Self And The Other

As one of the greatest representatives of English critical realism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Tomas Hardy’s works profoundly reflect the Victorian social reality and represent the supreme achievement of the British realistic novels in the late nineteenth century. Tomas Hardy is best known as the writer of novel, his short fiction also has gained outstanding literary status, and The Son’s Veto is a representative of his rural stories.The Son’s Veto tells us a story about a girl named Sophy as a parlour-maid in the parson’s house since a teenager. After the death of parson’s wife, just out of stupid admiration, Sophy who was loved deeply by her lover Sam gave up their love and then married parson with too great difference of rank between them, but Sophy’s destiny was not changed for their marriage. Fourteen years later, parson died leaving a big fortune. Melancholy Sophy thought of Sam again and intended to be his mate later in life. Unexpectedly, Sophy’s intention was strongly opposed by her son. They did not get agreement after several twists and turns. Never getting rid of the control of her son, Sophy died of a broken heart finally. Through the description of Sophy’s tragic life within only a few decades, Hardy reproduced a dismal and bleaker picture. It also reminds all readers of deep thinking about women’s fate. By means of the description of the class, morals, ethics and women’s living condition which is the important historical background, the dissertation profoundly analyzes the root of Sophy’s destiny respectively from the macro-and-micro perspective. The analysis of the main character and her fate is the innovative point of this dissertation combining with the mirror theory and tragedy theory.The dissertation consists of five chapters. It starts with a general introduction of the authorship and the fiction as well as literature review and the object and scope of the study. Also, the first chapter introduces the innovative point of this dissertation.In the second chapter, the thesis focuses on the introduction about Jacques Lacan and his mirror phase including historical evolution, three stages of the mirror phase and the relationships between self-construction and others’ aggressiveness; the main illustration of the tragic theory concentrates on its origin and development process, the cause for its existence, nature, the main features as well as the interpretation of tragedy from the great theorists.In the third chapter, the thesis mainly analyzes Sophy’s personality combining with mirror theory. The author of this dissertation states in details Sophy’s personality characteristics as a parlour-maid and how she tried her best to maintain the image of "pretty woman" after marriage. She imagined a new mirror which selected for her life through marrying parson. Her vain self-identity mechanism caused big contrast between the ideal and the reality, and even the division of the subject, while the identity of the subject and the shaping of "the other" are inseparable. From the perspective of the mirror theory, the tragedy of the heroine in the fiction results from not only vanity of her own, but also the great influence of "the Others". In the fourth chapter, the dissertation mainly focuses on the analysis about Sophy’s tragic fate from the angle of tragedy. It originates in Sophy’s knowledge of its limitations and other objective factors. Furthermore, young people especially young girls should take some lessons from Sophy’s tragedy.The final chapter makes a conclusion that Sophy’s tragic fate is deeply influenced by her own self-construction and the Others’ aggressiveness; meanwhile, it is closely related to the present social and religious environment. The dissertation also emphasizes the exposure of hypocrisy of bourgeois morality, marriage and religion and the importance of economic independence especially spiritual independence.