浅析斯嘉丽的爱情婚姻观.docVIP

20080400102064 On Scarletts Views of Love and Marriage in Gone with the WindWang Yani 王亚妮 A paper Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirementsfor the Degree of B.A. in EnglishSupervised byLi QunSchool of Foreign LanguagesDonghu College, Wuhan UniversityMay, 2012郑 重 声 明 本人呈交的学位论文，是在导师的指导下，独立进行研究工作所取得的成果，所有数据、图片资料真实可靠。尽我所知，除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本学位论文的研究成果不包含他人享有著作权的内容。对本论文所涉及的研究工作做出贡献的其他个人和集体，均已在文中以明确的方式标明。本学位论文的知识产权归属于培养单位。本人签名：_ 日期： _ 中文摘要飘是美国作家玛格丽特米切尔生前唯一出版的小说，是美国文学史上经典的爱情小说之一。该小说以美国南北战争及战后重建为背景，以人物的爱情纠葛和生活遭遇为主线，主要描绘女主人公斯佳丽的爱情与婚姻。首先，本文分析了斯佳丽的爱情观，她一方面对爱情抱有幻想，是一位爱情理想主义者；另一方面她对爱情又犹豫不决。其次，本文分析了斯佳丽的婚姻观。斯佳丽结过三次婚，但每次婚姻都不是基于爱，而是为了满足她的需要。为了报复艾希礼，她嫁给了查尔斯；为了金钱，她嫁给了弗兰克；为了满足虚荣心，她嫁给了瑞德。通过婚姻和自身的努力，最后她得到了自己梦寐以求的金钱、地位，重建了塔拉庄园。最后本文分析了斯佳丽爱情婚姻观形成的原因。通过对飘中斯佳丽的爱情婚姻观的分析，希望能帮助现代社会中的年轻人，树立正确的爱情婚姻观。关键词：斯佳丽，爱情，生活，婚姻AbstractGone with the wind is the only novel written by Margaret Mitchell, which is one of the classic love novels in the history of American literature. The novel sets in the background of the American civil war and postwar reconstruction, focuses on the love relationship and life experience of main characters, and mainly depicts the love and marriage of the heroine, Scarlett.Firstly, the paper makes an analysis of Scarletts views of love. On the one hand she is an idealist towards love; on the other hand she is uncertain about love. Secondly the paper focuses on Scarletts views of marriage. Scarlett gets married three times, but each marriage is not based on love, just for satisfying her need. In retaliation for Ashley, she gets married with Charles; in order to live, she gets married with Frank; in order to satisfy her vanity, she gets married with Rhett. Eventually, she obtains the money and position which she is dying for, and rebuilds Tara, the manor, through marriage and her own effort. At last, the causes of Scarletts views of love and marriage have been discussed. Through analyzing Scarletts views of love and marriage in Gone with the wind, the paper aims at helping young people in modern society to establish proper attitude towards love and marriage.Key Words: Scarlett, love, life, marriageCONTENTS1 . Introduction12. Scarletts Attitude towards Love12.1 Idealism for Love12.2 Uncertainty about Love23. Scarletts Attitude towards Marriage33.1 A Purposeful Attitude towards Marriage33.1.1 The Purpose of Scarletts First Marriage43.1.2 The Purpose of Scarletts Second Marriage53.1.3The Purpose of ScarlettsThird Marriage53.2 An Unserious Attitude towards Her Marriage.64. The Causes for Her Views of Love and Marriage74.1 The Civil War74.2 The Life Experience of Scarlett84.3 The Personality of Scarlett95. Conclusion10Works Cited121. Introduction The book Gone with the Wind written by American female writer Margaret Mitchell is one of the most popular American novels, and it enables Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. Its sales broke many records among the publishing circles when it was published, which now has been translated into more than thirty languages. The novel depicts a vivid picture of the social life of the South in America during the American Civil War. It is a love story which takes place during the American Civil War. The main character is Scarlett, whose father owns a big plantation calls Tara in the southern state of Georgia. She falls in love with Ashley, but he loves his cousin Melanie and gets married with her. Scarlett first marries Charles and unfortunately he dies in the war. Scarlett becomes a widow. When the war ends, life is really hard for her family and Scarlett takes charge of the whole family. Later she marries Frank who is shot to death and she becomes a widow again. The third time she marries Rhett Butler, a businessman, and they have a baby girl called Bonnie. Bonnie unexpectedly dies from a fall because of an accident. After a series of events, Scarlett finally comes to understand that who she really needs is Rhett Butler. Because there are some misunderstandings between them, Rhett Butler can no longer trust her and he is determined to leave Scarlett.2. Scarletts Attitude towards LoveScarlett keeps chasing Ashley for many years. In this process, she loses herself and forgets what the true love is. At last, she realizes that for many years, Ashley is just an imagination of her and the real man she loves is Rhett, who helps her out of