1、毕业论文 文客久久 本科 毕业论文 (设计 ) 题 目： A Myth-archetypal Analysis of Vanity Fair 学 院： 学生姓名： 专 业： 英语 班 级： 指导教师： 起 止 日期： 毕业论文 文客久久 Contents Abstract .1 Introduction .3 1. Background Information about the Author and the Work .3 1.1 William Makepeace Thackeray . . . 3 1.2 Vanity Fair . . .4 2. Brief Introduction
2、of the Theory of Myth-archetypal Criticism . .5 2.1 Myth . . . . 5 2.2 Archetype . . . . 5 2.3 Myth-archetypal Criticism . . . 5 3. A Myth-archetypal Analysis of Vanity Fair . .6 3.1 A Myth-archetypal Analysis of Typical Character Becky.7 3.1.1 Archetype of Pandora .7 3.1.2 Archetype of Scapegoat .8
3、 3.2 A Myth-archetypal Analysis of Typical Motifs. .9 3.2.1 Quest Motif .10 3.2.2 Exile Motif . .10 3.2.3 Paradise Motif . .11 Conclusion . .12 References . .14 - 1 - 摘要 威廉 梅克皮斯 萨克雷 是十九世纪英国著名批判现实主义作家。名利场 是萨克雷的代表作，于 1847 至 1848 年间以月刊的形式出版。小说以两位女主角爱米丽亚和丽蓓卡为主线展开，生动再现了英国上层社会的生活状态。 本文将从神话原型批评角度分析这部小说，其中包
4、括对主要人物蓓基的神话特质的剖析以及对作品神话内涵的探讨。全文共分为四部分。第一部分是萨克雷的生平及名利场简介。第二部分是对神话原型批评的理论阐述。第三部分是运用神话原型批评理论分析小说，并从原型人物和原型母题两方面具体加以分析。这部分又分为两小节，其一主要是利用两个经典的神话原型人物潘多拉和替罪羊对作品的 主人公蓓基进行解读。其二主要探讨了分别引自希腊神话与圣经的“追寻”、“放逐”与“乐园”三个原型母题在蓓基身上的再现。第四部分是文章的结论：在名利场中对于神话和原型的运用，不仅展示了萨克雷高超的艺术创造力和广博的文学知识，更增强了小说的深刻性和艺术性，丰富了小说的内涵。通过从神话原型批评视角
5、对文本进行分析后，本论文深刻地揭示出在吸收了远古的神话和原型特质之后，名利场将更加成为世界文学史上具有永恒艺术魅力的伟大作品。 关键词 神话原型批评 ; 原型人物；原型母题 - 2 - Abstract William Makepeace Thackeray is a representative of critical realism in 19th -century England. Vanity Fair is Thackerays masterpiece, published between 1847 and 1848 monthly. Building his plot around
6、 the lives of Amelia Sedley and Rebecca Sharp, Thackeray managed to show a picture of the life of the ruling classes of England. This thesis will focus on analyzing the novel from the perspective of myth-archetypal criticism, consisting of the major character Beckys mythic stature as well as the myt
7、hic quality of the novel. The thesis consists of four parts. Part one is a general introduction of William Makepeace Thackeray and his masterpiece Vanity Fair. Part two gives an interpretation of Myth-archetypal Criticism. Part three is to adopt the Myth-archetypal Criticism to analyze the novel, wh
8、ich gives a profound analysis of the archetypal characters and motifs. Section one mainly uses two typical archetypal characters Pandora and scapegoat to interpret Becky. Section two mainly dwells on the mythic stature of Becky by the application of three major archetypal motifs, quest motif, exile
9、motif and paradise motif, respectively alluding to the Greek mythology and the Bible. The last part is its conclusion that the application of myths and archetypes in Vanity Fair not only demonstrates the superb artistic creation of Thackeray, but also greatly heightens the readability and profundity
10、 of this novel through further enriching its connotations. By studying from the perspective of myth-archetypal criticism, this thesis reveals distinctly such a fact that Vanity Fair, by absorbing the old mythic and archetypal qualities, has gone far beyond its original boundary and accomplishes a se
11、nse of eternity. Key Words myth-archetypal criticism; archetypal characters; archetypal motifs - 3 - A Myth-archetypal Analysis of Vanity Fair Introduction William Makepeace Thackeray is a representative of critical realism in 19th -century England, who has the same reputation as Charles Dickens. He
12、 creates a series of figures with unique personality and deep meaning, which is the permanent wealth of the global art. Vanity Fair is Thackerays masterpiece, published in 1847-48 in monthly instalments. Building his plot around the lives of Amelia Sedley and Rebecca Sharp, Thackeray managed to show
13、 a picture of the life of the ruling classes of England. The novel remains a classical example of social satire up to the present day. Vanity Fair has endured as one of the great comic novels of all time, and a landmark in the history of realism in fiction. 1. Background Information about the Author
14、 and the Work 1.1 W. M. Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray was born in 1811, in Calcutta, India, in the family of an English official. In 1817, after his fathers death, he was sent to England where he went to school and then studied at Cambridge. At the University, Thackeray displayed a talent fo
15、r cartoon-drawing and edited a student newspaper. The stagnant atmosphere at the University bored him so that he left it without taking a degree. He travelled in Germany, France and Italy, going in for art studies. On his return to England in 1833, Thackeray went into politics and for some time edit
16、ed The National Era, a bourgeois radical newspaper. The failure of an Indian bank where he had deposited his fortune inherited from his father, left him without means. The following year he settled in Paris, where he met Isabella Shawe, whom he married in August 1836. And he returned to England in 1
