This scholarly monograph investigates and discusses the concepts of character and consciousness through an interdisciplinary reading relying primarily on philosophical concepts and discourse providing a genealogy of the notion of character from Victorian novelists to the notion of consciousness in modern writers. The author applies philosophical approaches(such as the metaphysics of Schopenhauer, the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty, and the hermeneutics of Gadamer) to major British authors to examine not one but various levels of consciousness, from bodily, through metaphysical, to ethical. This work is a direct contribution to the nascent field of consciousness studies as it offers a new definition of consciousness for literary criticism in a philosophical and not psychological way. The research will also contribute to the intellectual history of 19th and 20th century English literature. “ Fine research and worthy of being studied along with Robert Langbaum and Daniel Schneider in the quest for the notion of character not as a given but as a theoretical construct that evolves into the idea of consciousness.” Professor James Blake, N Y U This scholarly monograph investigates and discusses the concepts of character and consciousness through an interdisciplinary reading relying primarily on philosophical ideas and discourse providing a genealogy of the notion of character from Victorian novelists to the notion of consciousness in modern writers. The author applies philosophical approaches (such as the metaphysics of Schopenhauer, the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty, and the hermeneutics of Gadamer) to major British authors to examine not one but various levels of consciousness, from bodily, through metaphysical, to ethical. This work is a direct contribution to the nascent field of consciousness studies as it offers a new definition of consciousness for literary criticism in a philosophical and not a psychological way. The research will also contribute to the intellectual history of nineteenth and twentieth century English literature. Fine research and worthy of being studied along with Robert ! Langbaum and Daniel Schneider in the quest for the notion of character not just as a given but also as a theoretical construct that unfolds into the idea of consciousness. From the Foreword by Dr. Eleanor H. Green This new study of four important British novelists focuses on their representations of character and consciousness. Gregory Tague reaches back to the pre-Platonic philosophers, as well as incorporating Schopenhauer and Nietzsche and contemporary literary criticism into his exploration of this central theme in Victorian and modern literature. Tracing each author s concept of character and using his or her particular understanding of "consciousness," Tague is able to demonstrate an evolution of increasing complexity in the manner in which each novelist considers the place of the individual within the environment, the nature of this environment, and the criteria for developing a consciousness of oneself and the world that leads to ethical attitudes and behavior, even if these are not what conventional morality would deem ethical. . . . . Tague s use of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and more contemporary literary criticism to explore the depiction of character and consciousness in these four authors makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of the novelists conception of the individuals they have created and the environments in which these individuals live. Beyond throwing light on four pivotal writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Tague has provided a method for examining and understanding other novelists. His examination of the evolution of the understanding of character and consciousness and a chronologically evolving new sense of what constitutes ethical behavior provides a valuable framework for exploring all writing of this important period in English literature. Gregory F. Tague is professor of English/interdisciplinary studies and founder and senior developer of The Evolutionary Studies Collaborative at St. Francis College.