浅析《荆棘鸟》中梅吉的性格.doc

ContentsAbstractIIIntroduction11. Reasons for the Shaping of Maggies Character31.1 The Exterior Reason31.2 The Interior Reason52. Maggies Attitude toward Love and Marriage82.1 Maggies Attitude toward Marriage82.2 Maggies Attitude toward Love93. Maggies Influence on Her Children133.1 Maggies Daughter Justine133.2 Maggies Son Dane15Conclusion17Works Cited19浅析荆棘鸟中梅吉的性格摘要：考琳麦卡洛是当代澳大利亚一位多才多艺的女作家。她著名的家世小说荆棘鸟在1977年问世后，引起了极大的轰动。该书通过描写克利里一家三代在澳大利亚的人生经历和情感历程，生动地刻画了女主人公梅吉与后来成为了红衣主教的拉夫尔之间缠绵悱恻的爱情故事。小说不仅有丰富的生活内容，而且具有复杂的故事情节，为刻画人物性格起了重要的艺术作用。在作品塑造的众多特色鲜明的人物中，最成功的莫过于对女主人公梅吉这一集热情、勇敢于一体的核心人物的塑造。本文拟从三个方面对梅吉的性格特征进行分析。一是梅吉性格形成的外部原因和内部原因；二就是梅吉对爱情与婚姻的态度；三是梅吉性格对孩子的影响，从而展现这一形象所赋予作品的永恒的魅力。 关键词：梅吉的性格；外因；内因；爱情；婚姻 An Analysis of Maggies Character in The Thorn BirdsAbstract: Colleen McCullough is a versatile contemporary Australian woman writer. Her famous family saga “The Thorn Birds” caused tremendous sensation after publication in 1977. The novel follows the personal and emotional experience of the three generations of the Clearies, vividly depicts a beautiful and sentimental love story between Maggie, the female character and Ralph, a Cardinal afterwards. Not only does the novel have a rich content but also the complex plots have an important artistic effect on shaping the characters in the novel. Among all the roles, Maggie is the most successful one who is full of passion and courage. This article analyzes the character of Maggie from three aspects: the first one is the exterior and internal reasons for the shaping of her character; the second one is her attitude toward her love and marriage; the last one is her influence on her children. The analysis aims at showing the eternal charm of the image, Maggie. Key Words: Maggies character; exterior reason; interior reason; love; marriage19Introduction The Thorn Birds is a family saga written by the Australian female writer Colleen McCullough, who was born in Wellington, New South Wales, Australia on June 1, 1937, and she was chiefly brought up in Sydney. McCullough is a prolific writer. In 1972 she wrote Tim, her first try at producing a novel for publication. This book sold very respectably. Then she began her second book The Thorn Birds in 1975. This book eventually sold more than ten million copies. In the following years, she wrote many more novels, which are not mentioned here one by one. Colleen McCulloughs novel The Thorn Birds has been hailed as a success of world film and literature and has been the best seller for years. Often, The Thorn Birds is compared to another historical romance novel of epic proportions, Gone with the wind. It is frequently called the Australian “Gone with the Wind”. The Thorn Birds has been translated into multiple languages and is still in print with a steady speed all over the world. And it is one of the Australian novels that the Chinese readers know best. The Thorn Birds tells us a story started from 1915 and lasted more than half a century. Maggie is the central character, and the story opens in New Zealand with the whole familys struggle to survive on the farm. The main clue of the novel is the beautiful and sentimental love story between Maggie, a farmers daughter, and Ralph, the bishop of Catholicism, describing the personal and emotional experience of the three generations of the Clearies. The writer of this book, Colleen McCullough, compresses every aspect of life into a brilliant book. By depicting the Clearies frustrations of emotional experiences, she managed to show us the truth that its necessary to pay an inconceivable cost for the magnificent things and true love. Without any doubt, in the story, the most conspicuous thorn bird is Maggie, while her sharpest and longest spine is Ralph. However mournful and difficult the experience is, and how slight the hope is, she never abandons her faith being faithful to love and making her love significant. She is definitely aware that she has chosen a tortuous road, but she is willing to dedicate all her efforts to searching for her thorn tree Ralph, and having her belief and love glittering. Maggie is strong, brave, pure and noble to her faith, in that she enriches love with unlimited color and vividness. She is a perfect woman. Although Maggie devotes her life to love, what she gained is just a tragedy.The Thorn Birds is a successful novel. It is true that Chinese scholars never lose their interest in Colleen McCulloughs masterpiece. However it is true that this might be the only McCullough book that most Chinese readers know of. Furthermore, in the hundreds of comments on the novel, we can sort out a few recurrent topics, that is, the theme, narrative skills, feminism and characterization of the novel. But this article has just probed into one minor aspect of it, namely, Maggies character reflected in the novel. It attempts to analyze the reasons for the shaping of Maggies character, her most outstanding qualities, and the influence of her character on her life, love, marriage, and children.1. Reasons for the Shaping of Maggies Character Portraiture of a character cant be isolated from the environment she or he is in, and the social circumstance plays the same important role as the natural environment in depicting the characters of the figures. Besides these factors, ones experience in life and love also claims a lot in nurturing ones character. It is the same to portray the figure of Maggie, which must also rely on the natural and social environment as well as the personal experience, both for the exterior reason and the interior reason.1.1 The Exterior ReasonOnes character and behavior arent shaped from ones birth, but gradually forged in social culture environment. Womens destiny is not dominated by the physiological factors; the life and love attitude will change along with the development of the family, society and the culture. It is easy to