1、Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen (1775-1817): a quiet sunny little woman, alomost unmindful of the great world, was enlivening her fathers parsonage and writing about the clergy, the old maids, the short-sighted mothers, the marriageable daughters, and other people that figure in village life. Her mai
2、n themes are love and marriage. Elizabeth 2) a recurrent mode, in various ears and literary forms, of representing human life and experience in literature.The difference between realism and romanticism: realism is often opposed to romanticism. Realism represents life as it really is; it evokes the s
3、ense of the readers that its characters might in fact exist and that such things might well happen, while romanticism presents life as we would have it be. Romanticism is more picturesque, fantastic, adventurous, or heroic than reality.The historical background of critical realismThe Industrial Revo
4、lution in BritainThe Victorian AgeThe Chartist MovementsCritical Realism The featuresThe thoughts firstly appeared in France in the 1830s and spread to Europe and America. It describes, analyses and discloses and criticizes the reality.“批判地再现当时存在的社会制度和社会关系，解剖性地暴露、撕毁一切的假面具，故称之为批判现实主义。 ”(1) reflects t
5、he reality objectively, concretely and genuinely. (2) discloses and criticizes the reality strongly.(3) creates the typical characters under the typical circumstances.They were more or less influenced by the Chartist Movements. The British critical realist writers were sympathetic with the miseries
6、of the poor laboring masses and cried out loud against social injustice, so they were humanists. But they didnt approve the use of violence to right the social wrongs, so its impossible for them to find out the real way to innovate the society. 2. The achievements of the critical realistsThey achiev
7、ed greatly in the art of writing. The period was regarded as the third pinnacle in the European history of literature after Greek mythology and Elizabethan drama.3. The representatives of critical realistsCharles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray and George Eliot. 1.The first period (1836-1841)Ol
8、iver Twist (1838)2. The second period (1842-1850)David Copperfield (1850) . During his visit to America, Dickens is deeply impressed by the rule of dollars and the enormously corrupting influence of wealth and power there. Vulgar selfishness prevails everywhere and conceals the fine qualities of peo
9、ple. Dickens nave optimism about capitalist society is thus profoundly shaken.3.The Third Period (1851-1870)Hard Times (1854), A Tale of Two Cities (1859) , Great Expectations (1861)His novels of this period are much “darker” in content than their predecessors. Up to this time Dickens maintains some
10、 hope of reform under capitalism but beginning from Bleak House there is “underlying tone of bitterness” which shows the novelists loss of hope for English bourgeois society.Oliver TwistGood characters: Oliver Twist, Mr. Brownlow, the Maylies, NancyEvil characters: Monks, Fagin, people working in th
11、e workhouseIt criticizes the Poor Law and the workhouse system.Themes of Oliver TwistIn a personal level, its theme is the struggle of an individual for his survival in the harsh world.In a broader level, it criticizes the society of the day, the cruelty of the bourgeoisie and the miserable life of
12、the weak and the poor. Great ExpectationsThe main charactersPip, Estella, Miss Havisham, Magwitch, JoeAppreciate Oliver TwistCharles Dickens is very humorous, sarcastic and ironic. He believes that life is made up of both joy and sorrow. Most of his works are a mixture of humor and pathos. His popul
13、arity mainly lies in his ability to give readers bright merriment and dark gloom at the same time, and mingle tears and laughter as in real life.“Bow to the board,” said Bumble. Oliver brushed away two or three tears that were lingering in his eyes, and seeing no board but the table, fortunately bow
14、ed to that.(p.180) humorWhat a noble illustration of the tender laws of this favored country!they let the paupers go to sleep!(p.181) ironyThe members of the board of the workhouse discoveredthe poor people like it! It (the workhouse) was a regular place of public entertainment for the poorer classe
15、sa tavern where there was nothing to paya public breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper all the year rounda brick and mortar elysium, where it was all play and no work.(p.182) ironyThey established the rule, that all poor people should have the alternative of being starved by a gradual process in the ho
16、use, or by a quick one out of it (workhouse).(p.182) sarcasmThey made a great many other wise and humane regulations. They kindly undertook to divorce poor married people, in consequence of the great expense of a suit in Doctors Commons; and, instead of compelling a man to support his family as they
