The inward and outward eye: shame and guilt in the work of Thomas Hardy [Elektronische Ressource] / vorgelegt von Sarah McEwan

Mcewan

Informations

• Publié par: heinrich-heine-universitat_dusseldorf
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2003
• Nombre de lectures: 26
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

“The Inward and Outward Eye”:
Shame and Guilt in the Work of Thomas Hardy







Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades
eines Doktors der Philosophie (Dr. Phil.) durch die Philosophische Fakultät
der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf










vorgelegt von Sarah McEwan aus Portsmouth
Erste Gutachterin: Prof. Dr. Therese Seidel
Zweiter Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Busse
Disputation: 6.5.2003

































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Contents

A. Introduction: The Centrality of Shame and Guilt in Thomas Hardy………………….. 7
I. The Neglect of Shame in Hardyan Criticism and its Impact upon Guilt………….. 7
II. The Interpretation of Guilt as a Social Sanction and a Psychological 12
Phenomenon………………………………………………………………………..
III. The Return of the Native, Tess of the d’Urbervilles and 18
Jude the Obscure: A Trilogy……………………………..…………………………

B. Defining Hardyan Shame and Guilt: Rethinking Shame and Guilt
within and beyond their Conventional and Cultural Context…………………………. 20
I. Descriptions and Associations of Shame and Guilt in the Nineteenth Century:
Moral Climate and Moral Wrong………………………………………………….. 20
II. “The Inward and Outward Eye”: Levels of Shame and Guilt in Hardy
and their Function………………………………………………………………….. 30
1. The Psychology behind the Shameful and the Guilty Moment
and the Question of Identity……………………………………………………. 30
a. Consciousness and Exposure..………………………………………………. 30
b. Seeing and being Seen: Audience or Conscience…………………………… 33
c. Human Beings versus Human Doings:
Self, Action, Trust and Disillusionment..……………………………………. 38
2. The Representation and Language of Shame and Guilt.……………………….. 43
a. The Blush, the Body and the Mind………………………………………….. 43
b. Bodily Shame and Spiritual Guilt…………………………………………… 47
3. Shame and Guilt Cultures, Text-worlds and Social Comment………………… 48
a. Public Opinion versus Self-evaluation.……………………………………… 49
b. Results versus Intentions.……………………………………………………. 55
c. The Collapse of the Community: Guilt replaces Shame.……………………. 56
d. Social Mobility and Class Shame.…………………………………………… 58
e. Primitivism and Progress……………………………………………………. 60
III. Conclusion: The Dissociation of Shame and Guilt from
63 Conventional Morality…………………………………………………………….



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C. Specific Studies: A Trilogy of Shame and Guilt……………………………………… 64
I. The Return of the Native: The Launch of Shame and Guilt..………………………. 64
1. The Dominance of the Public Sphere and Public Shame.………………………. 65
a. Etiquette, Scandal and Reputation..…………………………………………. 65
b. The Case of Eustacia………………………………………………………… 69
i. Exposure and Indifference.………………………………………………. 69
ii. Clym as Audience: Lessons in Sensitivity.………………………………. 72
2. Shame, Class and Identity: Losing the Sense of Social Superiority…………… 74
a. Mrs. Yeobright and Personal Shame………………………………………… 75
b. Cracks in Eustacia’s Self-image.…………………………………………….. 79
c. Clym’s Transcendence of Shame: Lessons in Indifference…………………. 81
3. Guilt and Delusion: Clym and the Refuge from Reality 83
a. Fighting Futility and the “Ache of Modernism”…………………………….. 84
b. Enlightenment followed by Blindness and the Refusal to See………………. 89
4. Wider Polar Landscapes: Shame and Guilt Characters…………………………. 92
a. Clarity of Conscience, Primitivism, Paganism and Sensuality……………… 93
b. Guilt, Modernity and Intellectualism..………………………………………. 95

II. Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Study in Shame……………………………………… 97
1. Shame Structures.……………………………………………………………….. 98
2. Shame, Guilt and Identity Crisis.……………………………………………..… 100
a. Tess and the Quest for Identity.……………………………………………… 101
b. The Agonies of Class Shame..………………………………………………. 104
i. Angel and Avoidance: Making a d’Urberville out of a Durbeyfield…….. 104
ii. Tess’ Social and Intellectual Inadequacy………………………………… 107
c. Guilt, Delusion and the Distorted Identity: The Guilty Persona……………. 109
3. Audience and the Observance of Public Opinion………………………………. 112
a. John, Joan and the Importance of Reputation………………………………. 113
b. Felix, Cuthbert and the Danger of Dogged Obedience..……………………. 115
c. Angel and Family as Audience..……………………………………………. 117
d. Tess: Conforming with Protest……………………………………………… 120
e. The Vanity of Public Opinion………………………………………………. 123
4. The Psychology of Shame: The Mental Process behind the Shameful Moment…. 126
a. The Individual and Audience’s Views……………………………………… 126
b. Shifts in Consciousness and Perception…………………………………….. 127
5. Sexual Shame: Tess, Alec and the Boundary of the Body……………………… 131

