摘要:艾米莉·勃朗特是英国十九世纪著名诗人和小说家,是英国文学史上家喻户晓的“勃朗特三姐妹”之一。这位天才女作家在世界上仅仅度过了三十年便默默无闻地离开了人间。然而,在她短暂的一生中创作的唯一一部风靡全球的小说《呼啸山庄》奠定了她在英国文学史上乃至世界文学史上的地位。她的姐姐夏洛蒂·勃朗特是这样描述她的:比男人还要刚强,比小孩还要单纯。由于受当时环境的影响,艾米莉的大多作品都是描写大自然或者自己的亲身感受,并且其作品在内容题旨和艺术手法上都有创新和超前。
《呼啸山庄》作为艾米莉有生之年唯一一部不朽之作,刚出版后被世人看做是年轻女作家脱离现实的天真幻想,因此被冷落了四十多年。直到十九世纪末,它才像一块威力无穷的磁铁紧紧抓住了读者的心。原因在于它一反同时代作品普遍存在的伤感主义情调,而以强烈的爱,狂暴的恨及由之引起的无情的报复取代了低沉的伤感和忧郁。而这一系列扭曲的情感在男主人公希斯克利夫得到了完美的体现。作为整部小说中最引人注意的闪光点和重要线索,希斯克利夫有着极端的言行,极其冷漠的外貌,专横僻异的性格,有着坚深的爱与恨,情与仇,爱得激烈,恨得刻骨。他经历了从一个具有诸多人性之美的少年到遭受伤害而扭曲了人性变成了疯狂的复仇者,又到人性复苏的过程。本文就此过程将重点分析希斯克利夫的形象,包括他人性的双重性,人性扭曲的演变过程,以及导致他人性扭曲的原因,并对作品的现实意义进行探讨。
关键词:性格多面性;人性扭曲;报仇;人性复苏
Abstract:Emily Bronte, an outstanding English poet and novelist in the 19th century, is one of the distinguished “Bronte sisters” in the history of English literature. Unfortunately, the extremely talented writer survived merely thirty years and left the world. However, Wuthering Heights, the only great novel she has written throughout her short life, takes the world by storm and establishes her unique status not only in the history of English literature but also all over the world. Charlotte Bronte, her elder sister, once thought a good deal of her as stronger than a man but simpler than a child. Due to the influence of the social environment at that time, most of Emily’s works are about nature or her own personal experiences. Both the content and means of artistic expression of her works are quite innovative and advanced.
As the only immortal novel written by Emily during her short life, Wuthering Heights is wrongly considered as the naive fantasy that is divorced from reality and thus snubbed by people more than forty years after it was initially published. Only until the end of the nineteenth century, did it begin to attract readers from all around the world like a powerful magnet. The main reason for this is that it is a rejection of the prevalent sentimentalism in contemporary works. It replaces deep sadness and melancholy by strong love, bitter hatred, and the ensuing merciless revenge. The series of distorted emotions are perfectly manifested by Heathcliff, the protagonist. As the most attractive flash point and an important clue in the whole novel, Heathcliff has extreme words and deeds, an extremely cold appearance, imperious personality, uncompromisingly intense love and bitter hatred. He goes through the process, which includes the suffering of a teenager with the initial beauty of human nature, the distortion of human nature, becoming of a crazy avenger, and the resurrection of human nature at length. This paper will lay special stress on analyzing the image of Heathcliff, which includes the duality of his human nature, the evolutionary process of his humanity distortion, and reasons that contribute to the distortion. It will analyze the practical significance of the work as well.
Key words: Characteristic duality; Distortion of humanity; Revenge; Resurrection of humanity
Contents
中文摘要
Abstract
1. Introduction-1
1.1 A brief glimpse at Emily Bronte.1
1.2 Her Wuthering Heights.2
1.3 Focus on Heathcliff-3
1.4 Thesis statement-4
2. A thorough exploration of the transformation of Heathcliff's humanity-6
2.1 Duality of his humanity-6
2.1.1 Natural kindness & intense love-.6
2.1.2 Selfish cruelty & bitter hatred-8
2.2 The distortion of his humanity-8
2.2.1 The transition from love to hatred-9
2.2.2 A full outbreak from hatred to revenge.10
2.2.3 The resurrection of humanity12
2.3 Reasons for the transformation13
2.3.1 The root—the social status13
2.3.2 Long-term's psychological depression—the oppression of evil forces.14
2.3.3 The last straw—the betrayal of love14 -
3. Conclusion.16
References18
Acknowledgements19