1、 本科毕业论文 （ 20 届） 英语 An Analysis of Dickens Critical Realism in Bleak House 外语学院学生毕业论文独创声明 本人郑重声明：所呈交的毕业论文是本人在导师的认真指导下，独立进行研究工作所取得的研究成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不包含其他个人或集体已经发表的学术成果，也不包含为获得浙江万里学院或其它教育机构的学位证书而使用过的材料。对本文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确的方式表明。如本文涉及上述声明及任 何知识产权纠纷，本人将承担一切责任。 学生签名： 日期： Abstract The thesis co
2、nsists of three parts. The first part is introduction which states the main content. The second part is about analyzing the features of critical realism in detail which includes three aspects: exposing and criticizing the evil of capitalist society, analyzing the typical characters in typical enviro
3、nment and explaining the important plots. The last part is a conclusion of the essay. It explains that the goal of this thesis is to reveal and criticize the social issues in the middle of 19th century. By making an analysis of Dickens critical realism in Bleak House, this thesis tries to make reade
4、rs know Dickens and critical realism literature thoroughly. Key Words: social reality judicial system critical realism 摘 要 本论文由三个部分构成。首先是介绍，陈述文章主要内容。其次是论文主体部分，具体分析批判现实主义的特征包括揭露和批判资本主义社会的罪恶现实，对典型环境的典型人物的分析以及对重要情节的分析。最后是结束语，对本文内容做出总结 , 说明荒凉山庄是一部具有代表性的作品，揭露和批判了 19 世纪中期的社会问题。本文试图通过对荒凉山庄的批判现实主义研究使读者对狄更斯和
5、批判现实主义文学有更加全面透彻 的了解。 关键词 : 社会现实 法律体系 批判现实主义 Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 The Features of Critical Realism 2 2.1 Reflecting the Social Reality Objectively and Actually .3 2.2 Deep Exposing and Criticizing the Social Reality .6 3 Conclusion .8 Works Cited .10 Acknowledgements 1 An Analysis of Dickens C
6、ritical Realism in Bleak House 1 Introduction Charles Dickens is one of the greatest representatives of critical realism in England in the 19th century. He has written a lot of novels in his life. Most of them are very famous such as The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Hard Times, etc (Liu Bingshan,
7、1993). His novels especially focus on people who live in the bottom of British society (Li Yazhu, 2006). Their miserable life experiences deeply reflect the complicated social reality in Great Britain. “Dickens is famous for his appealing characters, his true-to-life dialogues, his social commentary
8、, and his personal connection to political and economic issues of the day” (Liu Weifeng, 2010, p.1). “In his work, Dickens maintains an unbroken faith in people with an entire pessimism as to capitalist society” (Guo, Chunlin, 2004, p.5). It has been argued that his writing style makes a big influen
9、ce on current literature and makes a great contribution to the development of British critical realism literature (Forster, 1905). So Charles Dickens becomes a very important person in the history of British literature. Bleak House is published in the later period. It is a full-length novel with com
10、plicated structure (Lindsay, 1970). By depicting several law cases, it clearly presents the overall condition of British society in the early Victorian period. As to mainly exposing the evil of British law system, Bleak House is also regarded as a judicial novel. Critical realism refers to a new tre
11、nd of thought in literature and art and formula for creation in Europe in 19th century (Lindsay, 1970). Wu Weiren (1988) explained that “The concept of critical realism is first proposed by Proudhon who claims that realism is critical. But his thesis is not famous because of his bad reputation. Late
12、r, Gorky makes a clear definition about critical realism and his thesis becomes popular. In 1820s, critical realism came into being and preliminarily developed. From 1830s to 1840s, critical realism became the main stream of European literature. France is the 2 birth land of critical realism. Stendh
13、als The Red and the Black establishes a foundation for it.” (p.15) English critical realism flourishes in 1840s and1850s. It is a period that England reached the peak of social economic development and rapidly turned into a strong and industrialized nation. “The critical realists describes with much
14、 vividness and artistic skill the chief characteristics of the English society and criticized the capitalist system from a democratic viewpoint” (Buckley, 1974, p.18). At this time, Charles Dickens and other novelists are quite unsatisfied with current social system and they criticize the corrupted
15、society. So they are regarded as critical realists. In most of their works, they usually compare the greed and the corrupt upper classes with the honest and good-hearted lower classes. By contrast, they express profound sympathy for the common people. So satire becomes a powerful weapon used by crit
16、ical realist to reveal corrupted human nature. In a word, critical realism is a strong power in the 19th century because of its rapid development. It makes people clearly recognized the evil of social system and human nature. With no doubt, critical realism literature is the main stream of British l
17、iterature in 19th century. The first part is the brief introduction to Charles Dickens and his work. The second part emphasizes on the features of critical realism. It can be divided into two parts: firstly, reflecting the social reality objectively and actually. Secondly, deeply exposing and critic
18、izing the social reality. These two aspects offer enough evidence for the feature of deeply exposing and criticizing the social reality. Whats more, every part is analyzed by events and typical characters in Bleak House. 2 The Features of Critical Realism Literature “Critical realism literature wrot
19、e a brilliant age in the history of bourgeois literature in 19th century. At the same time, it was a very important heritage in the world culture treasure (Smith, 1996, p.5). Since 1830s, realism has gradually become the main stream of literature. At that time, classicism nearly disappeared and roma
20、nticism turned into minor position. In a 2002 article, Zhang Boxiang and Ma 3 Jianjun explain that realistic literature is based on reality to describe life and show its quite unsatisfied with present system. It analyzes the trend of the conflict of human behavior and portrays the struggle with over
21、coming difficulties. Realists prefer to apply the form of novel, so the creation of full-length novels comes into prosperous. 2.1 Reflecting the Social Reality Objectively and Actually “Critical realism literature is generally based on the materialist theory of reflection. Realist writers emphasize