the bondage of mourning; who saves her through the fire and explosions; who comforts her when she wakes up from the horrible nightmare. However, Rhett is tired and decides to leave her.2.1 Idealism for LoveScarlett has an idealistic love towards Ashley. She always thinks that she loves Ashley, so she has been following Ashley for a long time. And she is also eager to be loved back by Ashley, a man she spends most of her life adoring and loving. But there is no chance for them to step into marriage; she has been suffering the unrequited all her life. Scarlett falls in love with Ashley when she is fourteen. She feels that she needs him, like she needs food to eat, horse to ride on, and bed to sleep on. She loves Ashley, so she likes to do anything for him: she ditches the upper-class womens virtue, and bravely confesses her love to him in the ball; she keeps her promise to Ashley to take care of his wife Melanie no matter how hard it is and how sad she is, though her heart sank with bitter disappointment when she hears this; she worries for him during the war-time; she supports his family after war; she tries her best to create a rich and settled life for him, even scarifying her happiness to marry a man she does not love. Scarlett thinks she loves Ashley. She loves him from when she is a young girl to when she has married three men; she loves him from when she is the enviable daughter of Tara to when she is a poor widow with a big family to support to when she is a rich boss of a lumber factory; she loves him from the peaceful time to the war time again to the peaceful time. She loves him with the first half of her life. However, when Melanie dies, she finds that Ashley is so weak and helpless, and realizes that he is not the man she really loves and that he is just an image of her. When she is sixteen years old, she wants Ashley the way a child wants a new toy to play with, but somewhere along the way Ashley has become an old friend, or almost a brother, who shares the memories of the wonderful old days before war. Scarletts infatuation to Ashley comes from her willful and childish character, as she always wants something she cannot get. She forms a habit when she is a little girl, that the more impossible for her to get something, the more eagerly she wants it. Because she cannot get Ashley, she keeps infatuating him all the time. If Ashley pursued her like others, he might be cheap and she might not lose herself for him for such a long time. When Scarlett realizes that Ashley is not the man she wants, she wakes up from her idealism.2.2 Uncertainty about LoveScarlett has uncertain love towards Rhett. She lacks a profound understanding of her love. It appears again and again in the novel that Scarlett keeps having a nightmare: there is no one to rely on in the world. A terrible thing is running after her, so she keeps running with her heart over burdened. Shouted as she runs, she thinks of looking for a place in fog to hide. This nightmare runs through the postwar- life of Scarlett. Freud thinks that dream must have some sense, even if it is a kind of obscure implicit meaning to replace a thought process. The dream fully shows the inner thought of Scarlett activities, revealing the motives of all her behaviors. In a mist of dreams, Scarlett can not find the clear direction. It symbolizes chaos of Scarletts thought. Scarlett has not a specific value standard towards love; thus, she is so confused with all things that happens around her, and feels scared. It is reflected in the dream as a cluster of fog which makes her can not see clearly. Scarlett has been looking for a shelter where is safe and warm. This place is Rhett. Rhett, who has strong arms which can protect Scarlett, is able to guide her in the misty world. Rhett and Scarlett have a lot in common. He is very familiar with Scarlett. Rhett, a cold, cunning, stubborn person who would achieve personal purpose by any means available is very similar to Scarlett. So he has a deep understanding of Scarlett even clearer than Scarlett herself. Thus he can be the guidance of Scarlett and he loves Scarlett sincerely without any utilitarian factors. But she has not realized that even though he is cynical to her, he still loves her. And during their several years of marriage life, Scarlett actually has fallen in love with Rhett. However, her fantasy to Ashley prevents her from admitting it. Not until Rhett leave, does she realize that she always loves Rhett. 