see that the female images in The Thorn Birds mostly had deviated from the traditional moral standards and customs. Especially, Maggie not only resisted the position stipulated to the traditional women in spirit, and her bravery and pursuit to love also exceeded the individuality suppressed by the destiny. Maggie Cleary, attractive and pretty, is the only girl of the Clearies. She is the main protagonist of the story. The story starts with Maggie and finishes with Maggie too. The transition of the living environment, the family condition and construction and the social background are the exterior reasons in the shaping of Maggies character, which causes Maggies distinctive character.Maggies character is forged from her early years experiences. She was born in the poor, obscure and complex Clearies family, which started their journey from their unpretentious roots in New Zealand where they worked as sheep shearers, to the huge Australian sheep farm Drogheda, owned by Paddy Clearys autocratic sister. During the journey, the little girl Maggie witnessed the change of their living environment. The broad and natural prairie made Maggie not being influenced by the uproar and secular environment. Maggie, as the only daughter in the Clearies family, should have deserved the care and love from other family members. But she is ignored by her parents, partly because they are busy, partly because she is a girl. In the Men-centered culture, she, as a girl, was doomed to be neglected, discriminated and depressed in her family. Her mothers indifference deprived her right to be carefree and spoilt. Her mother even doesnt tell the common knowledge to her as meeting menstruation, or the physiological differences between men and women, thus Maggie, who is in an awkward age and completely ignorant to womans general experience, is nearly frightened to death. So Maggie does not enjoy a happy childhood and girlhood for being entirely ignored by her mother. Compared with her elderly brothers, little Maggie is weak. While the little boys often bully her and they take no notice of her as she cries. On the day of Maggies four-year birthday, she received an unexpected present a pretty doll, from her mother. When her precious doll was spoilt by her elder brothers, it does not happen to her to seek help from her parents or any other people, for at that time, in the Clearies family, those who can not fight their own battles get scant aid or sympathy, and that goes for this lonely girl, too. Maggie does not weep when her loved brother Frank leaves her, for something in her little soul was old enough and womanly enough to feel the irresistible, stinging joy of being needed. Additionally, Maggies school life is a miserable one; her poor family made her being looked down upon by teachers and other children. Although Maggie was born in a poor family, she is a cute and attractive girl with vivid hair, but she also has a high self-esteem. Maggie has the astonishing willpower to endure the hardship in her life. On the first day to school she was bitterly and strictly caned by her teacher, Sister Agatha, and from then on, she was unequally and regularly punished only because she was poor and proud, but she does not submit. Maggie is such a proud person that she does not share her sadness with anyone, even her mother and her brother. She does things dutifully and conceals her feelings to herself. Under the influence of the men in her family, she developed a strong and brave personality. Her pride is awesome and her self-control phenomenal. Besides, she is a quaint mixture of morality, virtue and ignorance. Although she is not born to be more, she is worth more. Nobody knows what will occur to her, what kind of life she will embrace, and what sort of fate she will be confronted with. Besides the influence from family, Maggie has also been influenced by the prevalent feminism, which developed vigorously in the middle of the 19th century. Maggie is brave enough to seek her own love and happiness. She dares to revolt against society and quest for true love. She has courage to challenge the religious morals and fight against Almighty God. In her lifelong struggle, she shows her independence and perseverance and never yields to her doomed fate. In her life, she struggles, fails, succeeds, and endures. Although her love story ends up as a tragedy, she never regrets. The reason for that is that she has experienced and pursued true love. All that shows Maggie has been deeply influenced by the 19th century feminism.1.2 The Interior ReasonA woman is not born, but is turned. The beautiful girl, Maggie, is attracted by the emotional illusion, she made hard efforts to gain her lovers adoration and then was abandoned mercilessly. Maggies experience in her life and love, the relationship among herself, Ralph and Luke, the lifelong and forbidden love between Maggie and Ralph are other elements in influencing the developing of Maggies character; they are also the internal reasons for the maturity of her character.When she is nine-year old, Maggie moves to Australian with her family, which really changes her fate and brings her a new life. In Drogheda, she met Ralph de Bricassart, a young and handsome priest, who was fond of her and took good care of her. Eventually, she falls in love with him while he loves his God and his promotion in the Church as well as Maggie. Maybe at the beginning, she just views him as a cherished elder brother, depending on him so much. As Maggie grows up, her love and respect of Father Ralph has also turned into a passionate, girlish crush. But she knows it is prohibited to have a clergy as lover or husband, and Ralph, as a clergy, cant love her as a husband and will never give up his job, but she still craves for him, dreams of him and wants him. Maggies forbidden love for Ralph is romantic, but it is also the