Abstract:Charles Dickens was one of the most outstanding English realistic novelists in 19 century. His works reflected the social reality of Victoria era and his novels were permeated with the spirit of humanitarianism. For example, his work Great Expectations canonizes the good and punishes the evil. Throughout the novel Great Expectations, the main character Pip’s character and personality goes through some transformations. This paper discusses Pip’s character development from three representative stages. In his childhood, Pip is kind and innocent. He is unaware of his social class. Pip is content with what he has and who he knows. Joe is a good model example for Pip. Pip can keep his good nature, though Miss Gargery and Pumble chook have bad influence on him. Magwitch’s appearance makes Pip a sensitive boy. Pip often feels guilty. In addition, the limited education also has an undesirable influence on the formation of Pip’s character. Before he heads for London, he meets new people from different classes, including Miss Harvisham and Estella, his sense of worth changes at this time. He starts to feel ashamed of his family, and long for another kind of life, the gentleman’s life. In Pip’s youth, Mr. Jaggers tells Pip the fact that someone wants to make Pip a gentleman, Pip becomes ungrateful to his old friends. In London, Pip leads a luxurious life. Pip becomes a vain person. He is snobbish and false. He does not live happily. However, Pip has some new friends in London, such as Herbert and Wemmick. In this period, Pip keeps a percentage of his original good nature. Pip’s character in this stage is rather complicated. Magwitch’s coming back indicates the disillusion of Pip’s great expectations. Pip’s conscience wakes in this period. He becomes a noble-minded person, which means the maturity of Pip’s character.
Although many people have made detailed analysis on Pip’s character development from different perspectives, few of them make the analysis from the perspective of Freud’s theory of personality structure. However, we can find the embodiment of the structural model in Pip’s character development. So this paper will make a different interpretation on Pip’s character development according to the theory. According to Freud’s structural model, a complete personality structure includes: Id, ego and super-ego. In the process of an individual’s development, Id, ego and super-ego do not appear at the same time, but demonstrate the relationship of derivation from each other. That is, ego is derived from Id, and super-ego is derived from ego. In a word, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the three periods of Pip’s character development according to Freud’s structural model in order to reveal the moral theme that Dickens would like to show. This paper also gives enlightenment to the undergraduates who are forming their values.
Key words:Pip, character development, structural model
中文摘要:查尔斯.狄更斯是19世纪英国最杰出的批判现实主义作家之一。他的作品反映了维多利亚时代的社会现实,小说中处处洋溢着人道主义精神。其后期作品《远大前程》更是一部惩恶扬善的佳作。小说主要讲述了主人公匹普的性格成长历程。
本论文将从三个阶段来分析匹普的性格发展。童年的匹普是善良、纯真的。乔就是他学习的好榜样。尽管与虚伪的乔夫人和潘波趣相处,但匹普善良的本性并没受到污染。救了马格韦契后匹普就变得敏感,他的内心充满罪恶感,良心备受折磨。另外,有限的教育条件对于匹普性格的形成也产生了不良的影响。匹普赴伦敦之前认识了郝薇香与艾斯黛拉。他的价值观就在此时发生了变化。他开始为自己的出身感到羞耻并渴望过上等人的生活。在匹普的成长时期,当贾格斯告诉他有人想把他培养成上等人的时候,匹普就开始变得忘恩负义。匹普在伦敦的生活极尽奢华,此时的匹普虚荣、虚伪、势利。然而,匹普的本性依然善良,只是他走了歪路。马格韦契归来后,匹普的远大前程幻灭了。这预示着匹普善良本性的完全复苏以及其性格的成熟。尽管很多人已对匹普的性格发展作了不同层面的详尽分析,但几乎很少有人从弗洛伊德的人格结构理论进行解读, 但可以看出匹普的成长和发展呈现出了人格结构理论的特点,因此本文试借助该理论对《远大前程》主人公匹普的发展重新解读。根据弗洛伊德的理论,一个完整的人格结构分为:本我,自我和超我。在个体成长过程中,这三者并非同时出现,而是呈现出相互派生之关系,即本我中产生自我,自我中又产生超我。总的来说,本论文旨在从心理学家弗洛伊德的“三重人格结构”本我、自我、超我的理论分析《远大前程》中主人公匹普性格发展所经历的三个阶段以揭示小说家所要表达的道德主题,并在帮助年轻大学生树立正确价值观方面给予一定的启发。
关键词: 匹普;性格发展;人格结构