論狄更斯《霧都孤兒》中的批判現(xiàn)實(shí)主義 --畢業(yè)論文

1、【標(biāo)題】論狄更斯霧都孤兒中的批判現(xiàn)實(shí)主義 【作者】何 穎 【關(guān)鍵詞】狄更斯;批判現(xiàn)實(shí)主義;丑惡 【指導(dǎo)老師】劉婷婷 【專(zhuān)業(yè)】英語(yǔ) 【正文】i. introductionthe victorian age is an age of realism rather than of romanticism-a realism which strives to tell the whole truth showing moral and physical diseases as they are. be true to life becomes the first requirement for lit

2、erary writing. as the mirror of truth, literature has come very close to daily life, reflecting its practical problems and interests and is used as a powerful instrument of human progress.after having developed for a long time, critical realism has been accepted by more and more people. it is so ing

3、rained among people that oliver twist which embodies this theory clearly is favored by everyone. different people have different views on critical realism in oliver twist. some argue that dickens uses critical realism to expose the dinginess of london in the early stage of industrial revolution. som

4、e people hold firmly that oliver twist is famous and typical for critical realism. many criticizers have made lots of researches combined with the historical background of english literature in analyzing critical realism in oliver twist. they think dickens wants to expose the dinginess of london in

5、the early stage of industrial revolution.this paper intends to discuss the significant role of critical realism in oliver twist. first, it analyzes critical realism in oliver twist from historical background. then, it discusses the great impact of critical realism on writing skills and the readers f

6、eelings. at last, the paper points out that critical realism plays an important role in oliver twist.ii. critical realisma. critical realismby the middle of 19th century, the development of capitalism in england had reached a height that inevitably revealed its weaknesses. revolutions broke out in m

7、any european countries, which showed clearly the discontents of the people and had a strong influence in england. meanwhile, the chartist movement, a working class movement for more rights and less harsh working conditions had started in 1836 and rose to a height in the 1840s. writers like mrs. gask

8、ell, dickens, thackeray, and kingsley emerged, now sometimes called critical realists, because they took a critical stand towards the hypocrisy and corruption of the bourgeois society. the english critical realists of the 19th century not only gave penetrating exposures of the ills of capitalist ins

9、titutions and a satirical portrayal of the bourgeois and all the ruling classes, but also showed profound sympathy for the common people. in their best works, the greed and hypocrisy of the upper classes are contrasted with the honesty and good-heartedness of the obscure“simple people” of the lower

10、classes.1b. realism in england during the later 18th century and the early 19th century, romantic literary trends sweeping the british literature, realism fell into the bottom, but the mid-19th century, with the establishment and consolidation of the capitalist system and the increasingly intensific

11、ation of the social contradictions, the writers lost their interests in depicting the romantic ideal world and look at the brutal society which was brought about by the rule of capitalism wisely, the realism rose again and reached climax. the realism of this period mainly to expose and criticize the

12、 society, it was also known as the critical realism. the 1940s and 1950s are the golden ages of critical realism in britain. during this period, the essential features of realism had been developing and improving. throughout the realism of this period, the representative writers charles dickens, tha

13、ckeray, charlotte bronte and emily, later george eliots works also had many factors of critical realism.british realists in the 20th century made a lot of innovation on the basis of critical realism of 19th century. in upholding the fine tradition of realism in accordance with the changes of histori

14、cal conditions and widely adopted the merits of literature and art schools, critical realism of that period developed by leaps and bounds.1. dickens critical realism in oliver twistthe critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the forties and the beginning of fifties. the realists first and

15、 foremost set themselves the task of criticizing capitalist society from a democratic viewpoint and delineated the crying characterization of bourgeois reality. as a representative of critical realism, charles dickens was the greatest english realist of that time. with a striking force and truth ful

16、lness, he created pictures of bourgeois civilization, describing the misery and sufferings of common people.the greatness of charles dickens in oliver twist lies not only in the satirical portrayal of bourgeois and in the exposure of the greed and hypocrisy of the ruling classes, but also in the pro

17、found critical realism that is revealed in their sympathy for the laboring people.2a. description and narration1. the workhousein the narrative, the workhouse functions as a sign of the moral hypocrisy of the working class. mrs. mann steals from the children in her care, feeding and clothing them in

18、adequately. the victorian middle class see cleanliness as a moral virtue, and the workhouse is supposed to rescue the poor from the immoral condition of filth. however, the workhouse in dickenss novel is a filthy place-mrs. mann never ensures that the children practice good hygiene except during an

19、inspection. workhouses are established to save the poor from starvation, disease, and filth, but in fact they end up visiting precisely those hardships on the poor. furthermore, mr. bumbles actions underscore middle-class hypocrisy, especially when he criticizes oliver for not gratefully accepting h