most tragic part of all. If Ralph has a wife, maybe he can choose to divorce; if Ralph doesnt love her, maybe he can make efforts. But he is a priest, how could she snatch him from the God? Ralph is ambitious and self-absorbed; a womans love can never make him satisfied. He needs Maggie, but Maggie is not the most important part of his life. However, Maggie is too obsessive to get over Ralph and move on with her life. She is forced by herself and her fate to spend actually her whole life pining away for Ralph, whom she knows clearly she can never have as her husband. This is a real tragedy, as her whole life is ruined because of her obsession.However, being an ordinary sort of woman, not ambitious or intelligent or well-educated, besides love, Maggie thinks that she also needs her own life a husband and children, but she can not get these from Ralph. Therefore, she gets married with Luke, but Maggie does not like Luke at all, never to mention love, and she is not able to fall in love with him. He is a substitute, a man who can give her children similar in type to those she may have with Ralph. Unfortunately, her fate interferes, her husband Luke does not need her, and does not want to give her a home or children either. He never respects her emotion and feelings. Maggie learned from the failure of this unhappy marriage and the reality, realizing the rebellion of her hearts choice and the snobbish and false marriage which ruined her expectation and desire for happy life. Therefore, she stands up to challenge the God for her faith, she can never have Ralph, but she does possess the part of Ralph that the Church can never have she has Ralphs son Dane, who is as perfect as Ralph.During the process of Maggies growth, she experiences the torment of forbidden love and unhappy marriage. Her personality and character became mature along with these experiences. Maggies own life and love experience nurtured her to be strong-minded, brave, independent and positive. Ralph once affirms that her personality is “the perfect female character, passive yet enormously strong.all her life she would obey, move within the boundaries of her female fate” (McCullough 119). However, this perfect lady, while she is pursuing her true love, violates the traditional womans passive manner, bravely and actively assaults Ralph, and finally makes the man to give in. She possesses to some degree the spirit of modern women. She develops the perfect female character. She has the gift of acceptance. No matter what has gone or what might come, she confronts it and accepts it. For her whole life, she suffers from one misfortune after another. She accepts all that have happened to her and goes straight bravely. She takes a positive attitude in pursuing her ideal, love and happiness. She is like a thorn bird, singing and flying to impale herself until the end of her life.2. Maggies Attitude toward Love and MarriageMaggie loves Ralph, but marries Luke. She divided the united body, love and marriage, into two unrelated one. Actually, in real life, love and marriage are often related with each other by most people, because love is the foundation of marriage. Ralphs ambition for power destroys his love for Maggie. Lukes opinion of money overwhelms his marriage with Maggie. Although Maggie cannot enjoy love and marriage at the same time, her positive attitude brightened her eyes and life.2.1 Maggies Attitude toward MarriageMarriage is a serious and fascinating matter and also a nice dream to most of the young girls, but Maggie treats her marriage as a game. Maggie is the second generation of the Cleary women. She is the only daughter of Fiona. She is pretty, strongminded, independence and understanding. She inherits all good qualities from her parents. Growing up in the Clearies, Maggie was adapted to harmonious relationship between her parents. Naturally, she was willing and determined to take harmonious marriage. But fate plays a trick with her. She loves Ralph, who cannot give her marriage. In order to restrain the forbidden love, she thinks she needs a husband and babies, and she thinks that though she means little to Ralph, there is still some man who loves her before all else. She holds the belief that not all men love some inanimate thing more than they can love a woman. With this idea, she took Luke as the messenger of happiness. So Maggie made up her mind to choose her happiness instead of recalling Ralph. Therefore, she marries Luke, mostly because Luke resembles Ralph so much, which can bring her to Ralph and give her children a similar appearance to those she may have had with Ralph. To her disappointment, Luke does not love her so as much as she had expected, either. He never respects her feelings. What Luke really cares is wealth and job.Luke, a very handsome and hard-working man, manages to become Maggies husband for her money. Maggie does not love him at all. Lukes appearance does help him marry Maggie. Maggie marries him only because he looks like Ralph or to be exact, he is the substitute of Ralph. Luke is not a bad man. He is clever, conceited, extremely hard-working and hungry to enrich himself. He is a simple man, ruthlessly single of purpose, never tormented with any hardships. He does not have time or the inclination to understand a woman. He holds an opinion that love is imagination of women. What he desires is a concrete thing, even if a dream. For Luke, hard work has a beauty and a pain he seems to have been waiting for all his life to feel. He has the strange fascination for utterly demanding labor. Luke marries Maggie for her money. When he discovers that there is an only daughter with modest wealth, he begins to go after Maggie. After marriage, he also asks Maggie to work hard with him and save every penny. So he forces Maggie to work as a housemaid, not giving her a home, and even putting her wages in