crisis intheir spiritual world. Murdoch's theory whose centre of "good" guides people out of theirspiritual dilemma, manifesting the theory's social meaning.