《 格列佛游记 》的批判性分析(英文版).doc

格列佛游记 的批判性分析A C ritica l A na lysis of Gu lliversT ravelsAbstract: B ased on Gullivers four voyages in Jonathan Swifts Gullivers Travels this paper ana2lyzes the au thors satirical view of the state of European governm ent and religions, and inquiry into thecorruption of men, and his desire to establish a harmonious and democratic Houyhnhm - like society.Key words: satirical; Houyhnhm - like society; Gu lliver s TravelsThe nam e of Jonathan Swift is one of the verygreate st nam es in English literature, and The Ta le ofa Tub and Gu llivers Travels are two of the greatestsa tires in the English language.Jonathan Swift wa s born of English parents inDublin in 1667 and becam e a product of Irish cul2ture and learning. He was educa ted a t the KilkennySchool and Trinity College in Dublin, and becam ean a ssistant to author and dip lom at SirW illiam Tem 2ple. He left this position after Temple died in 1699to earn his priest s ordination. He worked as aclergyman in Ireland, traveling throughout the Unit2ed Kingdom , and exp loring his frustrations with so2c iety through his w ritings. He wrote about the pover2ty he saw among the peop le, the typical daily life ofcity folkand the p roblem s he w itnessed in the socialorder. It is this w riting that makes Swift one of themost renowned satirists of English soc iety and B ritishhistory. He believed that social conventions wereoutdated and m ust be changed, and qualities ofm ind ( and not physical beauty) should be the foun2dations of love. He also found a heavy interest inpolitic s, taking up weight in the Tory party of Eng2land s governm ental party system. F rom such ob2se rvations in government and religion, and love andgender inequality, Swift produced an enormous bodyof work. H is writings fall into several categorie s, in2c luding poetry, short stories, political essays, andnovels. In 1742, he was dec lared of unsound m ind,and died in 1745 in Dublin.作者简介 : 李 江 , 云南大学大学外语教学部讲师 (云南 昆明 ,Gu llivers T ra vels is the immortal work of Jon2a than Sw ift. The book becam e trem endously popula ras soon as it was published in 1726, and can bejustly ranked am ong the best nove ls of the world lit2e ra ture and has not lost its significance even to thecurrent socie ty. It is a c lassic which always a rousesthe interest of every child to share Gulliver s ad2ventures into fantastic lands, and m akes every m a2ture reader brood over his bitter satire on the hum anrace. In it, Swift explore s gender differences, poli2tics, class, money, race, science, education,exploration, love, physica l strength, physicalbeauty, and then satirize on them bitingly. Throughdepicting the experiences of his four voyage s to dif2ferent lands, Gulliver intensely satirize s the hypo2c ritica l, greedy, decep tive and aggre ssive na ture ofthe hum an socie ty. He a lso mocks the corrupt re li2gious and political system s in his hom eland, Eng2land, which is caught in constant wa rs and vio2lence. He hopefully desire s to e stablish a harmoni2ous and democratic Houyhnhm - like soc iety whichis ba sed on reason and w isdom. W hen he can notreach his ideal society before the c rue l reality, heturns to paying attention to his own moral up lift w ith2out ca ring for others, and becom es a comp lete pes2sim ist who tries to escape from the real world.Gullive r m akes four deep - sea voyages, whichare desc ribed in the four pa rts of the book. In PartOne, “A Voyage to L illiput”, Gulliver finds him 2se lf tied down by a race of dwarfs who are only one650091) 。9 1-思想战线 2009年人文社会科学专辑 第 35卷 12009 Vo l135twe lfth the size of his own. This is his first travel,using destructive weapons.