17、837, supporting his family by writing. Mrs. Thackerays mind became progressively more deranged after three years. So Thackeray sent his two daughters to live with his parents, and the rest of his domestic life was frequently sad and lonely. In an effort to forget his hurt and to make his daughters f
18、inancially secure he worked assiduously. He contributed to various magazines humorous and satirical sketches which he illustrated with his own drawings. In 1842, he began to write for Punch, the well-known satirical weekly. His first literary success came with a series of satirical sketches entitled
19、 The Snobs of England, published in 1846-47. Thackeray established his creative method as a realist in the forties. A brilliant example of this method and one of the greatest masterpieces of critical realism is his Vanity Fair, published in 1847-48. It marked the peak of his literary career. The rev
20、olutionary events in 1848 alarmed Thackeray, who was not prepared to accept the idea of breaking the existing social system. That was why a feeling of reconciliation with reality was shown in his next novel, Pendennis - 4 - (1849-50). Similar ideas appeared in another novel of this period, The Newco
21、mes (1853-55). Besides these, Thackeray published two historical novels, Henry Esmond (1852) and The Virginians (1859). He also wrote many other works including short stories, sketches and satirical poems. Late in his life, Thackeray had been seriously ill and died when he was only 54. 1.2 Vanity Fa
22、ir Vanity Fair is Thackerays masterpiece, published between 1847 and 1848 monthly. The subtitle of the novel, A Novel without a Hero, points to the authors intention to portray, not individuals singly, but the whole of the notorious “Vanity Fair”, an appellative Thackeray bestows on English bourgeoi
23、s and aristocratic society. This title was borrowed from The Pilgrims Progress by Bunyan. With scathing irony Thackeray exposes the vices of this society: hypocrisy, money-worship and moral degradation. The scene of the story is England in the first half of the 19th century. The book opens with the
24、departure of two young girls from the Academy for Young Ladies on Chiswick Mall, situated in a London suburb, where they have studied for six years. One of them is Amelia Sedley, the daughter of a wealthy London merchant. The other is Becky Sharp, an orphan, who is obliged to become governess in the
25、 family of a certain baronet, Sir Pitt Crawley, M. P. Becky, shrewd and unscrupulous, sophisticated beyond her years, is determined to worm her way into society as all costs. But she fails in her first attempt to inveigle into matrimony Amelias rich brother Joseph Sedley. Coming to Queens Crawley, S
26、ir Pitts country seat, Becky finds herself in an atmosphere of avarice, hypocrisy and immorality. She does her best to gain the confidence of her employers and makes herself agreeable. She soon gains the favor of Sir Pitt Crawley, who is captivated by her charms to such a degree that after the death
27、 of his wife he proposes to her. But Becky has to forfeit this dazzling chance, having rushed into precipitate marriage only two days before with Sir P itts younger son Rawdon Crawley. Amelia is about to be married to young lieutenant George Osborne, a lightminded man-about-town, pampered by an untr
28、oubled and well-to-do life. The two families have long been on friendly terms, Mrs. Sedley having launched Osborne in business. Meanwhile, Amelias father unexpectedly goes bankrupt and leaves his daughter penniless. Old Osborne turns his back on his former friend and benefactor and orders his son to
29、 break with Amelia. George Osborne has an intimate friend Captain Dobbin who is secretly and hopelessly in love with Amelia. Wishing to see Amelia happy, the Captain arranges the match between her and George. As a result, the infuriated old Osborne disowns his son. George goes off to war with Napole
30、on and is killed in the - 5 - Battle of Waterloo. Windowed Amelia gives birth to a son and entirely devotes herself to his upbringing. The war over, William Dobbin, now a distinguished officer leaves for India. In the meantime, Becky, after a number of adventures, insinuates herself into the graces
31、of “good society” and enters into a liaison with Lord Steyne, a cynical old reprobate and rake. The illicit lovers are discovered by Beckys husband. As a consequence, Rawdon Crawley breaks with his wife. Being in the rank of a colonel, he obtains an appointment as governor to one of the British colo
