1、English Romanticism
English Romanticism is a term that denotes most of the writings that were written between 1798 and 1832 during which writers concentrate on feelings and interests rather than structure and order. It was to some extent a reaction against the neoclassical period that preceded it. It designates a literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the individual as the very center of all life and all experience. It also places the individual at the center of art, making literature most valuable as an expression of his or her unique feelings and particular attitudes, and valuing its accuracy in portraying the individual's experiences. Nature and imagination are the things that the Romantics worshipped most. The principal Romantic poets were Wordsworth, Blake, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and Keats. The main novelists were Sir Walter Scott and Jane Austen. Lamb, Hazlitt and de Quincey were important essayists. Many of the ideas of English Romanticism were first expressed in Lyrical Ballads collaborated by Wordsworth and Coleridge.
2、Critical realism
Critical realism is a new literary trend in the Victorian period. It is based on realism which presents life and the natural-world as they are and without idealistic or romantic coloring. Famous critical realist writer are Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray and the Bronte sisters, etc. While sticking to the principle of faithful representation of the 18th century realist novel, they carry their duly forward to the criticism of the society and the defense of the mass. Although writing from different points of view and with different techniques, they shared one thing in common, that is, they were all concerned about the fate of the common people. They were angry with the inhuman social institutions, the decaying social morality as represented by the money- worship and Utilitarianism, and the widespread misery, poverty and injustice. Their truthful picture of people's life and bitter and strong criticism of tile society had done much in awakening the public consciousness to the social problems and in the actual improvement of the society.
3、Stream-of-consciousness
Stream-of-consciousness is a phrase taken from William James’s Principle of Psychology (l0) that bas become common in literary terminology where it refers to the attempt by novelists to reproduce the thoughts, impressions and ideas of a character’ s mind as they occur.
In English fiction, the novels of Stream-of-Consciousness were represented by James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. Those novels broke through the bounds of time and space, and depicted vividly and skillfully the unconscious activity of the mind fast changing and flowing incessantly, particularly the hesitant, misted, distracted and illusory psychology people had when they faced reality. Britain was the center of the novels of Stream-of-consciousness.
4、Realism
Realism is literature is associated with a rejection of fantasy, mythology, and highly complex and, therefore, implausible plots. Instead, a realist novel will tend to concentrate on “ordinary people” and the feature stories either based on, or similar to, real events. Also tend to avoid the linguistic experimentalism of, say, a James Joyce, in favor of prose that doesn’t draw attention to itself, and presents the story as clearly as possible. Character is more important than action and plot. Class is important; events will usually be plausible; objectivity in presentation becomes increasingly important. Diction is natural vernacular, not heightened or poetic; tone may be comic, satiric, or matter-of-fact.
《西风颂》 “Ode to the West Wind ”
、作者：Percy Bysshe Shelley (珀西 比希 雪莱)
、考点及题型：
1、For each of the quotations listed below please give the name of the author and the title of the literary work from which it is taken and then briefly interpret it.
Be through my lips to unawakened Earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O, Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”
From Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind”. This part illustrates Shelley’s optimistic belief in the future of mankind.
2、Briefly analyze Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind.
In Ode to the West Wind, Shelley eulogized the powerful west wind and expressed his eagerness to enjoy the boundless freedom from the reality. The autumn wind, burying the dead year, preparing for a new spring, becomes an image of Shelley himself, as he would want to be, in its freedom, its destructive-constructive potential, its universality.
3、What does Shelley want to tell the reader in his "Ode to the West Wind"?
Best of all the well-known lyric pieces is Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" (1819); here Shelley's rhapsodic and declamatory tendencies find a subject perfectly suited to them. The autumn wind, burying the dead year, preparing for a new Spring, becomes an image of Shelley ；himself, as he would want to be, in its freedom, its destructive-constructive power , its universality. "I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!" calls the Shelley that could not bear being fettered to the humdrum realities of everyday! The whole poem has logic of feeling, a progression that leads to the triumphant, hopeful and convincing conclusion: "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" Here is no reassurance, no mysticism, but the primal amorality of nature itself, with its mad fury and its pagan ruthlessness. Shelley's ode is an invocation to a primitive deity, a plea to exalt him in its fury and to trumpet the radical prophecy of hope and rebirth.
