夜鶯與玫瑰論文

1、 王爾德童話夜鶯與玫瑰中的唯美主義Aestheticism in Oscar Wildes Fairy Tale The Nightingale and the Rose 摘要本文從形式和內(nèi)容入手，探討了王爾德夜鶯與玫瑰童話中的唯美主義體現(xiàn)，從而揭示了王爾德“為藝術(shù)而藝術(shù)”，“藝術(shù)高于一切”的唯美主義價(jià)值觀。在形式上，分別從修辭、意象入手，分析了童話在文字層面上精巧華麗的美以及作者構(gòu)造奇幻圖畫的寫作技巧。在內(nèi)容上，從更深層次的諷刺、象征、人物刻畫、死亡與悲劇之美以及二元對(duì)立等方面分析，表現(xiàn)了作者強(qiáng)烈的情感，對(duì)愛與藝術(shù)美的追求，對(duì)善的頌揚(yáng)以及對(duì)惡的擯棄，并從中反映了藝術(shù)與當(dāng)時(shí)社會(huì)現(xiàn)實(shí)生活的關(guān)系。

2、關(guān)鍵字：唯美主義，修辭，意象，對(duì)立ABSTRACT From the aspects of form and content, this thesis will analyze the embodiment of Aestheticism in Oscar Wildes The Nightingale and the Rose, in order to manifest his aesthetic values of “Art for arts sake” and “Art is superior”. From the aspect of form, the paper argues from

3、 rhetoric and image to analyze the writing methods to construct fantastic images and magnificent beauty on the literal level. From the aspect of content, the thesis analyzes from irony, symbol, depiction of characters, beauty of anticlimax and binary antithesis of two specific elements, expressing t

4、he authors intense emotion, pursuit towards art and beauty, glorification of goodness, and critique towards vice. Keywords: Aestheticism, rhetoric, image, antithesisContents1 Introduction12 Previous Studies 43 Embodiment of Aestheticism in form 5 3.1. Beauty of rhetoric 5 3.1.1 Use of repetition5 3.

5、1.2 Use of antithesis5 3.1.3 Use of synaesthesia6 3.1.4 Use of personification6 3.2 Beauty of image 7 3.2.1 The combination of movement and stillness 7 3.2.2 Converting between concrete and abstract images84 Embodiment of Aestheticism in content 10 4.1 Beauty of rhetoric10 4.1.1 Use of sarcasm10 4.1

6、.2 Use of symbol11 4.2 Beauty of imagery12 4.2.1 The nightingale12 4.2.2 The student 14 4.2.3 Beauty of anticlimax (death and tragedy)16 4.2.4 Binary antithesis of two specific elements 17 4.2.4.1 The binary antithesis of poem and reality17 4.2.4.2 The binary antithesis of deep and shallow emotion 1

7、85 Conclusion 19Works cited 201 IntroductionOscar Wilde (18541900) is a famous dramatist, novelist and poet in the 19th centurys England. He has a great deal of accomplishments in nearly every field of literature. His novel The Portrait of Dorian Gray, comedies Lady Windermeres Fan, A Woman of No Im

8、portance as well as The Importance of Being Earnest all created sensation when they were published. With gifts of language, Wilde was once acclaimed by Yeats: “I never before heard a man talking with perfect sentences, as if he had written them all overnight with labour and yet all spontaneous.” （吳偉

9、仁，2006）In the 19th century in England, industry developed rapidly. Following the development of industry, the principle of materialism infiltrated into every status of the society. Wilde thought that in the age he lives “to be practical is everything”, in his words: “Present peoples life has been en

10、tirely affected by business.” As English female writer Verginia Woolf wrote in her later observation: “Behavior of human-beings have been changed tremendously.” （章安祺，2003)In intellectual sphere, people generally feel the shortage of culture and loss of beauty. Thus aesthetic movements developed in t

11、he universities and intellectual circles in the last decades of the 19th century. It reflected artists sense of frustration and uncertainty against materialism and restrictive moral code of bourgeoisie. Because of this, artists withdrew from political and social stage, and escaped into aesthetic iso

