現今社會科學一再提出研究，顯示一個人的外貌對其生活上及職場上影響甚鉅；娛樂圈名模當道；整形蔚為時尚。其中又以女性受益/害最深。究竟美貌是女性可加以利用的有利資源，還是如某些女性主義者所主張，只是男性用來削弱女性勢力的迷思。
丹尼爾•狄福 (Daniel Defoe) 的小說《羅珊娜》(Roxana, or the Fortunate Mistress)中，很明顯的，女主角羅珊娜靠著她天賦的美貌來誘惑一些有錢有勢的男人，讓自己從身無分文，藉此累積了大量財富。因此，本篇論文旨在解釋羅珊娜是如何靠著她的美貌翻身，成為一個幸運的情婦(the fortunate mistress)，而她又為何很諷刺地成為狄福筆下唯一以悲劇收場的小說主角。
本篇論文第一章先概要討論目前社會普遍對女性美貌執迷的現象，並介紹兩個二十世紀解釋這種現象的理論。首先，女性主義者娜歐蜜•吳爾芙在其《美的迷思》 (The Beauty Myth)一書中，指出社會上對女性美貌的崇拜與執迷，純粹是父權制度下，男性用來轉移女性注意力，並進而削弱女性競爭勢力的一種手段。因此，人們對美麗的追求，只是一種社會建構的迷思，透過現代科技來對人們進行洗腦。然而，在此同時，心理及生物學家也以生物演化觀點，提出一套和女性主義全然相反的解釋。心理學家南西•艾科夫的《美之為物》(Survival of the Prettiest)一書中，以許多的科學實驗證明，美貌和生存與繁殖息息相關。美貌象徵健康與繁殖力佳，因此，對美貌的追求，純粹是生物演化與求生存的結果。
第一章的後半部份則著重在十八世紀對美的討論。在啟蒙運動與科學發展之下，十八世紀對美的討論相當豐富。雖然對美的討論大致是傳承一些舊有的觀念，但十八世紀也發展出美學的討論以及對美的科學化觀察，如面相學(physiognomy)的研究等等。至於對女性的美貌，十八世紀同樣推崇，但不同的是，女性的美貌是被賦予道德意義的—女性的美代表著道德的良善。換句話說，十八世紀不僅僅是推崇女性外表的美麗，暗藏其中的是要求其行為道德符合標準，這才是社會的真正訴求。美麗的羅珊娜的故事，就在以美貌為力量，社會道德標準為牽絆的互相拉扯之下，帶出了哀愁的結局。
論文第二章針對文本做討論，討論羅珊娜如何靠著美貌去吸引有權力的男人，來幫助她走出困境，並且累積了大量的財富。而她又是如何從一段一段情婦經驗中，更得心應手地展現她的美麗魅力，來達到目的；甚至從被動地接受男人的憐愛與資助，變成主動為自己設立舞台，成為知名的社交名媛，吸引無數仰慕之士，為自己獲得了名和利。因此，本章著重於描述美貌之於女人所能展現的力量，有時美貌是展現誘惑和吸引力的力量；有時美貌是能激發憐憫和保護力的力量，羅珊娜兩方面都運用自如，因此能夠成為幸運的情婦。
論文第三章則解釋羅珊娜靠著美貌名利雙收背後所承受的哀愁困境。雖然表面上，羅珊娜的悲劇結局的起因是因為她的忠心女僕艾咪(Amy)，為了保護她的身分不曝光而謀殺了她的女兒蘇珊(Susan)，但是，從羅珊娜決定當情婦開始，儘管她也沾沾自喜於她的美貌所能帶給她的一切，但整個故事已經蒙上一層哀愁的陰影，因為羅珊娜始終無法原諒自己為了名利而出賣自己的肉體。這個章節試著以呼應書名的諷刺性的角度來看羅珊娜的悲劇結局，探討羅珊娜對自己角色定位—情婦(mistress)、妓女(prostitute)、以及沒有道德羞恥心的賤婦(whore)，背後所帶出的諷刺性悲劇結局。
在論文的結論中，討論重點則轉向書名中意有所指的「幸運的」(fortunate)一詞。古希臘羅馬神話中，通常以女神來代表命運 (Goddess of Fortune)，也代表著命運的多變與不可預測。而羅珊娜的幸運不在於她有個美好的結局，而在於她的際遇高低起伏不斷。當她陷入困境時，總能幸運的翻身；當她如意時，卻也能瞬間失去。她在命運之輪 (Wheel of Fortune)之間不斷上上下下，由這角度來看，羅珊娜是名符其實受命運女神眷顧的幸運的情婦。

With such an indicative adjective as “fortunate” in its title, Daniel Defoe’s Roxana interests readers in how fortunate the heroine is and in what sense she is called fortunate. Finishing reading the story of Roxana, readers are also concerned about why the fortunate mistress ends up in calamity. Therefore, this thesis sets out to explore how Roxana fortunately becomes powerful and to explain why she ironically ends up a tragedy.
In terms of the financial prosperity she achieves, it is apparent that Roxana can never make it without the fortunate blessing of her remarkable beauty. Being a beautiful woman, she attracts one powerful man after another, and this attraction is the source of her large fortune. In other words, this thesis focuses on the influence and power of personal beauty, and more importantly, on how Roxana uses her beauty to manipulate those powerful men to benefit herself greatly. Her power comes from the exertion of the power of her beauty.
Although Roxana is fortunately beautiful, her fortune, however, is decided by her character too. Roxana’s tragedy results from an ambitious mind, that cannot, however, reconcile itself to her chosen style of life. As a result, although she is living a seemingly comfortable life, her unbalanced and disturbed state of mind leads to nothing but a tragic ending.
In sum, this thesis, adopting textual analysis, aims at tracing Roxana’s power and tragedy in association with the most formative element of the story, her beauty. Recent research has shown that being beautiful translates into being privileged and favored in many respects, and Roxana’s story bears out these findings in the eighteenth century. In addition, although Roxana’s final tragic ending renders her a failed social climber, she is, however, truly a fortunate mistress, who, riding on the Wheel of Fortune, can always fortunately rise whenever she is unfortunately reduced. In other words, Roxana’s beauty, power and tragedy are all her fortune and how they interrelate is the principal concern of this thesis.

Acknowledgements.......................................i
Chinese Abstract.......................................ii
English Abstract.......................................iv
Introduction...........................................1
Chapter One
In the Name of Beauty:Women Now and in Eighteenth-Century England.................5
Chapter Two
Roxana and Her Men: Exerting the Power of Her Beauty...........30
Chapter Three
Roxana and Her Tragedy: Failure of Social Climbing.......................50
Conclusion.............................................72
Notes..................................................75
Works Cited............................................79

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