AnAnalysisofCausesofDombeysTragedyinDombeyandSon淺析董貝父子的悲劇成因

1、An Analysis of Causes of Dombeys Tragedy in Dombey and SonThesis StatementThe tragedy of Dombey proclaims the social problems of capitalistic society. The cause of the tragedy involves some different factors: social reality, personal characteristics and so on.OutlineI.Introduction.Charles Dickens an

2、dDombey and SonIntroduction to Charles Dickens and the BackgroundThe Skeleton of the NovelThe Description of Main Characters and the Relations with Dombey and theTrain.Analysis of Dombeys characterDombeys Selfish and Greedy, his Pursuit of Assets and HeirDombeys Attitude to His Company, Wife, Son an

3、d DaughterIV.The Causes of the TragedySocial Factor The Situation of Capitalistic SocietyPersonal Factor Dombeys Greedy CharacteristicsThe Education of 19th EnglandV.ConclusionAn Analysis of Causes of Dombeys Tragedyin Dombey and SonIIntroductionDombey and Son represents an important turning point o

4、f Dickens writing career and is regarded as a summit. It was created in 1946 and finished in 1948. It was a vivid story about Dombey s tragedy life, full of different interesting stories, mainly on his pursuit of the heir of the company and the profits, his attitude towards wife, son and daughter. M

5、oney has dominated his mind. This novel has a more profound description of the capitalistic society and a higher place in literature compared with his early writings. It has a tight structure. Before writing Dickens has conceived prudentially. He has arranged all the performance of the role and the

6、plots of the story reasonably. They all develop around the destiny of Dombey. Every plot combines with each other and it is very interesting. The novel has depicted the vivid personality of the society of the time Dombey ,Florence and so on. They all have their own personal features and language. Th

7、e English novelist Catherine and French critics Tana have various analyses to the novel. Catherine once wrote in her work “It is not an accident to put Dombey and Son into the list of the representative of 1930s.It reflects the social solutions and problems at that time. Different stages have differ

8、ent benefits. Dombey is arrogant, selfish and cold-blinded. He is addicted to money. He loses himself. He is the embodiment of the capital and the symbol of the corporation spirit in 19 th century. The appearance of Dombey and Son caters for lots of peoples favor. In the world of that time s London,

9、 there are lots of people who are as same as Dombey, they are cold, donnish, selfish and stiffly like Dombey. So to be frank, Dombey is a representative in that time in English society. In order to have a better understanding of the story, we will discuss the causes of the tragedy from several persp

10、ectives.IICharles Dickens andDombey and SonA. Introduction to Charles Dickens and theBackgroundCharles Dickens was an English novelist. He was born in 1812 and passed away in 1870. He was born in an army family. When he was 11, for poor life he had to drop out of school and take on the heavy labor w

11、ork. He had once worked in the newspaper office and then in a law office. Only with a few years of education, he became a famous writer by industrious self-study and hard work. He was diligent and talent, sohe had abundant of famous writings. He was productive. Dickens was the main delegate of the 1

12、9th realistic literature. He was humor and he always used amusingwords in his works to narrate the realistic society between the romance and reality. He had a wonderful conjunction among humors, meticulous psychoanalysis, description of realistic and romantics. Dickens was always at the pace with th

13、e epoch. He mainly realistically wrote to expose the hypocritical, greedy, wretched and atrocious of the top class and the bourgeois. He also sympathized the lower class, especially the misery situation of the women, the old and children. He described the social problemsthand the cruel situation of

14、the 19 century and the struggle against thegerentocratic. At the same time, he eulogized the truth, kindness and beauty of the humanity and then had a wishful longing for a more reasonable society and better life with the emotion of idealism and romanticism. His fiction career began with short piece

15、s reprinted as Sketches by “ Boz”(1836). He exhibited a great ability to spin a story in an entertaining manner and this quality, combined with the serialization of his comic novel The Pickwick Papers (1837), made him the most popular English author of his time. The serialization of such works as Ol

16、iver Twist (1838) and The Old Curiosity Shop (1841) followed. After a trip to America, he wrote A Christmas Carol (1843) in a few weeks. With Dombey and Son(1848), his novels began to express a heightened uneasinessabout the evils of Victorian industrial society, which intensified in the semiautobio

17、graphical David Copperfield (1850), as well as in Bleak House (1853), Little Dorrit (1857), Great Expectations (1861), and others. A Tale of Two Cities (1859) appeared in the period when he achieved great popularity for his public readings. Dickenss works are characterized by an encyclopedic knowled

18、ge of London, pathos, a vein of the macabre, a pervasive spirit of benevolence and geniality, inexhaustible powers of character creation, an acute ear for characteristic speech, anda highly individual and creative prose style.B. The Skeleton of the NovelThere are some important plots in the novel. D

19、ombey is a selfish and greed person. His only purpose is to have a good management of his company and try his best to make more profits. So he bends himself to find a heritor to take over his corporation. He has a wife and then his wife gives birth to a daughter. But he doesnt love his daughter, Flo

