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1、 王尔德童话夜莺与玫瑰中的唯美主义Aestheticism in Oscar Wildes Fairy Tale The Nightingale and the Rose 摘要本文从形式和内容入手，探讨了王尔德夜莺与玫瑰童话中的唯美主义体现，从而揭示了王尔德“为艺术而艺术”，“艺术高于一切”的唯美主义价值观。在形式上，分别从修辞、意象入手，分析了童话在文字层面上精巧华丽的美以及作者构造奇幻图画的写作技巧。在内容上，从更深层次的讽刺、象征、人物刻画、死亡与悲剧之美以及二元对立等方面分析，表现了作者强烈的情感，对爱与艺术美的追求，对善的颂扬以及对恶的摈弃，并从中反映了艺术与当时社会现实生活的关系。
2、关键字：唯美主义，修辞，意象，对立ABSTRACT From the aspects of form and content, this thesis will analyze the embodiment of Aestheticism in Oscar Wildes The Nightingale and the Rose, in order to manifest his aesthetic values of “Art for arts sake” and “Art is superior”. From the aspect of form, the paper argues from
3、 rhetoric and image to analyze the writing methods to construct fantastic images and magnificent beauty on the literal level. From the aspect of content, the thesis analyzes from irony, symbol, depiction of characters, beauty of anticlimax and binary antithesis of two specific elements, expressing t
4、he authors intense emotion, pursuit towards art and beauty, glorification of goodness, and critique towards vice. Keywords: Aestheticism, rhetoric, image, antithesisContents1 Introduction12 Previous Studies 43 Embodiment of Aestheticism in form 5 3.1. Beauty of rhetoric 5 3.1.1 Use of repetition5 3.
5、1.2 Use of antithesis5 3.1.3 Use of synaesthesia6 3.1.4 Use of personification6 3.2 Beauty of image 7 3.2.1 The combination of movement and stillness 7 3.2.2 Converting between concrete and abstract images84 Embodiment of Aestheticism in content 10 4.1 Beauty of rhetoric10 4.1.1 Use of sarcasm10 4.1
6、.2 Use of symbol11 4.2 Beauty of imagery12 4.2.1 The nightingale12 4.2.2 The student 14 4.2.3 Beauty of anticlimax (death and tragedy)16 4.2.4 Binary antithesis of two specific elements 17 4.2.4.1 The binary antithesis of poem and reality17 4.2.4.2 The binary antithesis of deep and shallow emotion 1
7、85 Conclusion 19Works cited 201 IntroductionOscar Wilde (18541900) is a famous dramatist, novelist and poet in the 19th centurys England. He has a great deal of accomplishments in nearly every field of literature. His novel The Portrait of Dorian Gray, comedies Lady Windermeres Fan, A Woman of No Im
8、portance as well as The Importance of Being Earnest all created sensation when they were published. With gifts of language, Wilde was once acclaimed by Yeats: “I never before heard a man talking with perfect sentences, as if he had written them all overnight with labour and yet all spontaneous.” （吴伟
9、仁，2006）In the 19th century in England, industry developed rapidly. Following the development of industry, the principle of materialism infiltrated into every status of the society. Wilde thought that in the age he lives “to be practical is everything”, in his words: “Present peoples life has been en
10、tirely affected by business.” As English female writer Verginia Woolf wrote in her later observation: “Behavior of human-beings have been changed tremendously.” （章安祺，2003)In intellectual sphere, people generally feel the shortage of culture and loss of beauty. Thus aesthetic movements developed in t
11、he universities and intellectual circles in the last decades of the 19th century. It reflected artists sense of frustration and uncertainty against materialism and restrictive moral code of bourgeoisie. Because of this, artists withdrew from political and social stage, and escaped into aesthetic iso
12、lation. Wilde is the main representation of the aesthetic movement. His aesthetic opinion can be summarized as “Art is superior.” In detail, Wildes aestheticism can be related in several aspects below: He advocates the pure artistic theory. “Art for arts sake”Art has independent life, which is far a
13、way from the real world, not related to ethics. All excellent works of art pursue pure art effect. So, “the only beautiful thing is that irrelevant to us.” “Artists should neither have any purposes of utilitarianism, nor be restrained by ethics.” He emphasizes “the admiration of form” He considers t
14、hat art has one highest principle, the principle of form. As he once said: “You neednt have superb rational imagination, deep satire towards life, even excited emotion.” “Form is all you need.” About the relationship between life and art he thought, “Life imitates art much more than art imitates lif
15、e.” Art is always ahead of life. Its not art reflecting the reality but the reality reflecting art. The real society is ugly and vulgar. Only “beauty” has perpetual value. “Art is superior to life. Life is dull and disorderly. But art can satisfy our emotion need of love and resent, joy and pain.” H
16、e believes art superior to all other things. “In order to pursue entertainment and beauty, one can disregard and sacrifice anything.” “Art is life itself. It is ignorant of death, which is absolute truth, ignorant of facts.” (Ellmann, 1988) Here art has its broaden meaning, which includes beauty ent
17、ertainment and joy. Here beauty is some kind of free beauty which is sublime epicurean and irrelevant to utilitarianism; joy is not purely sensory enjoyment, but coming from life, creation and love.The fairy tale The Nightingale and the Rose is chosen from his The Happy Prince and Other Tales,1888.
