An Analysis Of The Quest Motif In A.s.byatt’s Possession: A Romance From The Perspective Of Myth-archetypal Criticism

Possession: A Romance,published in 1990,is one of the representative works of the famous contemporary writer and literary critic A.S.Byatt.Possession was written in modern British society after World War II,and profoundly reflected the cultural crisis and spiritual dilemma faced by modern people.Based on Frye’s myth-archetypal criticism,this thesis discusses the motif of quest reflected in the U-shaped narrative structure and romance pattern of Possession,and reveals Byatt’s development and innovation of the quest motif in the postmodern context.This thesis firstly analyzes the embodiment of the quest motif in the U-shaped narrative structure of Possession.As a narrative whole,the U-shaped narrative structure reflects humans’ quest from a macro perspective,mainly including the following stages: in the ancient period,the primitive ancestors’ imagination of the paradise.In the Victorian period,the love tragedy of poet Ash and poetess La Motte echoes the loss of paradise for human ancestors;in modern society,the scholar Roland obtains imagination and spirituality and establishes the close relationship with Maud through questing the secret love affair,which symbolizes mankind’s return to paradise.Then this thesis discusses the motif of quest embodied in romance.Focusing on the three pieces of romance in the three different historical stages,this thesis discusses people’s quest in different historical periods.As for the romance of ancient times,this thesis mainly focuses on the ancient ancestors’ quest for physical survival in the face of cruel natural environment,as well as women’s quest for independence.As for the romance of the Victorian period,this thesis focuses on the Victorians’ quest for spiritual survival when they encounter the impact of religion and science,especially the quest for gender-related truth by female artists in the patriarchal Victorian society.As for the romance of modern society,this thesis emphasizes the quest of literary researchers to reconstruct the historical truth.Taking the U-shaped narrative structure and romance structure as the vehicle,this thesis analyzes the recurring human’s quest for paradise including each individual’s quest under specific circumstances,and reveals that the quest motif of Possession is to search for the essence of human existence,which reflects human beings’ non-stop quest spirit.