3. Scarletts Attitude towards MarriageScarlett experiences three marriages in her life; she never regards marriage as a serious matter but just treats it as a game. It is widely accepted by most of people that love is the foundation of marriage. Unfortunately Scarlett never understands what love and marriage mean though she has experienced marriage three times.3.1 A Purposeful Attitude towards MarriageScarlett gets married with the men she doesnt love just because she wants to satisfy her need. She has obvious purpose in each of her marriage.3.1.1 The Purpose of Scarletts First MarriageAt that time Scarlett thinks that she is the center of the world and all the boys should fall in love with her. She falls in love with Ashley at the first sight. When twin brothers tell her that Ashley and his cousin Melanie, a plain and gentle girl from Atlanta, are going to get married, Scarlett, shocked, sits in silence until the two leave, without inviting them to dinner. Ignoring her mammys cautions against the cold, she goes to meet her father to confirm the news. Scarlett thinks that Ashley should love her without dispute, so she cannot understand the engagement of Melanie and Ashley. She wants to marry Ashley, and tries her best. After discovering the truth of the engagement, Scarlett is miserable. She determines to get Ashley back from Melanie.In order to hurt Ashley she accepts Charles Hamilton propose, who is Melanies brother. Then they get married in the head of Melanie and Ashleys wedding. Scarlett marries Charles impulsively simply because Ashley rejects her love. The self-centered girl cannot receive the humility. Capriciously she marries Charles just because“he has a lot of money , and he hasnt any parents to bother me and he lives in Atlanta. And if I married him right away, it would show Ashley that I did not care a rap that I was only flirting with him. And it would just kill Honey. She had never, never catch another beau and everybodys laugh fit to die at her, and it would hurt Melanie, because she loves Charles so much, and it would hurt Stu and Brent.” (Mitchell, Margaret 2001: 149) This marriage is very dramatic and childish! It seems that revenge plays a large role in it, but from a womans point of view, Scarlett has a mind of wanting to be loved, to settle, hoping that through another person she can recuperate. Charles is a substitute, also a victim, but at the same time Scarlett also wants, through the wedding, to prove that Ashley loves her, to see him hurt, and to make him regret for the whole life. But the result is that Scarlett herself becomes the hurted one. Her first marriage is a complete failure. Scarlett and Charles Hamilton do not gain anything from the marriage, and they do not feel happy. Scarlett utilizes Charles to fulfill her selfishness. She never treats Charles as her husband. She marries him, because it makes her feel closer to Ashley. If Charles does not die in the war, they will divorce someday, because there is no love between them.3.1.2 The Purpose of Scarletts Second MarriageThe second man who marries Scarlett is Frank, who has got engaged with one of Scarletts sister. It is the hardest time for Scarlett: the south becomes very disadvantageous in the war and her home Tara has undergone earth-shaking changes; what she sees in her family deeply surprises her: her mother dies, her father is sick in his mind, and her sisters have scarlet fever. She supports the fallen big family hard. In a word, the war throws her into a homeless and starved state. In order to raise enough money to buy an umber factory, Frank, who is the finance of her sister becomes her second target. She marries Frank because she needs money to pay for the taxes on Tara. When she cannot offer the tax money, she goes to Rhett firstly. She knows that Rhett loves her, and more important he is rich. Scarlett plans to take the advantage of Rhetts love to her and her charming to borrow some money. But Scarlett fails. And Frank happens to be the only person except for Rhett who has the amount of money. In other words, if other people have the amount of money, she will also choose them. In addition, she has no feeling towards Frank, and she used to despise him. Scarlett does not love Frank, but she gets him. She thinks coldly: “Certainly, hes no beauty, and hes got bad teeth and