| Summary: | 博士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 外國語文學系研究所 === 90 === Abstract
The original intent of this thesis was to explore the concepts of power, female sexuality, and the female body in Eliot’s novels by adopting a Foucauldian methodology. However, after further study, I discovered an intriguing link between Foucault and feminism that has many parallels in the relationship between Eliot and feminism. The appropriation of Foucault by feminists has been extensive and yet controversial. Although some feminists welcome the “marriage” between Foucault and feminism, many are skeptical toward this insightful but detrimental convergence. Similarly, Eliot is controversial to feminists because of her ambivalent attitude toward “the woman question.” Through an analysis of the encounter between Foucault and feminism, and the feminist viewpoints on the writings of Eliot, I intend to show that only when Foucault’s concepts of power, sexuality, and the body are considered as a whole, can they be a good ground for assessing Eliot’s treatment of power, female sexuality, and the female body in her novels.
The core argument of this thesis revolves around the Foucauldian trinity of power, (female) sexuality, and the (female) body, and its application to the works of George Eliot in an attempt to established Eliot’s feminist status. To accomplish this, in the introduction I will explain the purpose for a convergence among Foucault, Feminist Thought, and George Eliot. In the first chapter, I will examine Foucault’s concept regarding the interaction of power, sexuality, and the body, and the feminist responses to it. In the second chapter I will examine the Victorian double standards concerning writing and sexuality. I will then offer a Foucauldian reading of Eliot’s sexual politics. In the third chapter I will use Foucault to examine Eliot’s three novels and highlight the diversity of feminist interpretations of Eliot. In the conclusion I will reassert that the convergence among Foucault, Feminist Thought, and George Eliot is a happy one.
In my opinion, Foucault’s concepts can shed light on the problems and limitations in feminist theories--especially regarding identity and body politics. They can also help modify our views toward Eliot. By showing the difficulties feminist claims on Foucault, I hope to show how a poststructuralist application of Foucault to Eliot can contribute to a more complex and richer assessment of Eliot. My aim is to free the Foucauldian concept of power, sexuality, and the body from a narrow teleological perspective. Female sexuality and the female body should not be viewed as fixed, restricted, and repressed, but as mobile, multiple, and subject to constant re-inscription.
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