22、on presenting life condition truthfully which is almost the feature of all realist writers” (Wall, 1970). Bleak House shows a morbid society and the centrostigma of social evils is slum. In chapter 16, Dickens describes a slum called Tom-all-Alones. “It is a black, dilapidated street, avoided by all
23、 decent people; where the crazy houses were seized upon, when their decay was far advanced, by some bold vagrants, who, after establishing their own possession, took to letting them out in loadings” (Charles, 2003, p.210). Tom-all-Alones evil seeds are not only physical pain, but also the evils that
24、 the capitalist system persecutes labors. So it makes this slum a symbol of disaster of the working class and laboring people. In addition, it deeply expresses the authors dissatisfaction and protest about the living condition of the common people. Jo who is a young and homeless boy lives in such an
25、 environment. This guy comes from Tom-all-Alones. He has no parents and no friends. Even he has not received education. So he doesnt know what family is. All he knows is sweeping the street around slum. He has to bear hungry and cold. The most important thing in his life is to do a good job. Even so
26、, poor Jo is not incompatible in the callous society. Due to an accidental reason, he knows a man called “Nemo” who is the alias of Captain James Hawdon. He is an officer in the British Army under whom Mr. George once served. Nemo copies legal documents for Snagsby and lodges at Krooks rag and the B
27、ottle shop. He is later found to be the former lover of Lady Dedlock and the father of Esther Summerson. However, now he is a beggar and sometimes copies some case files to earn his living. So he is a very poor man. He takes good care of Jo and often helps him. Unfortunately, his care brings Jo a bi
28、g disaster. For he gets to 4 know the secret of Lady Dedlock that Nemo is her former lover. Jo is familiar with Nemo and knows where he is buried, so the poor guy becomes the target of public criticism. He is often intercepted and traced by some strange people, so he cant find a place for him to liv
29、e. Later, a warmhearted man offers him a residence at night. But he is taken away by someone and loses his freedom. The little Jo bears a lot of torment and finally he dies for seasonal febrile disease. The poor Jo is just a small character which has no harm to anyone. But he has to be oppressed by
30、the society and the power of law just because he unconsciously involves the privacy of Lady Dedlock. Lindsay (1970) believed that Jo is the sacrificial lamb in British capitalist society in the middle of the 19th century. Whats more, he is also the representative of oppressed common people. The deat
31、h of Jo is a famous plot; the writer accuses the society for the death of Jo. “Dead, your Majesty. Dead, my lords and gentlemen. Dead, Right Reverends and Wrong Reverends of every order. Dead, men and women, born with Heavenly compassion in your hearts. And dying thus around us every day” (Charles,
32、2003, p.649). This is the social reality that such a little boy cant escape. The bad situation and horrible people are reflected objectively and actually. The suffering of little Jo gives us the best answer to the social reality. In Bleak House, it is no doubt that Lady Dedlock is a very important c
33、haracter. She has become a plot line with the development of story. She has her counterfeit life. Dedlock comes from a small family living with her sister, Bala Sally. She is not a beautiful girl but she looks dignified and elegant. The young Dedlock loves the Captain, James Hawdon. And she writes a
34、 lot of billet-doux for him to express her faithful love. Then she gets pregnancy, but they are separated unfortunately at last. After the child is born, people tell her that the evil child is dead. Her sister, Bala Sally cant afford the shame and cuts off the relationship with her. Since then, Dedl
35、ock lives lonely with her hurting souls. Later, she marries with Sir Leicester Dedlock who is a crusty baronet and he is very much older than her. So Dedlock becomes as a mark of distinction worthy of man of his family lineage. But her natural daughter is not died; 5 her sister adopts her and change
36、s her name called Esther Summerson. Fourteen years later, Bala Sally died and Esther is guarded by another enlightened gentleman called John Jarndyce. Holbrook (1993) believed that Dedlocks family background and her status have a big contradiction, so she has to live under a heavy mask. In the upper
37、tendom, Dedock dresses in fashionable clothes and shows her arrogance and prestige. People around her worship her like a goddess. Her husband has a bad health, but she seldom rejects his decision publicly. Though she hates Leicesters guests, she also treats them politely. From this, it can be seen t
38、hat Lady Dedlock bears a lot of pressure in her life. Facing to the social reality, she has to hide her real emotion. At the same time, it can find that she knows how to live in such a circumstance. No matter what she encounters, Lady Dedlock is imperturbable and unshaken. When Mr. Tulkinghorn begin
39、s to talk about Hawdons death in front of Lady Dedlock, she keeps calm and walks elegantly through the sitting room. When facing scandal, she shows her selfish and callous. However, Lady Dedlock has a real side of her. After she becomes noble Lady Dedlock, she never forgets her first lover and just
40、hides her emotion in heart. Twenty years later, when she gets a glimpse of Hawdons handwriting, she is very excited in heart and eagerly wants to know Hawdons whereabouts and fate. When she gets the news that he lives in the same city with her, she feels delighted. And when she knows he dies, she we
41、aring a maidservants cloth goes to the place where Hawdon is buried at a rainy night. At his grave, she is very sorrowful and prays for him. This scene indicates her loyalty to love. When she knows his daughter is living, she traces her daughter tightly just for taking a look at her. She gets her da
42、ughters handkerchief in return from a poor worker and she considers it valuable and collects appropriately. Lady Dedlocks maid and Steward can see another side of her. They feel that Dedlock has a kind and understanding heart under her cool appearance. A favorite maid of Lady Dedlock, Rosa thinks only these unimportant persons like her can really understand her. Social reality makes a big influence on Lady Dedlock. She bears a lot of social