12、lation. Wilde is the main representation of the aesthetic movement. His aesthetic opinion can be summarized as “Art is superior.” In detail, Wildes aestheticism can be related in several aspects below: He advocates the pure artistic theory. “Art for arts sake”Art has independent life, which is far a

13、way from the real world, not related to ethics. All excellent works of art pursue pure art effect. So, “the only beautiful thing is that irrelevant to us.” “Artists should neither have any purposes of utilitarianism, nor be restrained by ethics.” He emphasizes “the admiration of form” He considers t

14、hat art has one highest principle, the principle of form. As he once said: “You neednt have superb rational imagination, deep satire towards life, even excited emotion.” “Form is all you need.” About the relationship between life and art he thought, “Life imitates art much more than art imitates lif

15、e.” Art is always ahead of life. Its not art reflecting the reality but the reality reflecting art. The real society is ugly and vulgar. Only “beauty” has perpetual value. “Art is superior to life. Life is dull and disorderly. But art can satisfy our emotion need of love and resent, joy and pain.” H

16、e believes art superior to all other things. “In order to pursue entertainment and beauty, one can disregard and sacrifice anything.” “Art is life itself. It is ignorant of death, which is absolute truth, ignorant of facts.” (Ellmann, 1988) Here art has its broaden meaning, which includes beauty ent

17、ertainment and joy. Here beauty is some kind of free beauty which is sublime epicurean and irrelevant to utilitarianism; joy is not purely sensory enjoyment, but coming from life, creation and love.The fairy tale The Nightingale and the Rose is chosen from his The Happy Prince and Other Tales,1888.

18、His another book about fairy tale is A House of Pomegranates. They are regarded as works of superior quality among the worlds creation of fairy tales. The famous Chinese writer ZhouZuoren said that: “The two books are purely poemsIn my opinion their feature is the plentiful words and wit of spirit.”

19、 (王開林，2002) These fairy tales extol love beauty art and kind heart, satirize selfish and cruel behavior and show sympathy to the insulted weak. “The different elements of narration provide social satire, comedy of manners, moral allegory and a commentary on aestheticism for the cognoscenti.” (Varty,

20、 2005)In The Nightingale and the Rose, the theme is also around above topics. A student wept sadly, for the reason that the girl he loved promised to dance with him if he got a red rose. But he cant find one in his garden. A nightingale saw and was moved by the student. Regarding him as a true lover

21、, she decided to find a red rose for him. Disregarding some insects query and sneer, she flied over the garden, from white rose-tree to yellow rose-tree, and then finally found a red rose-tree. The tree answered it wouldnt have any rose that year, but if she wanted a red rose she must sing all night

22、 long with her breast against a thorn. The thorn must pierce her heart and her life-blood must flow into tree. Death is a great price to pay for a red rose. But the nightingale believed love is more precious than life. Thus she did what the red rose-tree told her to do. She died and a rose as red as

23、 ruby was produced. The student discovered the red rose in his garden. He was so excited for he had never seen any rose like it. However, when he hopefully brought the rose to the girl, she refused, because she wanted to dance with the Chamberlains nephew who had sent her some real jewels. Angrily t

24、he Student threw the rose and a cart-wheel went over it. He thought love silly and went back to read books again.This fairy tale praised the nightingale kind-hearted, selfless, and persevering in the pursuit of love. It also criticized the girl ungrateful superficial. Rodney Shewan claimed this fair

25、y tale to be “the most concise social critique”. (Shewan, 1977) Through the whole story, Wildes views of Aestheticism are manifested themselves. In the following paragraphs, I will analyze them from the aspects of form and implied meaning, to reveal how Wildes Aestheticism is embodied in this fairy

26、tale by more specific and detailed analysis on the aspects of rhetoric and imagery. Thus we can have deeper understanding of the writer, his Aestheticism and his works. 2 Previous StudiesPredecessors have ever since researched this fairy tale and have already made profound achievements in some aspec