18、His another book about fairy tale is A House of Pomegranates. They are regarded as works of superior quality among the worlds creation of fairy tales. The famous Chinese writer ZhouZuoren said that: “The two books are purely poemsIn my opinion their feature is the plentiful words and wit of spirit.”
19、 (王开林，2002) These fairy tales extol love beauty art and kind heart, satirize selfish and cruel behavior and show sympathy to the insulted weak. “The different elements of narration provide social satire, comedy of manners, moral allegory and a commentary on aestheticism for the cognoscenti.” (Varty,
20、 2005)In The Nightingale and the Rose, the theme is also around above topics. A student wept sadly, for the reason that the girl he loved promised to dance with him if he got a red rose. But he cant find one in his garden. A nightingale saw and was moved by the student. Regarding him as a true lover
21、, she decided to find a red rose for him. Disregarding some insects query and sneer, she flied over the garden, from white rose-tree to yellow rose-tree, and then finally found a red rose-tree. The tree answered it wouldnt have any rose that year, but if she wanted a red rose she must sing all night
22、 long with her breast against a thorn. The thorn must pierce her heart and her life-blood must flow into tree. Death is a great price to pay for a red rose. But the nightingale believed love is more precious than life. Thus she did what the red rose-tree told her to do. She died and a rose as red as
23、 ruby was produced. The student discovered the red rose in his garden. He was so excited for he had never seen any rose like it. However, when he hopefully brought the rose to the girl, she refused, because she wanted to dance with the Chamberlains nephew who had sent her some real jewels. Angrily t
24、he Student threw the rose and a cart-wheel went over it. He thought love silly and went back to read books again.This fairy tale praised the nightingale kind-hearted, selfless, and persevering in the pursuit of love. It also criticized the girl ungrateful superficial. Rodney Shewan claimed this fair
25、y tale to be “the most concise social critique”. (Shewan, 1977) Through the whole story, Wildes views of Aestheticism are manifested themselves. In the following paragraphs, I will analyze them from the aspects of form and implied meaning, to reveal how Wildes Aestheticism is embodied in this fairy
26、tale by more specific and detailed analysis on the aspects of rhetoric and imagery. Thus we can have deeper understanding of the writer, his Aestheticism and his works. 2 Previous StudiesPredecessors have ever since researched this fairy tale and have already made profound achievements in some aspec
27、ts.They analyzed and eulogized various kinds of beauty, from superficial level of diction and sentences to deep level of theme and emotion. They wanted to probe the inner spirit of the fairy tale, Wildes individual temperament and style, and connect them to the aesthetic purpose of Wildes creation a
28、nd the whole social background. Wilde once wrote to a friend that the tales were “meant partly for children, and partly for those who have kept the childlike faculties of wonder and joy, and who find in simplicity a subtle strangeness.” (Beckon, 1970) which I think may be his main purpose to write t
29、hese fairy tales. He wanted to bring people simple joy and made them ponder in the seeming simplicity. Otherwise, they also probe the usage of various writing methods, such as peculiar imagination, humorous irony combined with philosophy, and the changing of characters and readers emotion. Wildes fr
30、iend Alexander Galt Ross (18601927) wrote: “One of the chief functions of the true fairy story is to excite sympathy.” (Beckon, 1970)Wilde is the representative of aestheticism and decadent literature. Some people criticized his aesthetic works to be decadent; while others thought him to be writer o
31、f real art and beauty. In his works, we realized the antithesis of dream and reality. He took art beauty and love as his ideal, having the sense of justice. On the other hand, he was extremely individualistic.Since a long time ago, Wildes theory of “Art for arts sake” has been considered disadvantag
32、e outweighing advantage, because he overstressed literary beauty, letting the relationship between art and life upside down. Especially in the domestic art sphere, where artists paid more attention to life, their social responsibility was stressed. Aestheticism was condemned having messed peoples co