his breath smells bad and hes old enough to be my father. Moreover, hes nervous and timid and well meaning, and I dont know of any more damning qualities a man can have. But at least, hes a gentleman and I believe I could stand living with him better than with Rhett. Certainly I could manage him easier. At any rate, beggars cant be choosers.” (Mitchell, Margaret 2001: 458) This marriage can be seen as one that Scarlett is forced by life to make an immoral choice which is a completely practical action for the sake of money. Thus, her extreme solipsism shows to a great extent. She breaks her sisters marriage, neglecting ethics between sisters. Anyway she breaks all the normal moral ethics. Therefore Frank is not luckier than Charles; both of them are a transition product and target of Scarlett. 3.1.3 The Purpose of Scarletts Third MarriageWhile Scarlett is torn with guilt of causing the death of her second husband, Rhett appears and offers a marriage proposal, promising to give her everything. She marries him for the consideration that she will never have to bother about money again and never to worry about money again, and that Tara is safe, the family was fed and clothed, she would be safe. She marries Rhett because of money, vanity and the feeling of being loved, not for love.Firstly, Scarlett marries Rhett because of money, she says, “Well, money does help, you know, Rhett, and God knows Frank didnt leave any too much.” (Mitchell, Margaret 2001: 678) Rhett: did you say yes because of my money?Scarlett: wellyes, partly.Rhett: partly?Scarlett: well, you know, Rhett, money does help, and, of course, I am fond of you.Rhett: fond of me?Scarlett: well, if I said I wad madly in love with you, youd know I was lying. (Mitchell, Margaret 2001: 678) Secondly, Scarlett is a girl with strong possessiveness and vanity. When a person gains success, his goal is no longer business, because there is not enough challenge. Perhaps Rhett is a goal for Scarlett to prove herself. She believes that she has the ability to conquer every single man she wants to conquer. Although she does not love Rhett, she wants to seize his heart. Of course Rhett is also very smart, but love can make a person an idiot. Rhett, smart and rational, in the end, is also subjected to love. Finally, Scarlett marries Rhett because she enjoys the feeling of being loved. She knows that Rhett is a man who can understand her and a man who has the ability to offer her support and help. Rhett asks her to ignore the social conventions and encourages her to start her own business with the money given by him. What Rhett does for her makes Scarlett a princess.3.2 An Unserious Attitude towards Her MarriageScarlett holds an unserious attitude towards marriage. Firstly, Scarletts marriage is not based on love, but on her own needs. The first time, she gets married with Charles for the sake of revenge. Scarlett and Charles Hamilton do not gain anything from the marriage, and they do not feel happy. The second time, She gets married with her sister fianc who is old and ugly in order to keep Tara and to make Ashley and many of people of Tara to be able to live. Scarlett treats her second marriage as a deal, and she never loves Frank or even cares about him, Frank is a poor man, he never know how he is treated by Scarlett and loses his true love until he is dead. The third time, she is married to Rhett who is rich. She marries him all because Rhett can satisfy her, not for love. Secondly, in each marriage, Scarlett is a predator not a payer .In her first marriage, she is self centered girl, and never considers Charles feelings. When she marries Frank she is independent. Taking the advantage of her husbands illness, she is in charge of the business. And she no longer respects her husband, but manages everything by herself. She does nothing her husband tells her to do. Later Scarlett marries Rhett who pays much attention to her, who helps her, protects her, and love her, who knows what she likes, what she wants to do, and what can make she happy, and who tolerates her weakness and bears her ignorance. But Scarlett has her eyes only for Ashley, so she never tries to understand him, or shows any concerns to him during the twelve years marriage life.Finally, when each marriage ends, Scarlett does not feel really sad. When Charles dies, Scarlett becomes a widow. For Scarlett, being a widow might as well a