A Freudian Study Of Sarah's Narcissism In The French Lieutenant's Woman

Since the English novelist John Robert Fowles' masterpiece The French Lieutenant's Woman came out in 1969,the novel has often received attention about feminism or liberalism.Even Fowles claims it is a feminist novel and appraises Sarah as a liberty defender.Strictly speaking,Sarah is neither a pure feminist nor a pure liberty defender.This thesis is not to deny Sarah's identity as a feminist or a liberty defender supported by most critics,but as an addition to Sarah's real personality,the"impurity" behind Sarah will be analyzed through Freud's psychoanalytical theory.Inspired by the Freudian psychoanalysis,especially the theories of narcissism,this thesis analyzes Sarah as a narcissist,whose narcissism reflects an explicit feature of masochism and an implicit feature of homosexuality.Due to her father's empathy,Sarah develops into the phase of primary narcissism;due to the unsuccessful love affair with the French lieutenant,she then enters the secondary narcissism.Afterwards she seduces Charles to discharge her ego-libido but then abandons him.Later she seems to have a vague homosexual relationship with the poetess Christina.Although Fowles doesn't confirm such a relationship,many clues suggest Sarah's lesbian identity.Eventually Sarah either devotes to arts or realizes her liberation,which are the results of the sublimation of the libido.This thesis aims to convey a positive life style to the public that it is important to discharge the damming up of the ego-libido properly,and that the sublimation of libido can be a good way to avoid tragedies.