17、 had therefore done, took his family away from him, and made him a bachelor! (p.182) ironyThe bowls never wanted washingthe boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again; and when they had performed this operation, (which never took very long, the spoons being nearly as large as the bow
18、ls) they would sit staring at the copper with such eager eyes as is they could devour the very bricks of which it was composed.(p.183) sarcasmLet it not be supposed by the enemies of “the system”, that, Oliver was denied the benefit of exercise, the pleasure of society, or the advantages or religiou
19、s consolation. (p.184)In Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens sharply criticized the abuses and shortcoming of the Poor Law.Chen Jia: The justly famous scene in which Oliver was cruelly beaten up and punished merely because he ventured to ask for an extra portion of the very thin gruel to alleviate his int
20、olerable hunger, is only one of the many details described with masterly skill by the novelist to show the extreme tyranny and brutality and corruption of the oppressors and their agents. So, though only a few chapters are devoted to the description of the workhouse, the effect was great and instant
21、aneous, and the novel has always been and will ever be remembered as a most thorough-going invective against the Poor Law and its workhouse system.The novel is a powerful attack on one of the social evils and on its day of publication it even helped in a minor way actually to alleviate the suffering
22、s of the poor, for it has been said that “Oliver Twist” was responsible to a certain extent for the bettering of conditions in the English workhouse of the authors day.The analysis of Great ExpectationsPip: Pips two most important traits are his immature, romantic idealism and his innately good cons
23、cience. On the one hand, Pip has a deep desire to improve himself and attain any possible advancement, whether educational, moral, or social. Pips idealism often leads him to behave badly toward the people who care about him. On the other hand, Pip is at heart a very generous and sympathetic young m
24、an. Pips main line of development in the novel may be seen as the process of learning to place his innate sense of kindness and conscience above his immature idealism.Estella: is the first convincing woman in Dickens novel. She is a woman who darkly undermines the notion of romantic love and serves
25、as a bitter criticism against the class system in which she is mired. Raised from the age of three by Miss Havisham to torment men and “break their hearts,” Estella wins Pips deepest love by practicing deliberate cruelty. Estella is cold, cynical, and manipulative. Though she represents Pips first l
26、onged-for ideal of life among the upper classes, Estella is actually even lower-born than Pip. Ironically, life among the upper classes does not represent salvation for Estella. she is victimized twice by her adopted class. she is raised by Miss Havisham, who destroys her ability to express emotion
27、and interact normally with the world. In this way, Dickens uses Estellas life to reinforce the idea that ones happiness and well-being are not deeply connected to ones social position. Miss Havisham: The mad, vengeful Miss Havisham, a wealthy dowager who lives in a rotting mansion and wears an old w
28、edding dress every day of her life. Miss Havishams life is defined by a single tragic event: her jilting by Compeyson on what was to have been their wedding day. From that moment forth, Miss Havisham is determined never to move beyond her heartbreak. She stops all the clocks in Satis House at twenty
29、 minutes to nine, the moment when she first learned that Compeyson was gone. With a kind of manic, obsessive cruelty, Miss Havisham adopts Estella and raises her as a weapon to achieve her own revenge on men. Miss Havisham is an example of single-minded vengeance pursued destructively: both Miss Hav
30、isham and the people in her life suffer greatly because of her quest for revenge. Miss Havisham is completely unable to see that her actions are hurtful to Pip and Estella. She is redeemed at the end of the novel when she realizes that she has caused Pips heart to be broken in the same manner as her
31、 own. Theme Affection, loyalty, and conscience are more important than social advancement, wealth, and class. William Makepeace Thackeray(1811-1863)Works: Vanity Fair, 1847Style: the clever mixture of epigrammatic wit with subtle humor and of sharp sarcasm with innocent understatementsVanity Fair Th
32、e title: The novel has a subtitle, A Novel without a Hero.Vanity Fair comes from John Bunyans The Pilgrims Progress. The three possible meanings of the subtitle: 1. hero means a positive character; on the contrary, no hero means no positive characters in the novel; 2. it indicates that the novel is
33、concerned principally not with individual heroes but with the society as a whole; 3. it also possibly means there are only heroines in the novel but no heroes.The main characters : Becky (or Rebecca) Sharp and Amelia Sedley. The two heroines are in striking contrast: Amelia, a woman who submits to h