20、rence. He just regards her as a bad coin which can not be put into investment. So she is always snubbed by his father and cantfeel any care and attention from his father. Florence feels painful and disappointed and she is silent and endocentric and seldom to say something. At the beginning of the st

21、ory when, Dombeys son Paul, the one he expects a long time, has finally come to the world, he feels stirring and excited, for the reason that he has got a heritor at last. He pins his hope on his son and ambition. He only pays his attention to his company and does not care about his sons inner world

22、 at all. Paul doesn tget any love from his father and does not feel warmth and the real happiness of the family. So he is lonely and unhappy. Dombeysonly attention to his son is that he expects his son to grow up imminently so that he can take over his company and his business. When Paul is six, Dom

23、bey sends him to a school which can cultivate his son and make him have masculinity. This is a fast scene in the novel. For lots of reasons, Paul died young. And the death between his first wife and his son makes a big difference. He doesn t feel anything to the death of his wife, and just thinks so

24、mething absent in the family. But the death of his son makes him painful and depressed. There is another role in the story, Edith, controlled by his greedy mother and educated to draw attention to every rich man from her childhood. She succeeds in attracting Dombey and she is bought by Dombey. Then

25、she becomes his wife and has a top status and affluent of fortune. Dombey thinks that she is happy and satisfied. But in fact she does not feel content and pleased. At last, in order to retaliate Dombey she elopes with Dombeys manager Carker. But she doesntstay with Carker,she just breaks up with hi

26、m and leaves. She aspires after the freedom and spares no effort to get it. She retaliates her mother, Dombey and the whole society. She abandons her reputation and then has a reclusivelife at last. At the same time, Dombeys company is declining owe to Carker. He has a big crisis of his family and c

27、orporation. The ship wrecks in the sea. Then he claims that he breaks up. He has got nothing. At that time when he wants to end up his life, his daughter Florence comes to him and stops him. He is moved by his daughter. He wakes up to what he has done is sinful. He finds that he has a lot of things

28、to do. He needs to atone to what he has done and gets forgiveness. In his aged life he has a good and formal life and experiences a lot. He feels happy and satisfied. Dombey has a good life with his daughter and his son-in-law. Then they have a lovely daughter. The story has a wonderful and orbicula

29、r ending.C. The Description of Main Characters and the Relations with Dombey and theTrainThere are important roles in this story. They are Mr.Dombey, Florence, Paul, Edith, Carker.Dombey is an asocial and self-serving person. His only aim in all his life is to manage his firm and make money. He want

30、s to have a son so he can get hishair. But he has no more emotion on him. The son is just an instrument to come in for his possession and enterprise. He is cool and cold-blinded. In that time, the English society is hooking on to the “Time”. The society reason and his characteristic result his trage

31、dy. This has a good reflection of the society problem.Florence, Dombeys only daughter, has saved Dombeys life and moved him atlast. She has changed his father and made him become better. We can see in the novel:“Papa! Papa! Speak to me, dear Papa!”He started at her voice, and leaped up from his seat

32、. She was close before him with extended arms, but he fell back.“ Whatis the matter? ”he said, sternly. “ Whydo you come here? What has frightened you? ”If anything had frightened her, it was the face he turned upon her. The glowing love within the breast of his young daughter froze before it, and s

33、he stood and looked at him as if stricken into stone.This is the plot which describes Dombeys attitude to his daughter. From this plot we know father is distant from his daughter. In this plot, it is a good chance toremind the relation between them. Florence hopes to get the love from his father. Sh

34、e is a kind and na?ve girl. She is a morality consolation in the story. There is a distinctive contrast between Dombey and Florence. Dombey is peremptoriness and domineering. Florence is tender and modest. Dombey is selfish and always cares more about himself. Florence always stands in others shoes

35、and considers more for other people. Dombey is cold-hearted while Florence is ebullient. They are so different. They are father and daughter. This is a good contrast and it will have a good reflection of the capitalist society and the bourgeoislife. By comparison, it represents the thought of Dicken

36、s. This makes the role more vivid and bright.Paul, Dombeys son, an instrument for succession. It is a tragedy by the cultivation of his father. He does not get any love from his father and family. His father just wants him to grow up quickly to take over his business. But he does not care about him

37、or pay attention to anything else of his son, just like inner world, habits, interests and so on. All this results in his young death.Edith is another tragedy. She has a tragic life and marriage. When she was young, she didnthave a funny childhood. The only thought her mother breathe into her mind i

38、s money and the aim is to pander to the rich person and draw their attention in order to marry them. Then she got married with Dombey. It is a beginning of a tragedy. She hopes to get free, so she abandon everything only to find what she really wants.Carker is an ambitious person. This role is a bri

39、dge to connect Dombey and Edith and make the story proper. He is a greedy person.There are other roles and scenes in the novel. For example, the declined aristocrat, the beggar, the cocotte, the labor people and so on. They are all connected with each other.In the novel Dickens uses only a symbol th

40、roughout the story. It conveys a meaning that the whole world scene, an understanding of the world, a society and an epoch. It expressesthe meaning of progress and advancement. That is the “train”. “The train”and “the railway ”appear many times in the story. It stands for some special meanings. Most

