浅析《德伯家的苔丝》中的哥特式小说风格On the Gothic Features in Tess of the d’Urbervilles.doc

本科学生毕业论文（设计） 题目（中文）： 浅析德伯家的苔丝中的哥特式小说风格 （英文）: On the Gothic Features in Tess of the dUrbervilles 姓 名 学 号 院 （系） 外 国 语 言 文 学 系 专业、年级 指导教师 Contents摘要 AbstractIntroduction .11 About Gothic Novel. 31.1 Its Origin.31.2 Its Feature.5 2 Gothic Features Reflected in Tess of the dUrbervilles.82.1 Character Portraying.82.2 Environment Depiction 122.3 Plot Development.182.4 Theme Representation.223 The Significance of Gothic Feature for This Novel.24Conclusion.26Notes.28Bibliography.29Acknowledgements摘 要德伯家的苔丝（Tess of the dUrbervilles,1891）是19世纪英国著名作家托马斯哈代（Thomas Hardy,1840-1928）的一部经典悲剧性小说，它成功地塑造了一位勇于对抗世俗、富于反叛精神的农村姑娘苔丝这一形象。该小说继承了哈代作品的一贯风格，反映了资本主义入侵英国之后，社会、经济、政治、道德发生的巨大变化，造成的广大民众(尤其是妇女)的悲惨命运， 揭示了资产阶级的道德、法律和宗教的虚伪性。以上特点和主题也早已成为国内外该小说研究的焦点，在这些研究的基础上，本文将从哥特式艺术风格的角度重新审视这部小说，分析小说中哥特式风格在人物塑造、环境刻画以及情节主题描绘等方面的体现，以期有助于更全面地展示德伯家的苔丝的写作艺术之美。关键词: 哥特式风格；人物 ；环境； 情节 AbstractTess of the dUrbervilles (1891) is a classic tragic novel authored by the famous 19th century British writer Thomas Hardy (1840-1928). This novel has successfully portrayed a poor girl named Tess who has the precious spirit of rebellion against the temporal stipulation. Inheriting the well-known writing skill of Hardy, it not only presents us the enormous changes in British society, economy, politics and morality after the invasion of capitalism, but also shows us the miserable life of the common lower class, especially the women, revealing the hypocrisy of capitalists law, religion and moral standard. The above theme and opinions have always been a center of research of this novel. Based on the previous researches, this paper will re-analyze this great novel from a Gothic angel, and will explain how Gothic features are reflected in the character portraying, in the environment depiction, in the plot development etc. Key words: Gothic features, character, environment, plot, theme.IntroductionThe Victorian era was a period of dramatic change that brought England to its highest point of development as a world power. The Industrial Revolution brought an enormous increase in wealth and provided the tools for the development such as the rail way, engineering and steamship. In this period of rapid development, novel became the dominant form in literature. It was the ideal form to describe contemporary life and to entertain the middle class. Novelists took the approach of realism, the truthful, accurate and objective description of the ordinary, observable world. When we think of the chief Victorian novelists, one of the names that come to our mind is Thomas Hardy, whose works reflect his pessimism and sense of tragedy in human life. They also reveal the changes that took place in Victorian England: the decline of Christianity, the shifts from reticence to openness in matters of sex and from agricultural economy to modern economy, and above all the growing sense of the disparity between the enormous universe and tiny man. Among Hardys novels Tess of the dUrbervilles which was subtitled A Pure Woman is now generally regarded as his best novel. Tess is the daughter of the poor John Durbeyfield who finds that he is the descent of a noble familythe dUrbervilles and who asks Tess to Alec dUrbervilles home to claim kin. Unfortunately, innocent Tess is seduced by Alec. Latter, Tess is fall in love with Angel Clare, but the latter abandons her when he knows her past. In great desperation because of Angels leaving and the helpless situation of her family, Tess turns to Alec for help. But Angel comes back at that time. Finding Tess is with Alec, he determines to leave again. Poor Tess kills Alec for revenge and gets her destination.This paper looks on the novel from Gothic perspective, striving to find out the Gothic beauty hidden in its character, environment, plot and theme, and to show what influences Gothic features have on this novel. The main body of this paper will be divided into three parts. The first part is an introduction of the origin and feature of Gothic novels; the second part is an exploration of how Gothic feature is reflected in the character, environment, plot and theme of Tess of the dUrbervilles; the last part is an analysis of the significance of Gothic feature for the novel. 