20、is dire conditions. bumble himself, however, is fat and well-dressed, and the entire workhouse board is full of fat gentlemen who preach the value of a meager diet for workhouse residents.32. analysis of major charactersa. oliver twistoliver, an innocent child, is trapped in an unforgiving society w

21、here, thanks to the harsh new poor laws, his only practical alternatives seem to be the workhouse or fagins den of thieves. from this grim institutional setting, however, a fairy tale also emerges: in the midst of corruption and degradation, the essentially passive oliver remains pure-hearted, he re

22、frains from evil when those around him succumb and, in proper fairy-tale fashion, he eventually receives his reward. on the way to this happy ending, dickens takes the opportunity to explore the life of an orphan, outcast boy could expect to lead in the london of the 1830s.b. mrs. corneymrs. corney,

23、 the middle-class matron of the workhouse, enjoys far more luxuries than the pauper residents. they are crammed into tiny, unheated spaces, while mrs.corney enjoys a room to herself with a blazing fire during the bitterly cold winter. the amenities of her apartment which draw mr. bumbles eyes and he

24、art represent money that would have been more justly spent on the paupers under her care. thus, her life style is based on theft, but because she is robbing those who have noting, her theft will never be acknowledged.the description of mrs. corney implies that the middle class controls conceptions o

25、f what is right and wrong, since church officials, intellectuals, and public officers-who have the authority to declare what is right and wrong-are all part of middle class. with this control, they are able to ignore their own version of thievery-subtly shortchanging the lower classes-and at the sam

26、e time condemn the lower class version of thievery-stealing physical objects from the rich.4c. faginfagin is a critical and a corrupter of young children; he is a jewish immigrant. the laws of britain at that time refused to allow jews to hold property, so often the way the people like fagin they ma

27、de a living was either through loans or through criminal actions. fagin is a part of the underclass in london in the 1830s and has to live in the most appalling conditions. he robs, he steals, and he trains young boys to be criminals. fagin does have a moral sense. it is this that makes him so fasci

28、nating. this man has a genuine love to children. he just loves their innocence, and he is totally fascinated by them. he is not a violent man, and he knows that in order to procure the children, no violence must be used. he treats the boys with great fondness. he entertains them, keeps them warm and

29、 protects, but on the other hand he is using them. thats the strangeness of the moral world that fagin occupies. in another way, fagin is horrible. he can exercise extraordinary control, even under extreme stress. for example, after recovering from the initial shock brought about by his discovery of

30、 nancys meeting with the enemy, he is able skillfully to prod sikes to commit murder. meanwhile, the old crook controls himself enough to caution sikes against excessive violence-always having in mind the perils of a careless move. he kills nancy by sikess hand. this shows his cunning and cruelty.5s

31、ome vivid words were used by dickens to portray fagin: a“l(fā)oathsome reptile” and having“fangs such as should have been a dogs or cats.” also“the old one,” a popular nickname in dickens time for the devil. fagin is meant to inspire nightmares in readers.d. nancynancy is the sympathetic lover of bill s

32、ikes in oliver twist. unlike other characters throughout oliver twist, nancy is not entirely good or entirely bad. she has conflicts between her inner conscience and her devotion to sikes. nancy is also an important figure in oliver twist because she is the only characters spirit who fluctuates betw

33、een the world of good and evil. with fagin and bill sikes, she is corrupt though conscience-stricken, yet she cares for oliver so profoundly, while it results in her death. nancy commits one of the noblest acts of kindness in the story when she ultimately risks her life to help oliver. her character

34、 reflects dickens view that man, however tainted by society, could still retain a sense of good.3. the realistic effectaroused the readers resonance is the main effect of the use of critical realism in oliver twist. the plot is moving. when oliver and his companions suffer the tortures of slow starv

35、ation for three months in the workhouse and asks for more gruel and the board replies with shriek and shock, people are shocked and angry; when oliver wakes up on a sweet sunny morning with a lot of delicious food in mr. brownlows house, people are delightful; when bill sikes threatens oliver to cli

36、mb up the roof when he wants to escape, people are anxious; when the gang of fagin are sentenced to be hanged and oliver is adopted by mr. brownlow, people feel satisfactory to the immense. all the feelings are up and down with their common faith that the devil should be punished and the good should

37、 be praised.b. criticizing the evil1. the good and the evilaccording to george gissing in critical study of the works of charles dickens, dickens once wrote in his works preface:“i wished to show, in little oliver, the principle of good surviving through every adverse circumstance, and triumphing at

38、 last.”6 the novel does this but perhaps at the cost of depicting oliver as a realistic character. although he runs away from mr. and mrs. sowerberry, in the remainder of the novel oliver has little initiative or drive. he is the tool of thieves, but he never purposefully seeks his own life or decid

39、es, on his own, what he must do.nevertheless, the pattern of good versus evil runs throughout the book. generally, the good people, like oliver, mr. brownlow, and the maylies, are very good, and the bad people, such as fagin, monks, and sikes, are thoroughly bad.a rare exception is nancy, who has le

