| The works of 20th century’s British female writer,Virginal Woolf,have long been regarded as literature classics.And her legacy novel,Between the Acts,is deemed as her most ambitious and perfect creation by literature scholars.This thesis intends to discuss different types of desires shown by the characters depicted in this novel,including the desire of ardor,the desire of survival and the desire of power.There are a few reasons that Woolf’s Between the Acts revolves around the aspect of desire.For one,it represents Woolf’s inner desire to taste life fully as a woman who cannot conform to the restraining traditional values.Secondly,it is closely related to social chaos resulted from continual warfare.Finally,it was influenced by the emerging theories prevailed at that time,such as the psychoanalytic theory.In the novel,this notion of desire became an angle Woolf used to explore her true self against the chaotic era that she lived.In Between the Acts,the following three types of desires were touched upon:First is the desire of ardor.Ardor is an emotional desire that stemmed from human’s psychological nature;is a real need for every human being.In the novel,Woolf highlighted the emotional desires suppressed by the British social norms in 1930s.Under a society that’s abided by archaic traditions kept from Victorian times,such primitive desire is craved even more.Woolf also took a bold approach to break the conservative notion of treating women as the weak and discussed erotic issues between men and women in an equal attitude.The second type of desire depicted in the novel is the desire of survival,an emotional experience that occurs when a person’s security needs cannot be met(such as in a life-threatening situation or when protection is lost).Woolf demonstrated the desire for life security of those who’ve been through two world wars and perpetual regional wars.Under such circumstances,the desire to survive also forced people to contemplate about death and life.The desire to survive in an uncertain society whose old systems were collapsing due to the wars also intensified people’s dependency on familiar cultural order and social form.On the other hand,desire to survive made people question the Victorian social system.In addition,Woolf attempted to counter such dramatic social transformation by preserving the primitive human nature in literature,such as that shown in the raw emotional characters she created.Finally,the desire of power will be discussed.The desire to hold power is a higher-level desire that people naturally pursue once basic survival and emotional needs are met.This includes the pursuit of wealth and the pursuit of political status.In Between the Acts,Woolf revealed British society’s greed and obsession over wealth at the time,especially the upper class.Woolf not only portrayed the selfishness and desire for fortune of the English upper class during Victorian times,but also upper-middle class’s contradictory desire to overthrow old rules and to safeguard their own individual interests.On one hand,they were dissatisfied with the existing sociopolitical condition;on the other,they were reluctant to change and hoped the stability of political order can be maintained,i.e.continue to exert control over other social levels.In Between the Acts,Woolf expressed frustration with the power and norms of society,but not knowing which the right way is.Finally,she addressed this issue by choosing to let the characters go home,hoping to remind the public about the importance of balancing the desire of power.Writing is a self-presentation of Woolfs life experience and her way of responding to the society.In Between the Acts,Woolf touched upon topics such as social,political,gender relations,love etc.Through different interpretations of desire,her works revealed the perpetual conflict people struggle with between their altruistic desires for the society and personal desires for self-interests.Hence,any desire is self-contradictory in nature.Woolfs deep investigation into desire,her acute understanding of self-existence,and her portrayal of social values during a period of social turmoil have profound significance for promoting social improvement,civilization development and benefiting human life. |