41、ly it describes the atmosphere and the emotion at important moments. At that time, the train in England makes a big progress and improvement.So it is proper to sum up England with the word “train”. England is a developed country and the industrialization in England has reach to a height. Then the ap

42、pearanceand the development of the train have changed peoples life style and thought. It is more convenient for people to go wherever they want. They feel it is very close and we just need to spend little time going somewhere. The railway has changed the conception of space and time of people,esp. a

43、 new group of labor people the platelayer. The railway means strength, the movement, the speed and the fasterliving pace. At this moment, the railway is the symbol of social reformation. It takes new lives to the ratty old situation. At this point, Dickens speaks highly of the train developed in the

44、 industrial society and turns up the thumbs to the advantages of the industrialization. On the other hand, “the train ”is full of threaten. It has other symbolized meaning. The train is fast and very hard to control. It always runs at the same way and never changes its direction. It roars loudly for

45、wards and backwards. It is just like the way Paul dies, silent and heartless. After Paul s death, Dombey goesout to pay a visit and he takes the train. Just like the heavy train, he feelsheavy-hearted. This is a distinctive contrast. Dickens uses the symbol to present a phenomenon and bring forward

46、a question. The railway will change the life of thepeople, but how does it reach? The train is developed quickly, and how will the capitalist society develop? This will let people have a deep thinking. The word “thetrain”, “the earthquake ” and“the monster”has consisted of a words-chain. They all di

47、rect to the main clue “ deprive. The” deprivation in the novel has appearedmany times. For example, little Paul is deprived of his nurse mother; Florence is deprived of her clothes; the two children lost their mother; the death of Paul; the death of Carker and so on. They all show the most important

48、 absence, that is the lost of soul. It also stands for another meaning: the pursuit for speed. Dombey longs for the growth of his son. So he takes the wrong measures and leads to the death of Paul. The description of the train is a consciousnessof suffering. It criticizes the society and the bourgeo

49、is. And it reminds people of saving the soul of the human beings. This points out the main idea of Dickens.IIIAnalysis of Dombeys CharacterA. Dombeys Selfish and Greedy, his Pursuit with Assets and HeirAs we say in the above paragraph, Dombey is a selfish and egoistic person. He cares about nothing

50、except his fortune. He has a daughter. But he is apathetic to his daughter, Florence. He wants to have a son. After the birth of his son, Paul, he feels amused and affectionately calls her wife “ Mrs. Dombey, my dear”. It is abnormal. It never appears before. He thinks money is everything and he can

51、tlive without money. He is always thirsting for money and tries his best to make profit and earn more money. When his little son asks him what is the use of the money, his answer is that money is everything. He can not give his son a good education and set a right example. While Paul goes on asking

52、why money cantmake his mother alive, he avoids this question and says money can make others scare, respect, fear and admire of them. And they are honorable. When he chooses a teacher for Paul and spends lots of money, he thinks the most expensive is the best and it will bring his son the best educat

53、ion. The wrong cultivation leads to the death of Paul. When asked what he wants, little Paul says that he wants to die.Dombey does everything to earn money.B. Dombeys Attitude to his Company, Wife, Son and DaughterDombey is cold to his wife and his daughter. After giving birth to his longed-for son,

54、 his wife is very weak and about to die. But he does not pay much attention to her, the sons mother. He only sees his loved son, which will be the heir of his company. He devotes himself to his company completely. His only aim is to make profit and manage his company. As for his son, he just wants h

55、im to inherit his company and fortune. The little does not receive any love. To his daughter he is cold. His daughter wants to talk with him, but he always rejects and avoids her. As the 18 part in the novel:In its standing open, even by so much as that chink, there seemed to be hope.There was encou

56、ragement in seeing a ray of light from within, stealing through the dark stern doorway, and falling in a thread upon the marble floor. She turned back, hardly knowing what she did, but urged on by the love within her, and the trial they had undergone together,but not shared: and with her hands a lit

57、tle raised and trembling, glided in.Her father sat at his old table in the middle room. He had been arranging some papers, and destroying others, and the latter lay in fragile ruins before him. The rain dripped heavily upon the glass panes in the outer room, where he had so often watched poor Paul,

58、a baby; and the low complainings of the wind were heard without.But not by him. He sat with his eyes fixed on the table, so immersed in thought, that a far heavier tread than the light foot of his child could make, might have failed to rouse him. His face was turned towards her.By the waning lamp, a

59、nd at that haggard hour, it looked worn and dejected; and in the utter loneliness surrounding him, there was an appeal toFlorence that struck home.But at last, his daughter saves him and they live together happily. This satirizes Dombeys action. Finally, his company goes into bankrupty. He has nothi

60、ng but his daughter and son-in-law. Then he has a satisfying life.IVThe Cause of the TragedyA. Social Factor the Situation of Capitalistic SocietyThe capitalist society at that time has a big improvement. This has represented from the important symbolthe train. The industrialized England is developi