Emmanuel Levinas¡¦s theory on the Other gives rise to a number of researches in the field of philosophy, and it is applied to the field of literature. Taking Levinas¡¦s theory on the
Other as a frame, from the perspective of phenomenology, I try to discuss the theme of
conflict in the three plays by the three eighteenth-century female playwrights¡X Mary
Delarivier Manley¡¦s Lucius (1717), Eliza Haywood¡¦s Fair Captive (1721), and Elizabeth
Inchbald¡¦s Such Things Are (1787). This study focuses not only on the tension between the
oppressor and the oppressed, but also on the situation and reaction of the oppressed,
especially on the situation and reaction of the conquered women while they confront the persecution.
Chapter One is background introduction, which includes twentieth-century theories on
the Other, and Levinas¡¦s theory on the Other. Theories of the Other are related to the fields
of philosophy, anthropology, psychoanalysis, and post-colonialism; however, the focus of this
dissertation is Levinas¡¦s theory on the Other. Levinas asserts the rivalry between the Self
and the Other from a phenomenologist point of view. With Levinas as a major approach,
this chapter discusses the rival phenomenon between the Self and the Other as represented in
the three female playwrights¡¦ dramas.
Chapter Two deals with a discussion on the Other in Manley¡¦s Lucius, or the First
Christian King of Britain. This discussion is concerned with the confrontation between the
conqueror, the Britons and the conquered, the Picts during Roman Britain. The reaction of
the conquered, as well as the shifting identity of the conquered caused by the changed
circumstances are also my main concern.
Chapter Three is concerned with an analysis of the Other in Haywood¡¦s Fair Captive.
I analyze the Self¡¦s violence against the Other, the Turks¡¦ persecution against the Spaniards,
which results from racial and religious differences as exposed during the War of the Spanish
Succession (1701-14). One of the ideas I focus on is men¡¦s oppression against women,
either in the Islamic or in the Christian world, due to gender relations involved with a male
maltreatment of women which is rooted in the patriarchal system and commonly exists in
eighteenth-century Europe.
Chapter Four studies the discourse on the Other in Inchbald¡¦s Such Things Are. I
discuss the Orientalist perspective of Inchbald regarding the Sumatrans, the tension between
the Self and the Other as represented in the interaction of the Britons and the Sumatrans,
along with the tension between the master and the slave on the colonial level, as well as on
the patriarchal level, as exercised in colonial society.
The final chapter concludes this dissertation with an emphasis on the relationship
between the Self and the Other. The Eighteenth-century England encountered a variety of
political and cultural problems. Within the country, England had ethnic problems, though
she had accomplished the Union with Scotland in 1707. Outside the country, England was
forced to face her political Other, France, though the English appreciated and imitated French
culture. Her two parties¡X the Tories and the Whigs, who maintained contradictory opinions
in dealing with political issues¡X also caused instability in the political arena. Meanwhile,
the political tension never mitigated when England endeavored to expand her territory into
other countries, especially into India in order to implement her colonialism. Cultural
differences result in either reciprocal or rival relationship between two peoples. In their
rivalry, the Self has a desire for or a fear of the Other. Such a cultural phenomenon--the
Self¡¦s desire for or fear of the Other-- is presented in the plays of many eighteenth-century
female playwrights. This dissertation argues that when the Self alters his center-orientation
and terminates seeking mastery over the Other, it is possible to put an end to their rivalry, just
as Levinas indicates:
Unless we attribute to the essence of free will a propensity for the rational,
and, thus, a respect for universal, thanks to which the imperative and the
normative of the intelligible would impose themselves on the free will of
reach, consenting to limit itself in such a way as not to limit others.
(Alterity and Transcendence 147-48)
Manley¡¦s Lucius, Haywood¡¦s Fair Captive, and Inchbald¡¦s Such Things Are all illustrate this
siltuation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0725106-162543 |
| Date | 25 July 2006 |
| Creators | Chung, Shu-hua |
| Contributors | Elyssa Y. Cheng, Li-Ching Chen, I-Chun Wang, Winifred Yin, Kim Tong Tee |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0725106-162543 |
| Rights | campus_withheld, Copyright information available at source archive |
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