《小杜丽》中两种“监狱”下的人性分析

1、AcknowledgmentsFirst of all, I would like to thank my thesis instructor, teacher Lv. My teacher is a friendly and approachable person, and she always takes her work seriously and responsibly. Although I have a lot of problems in the process of writing the paper, my teacher still does not abandon me

2、and she is not to give up on me. My teacher is always very careful to correct my mistakes, gives me timely feedback and the right guidance. Im afraid I cant finish this paper well without my teachers teaching. It is beyond words for me to express my gratitude to my teacher.Secondly, I would like to

3、thank all the teachers who have taught me in the past four years. In these four years, they give me not only a wealth of knowledge, but also the correct direction of life. In philosophy there is a saying that the accumulation of quantity causes qualitative change, it is their daily teaching that mak

4、es me form a perfect personality. I am very grateful to them for teaching me at a crucial point in my life.Thirdly, I really appreciate my family and friends. The last year of college is another important turning point in my life. I decided to take the postgraduate examination, so that I could go on

5、 further study in my study. In this year, my family and friends gave me a lot of encouragement and care. It is what they do for me that make me more determined to pursue my goals in the days of preparation. At the same time, I thank myself for holding on to the end.Finally, Id like to thank my advis

6、er again. Because of various reasons, I do not do well in the process of thesis writing, and may even make my teacher a little disappointed. Inspiteofthis, my teacher is still very patient to guide me, which makes me very moved. Thank her very much.AbstractCharles Dickens is one of the greatest crit

7、ical realists in the Victorian Age. His novels offer a most complete and realistic picture of the English bourgeois society of his age. Little Dorrit is one the most famous long work of Charles Dickens.This paper compares the changes of characters in their personalities in the novel, Little Dorrit,

8、in the first and second part of the work. In the first part, the characters, when they are poor, are put around the Marsahlsea prison, the debtors prison. In the second part, they become rich, and the story about them is on the background of the social prison, the British society. Both of the two pa

9、rts prove that they cannot break away from the cage of the capitalist society. In fact, Charles Dickens is looking forward to getting rid of the shackles of society. He hopes that the difficulties in his childhood can be released, and the society can make great progress and achieve quick development

10、.All of the other members misbehavior in Little Dorrits family showed us a picture of the dark side of the humans inner heart. This thesis is going to talk about personality of the characters in two different “prison” in Little Dorrit. Through analyzing their mind states, we can reveal the mental st

11、upor of the people in that age. And the purpose of this paper is mainly to attract peoples attention in our day. All of us should learn a lesson from it, and try best to get rid of that kind of inconsistence of personality in our lives.Key Words: Personality; Change; Little Dorrit; Prison摘 要查尔斯狄更斯是英

12、国维多利亚时期伟大的现实主义作家之一。他的作品提供了他所处时期英国资本主义社会的一个完整现实的画面。小杜丽是狄更斯最出名的长篇小说之一。这篇论文比较了小杜丽中人物角色在作品第一部分和第二部分的性格变化。在作品第一部分，当他们穷苦潦倒时，他们是以马夏尔西这个债务人监狱为背景。在作品第二部分，当他们变得富有时他们的故事是以英国社会这个监狱为背景的。作品的两部分都证明他们不能够摆脱资本主义社会这个禁锢。实际上，查尔斯狄更斯期盼着摆脱社会的枷锁，他童年遭遇的困难可以被释放，并且他希望社会可以得到更大的进步和更好的发现。小杜丽家中所有成员的不良行为都展现给了人的内心深处黑暗的一面。这篇论文将继续探讨小杜

13、丽中在两种不同“监狱”下的人物性格。通过分析他们的心态揭示那个年代人们内心的麻木。本文的主要目的是引起当今人们的关注。我们都应该从中有所体会并在生命中尽力去避免那种性格的不一致性。关键词：人性；改变；小杜丽；监狱ContentsTOC o 1-2 h z u 1. Background Information 11.1 Introduction of the Author 11.2 Introduction of the Work 12. A Prison Named Marshalsea 22.1 The Father of the Marshalsea 32.2 The Children

14、of the Marsahlse 33. A Prison Named British Society 43.1 Life of Little Dorrits Father 63.2 Life of Little Dorrit and Her Siblings 74. Personality Shown by Different Characters under Different Imprisonment 84.1 Unchanged Personality Shown by Little Dorrit 84.2 Changed Personality Shown by Other Fami

15、ly Members 105. Conclusion 12Bibliography 14The Analysis of Personality in Two “Prison” in Little Dorrit1. Background InformationCharles Dickens says that Little Dorrit is a more seditious book than Das Kapital. In this book, Dickens talks about a little character of the novel, Amy Dorrit. She was n

16、ot born to a glorious family because of her fathers financial fallings. After the Dorrits got amount of money and left the prison, all of the family, with the exception of Little Dorrit, changed a lot in their deep mind.1.1Introduction of the AuthorCharles Dickens (7 February 1812-9 June 1870) was a

17、 famous English critical realism novelist in 19th century. The author was, in a realistic writing style, full of anger to expose the upper class and bourgeois hypocrisy, greed, humiliation and brutality, and he showed deep sympathy to the lower society, especially the plight of women. He created som

