Open AccessAn Analysis of Vivie in Mrs. Warren’s Profession Using Narrative Theory
Author(s) -
Lin Bai,
Jie Qin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
theory and practice in language studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-0692
pISSN - 1799-2591
DOI - 10.17507/tpls.0802.10
Subject(s) - subtext , narrative , narratology , feminism , independence (probability theory) , sociology , ideal (ethics) , literature , aesthetics , gender studies , philosophy , art , epistemology , mathematics , statistics
Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) is one of the world famous playwrights, is a household wordsmith for his good humor and satire. In his masterpiece Mrs. Warren's Profession, Shaw depicts a literary figure Vivie who embodies new women's yearning for their independence and aspirations of self-values. This paper analyzes Vivie's image through approaches of narrative theory. By using narrative voice reflected in the scene, involvement of implied author in portrayal description, application of feminism in narratology, and dualistic construction in subtext, readers can have a more profound understanding of Vivie's image. Instead of a mouthpiece of "new women", the nature of Vivie's image is just sketched out on the basis of an ideal man under the male-dominated capitalist society. This paper concludes that in the capitalist society women were under the control of patriarchal discourse.