第15章维多利亚时期小说家1. Choose to discuss one of Dicken s’ novels.Key: A Tale of Two Cities is a novel telling about individual destinies in a gigantic and turbulent social change like the French Revolution. The two cities referred in the title are Paris and London and the main characters shuttle between the two cities with the former as the center of all conflicts and dangers whereas the latter as the stronghold of safety and the final retreat of the victims of revolution. Unlike his other novels, this one adopts the basic tone of a romantic tale.This novel has always been well received mostly for its thrilling story and the dramatic depiction of characters. It is also good material for films and TV shows. In it we see clearly Dickens’ profound sympathy for the exploited and oppressed French peasant class and the persecuted Doctor Manette. Besides the horrible rape and killing and the kidnapping of the innocent doctor to bury his whole life in prison, Dickens’ strong accusation of the dissipated and cruel French aristocratic class is also shown in the famous e pisode of the marquis’ carriage dashing through the small town and running over a poor child. Without even stopping, he throws a handful of coins out of the carriage and then orders the carriage to dash ahead, leaving the poor father howling with the dead boy in his arms.Although Dickens’ sympathy is with the down-trodden French people, his attitude toward French Revolution is critical. In the novel, he depicts the revolutionary people of Paris as mobs who, guided by hatred, persecute and kill many people indiscriminately. They are described as mad with their intense desire of revenge. Madam Defarge is shown to sit in their inn knitting all day before the revolution. What she knits into the shawl is the names of those who will be sent to the guillotine as soon as they rise up to power. In the end, when trying to kill Darnay’s wife Lucie and their child, this mad woman is shot to death by Lucie’s old nurse in a very comic way.Dickens is not at all alone in abhorring the terror of the mobs after the French Revolution. Some critics criticise him for vilifying revolutionary masses as mad avengers like Madam Defarge. But we can defend him with his equal exposure and criticism in the novel of the cruelty of the French aristocracy. Dickens is, therefore, fully shown as a humanitarian writer advocating moderate reforms to better the society.2. Analyse Vanity Fair to show Thackeray’s thematic emphasis and novelistic style. Key: The sub-title of the book, “A Novel Without a Hero” emphasizes the fact that the writer’s intention was not to portray individuals, but the bourgeois and aristocratic society as a whole.In Vanity Fair, Thackeray has produced a gallery of characters from different strata of the English bourgeois and aristocratic circles. Except for Amelia andDobbin, all the others are negative in one way or another with Rebecca Sharp topping all in her unscrupulous maneuvers and greed. She has become a classic image in English literature as well as in life to represent that category of people. However, she is also a victim of that vanity-fair kind of social life. Although his depiction of the positive character Amelia is comparatively weaker, Thackeray’s satirical power and depth in this masterpiece are universally acknowledged not only in his contemporary time, but for always.3. Discuss the romantic elements in Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.Key: In Jane Eyre, the story is romantic in nature with realistic reflections of Victorian values and social problems. In recent years, critics are paying more attention to its natural images and fairy-tale sub-structures and its references to the Bible and other literary works, which is the element of inter-textuality shown in it. For instance, Jane’s marriage to Rochester, a wealthy man from a higher class, is suggestive of the fairy tale Cinderella. Starting from Jane’s Thornfield life till the end, the novel turns from realistic exposure of the Victorian society to a romantic love affair in an almost secluded country place where strong passion, hidden secret and even Gothic settings and unexpected turns of events replace the cruel but sober reality of life in the first part.Wuthering Heights tells a story of class persecution and revenge. Love in the novel is tragic, morbid and devastating. However, in some critics’ m ind, Wuthering Heights resembles one of the Gothic romances of the latter part of the18th century, with its atmosphere of horror on the lonely moor remote from the outside world, and its melodramatic effects and fantastic motifs.4. Comment on George Eliot and her novel Middlemarch.Key: George Eliot was a talented and diligent writer. She was plain, worked hard for accomplishment to win love from her family and friends. She was brave enough to pursue her true love with a married man. She had her own selfhood. Middlemarch is regarded as Eliot’s masterpiece. It is a multi-dimensioned presentation of the provincial life in a small town called Middlemarch. There are two main plot lines: one with Dorothea Brooke’s growth, her marriage and remarriage as its central story, and the other with Doctor Lydgate’s pursuit of his professional ambition and the shattering of his dreams by his wrong marriage and the small town politics.Dorothea is Eliot’s portrait of an honest and courageous woman, who is always sincere and sympathetic toward others and has a strong sense of duty where family, friends and society are concerned. Although she is too idealistic and simple at the start, and makes quite a number of mistakes in her judgment and choice of life, her noble heart and character strength guarantee that she takes lessons from her mistakes and goes on courageously to face life. Eliot describes her musical voice, which shows her as possessing feelings and passions, but at first she is blind to her own nature and obsessed entirely with her intellectual pursuit. But in her second marriage she is able to correct her ownmistake. In choosing Ladislaw, an easygoing artist who does not pretend to be authority in any field, she lets her feelings take control. She is Eliot’s id eal of what we should be, that is, a person with all the basic good qualities who develops and matures through life and whose noble and benevolent heart brings good to the community.。