40、d a corrupt life but who nevertheless yearns to protect oliver and do some good. despite these desires, however, she is so sunk in her own miserable life that she doesnt believe she can ever change. she feels she is doomed to die at the hands of the criminals, and she turns out to be right.other cha

41、racters, such as mr. bumble and mr. fang, are presented as holders of positions of public trust who are nevertheless evil and untrustworthy. these characters, and the corrupt-but-good ones like nancy, are intended to shock readers of dickenss time out of their traditional class-based views, which he

42、ld that the poor were often corrupt and criminal, whereas those who were wealthy or in high positions were automatically moral. and this was hardly changed. two of the most corrupt and scheming people in the book are monks and his mother, who are high-born and wealthy but who prove to be evil and se

43、lfish.72. condemning the evil in the societydickens uses the characters and situations in the book to make a pointed social commentary, attacking the hypocrisy and flaws of institutions, including his societys government, its laws and criminal system, and its methods of dealing with poor people. dic

44、kens basically believes that most people are good at heart but that their good impulses could be distorted by social evils.a. satirizing the poor lawsthroughout the book, dickens shows and makes comments on the effects of the laws on the poor. confined to workhouses, starved, and mistreated, the poo

45、r have no way of redeeming themselves from unending misery and death except by running away or turning criminal. statistics show that crime soared after the poor laws of 1834, despite the governments exultation that much money would be saved on feeding, housing, and clothing them.dickens shows the e

46、ffects of the poor laws in his depiction of the criminal underworld of london as well as through dark, mocking humor, as when mr. bumble and mr. sowerberry are discussing the low price the parish board will pay for coffins. when sowerberry complains about the small prices, mr. bumble remarks with a

47、laugh that the coffins are correspondingly small, so sowerberry is not losing much. the coffins are small because theyre made for children who die of neglect or starvation. the mens laughter only serves to show their callousness and the unmerciful of the public in allowing such things to happen. dic

48、kens also mocks authority figures fear of the poor, as when oliver is locked up for the“crime” of asking for more food. in addition, he enlists the reader on his side by saying that unsympathetic people, who are not upset by the fact that oliver has to eat food even the dog wouldnt touch, should be

49、as hungry as oliver is and has to eat such food themselves.8b. criticizing the criminal justice systemoliver enters courtrooms twice in the novel. the magistrate who presides over grandfields petition to take oliver on, as an apprentice is half blind. only by chance does he see the terror on olivers

50、 face and so decide to save him from life as a chimneysweeper. dickens description about this part fully proves the phrase“justice is blind” and bitterly satirizes on the critical justice system of england.olivers trial for stealing a handkerchief also highlights the unsafe position of the poor in t

51、he eyes of the law. mr. fang convicts oliver and sentences him to three months of hard labor. to olivers weakened condition, the sentence is really a sentence of death.olivers inability to speak at his trial, caused by his exhausted and sickness, metaphorically suggests the lower classs lack of poli

52、tical power and ability to voice its own concerns in a public forum. in 1830s england, the right to vote was based on wealth, so the poor had no say with respect to the law. moreover, the upper classes project their own conceptions of the poor upon them-to the point of blithely redefining poor peopl

53、es identities with no regard for the truth. oliver cannot even say his name due to exhaustion and terror, so a court officer gives him the false name of“tom white.” this process of inaccurate renaming throughout the hearing, as oliver is falsely named as a“young vagabond” and a“hardened scoundrel” b

54、efore he is eventually falsely declared“guilty”.93. blaming the workhouseoliver twist is an extreme criticism of victorian societys treatment of the poor. the workhouses that figure prominently in the first few chapters of the novel are institutions that the victorian middle class establish to raise

55、 poor children, since it is believed that certain vices are inherent to the poor and that the poor family foster rather than discourage such vices. poor husbands and wives are separated in order to prevent them from having children and expanding the lower classes. poor children are taken away from t

56、heir parents in order to allow the state and church to raise them in the manner they believe most appropriate.the workhouse reproduces the vices it is supposed to erase. one workhouse boy, with a“wild, hungry” look, threatens in jest to eat another boy. the suggestion is that workhouses force their

57、residents to become cannibals. the workhouse also mimics the institution of slavery: the residents are fed and clothed as little as possible and require to work at tasks assigned by the board, and they are required to put on a face of cheery, grateful acceptance of the miserable conditions that have

58、 been forced on them. when oliver does not, he is sold rather than sent away freely.104. caring for childrens miserable lifethrough the depiction of little olivers misfortune, this novel shows the environment in which the british workers children lived at that time. under that miserable world, these

59、 children have no choice but hunger in the fearful workhouse or get the key of the street. they have no food to eat, have no clothes to wear and have nobody to look after them. predicament and wandering are so easily pushing them into the baddiess mean trickery. they are forced to be in prison or banished.this dreariness vision w