(Lu,70)H issecondin which he visits L illiputGulliver is faced with thevoyage shows us the filthy m ental and physical char2m inute peop le,ca lled L illiputians.Hejudgestheacte ristics of m an.Gulliver s first owner in B rob2country s inhabitants he m ee ts to be as perfect andinnocent as their appea rances. He refers to the L illi2dingnag represents theis constantly displayedselfishness of m an.in public, abusedGullive rfor theputianempe roras “ HisImpe rialM aje sty” andprofit ofthe owne .W hen his owne r finds outthatblindly agrees to performany dem anded service,e2Gullive r is weakening,he sells him immediately,atven thoughhe couldea sily ove rpowe r thetiny na2a high price in orde r to m ilk eve ry last penny out oftion.Gulliver is used asthe Emperor sabsoluteGullive r.weapon to conque r his world of two islands.It is on2In Pa rt Three,“A Voyage to Laputa ”,Gul2ly afte r hisservice s havebeenexp loited,Gullive rliver is pulled up to a flying floating island tha t hov2rea lizes how crue l and deceitful the L illiputians trulye rs above ground.On the floating island of Laputa,are and his personality begins to transform.Swift al2Gullive r meetsthe Laputans whoruntheir worldso criticize s there ligious beliefs of the L illiputians.through m athema ticsandscience,andallowtheirIn L illiput,M inisters are chosen strictly on tightropeland to be dic tated by a giant lode stone a t the cente rwalking or stick jum ping.If they do well,they areof theisland.Eventually,Gulliver grows wea ry ofableto m ainta intheir positionsas m inisters.Sw iftthe se people,for they cannot communicate w ithoutalso criticizesthe English political parties.H is usethe help of a flappe r.So,he journeys to the islandsof the term s H igh Heels and Low Heels to comparebelow and m eets diffe rent races of peop le.Gulliverthe m eaningle ssbattles of the W higsandToriesiss third voyage,tothefloatingisland of Laputaisquite ironic.He also mocks the religion war that wasone of the most satirical of the whole book.In thisgoing on in England,through the use of the wa r be2voyage Sw ift criticizes the Royal Society of England,tween L illiput,and its nearest neighbor,B lefuscu.in whichhesaysiscomposed ofusele ss philoso2( Zhu,74)phers,inventors,andscientists.IntheviewofIn Part Two,“A Voyageto B robdingnag”,Gullive r,he regarded the science of Laputa a s p seu2Gullive r face s a world with everything being twelvedoscience,which is distorted and abused by Lapu2tim es its norma l size.B ecause of his unfavorable ex2tans.( Sun,100 - 101)periences on L illiput,Gullive r approaches the B rob2In Pa rt Four,“A Voyage to the Houyhnhn -dingnagians w ith suspic ion and contempt.A lthoughm s”,Gulliver becom estrappedin a world wherethisraceisfar morebenevolentandtrustworthy,horses represent civiliza tion andreason,while hu2Gullive r give sit morecriticismanddisrespectItm ans,referred to a s Yahoos,turn outto be wild,becom es obvioustha t his dissatisfac tionrela tesdi2savageandignorant.Afterthehorses,ca lledrec tly tohisinferiorityamongthesehugebeings.Houyhnhnm s,m ake himrea lize how corrup t hum anGullive r him se lf adm its:beings is,Gulliver begins to love the ir virtuous soc i2Th is m a de m eref lect howva inana ttem ptitise ty.A t the end of his story,he says:fo r a m antoendeavor d oingh im selfhonour am ongB u t the Houyhnhm s,w ho live und er the govern 2those w ho a re ou t of a ll deg ree of equa lity or com pa ri2son w ith him. A n d yet I ha ve seen the m ora l of m yown behavior very f requen t in Eng land since m y re2m en t of R eason,ities they posses,leg or an arm ,a re no m ore p roud of the good qua l2than I shou ld be for not w an ting awh ich no m an in th is w its w ou ldtu rn,w here alittle con tem ptible va rlet,w ithou t theboastof,a lthoughhem ustbe m iserab le w ithou tleasttitletobirth,person,w itorcomm onsense,them.I dwell the lon ger upon this subject f romth e de2sha ll presum e to look w ithim portance,and pu t h im 2s ire I have to m ake the society of an Eng lish Ya hoo byself upon a foot w ith the grea test persons ofthe king 2any m eansn otin supportable,andthereforeIhered om.