1About Gothic NovelGothic novel, or Gothic romance, is a type of popular novel that mainly developed and flourished in the late 18th century and the early 19th century in British. Combined with the critics of reality, Gothic novel in this period reveals the evil side of the society, and cries for freedom, equality, and humanity. Generally speaking, Gothic novels are mysteries, terrifying, fraught with supernatural and superstitious events, thus attracting generations of readers with its unique charm. Gothic novel has exerted an extensive influence in both British and American literature history, and many great writers have successfully applied the Gothic artistic skills to their writing. In Britain, Gothic novels are usually against rationality and the predetermined logic by appreciating the pleasure of extreme human emotion. It usually takes Gothic castle as its background, and portrays two kinds of characters who are of distinct differences, namely the demon and the angel. 1.1 Its Origin It was about the Christmas Day in 1764 that a weird novel was translated and published in London, its author concealed the real origin of this novel and his own identity, unexpecting that such a short pamphlet of about 300 pages could turn a new chapter for human novel history, and could create such a tremendous influence on later generations. This grotesque novel is The Castle of Otranto written by Horace Walpole (1717-1794), becoming the first Gothic novel. The use of “a Gothic story” in the subtitle gave birth to the name “Gothic novel”. What has existed in literary works as auxiliary factors such as sentimentality, illusion, grave and death all suddenly became the most important and also the most fascinating part with the creation of The Castle of Otranto Whats more, this novel set a fixed plot model and affirmed the most eternal theme for Gothic Novel- good and evil must at last have their reward. Apart from this work ,there are many other excellent Gothic novels such as The Mysteries of Udolpho, Italian, Vathek，an Arabian Tale, The Monk Frankenstein and Melmoth the Wanderer.Although Gothic novels have nothing to do with the Gothic people, one of its important sources derives from Germanic nations (namely the Teuton) abundant folk tales or from Medieval romances which take these folk tales as reference.Another important source of Gothic novel is dramas in British Renaissance period. Deeply influenced by the Roman dramatist, Lucius Annaeus Seneca , British drama in this period is featured as fraught with revenge, conspiracy, violence, murder, and even ghosts, therefore the dramas plot is very nerve-jangling. In particular, Shakespeares plays and Jacobean Tragedies have a huge influence on Gothic novels birth and development. The Bible and Christian legends are also important sources of Gothic novel. The Bible contains many a fearsome spectacle, and Christian legends has been always trying to create a hell of terror. 1.2 Its FeatureAs a special romantic literature genre called "Dark Romanticism”. Gothic Novel was mainly prevailed in the Romantic literature period. What the word “dark” refers to is mainly showed in two aspects: first, the plot of Gothic novels usually emphasizes the creation of violent and terrifying atmosphere; second, unlike other romantic literature works which prefer to show directly the authors ideal society, politics and morality, Gothic novels strive to explore deeper into social, political and moral problems by revealing the evil side of the society, politics, religion and morality, and by revealing the dark side of human nature. Gothic styles of the 18th and 19th century literary works reflects in the following aspects. Firstly, one of the unique creations of Gothic novels is the Villain Hero. Being the most controversial characteristics in Gothic novels, these Villain Heroes are both vicious and enchanting, they are the chief culprit for bringing suffer to themselves and others. Their birth or background is usually unknown or obscure to others; their appearance is strange; their soul is contorted, which is accompanied with dark and death and being happy only when other are in torture. Goger Chillingworth in the Scarlet Letter, Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, and Alec dUrbervilles in Tess of the dUrbervilles are all typical Villain Heroes. Generally, the author aims at digging out completely the dark side of human beings by portraying those Villain Heroes, and at arousing in the readers heart dual-dramatic feelings of horror and consonance. Secondly, the environment in Gothic novels is very scary and charnel. The story often happens in deserted places such as ancient castle, old abbey, manor and cliff where there may be stone coffins, dead trees and grotesque animals, the time is usually at night or in a cloudy day, making the readers feel blood curding.Thirdly, the plot in Gothic novels is flaunt with suspence, tinged with the smell of death and decay. In the novel, there are often descriptions about rape, violence, murder, persecution, supernatural power and superstitious phenomenon, which may caused by the efforts of satisfying ones personal desires. But the truth is usually just hidden in the seemly romantic