34、er fate, is a good but really tame and sentimental and useless woman, while Becky, who rebels and tries to master her own fate, is tricky but resourceful and practical and capable. Both of them are victims of the society.Themes:In a personal sense, it is about the struggle of a woman for high status
35、 by hook or crook.In a broader sense, Thackeray criticizes the whole English society of the early 19th century, when the predominant feature of that society is the struggle for money, by everybody against everybody else among the upper classes.Charlotte BronteCharlotte Bronte English writer noted fo
36、r her novel Jane Eyre (1847) Charlotte attended the Clergy Daughters School at Cowan Bridge in 1824. She returned home next year because of the harsh conditions. In 1831 she went to school at Roe Head, where she later worked as a teacher. Then, she worked as a governess. All the experiences were ref
37、lected in Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre appeared in 1847 and became an immediate success. She considered herself a follower of Thackeray, so she dedicated the book to him. In the past 40 years Charlotte Brontes reputation has risen rapidly, and feminist criticism has done much to show that she was speaking u
38、p for oppressed women of every age. She died during her pregnancy on March 31, 1855.In her novels, Charlotte Bronte shows herself a critical realist who attacks the greed, petty tyranny and lack of culture among the upper classes and sympathizes with the sufferings of the workers and of poor people
39、in general. The chief distinctive feature of her novels is the creation of courageous, upright figures, such as Jane Eyre, who successfully resist oppression and other social evils in the inhumane world. Jane Eyre is considered by the feminist critics as a woman who is independent and pursues freedo
40、m and equality with men and among different classes. Jane Eyre, different from other women in the money-worship society, considers marriage not as a bargain but as a union of kindred souls.Jane EyreDo you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wr
41、ong!-I have as much soul as you,-and full as much heart! I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh;-it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at Gods feet, equal,-as we are!“你以为，因
42、为我穷、低微、不美、矮小，我就没有灵魂没有心了吗？你想错了！我的灵魂跟你的一样，我的心也跟你的完全一样。我现在跟你说话，并不是通过习俗、惯例，甚至不是通过凡人的肉体而是我的精神在同你的精神说话，就像两个都经过了坟墓，我们站在上帝的面前，是平等的因为我们是平等的！”Wuthering HeightsMain characters: the first generation: Heathcliff, Catherine, Edgar Linton, Isabella Linton, Hindley; the second generation: young Catherine (daughter
43、of Edgar and Catherine), Hareton (son of Hindley), Linton Heathcliff (son of Heathcliff and Isabella)HeathcliffCatherine EdgarHareton Young CatherineLinton HeathcliffAnalysis of the main characters:Heathcliff: a powerful, fierce, and often cruel man, Heathcliffs humiliation and misery prompt him to
44、spend most of the rest of his life seeking revenge on Hindley, his beloved Catherine, and their respective children (Hareton and young Catherine). His whole life centers around Catherine, their love and the revenge for her betrayal. He uses his extraordinary powers of will to acquire both Wuthering
45、Heights and Thrushcross Grange, the estate of Edgar Linton. Heathcliffs great natural abilities, strength of character, and love for Catherine Earnshaw all enable him to raise himself from humble beginnings to the status of a wealthy gentleman, but his need to revenge himself for Hindleys abuse and
46、Catherines betrayal leads him into a twisted life of cruelty and hatred. Primarily an oppressed, Heathcliff turns into a merciless oppressor. He deserves our sympathy no more.Catherine: Catherine is free-spirited, beautiful, spoiled, and often arrogant. She is given to fits of temper, and she is tor
47、n between her wild passion for Heathcliff and her social ambition. Catherine loves Heathcliff so intensely that she claims they are the same person. However, her desire for social advancement motivates her to marry Edgar Linton instead. She brings misery to both of the men who love her. Her decision
48、 to marry the genteel Edgar Linton drags almost all of the novels characters into conflict with Heathcliff.Theme: the destructiveness of a love that never changesA rewardless love is closely connected with hatred and revenge.Thomas HardyThomas Hardy (1840-1928), a writer who depicts the life of Wess
49、ex (Dorset). He himself divides his novels into three series:1. Romances and Fantasies: A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873)2. Novels of Ingenuity: Desperate Remedies (1871), The Hand of Ethelberta (1876)3. Novels of Character and Environment: Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), Far from the Madding Crowd (1974), The Return of the Native (1878), The Mayor of Casterbridege (1886), Tess of the DUrbervilles(1891) , Jude the Obscure (1895)TessThe main characters in T