32、nies and leaves England for good. Shortly after his arrival there he contracts fever and dies. After many vicissitudes and wanderings, Becky attains respectability and a position of comparative ease. On meeting her former friend Amelia, who still reverently holds dear the memory of her dead husband,
33、 Becky discloses an old secret, bringing to light a proof of Georges unfaithfulness to his marriage vows. Amelias idol shattered, she decides to reward Dobbins many-year fidelity by consenting to marry him. 2. Brief Introduction of the Theory of Myth-archetypal Criticism 2.1 Myth In ordinary sense,
34、myth refers to stories of gods or other supernatural beings handed down from ancient times. “The body of myths in a given culture usually includes a cosmogonical or creation myth concerning the origins of the world or how the world and its creatures came into existence.” (Wang, 2009:9) The active be
35、ings in myths are generally gods, heroes or animals. The traditional myths in a nation or culture show its cultural history. In Greek mythology we can find Zeus and Hera while in our Chinese mythology we have our God of Heaven and Queen of Heaven. Myth is an important literary term, and many writers
36、 regard it as sources of inspiration. 2.2 Archetype The term “archetype” means “model”. “Archetype is an original model or pattern from which other later copies are made, especially a character, an action, or situation that seems to represent common patterns of human life.” (Wang, 2009:9) In other w
37、ords, archetype refers to recurrent character-types such as Pandora or scapegoat, motifs such as quest, exile or paradise, images such as water or tree, descriptive details and plot patterns that are more or less the same in literary works, just like in myths, dreams and social rituals. 2.3 Myth-arc
38、hetypal Criticism Myth-archetypal Criticism is an important genre of the literature criticism, which reaches its peak in 1950.We cant discuss myth-archetypal criticism without - 6 - consulting three important figures in its development. They are James Frazer, Carl G. Jung and Northrop Frye. James Fr
39、azer reveals the recurring mythical patterns on tales and rituals in his masterpiece The Golden Bough. He is the first person to point out the relationship between myth and ritual which helps to legalize the position of myth in society. Carl G. Jung develops his teacher Feuds theory of unconscious,
40、subdividing it into personal unconscious and collective unconsciousness in 1930s-40s. It marks that the archetypal criticism is developed from the psychological perspective. Critics begin to apply it to analyze literary works. Northrop Frye puts forward the systematical literary myth-archetypal crit
41、icism on the basis of the two pioneers contribution in the 1950s. He directly applies mythological approach to literature. His representative masterpiece is Anatomy of Criticism, which is a milestone in the development of myth-archetypal criticism. Archetypal literary criticism is a type of critical
42、 theory that “interprets a text by focusing on recurring myths and archetypes in the narrative, symbols, images, and character types that cant be satisfactorily explained as matters of biographical, historical or social influence in a literary work”. (Wang, 2009:10) And mythological criticism deals
43、with “instinctual and deep chords in human nature that are touched by certain types of events, character situations, conflicts, etc.” (Wang, 2009:10) Mythology is affiliated with religion, anthropology, and cultural history on the basic of communal beliefs. A myth-archetypal approach to literature a
44、ssumes that there is a collection of characters, images and motifs which evokes the same response in all people basically. The aim is to seek for the culture underlying literature. Many myth critics, who are interested in the prehistory and the biographies of the gods, probe for the inner spirit whi
45、ch gives literary work vitality and appeal. 3. A Myth-archetypal Analysis of Vanity Fair Various writers have insisted on the necessity of “myth” as a material for their works. They have appropriated the old myths as necessary substances to their writing in varying ways and degrees. William Makepeac
46、e Thackeray is no exception, and his works revolve around Greek myth and the Bible. For the reason that myths and archetypes touch the depth of human emotions and exemplify profound truths of mans universal experience, myth-archetypal criticism endows a lot of works with new meanings. Therefore, an
47、attempt is made in this thesis to analyze related elements of the myths found in this novel from the perspective of myth-archetypal criticism. A myth-archetypal analysis of a literary work is to find out archetypes and their symbolic meanings. This paper intends to make a deeper exploration into Vanity Fair, and the interpretation of myth-archetypes i
