Women As Commodities In Two Selected Novels Of Thomas Hardy
This research examines the Lacanian psychoanalysis principles underlying selected Hardy’s novels, Tess of the d’Urbervilles and The Mayor of the Casterbridge, and underscores the hypotheses of psychoanalytic feminists such as Julia Kristeva and Luce Irigaray who based their theories on Jacques La...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
2009
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/5768/1/FBMK_2009_6_A.pdf |
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| Summary: | This research examines the Lacanian psychoanalysis principles underlying selected
Hardy’s novels, Tess of the d’Urbervilles and The Mayor of the Casterbridge, and
underscores the hypotheses of psychoanalytic feminists such as Julia Kristeva and
Luce Irigaray who based their theories on Jacques Lacan’s signification of the
symbolic order. The study applies Lacanian concepts as adapted by Kristeva and
Irigaray to illustrate men’s control over women and women’s resistance to men’s
intention to objectify them.
The main theme adopted to study Hardy’s novels is the Unconscious of the
Patriarchy in the Victorian Imagination. It is divided into two sections: Lacan and
Feminist Psychoanalysts. The discussion will highlight women faced the threat of
inferiority and it explains the symbolic world of Lacan attempts to turn women into
commodities.Women’s power to destabilize the structures of this particular society will also be
expounded by referring to the works of Julia Kristeva and Luce Irigaray. It will be
explained that through the connection women have with semiotic language,
maternity, abjection/death, and mimesis women are able to threaten the symbolic
law.
By investigating these theoretical observations, I hope to highlight the continuing
issue of commodifying the value and dignity of women which can be observed in the
patriarchal system of the Victorian era. The study specifically analyses the reactions
of male characters in the novels towards the identity of female protagonists which
lead to the conclusion that a woman’s self is worthless, valueless and is totally
rejected in the symbolic law. In the light of feminist’s psychoanalytic concepts, the
study finds the female capability to threaten the unconscious of her identity in the
Victorian symbolic era. |
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