(Sw ift,110)en treatthose whohave a nytinctu reofth isabsurdGullive r is beginning to get involved in the mor2vice,tha tth eyw illno tpresum etoappea rinm ya l controversie s he observes,andthensatirizethesigh t(Sw if t,305)socia l and political conditions he observed.Even theThe Houyhnhnm s compare Gulliver and the Ya2King criticizes the cruelty of hum an m ass - killing by92 hoosandfind m anysim ila ritiesbetweenthetwo.The only differenceis that Gullive r,and m ankind,sm a ll island un inh abited,格列佛游记 的批判性分析 李 江 yet sufficien t by m y L abou rhas learned the benefits of clothing,and he now andto furn ish m e w ith N ecessa ries of L ife,w h ich I w ou ldagain could be a rational c reature.deep ly shocks Gullive r because heThat comparisonhim se lf realizeshave though t a g rea ter H app iness than to be first m in 2ister in the politest Cou rt of Eu rope; so h orrible w astha t he is so siilar to those savage crea tures.So hethe Idea I conceived of retu rn ingtolive inthe societytries his best to hide his body fromthe view of theand under the Governm en t of Yah oos.For in such aHouyhnhnm sunde rtheguiseofalreadyraggedS olitude as I desired,I cou ldatleast en joy m y ownclothing,and he argue s:Though ts,an dref lect w ith D elig ht onthe V irtues ofI wan tednofence aga inst f raudor oppression;those in im itable Houyhnhnm s,w ithout any O pportu 2here w as neither physiciantodestroy m y body,no rn ities of m y ow n S pecies.(Sw ift,291)law yer to ru in m y fortune;noinform er to w a tch m yThetragiche roreturnshom einexile.Hisw ords a ndactions,or fo rge accusations a ga inst m ehom ecom ing is the most a liena ting experience of allfo r h ire;h ere w ere no g ibers,censu rers,backbiters,“Gulliver isan odysseusgonesour,ahomecome rpickpockets,h ighw aym en,houseb reakers,a ttor2who,in asatiric version of narrativerest,isde2n eys,baw ds,buffoons,gam esters,politicia ns,pressed and dra ined by his very re sources a s a hu2( )w its,splenetic,ted iousta lkers,con trovertists,rav2m an be ing. ”R iche tti,75 - 76Gulliver deve l2ishers,m u rders,robbers,virtuosos;nolead erso rop s a satirical view of the state of European govern2fo llowersofpa rtyandfaction,noencou ra gerstom ent and religions,and an inquiry into the corrup2vice,by seducem en t o r exam ples:no dungeon,ax2tion of m en.He hopefully desires to establish a har2es,g ibbets,w h ipping posts,or p illo ries;no cheat2monious anddemoc ra ticHouyhnhm-likesociety.ingshopkeepers or m echan ics:noprid e,van ity,o rB ut because he can not find a way out of the rea l so2affecta tion:nofops,bu llies,d ru nka rds,strollingc iety to embrace his Houyhnhm ian ideal,he choo2w hores,orpoxes:nora nting,lew d,expensivese s to retire into his own inner world and become s aw ives:n ostupidp roudpen dan ts:noim portuna te,comp lete pessim ist who tries to escape fromtherealoverbearing,quarrelsom e,noisy,roa rin g,em pty,world.Tha t s Gulliver s individua l tragedy,andconceited,sw ea ringcom pan ions:noscound rels,thetragedy of the whole hum an soc iety as well.ra ised f romthe dust upon the m erit of their vices,o rnobility th row n in to it on a ccoun t of their virtu es:noReference: 1 Sw ift Jonathan:Gulliver s Travels,Beijing:Foreign L an2L or