CHARACTER EVOLUTION IN THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN

Abstract

This exercise explores Fowles's conflation of the Darwinian theory of evolution and the existentialist philosophy of Sartre in the two central characters of The French Lieutenant's Woman. In the Introductory Chapter, existentialism is subsumed within the premisses of the theory of evolution and thus seen as a direction that evolution can take, involving instead of the biological aspect, the intentional aspect of man. In Chapter Two, Sarah's superior manipulative ability in the game of sexual selection is analysed. In Chapter Three, Charles's evolution is seen as a movement away from the notion of possession towards a moral elitism the terms of which have been set down by the narrator and Grogan. In the Concluding Chapter, the two different modes of evolution are considered in the light of what the two characters have evolved into.