论乔治·艾略特在《米德尔马契—外省生活研究》中的悖论性宗教倾向_英语论文

On George Eliot's Paradoxical Sense towards Religion in Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life

摘要

本文旨在以《米德尔马契—外省生活研究》为文本，针对乔治·艾略特的宗教倾向体现出的悖论性进行系统性分析。在透析作者生平的基础上，以维多利亚时代为背景，从人本主义宗教、道德化宗教、宗教改良三个悖论性视角入手，阐释作者的宗教追求，揭示作者潜藏的中庸思想，品鉴作者实验性的创作手法，进一步深入挖掘作品的艺术价值和思想内涵。

三个悖论各成一章，分别以多萝西娅、布尔斯特罗德、卡苏朋等人物形象的生活变迁为例，展现了作者对于宗教的极致追求，也阐释了作者彷徨和期待的矛盾态度。第一章涉及了宗教对于人性有启示和感化的正向作用，其悖论性体现在宗教的形式主义给人性带来的压迫制约；第二章是关于道德和宗教相辅相成、互为补充的良性关系，其悖论性体现在宗教蒙蔽道德感，庇护罪恶；第三章以中庸思想主导的宗教改良为中心，其中悖论体现在宗教保守和宗教改革的两向失衡。

论文采用了生平批评方法，历史观批评方法，神话批评方法等研究手段，意在用跨学科比较的手法对文学概念和逻辑学概念建立联系，以期稍稍扩展艾略特研究的丰富性。

关键词: 宗教，悖论，人本主义，中庸

Abstract

This thesis is aimed at achieving the systematic analysis of George Eliot’s paradoxical sense towards religion in Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life. Based on the author’s biographical background and historical background of Victoria’s Era, from the angles of humanistic religion, moralized religion, and the evolution of religion, George Eliot expressed her religious pursuit in favor of moderation, and revealed her sophisticated experimental methods for creation. In this way, more depth is reached in artistic value and inner thinking.

Three chapters focus on three paradoxes separately; and according to several characters’ religious life, such as Dorothea, Casoborn, Bulstrode, they express author’s genuine pursuit for religion, as well as her hopeful, though paradoxical attitude towards religion. The first paradox is related with religion’s positive contribution to mentor and cultivate humanity, while the formalism of religion suppresses humanity simultaneously. The second paradox is about the collaborative and complementary relationship between religion and morality, which is erroneous when religion deceives morality. The third paradox based on the religious evolution, and criticized the bidirectional unbalance between religious conservation and religious revolution.

Within the thesis, I applied biological strategies, historical strategies, and mythological strategies, aimed at using a comparative method to connect logic concepts with literature, and hoped to slightly broaden the diversity of the study of George Eliot.

Key words: religion, paradox, humanism, moderation

Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter I A Brief View of Background 2

1.1 The Religious Crisis of the Nineteenth Century in the United Kingdom 2

1.2 George Eliot’s Related Biographical Details 2

Chapter II Paradox between Religion and Humanity 3

2.1 Blind Devotion to Religion 4

2.2 The Triumph of Humanistic Religion 6

Chapter III Paradox between Religion and Morality 7

3.1 The Erroneous Relationship between Human and God 8

3.2 Religion Is the Cover of Sin 9

Chapter IV Paradox between Conservation and Revolution 12

4.1 Religious Evolution Is Religious Fashion 12

Conclusion 13

Appendix 16

Bibliography 18

Acknowledgments 20