18、e of the worlds most memorable fictional characters and was generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented fame, and by the twentieth century his literary genius was broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. He described awak

19、ening struggling in a serious and prudent attitude, and his novels and short stories continued to be widely popular among men, children and the elder people.1.2Introduction of the WorkLittle Dorrit was the eleventh novel by Charles Dickens, published in 1857. Firstly it was published in serials, fro

20、m 1855 in December to 1857 in June, and it took a total of nineteen months to finish this story. In May, 1857, the separate edition came out. Dickens wrote a preface. In the preface, he revealed the joy of having so many readers.The sales volume of Little Dorrit was unprecedented. This masterpiece w

21、as the important work of Dickens in his late period, and it was of great value for us to understand the middle of the nineteenth Century British society,Britains political corruption and hypocrisy, and the greed of the ruling class and the bourgeoisie. The falsehood of the highersociety and lower pe

22、oples poverty are completely unmasked in the authors pen.The story of Little Dorrit is very complicated, and it has been called by critics as a dense forest with numerous plots. The heroine Little Dorrits father was put in prison for more than twenty years. Little Dorrit, who was born and raised in

23、the prison named Marshalsea, was called the child of the Marshalsea.” Since then, around the birth of Dorrit and her familys inheritance of a large number of handsome legacies, the author carried out a series of perplexing and confused plot and the relationship between the characters.Because of Amy

24、Dorrits fathers failure in business, the family owed a huge debt and for this reason they were put into the debtors prison. In spite of her humble origin and hard life, Amy had a kind heart, and she was always ready to help other people who were in trouble around her, Whats more, she was not ashamed

25、 of her poverty. At the age of 21, Amy was hiding from her father that she took on the job as a seamstress to Mrs. Clennams family, where she met her only son, Arthur. From then on, she reversed her life fate. It was told in detail that when Arthur Clennam returned to England after many years abroad

26、, he took a kindly interest in Amy Dorrit, his mothers seamstress, and in the affairs of Amys father, William Dorrit, a man of shabby grandeur, long imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea. As Arthur soon discovered, the dark shadow of the prison stretched far beyond its walls to affect the lives of m

27、any people.As for masterly evocation of the state and psychology of imprisonment, Little Dorrit was one of the supreme works of Dickens maturity. And Little Dorrit embodied the characteristics of Dickenss later works: the ideological content was more profound, and the ability to control the characte

28、rs and plots came to be more mature, it could yet be regarded as a fine piece of writing. The happiness and bitterness of the Dorrits family in straitened circumstances and the distortion of the peoples psychological states after making a great fortune overnight were always the characteristics of th

29、e satirical novels of Dickens.2. A Prison Named MarshalseaA prison called Marshalsea referred to a debtors prison, located in the middle of the London Bridge and the South Main Street of George church. When Dorrits father was in debt, his family was put in prison. It was a prison in the real society

30、. People were locked up in a high wall and lost their freedom. Peoples bodies were being held here. But, despite the fact that Dorrit was still in prison, his father tried to keep his manners.2.1The Father of the MarshalseaThe writer gave us the first impression of Little Dorrits father in this part

31、. “He was a shy, retiring man; well-looking, though in an effeminate style; with a mild voice, curling hair, and irresolute handsrings upon the fingers in those dayswhich nervously wandered to his trembling lip a hundred times, in the first half-hour of his acquaintance with the jail. His principal

32、anxiety was about his wife.” (Dickens 58) It showed us the image of a fragile man, suddenly from the rich into a poor, in the face of such a big gap, he could not accept this reality. From his body movements, we could see he was very upset.Reality gradually made this person become numb. Then William

33、 Dorrit was one of the longest serving prisoners in Marshalseas prison, and he was proud to call himself the father of the Marshalsea, to show his respectable position in prison. Although he never admitted his failure, but in the depth of his heart, he felt guilty about his families lower social sta

34、tus caused by his financial failing. In the bottom of life, he did not blush with shame to beg for the sympathy of other people, and he even thought that these visitors showed their respect to him by giving him some money.Indeed, Little Dorrits father showed the life of a debtor in prison, such an a

35、bject and noble man, either in prison or outside, obstinately sticking to his final so-called dignity, was eager to be treated with respect, all the time he hid away deeply his inferiority and vanity in someone elses taunt . The wall of the prison might cast a shadow over the people in it.The Childr

36、en of the MarsahlseDorrits brother, Tip, always lived beyond his income. And he was a person who, like children, was very dependent on his sister. It seemed that he took Little Dorrits services as behoove. Not only did he seek a mothers care from Little Dorrit in his life, but they also sought the c

37、are of Little Dorrit in spirit. When he was in trouble, the first person he thought of was Little Dorrit. One evening, Mr. Clennam stayed too late to leave Marsahlsea prison, and he asked whether Tip could find shelter for him for the night in jail. As a person who got used to seeking solutions from

38、 his younger sister, Little Dorrit, he put his father out of the brain, but immediately put the problem to the Little Dorrit, and the answer was that it was best to find Little Dorrit frist. It seemed that he could not manage anything himself, the only thing he could do was to ask his sisters help.