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6. Shame at its Gravest: The Loss of Identity and the Obliteration of the Self……. 134
a. Surprise, Exposure and Disillusionment……………………………………. 135
b. Mistaken Identities and Angel as Audience………………………………… 136
c. The Degeneration from a Personality to a Nobody…………………………. 139
7. Sympathy and Distance: Mitigating Tess’ Guilt..………………………………. 141
a. Modesty in the face of Immodesty.………………………………………….. 142
b. Nature, Fate and Pathos……………………………………………………… 145
c. The Miscreants Angel and Alec.…………………………………………….. 151

III.Jude the Obscure: A Study in Guilt.………………………………………………. 154
1. The Death of the Audience: Conditions for the Conscience and Guilt………… 155
a. Aloneness, Isolation and the Modern Condition……………………………. 156
b. The Problem of Communication……………………………………………. 159
c. Introspection and the Stream of Conscience.……………………………….. 162
d. The Conscience: Its Deliberation, Relief and Foundation………………….. 165
e. The Private Sphere, Rootlessness and Moral Autonomy…………………… 169
2. Wider Guilt Landscapes: The Guilt Character Sue..……………………………. 173
a. Temptation, Remorse and Self-criticism.…………………………………… 173
b. Spirituality, Sexlessness and Modernity……………………………………. 175
3. The Result: Resisting Ridicule and Shame..……………………………………. 176
a. Jude and the Defeat of the Shame of Failure……………………………….. 177
b. Sue’s Criticism of Convention and the Shameful State…………………….. 182
c. Phillotson’s Triumph over Public Censure…………………………………. 185
d. Arabella, Shamelessness and the Manipulation of Convention…………….. 190
e. Excommunication and Ostracism.………………………….……………….. 193
4. The Danger: Losing Sense of the Self and the World.………………………….. 195
a. Outsiders bereft of Guide and Principle…………………………………….. 196
b. Sue, Instability and the Problem of Identity………………………………… 198
c. The Collapse of Sue and Meaning………………………………………….. 199
5. The Solution: Guilt against Futility and Chaos…………………………………. 201
a. Making Sense of the Hanging: Finding Meaning where there is None…….. 202
b. Clym Revisited: Intellectualism and Enlightenment, then Blindness………. 206
c. Gaining an Identity and having a Mission: The Puritan Adulteress
and her Punishment…………………………………………………………. 208



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D. Wider Patternings across Major Novels………………………………………………. 212
I. Redressing the Balance: Shame as a Principle of Plot…………………………….. 212
1. Guilt and Public Shame in The Mayor of Casterbridge………………………… 212
2. Class, Shame and Motivation in The Woodlanders…………………………….. 214
II. Shame and Narrative Technique…………………………………………………… 218
1. The Visualization of Shame: The Blush………………………………………… 218
2. The Imagery and Poetics of Shame and Blushing: Some Examples……………. 220
3. Body Language and Sign reading: Visual replaces Verbal Communication…… 222
a. The Face and Emotion……………………………………………………… 224
b. Exposure and Truth in The Woodlanders and The Return of the Native…… 226
c. Character- and Reader-oriented Exposure and Inference
in The Return of the Native and other Novels………………………………. 229
d. Transcending Literary and Social Convention: Sexual Consciousness
and Showing the Unsayable in Tess of the d’Urbervilles and other Novels... 234
III. Shame and the Question of Gender……………………………………………….. 238
1. The Feminization of Shame……………………………………………………. 239
2. Patriarchal Structures and Power Struggles: The Face and the Male Gaze……. 241
3. Typecast Women Characters…………………………………………………… 244
a. Sexual Modesty, Shyness and Blushing.……………………………………. 244
b. Beauty and the Blush ……………………………………………………….. 247
4. Shame-based Sympathy and Distance: Socially Acceptable
and Praiseworthy Heroines.…………………………………………………….. 249

E. Conclusion: Redressing the Balance – Shame as the defining Aspect
of Guilt in Thomas Hardy..……………………………………………………………. 253

F. Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………. 259






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A. Introduction: The Centrality of Shame and Guilt in Thomas Hardy
I. The Neglect of Shame in Hardyan Criticism and its Impact upon Guilt