Abstract
This thesis attempts to examine the function of disguise used in Defoe¡¦s Moll Flanders. I will relate Terry Castle¡¦s studies on masquerade and disguise as an inspiration for my discussion so as to explore disguise in the novel on three levels. Clothes as well as language as a manipulable sign system manifested in masquerade become a useful means for Moll¡¦s physical disguise. The often-debated problem of Moll¡¦s penitence is brought out and explored in terms of spiritual disguise. The Editor¡¦s Preface that prescribes an authorized interpretation of Moll¡¦s story is considered a meta-narrative disguise that intends to mask Moll¡¦s criminal autobiography as a moral tale. Therefore, the novel as a whole can be seen as an arena for competition between Moll¡¦s disguise and the Editor¡¦s meta-narrative disguise. For this reader, Moll¡¦s disguise eventually hijacks Defoe¡¦s novel and defeats the meta-narrative disguise.
The thesis is composed of four chapters. The introduction presents the overall structure in a nutshell. Chapter One explains how disguise functions in masquerade and its relation to play and transgression. In Chapter Two, to enrich the discussion, Goffman¡¦s idea on ¡§impression management¡¨ is employed to explore Moll¡¦s physical disguise in everyday life. In Chapter Three, the insincerity of Moll¡¦s repentance is brought out and discussed as Moll¡¦s spiritual disguise. In Chapter Four, the Editor¡¦s Preface, which seems an appendage to the novel is seriously examined and regarded as a meta-narrative disguise for it involves a dispute of how a reader should read the novel.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0628100-151214 |
| Date | 28 June 2000 |
| Creators | Chen, Hsiang-Hsiu |
| Contributors | Rudolphus Teeuwen, Ying-Ying Chien, John Deeney |
| 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-0628100-151214 |
| Rights | unrestricted, Copyright information available at source archive |
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