27、ts.They analyzed and eulogized various kinds of beauty, from superficial level of diction and sentences to deep level of theme and emotion. They wanted to probe the inner spirit of the fairy tale, Wildes individual temperament and style, and connect them to the aesthetic purpose of Wildes creation a

28、nd the whole social background. Wilde once wrote to a friend that the tales were “meant partly for children, and partly for those who have kept the childlike faculties of wonder and joy, and who find in simplicity a subtle strangeness.” (Beckon, 1970) which I think may be his main purpose to write t

29、hese fairy tales. He wanted to bring people simple joy and made them ponder in the seeming simplicity. Otherwise, they also probe the usage of various writing methods, such as peculiar imagination, humorous irony combined with philosophy, and the changing of characters and readers emotion. Wildes fr

30、iend Alexander Galt Ross (18601927) wrote: “One of the chief functions of the true fairy story is to excite sympathy.” (Beckon, 1970)Wilde is the representative of aestheticism and decadent literature. Some people criticized his aesthetic works to be decadent; while others thought him to be writer o

31、f real art and beauty. In his works, we realized the antithesis of dream and reality. He took art beauty and love as his ideal, having the sense of justice. On the other hand, he was extremely individualistic.Since a long time ago, Wildes theory of “Art for arts sake” has been considered disadvantag

32、e outweighing advantage, because he overstressed literary beauty, letting the relationship between art and life upside down. Especially in the domestic art sphere, where artists paid more attention to life, their social responsibility was stressed. Aestheticism was condemned having messed peoples co

33、urse of recognizing things and induced writers into the concept of “Form is everything.”93 Embodiment of Aestheticism in form3.1 Beauty of rhetoricWilde is best adept at visual refined language abounding in color and sound. Rhetoric is one aspect of the beautiful language. Repetition, contrast, meta

34、phor, personification and synaesthesia are often used in this fairy tale. The seemingly simple rhetoric has polished the fairy tale a lot. 3.1.1 Use of repetitionThe rhetorical effect of sentence repetition varies with individual cases, but most writers use it to add force and emphasis to their stat

35、ement.（馮翠華，1995） “Give me a red rose,” she cried, “and I will sing you my sweetest song.”（奧斯卡·王爾德，1996）This sentence appears three times in the fairy tale. It indicates the nightingales eager mood to find the red rose. It was a long process. She failed to find a red one the first and second tim

36、e, but didnt give up. She insisted on her seeking and at last achieved her expect. From the repetition we can see the hardship in finding a red rose. Facing continuous failure, the nightingale maintained a resolute and positive attitude. The repetition transfers to us a shock and more intense emotio

37、n. 3.1.2 Use of antithesis(contrast)Antithesis is the deliberate arrangement of contrasting words or ideas in balanced structural forms to achieve force and emphasis. The form of the expression is very important for effect, for the force of the emphasis, whether for profundity of judgement, for humo

38、r or for satire, depends chiefly on the juxtaposition of direct opposition, of glaring contrasts.（馮翠華，1995）Wilde has used several contrast to manifest a kind of beauty that exist between two opposite things or two opposite aspects in one thing. For example, the death of the nightingale and the bloss

39、om of the red rose forms striking contrast. The exhaustion of nightingale leads to the blossom of the rose. Nightingales crimson blood dyes the rose red. As nightingale pressed closer to the thorn, “Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song” (奧斯卡·王爾德，1996) The marvelous r

40、ose grew from white to pink then to crimson. It was the nightingale who let her life-blood and energy ebbed away from her and transferred to the red rose. The red rose was the fruit of nightingales death, also the bitter price of the nightingales pursuit of love. 3.1.3 Use of synaesthesia“the mixing

41、 of sensations; the concurrent appeal to more than one sense; the response through several senses to the stimulation of one” （文軍，1991） Wilde is good at describing a scene with various blended senses, and makes the readers as if be present at the scene. Take examples, “It is pleasant to sit in the gr

42、een wood, and to watch the Sun in his chariot of goldSweet is the scent of the hawthorn.” Here from visual sense and sense of smell Wilde described the pleasure and bright of life. The brilliant Sun with chariot of gold and the crystal Moon with chariot of pearl enhance each others beauty in the sky