plot.Fourthly, the most typical theme of Gothic novel is the contrast between the good and evil, between the brightness and dark, and between angel and demon though the common themes in Gothic Novels involve killings among brothers, taking others wife, revenge, rape, incestum and homosexuality, thus revealing the problems of human nature and the reality. Andrew Sundas has generalized that the techniques for its success is the description of cliffs and abyss, torture and horror, witchcraft and necrophilia. It immersed in contemplation of soul haunting, sudden deaths, the dungeons, dreams, hex, hallucinations and predictions. As a masterpiece of Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrbervilles perfectly embodies his realism, fatalism and pessimism. In this novel, the readers can almost have a feeling of terror all the time aroused by the destroying power of the abnormal and weird character Alec, by the grim and gloomy atmosphere, by the unpredictable plot and by the sharp contrast of good and evil. Therefore, this paper will analyze the Gothic features of Tess of the dUrbervilles from the following four aspects: character, environment, plot and theme2Gothic Feature Reflected in Tess of the dUrbervillesWhen we think of characters in Gothic novels, the image of Villain Hero first come to mind. On the one hand, these Villain Heroes are solitude and proud, on the other hand, they are vulgar and wild because of his burning desire. In Tess of the dUrbervilles, Alec dUrbervilles is a typical Villain Hero.2.1 Character Portraying Villain images are very common in Gothic novels, they can be divided into two types: the sheer villain and the Villain Hero. The former gives a feeling of sheer hatred to the readers, while the latter arouses a feeling of both hatred and sympathy in the readers heart. The Villain Heroes are pride, stubborn, dissatisfied with and rebellion against the reality; but at the same time, they seem to be lonely, melancholy, pessimistic, divorced from the masses, and persist their old ways. The eternal theme of Gothic novel of the contrast between good and evil determines that there must be some one evil, in Tess of the dUrbervilles, Alec is obvious the evil. Different from other previous novels, in Gothic novels the most appealing image is usually the villain image. These villains often make readers anger and scared, arousing readers interest. Weak in morality and short of the bondage of social norms, these villain heroes are paranoid wild, ambitious and has formidable destruction power. It is these images whose souls are burning with desire that become the most important factor for Gothic novels charm. Readers feeling towards Villain Heroes is a mixture of hatred, fear, attraction, sympathy. In Tess of the dUrbervilles, Alec dUrbervilles is a typical Villain Hero. First, he is an individualist and liberalist. Different from the natives who know each other well because of having lived in the Chase area for generations, Alec dUrbervilles family is new and is behind mysterious veil, not clearly known to the natives. To the outsiders this family is weird because their surname is very old while their residence is new; the family is rich and noble, but there only live Alec and his old mother, both of whom are not in the least like common dignity person. Thus, the dUrbervilles can not integrate into the local community, in fact, they are the outsiders here. In this novel, Alec is always alone, that is in sharp contrast with Tess husband, Angel Clare, who always has companions. Alec lives in a big house with his blind mother without any other relatives such as sisters or brothers; he dose not have a single friend to share his joys and sorrows; he is just like a lonely ghost appearing quietly beside Tess and seizing her. Alec is a liberalist in that he is unrestrained by any rules in religion or in morality. When Angel father, the priest comes to persuade him to believe in God, Alec abuses him and drives him away rudely; he is weak in morality and lack self-discipline. He tries to get Tess by any foul means just because of loving her. The first time he meets Tess, he shows his love boldly, he calls her “my dear” “my pretty Coz” (P32,33) and gives her roses despite her embarrassment, all of these things will definitely not be done by another gentleman to a shyly girl. It is him that makes Tess no longer a virgin, which is an important factor that destroy Tesss life, and because of which, Tess hates him all her life. Looking from this angle, Alec is definitely a demon and a villain. Thus, Alec dUrbervilles is deeply hated by the readers for his shamelessness, scoundrelness and cruelty, but on the other hand, the readers feel sympathetic to him for his deep