33、urse of recognizing things and induced writers into the concept of “Form is everything.”3 Embodiment of Aestheticism in form3.1 Beauty of rhetoricWilde is best adept at visual refined language abounding in color and sound. Rhetoric is one aspect of the beautiful language. Repetition, contrast, metap
34、hor, personification and synaesthesia are often used in this fairy tale. The seemingly simple rhetoric has polished the fairy tale a lot. 3.1.1 Use of repetitionThe rhetorical effect of sentence repetition varies with individual cases, but most writers use it to add force and emphasis to their state
35、ment.（冯翠华，1995） “Give me a red rose,” she cried, “and I will sing you my sweetest song.”（奥斯卡王尔德，1996）This sentence appears three times in the fairy tale. It indicates the nightingales eager mood to find the red rose. It was a long process. She failed to find a red one the first and second time, but
36、didnt give up. She insisted on her seeking and at last achieved her expect. From the repetition we can see the hardship in finding a red rose. Facing continuous failure, the nightingale maintained a resolute and positive attitude. The repetition transfers to us a shock and more intense emotion. 3.1.
37、2 Use of antithesis(contrast)Antithesis is the deliberate arrangement of contrasting words or ideas in balanced structural forms to achieve force and emphasis. The form of the expression is very important for effect, for the force of the emphasis, whether for profundity of judgement, for humor or fo
38、r satire, depends chiefly on the juxtaposition of direct opposition, of glaring contrasts.（冯翠华，1995）Wilde has used several contrast to manifest a kind of beauty that exist between two opposite things or two opposite aspects in one thing. For example, the death of the nightingale and the blossom of t
39、he red rose forms striking contrast. The exhaustion of nightingale leads to the blossom of the rose. Nightingales crimson blood dyes the rose red. As nightingale pressed closer to the thorn, “Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song” (奥斯卡王尔德，1996) The marvelous rose grew from
40、 white to pink then to crimson. It was the nightingale who let her life-blood and energy ebbed away from her and transferred to the red rose. The red rose was the fruit of nightingales death, also the bitter price of the nightingales pursuit of love. 3.1.3 Use of synaesthesia“the mixing of sensation
41、s; the concurrent appeal to more than one sense; the response through several senses to the stimulation of one” （文军，1991） Wilde is good at describing a scene with various blended senses, and makes the readers as if be present at the scene. Take examples, “It is pleasant to sit in the green wood, and
42、 to watch the Sun in his chariot of goldSweet is the scent of the hawthorn.” Here from visual sense and sense of smell Wilde described the pleasure and bright of life. The brilliant Sun with chariot of gold and the crystal Moon with chariot of pearl enhance each others beauty in the sky, forming a s
43、plendid spectacle. While fragrance of flowers floats far and near, making people refreshed in mind and heart. “blossomed a marvelous rose, petal following petal, as song followed song.” “Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song.” (奥斯卡王尔德，1996) From visual sense, sense of hear
44、ing and sense of pain, the heroic scene of nightingales sacrifice reappears before readers. 3.1.4 Use of personification“attributes human qualities and abilities to inanimate objects, animals, abstractions, and events.” (Bander, 1978) Unlike in other stories, personification is widely used in this f
45、airy tale which becomes an outstanding feature of it. Every animal and plant has been personified, from big sun and moon in the sky to little insects on the ground. Their language is lively and vivid. Each character has distinctive personality which makes the story touching. For example, the offish
46、attitude of the Green Lizard the Butterfly and the Daisy reflects the general attitude of the English in those years.3.2 Beauty of imageBeautiful language is an outstanding feature of this fairy tale which produces many exquisite images that constantly emerge in the fairy tale. “An image is a litera
47、l and concrete representation of a sensory experience or of an object that can be known by one or more of the senses. It is the means by which experience in its richness and emotional complexity is communicated.” (Holman & Harmon, 1986) Light and shadow, color and smell, sound and shape, quality and movement, the multitudinous image inter