43、, forming a splendid spectacle. While fragrance of flowers floats far and near, making people refreshed in mind and heart. “blossomed a marvelous rose, petal following petal, as song followed song.” “Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song.” (奧斯卡·王爾德，1996) From visual s

44、ense, sense of hearing and sense of pain, the heroic scene of nightingales sacrifice reappears before readers. 3.1.4 Use of personification“attributes human qualities and abilities to inanimate objects, animals, abstractions, and events.” (Bander, 1978) Unlike in other stories, personification is wi

45、dely used in this fairy tale which becomes an outstanding feature of it. Every animal and plant has been personified, from big sun and moon in the sky to little insects on the ground. Their language is lively and vivid. Each character has distinctive personality which makes the story touching. For e

46、xample, the offish attitude of the Green Lizard the Butterfly and the Daisy reflects the general attitude of the English in those years.3.2 Beauty of imageBeautiful language is an outstanding feature of this fairy tale which produces many exquisite images that constantly emerge in the fairy tale. “A

47、n image is a literal and concrete representation of a sensory experience or of an object that can be known by one or more of the senses. It is the means by which experience in its richness and emotional complexity is communicated.” (Holman & Harmon, 1986) Light and shadow, color and smell, sound

48、 and shape, quality and movement, the multitudinous image interweave with one another, constructing poetic imagery. And in these images, we can find out some special writing methods.3.2.1 The combination of movement and stillness “but passion has made his face like pale ivory, and sorrow has set her

49、 seal upon his brow.” (奧斯卡·王爾德，1996) Sorrow is originally a kind of static state which presents itself on peoples face. But here it comes into a movement. It climbs up on the boys face. That is more vivid than just stating the fact. “And a delicate flush of pink came into the leaves of the rose

50、” (ibid) Here we can feel the process how the color of the rose changes. It changes little by little from delicate to dark. “Echo bore it to her purple cavern in the hills, and woke the sleeping shepherds from their dreams. It floated through the reeds of the river, and they carried its message to t

51、he sea.” (ibid) Here the author describes the nightingales last song with movement. Like a deliver, it fluctuates and spreads far away, and brings message and blessing to all creatures. 3.2.2 Converting between concrete and abstract imagesIn this fairy tale, when describing abstract things, the auth

52、or likes to use some concrete images to deepen their value and impression in readers hearts. Otherwise, when describing concrete things, the author sometimes use abstract images to create a romantic and hazy atmosphere. For example, when describing color, the author uses concrete images a lot. They

53、can avoid the monotony of using simple color words. White is drawn as “pale ivory”, “the foam of the sea”, “the snow upon the mountain”, “pale as the mist that hangs over the river”, “pale as the feet of the morning, and silver as the wings of the dawn.” Yellow is drawn as “the hair of the mermaiden

54、 who sits upon an amber throne”, “the daffodil that blooms in the meadow before the mower comes with his scythe” And red is drawn as “the feet of the dove”, “the great fans of coral that wave and wave in the ocean-cavern”, “crimson like the rose of the eastern sky”, “crimson was the girdle of petals

55、, and crimson as a ruby was the heart.” (奧斯卡·王爾德，1996)When describing the value of love, the author wrote like this: “It is more precious than emeralds, and dearer than fine opals. Pearls and pomegranates cannot buy it, nor is it set forth in the marketplace. It may not be purchased of the merc

56、hants, nor can it be weighed out in the balance for gold.” (ibid) After comparing with concrete precious jewelry, this sentence indicates that love is priceless. It cant be substituted by money or material in reality. The nightingales voice is described like “water bubbling from a silver jar” (ibid)

57、. From the concrete simile, we can feel the sweet of the voice as if we have heard the bump of water in dear silver container. When referring to the image of a true lover, the author wrote like this: “Flame- coloured are his wings, and coloured like flame is his body. His lips are sweet as honey, and his breath is like frankincense.” (ibid) The image of a lover is originally hard