39、At the same time, he also benefited from the kinship with Little Dorrit, in the case of getting the help from Clennam. He did not know that his sister was grateful to Arthur Clennam for his help, but declared that Mr. Clennam did not treat him as a gentleman. This attitude and its willful neglect of

40、 their benefactor broke the heart of Little Dorrit, who was in her mothers place.Fanny was Little Dorrits elder sister, dancing in the theater to make a living, and she was a sophisticated and enterprising woman. When facing Englands richest heir, Edmund Sparkler, she was docile and well behaved. Sh

41、e wanted to get rid of the underlying social class, and nothing could stop her determination to fly on the branch to become a phoenix. She was not as kind and pure as her sister, and she did not come out of mud unsoiled. Just as what her father and brother had done to her sister, she also took her s

42、isters service for granted.Amy Dorrit was the leading character of the novel, Little Dorrit, from childhood, lived with her father, William, in the Marshalsea prison. She, grew up in prison, then became a thin and strong-minded, shy and kind, hardworking and caring woman who take care of her family

43、members with whole heart. Her kindness and innocence was of great value in the lower classes of the vulgar. Physically Little Dorrit was thin and small, but she was quite strong with good-natured character. She was actually the youngest child in the family, but she was intelligent and cared a lot fo

44、r the family. She was shy but behaved quite well, little in figure but strong in mind, poor but warm-hearted. Compared with her father, sister and brother, she was much more noble and elegant. Because of her good quality, we believed such a good creature deserved more happiness instead of sufferings

45、.In the face of their vampire-like abuse of her patience and care, Little Dorrits performance is just a silent tolerance and endless service.3. A Prison Named British SocietyLittle Dorrit set its writing background in 1820s. All kinds of characters in this work carried with the characteristics of th

46、e figure in the 40s and 50s in 19th century. At that time, the British Industrial Revolution had matured, productivity had been greatly improved, and the society presented a prosperous scene. But behind this prosperity lay countless lies, deceit, sins, greed, etc.At the beginning of the novel, the t

47、opic of prison was introduced, which described human being of every hue against the setting of Marshalsea. Here, through the prison, the first thing people would think of was sin. It was a concentration of social evils, but this was not the case. In this novel, Little Dorrit was a symbol of kindness

48、 and love, although she was imprisoned in Marshalsea. In addition, the novel extended the concept of prison. The prison was not only Marshalsea, but also the British society, which was a big cage. For example, it described Clennam in this novel, his family was wealthy,but he could not choose his own

49、 way of life. He was not only to be escorted to a church, when he was a child, but also had to face his severely grim mother. His family is a luxurious prison for him. Warmth was submerged in the unfortunate family. And even most of the characters in this novel could not get rid of the imprisonment

50、of the society.Thus, we could contact the prison to social reality. It showed us the rampant world in the novel. Vicious power was not only in prison, but also existed in every corner of the society in each class. Prosperity became their fig leaf, people and things were in captivity, and the whole c

51、ountry was like a big prison. The government was the creator and manager of the prison. It would divide all prisoner into different classes. They loved to show their role, they would juggle with these prisoner in their palm. For example, Mr. Dorrit, poor “the father of Marshalsea”, on the one side,

52、behaved as a recipient of the other prisoners, his wife and daughters supply. On the other side, he still showed off his gentleman image. Another example is the outstanding figure on behalf of social system, Mordle, such a proud savior, but is actually a real estate speculators, theft, and fraud. Th

53、is background of prison properly reflects the confusion of the social reality, and innuendo governments inaction, absurdity, petrified bureaucracy etc. These details highlighted the British governments deception of itself and its citizens, cruel oppression and exploitation of the common people and i

54、t directly reflected the doctrine of corruption and formalism of British government.The government agency was nothing but a decadent furnishing, which bullied and oppressed the people of lower class, tyrannically abused its power. The thoughts of degeneration, corruption and greed like toxins circul

55、ated in the society, so that people became crazy for money and pursuers of social status. The good things such as morality, ideal, affection and love gradually lost at the same time. It also reflected the lack of social spiritual civilization covered up behind social degeneration, corruption, the ma

56、terial prosperity. If a society had lost its judgement towards the wrong view and the right view, peoples values and outlook on life would be distorted.This work, in many places, through the development of the story, all reflected that the society at that time reversed the black and the white, regar

57、dless of good and evil.3.1 Life of Little Dorrits FatherWhen they inherited a large fortune and left the prison, their material life was very rich. Little Dorrits father often attended the social party among the people of noble origin, and he tried to maintain a good relationship with the new upper

58、class friend. He tried to keep a real gentlemans manner. Indeed, he had once been a gentleman.The travel to some new land had also become the father of Little Dorits favorite way of life and he traveled a lot. He tried to cover up his past by the way of foreign travel, because only during the trip c

59、ould he contact with people who were new to him, and all of these people did not understand his past. He would not be enveloped in the past humiliation of life to the shadow in his inner mind. He would be more relaxed when he came into contact with strangers.In short, he liked this way of making friends. He tried to break away from the past. He did not want to come into contact with anyone