《哈姆雷特》 “Hamlet”
1、作者：William Shakespeare （威廉姆 莎士比亚）
2、作者主要作品:
四大悲剧：1、Hamlet （哈姆雷特） 2、Othello (奥赛罗)
3、King Lear (李尔王) 4、Macbeth (麦克白)
四大戏剧：1、A Midsummer Night’s Dream(仲夏夜之梦)
2、Twelfth Night（第十二夜）
3、All’s Well That Ends Well （终成眷属）
4、The Merchant of Venice (威尼斯商人)
3、人物关系：
哈姆雷特 Prince Hamlet —— 丹麦王子。
克劳地 Claudius —— 丹麦现任国王。
葛簇特 Gertrude—— 丹麦王后，王子的亲生母亲。老王死后她改嫁克劳地
波隆尼尔 Polonius—— 克劳地的御前大臣，阻挠哈姆雷特与女儿欧菲莉亚的爱情。，
雷尔提 Laertes—— 波隆尼尔的儿子。为了父亲和妹妹的死用剑杀死了哈姆雷特。
欧菲莉亚 Ophelia—— 波隆尼尔的女儿，是哈姆雷特的恋人。最后发疯投河而死。
赫瑞修 Horatio—— 哈姆雷特大学里的密友。
4、考点及题型
1 Read the quoted parts carefully and answer the questions in English.
To be, or not to be—that is the question;
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die, to sleep--
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
Questions:
1. Which play are these lines taken from?
2. Who wrote the play?
3. What’s theme of the play?
4. What’s the main idea of Act Ⅲ?
1. Hamlet 2. William Shakespeare
3. The theme of the play is to condemn the hypocrisy and treachery and general corruption at the royal court by revealing the power-seeking, the jostling for place, the hidden motives, the courteous superficialities that veil lust and guilt.
4. In Act III, Hamlet’s melancholy and procrastination are revealed in the famous soliloquy “To be, or not to be”. In this part of the play, Hamlet is thinking about the question of life and death. He is thinking of committing suicide, that is, to end his own life by a sudden act of “bravery”. But he hesitates, for he doubts whether death can give him rest and peace. Besides, he is not sure whether the country “from whose bourn/no traveler returns” would be better than this one. He gives the reasons why he wants to commit suicide. Apart from his personal revenge, he cannot bear the social injustices and grievances. He is conscious of his own weakness of thinking to much which makes him dilatory, allowing many opportunities to slip away.
2 Please give the name of the author and the title of the literary work from which it is taken and then briefly interpret it.
"To be, or not to be — that is the question; whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? ..."
This is one part of Hairnet's most famous monologue from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlet, facing the dilemma of action and mind, is hesitating whether he should revenge for his father, which may bring him death, or he should suffer and hide his hatred for his uncle in his deep heart, which may secure his life.
3 Give a brief analysis of Hamlet's characterization.
Hamlet is the hero in Shakespeare's great tragedy Hamlet. The play begins with Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, appearing in a mood of world-weariness caused by his father's recent death and by his mother's hasty remarriage with Claudius, his father's brother. While encountering his father's ghost, Hamlet is told that Claudius has murdered his father and then taken over both his father's throne and widow. Thus, Hamlet is urged by the ghost to seek revenge for his father's "foul and most unnatural murder." But Hamlet has none of the single-minded blood lust of the earlier revengers. It is not because he is incapable of action, but because the cast of his minds is so speculative, so questioning, and so contemplative that action, when it finally comes, seems almost like defeat, diminishing rather than adding to the stature of the hero. Trapped in a nightmare world of spying, testing and plotting, and apparently bearing the unbearable burden of the duty to revenge his father's death, Hamlet is obliged to inhabit a shadow world, to live suspended between fact and fiction, language and action. His life is one of constant role-playing, examining the nature of action only to deny its possibility, for he is too sophisticated to degrade his nature to the conventional role of a revenger. By characterizing Hamlet, Shakespeare successfully makes a philosophical exploration of life and death.
4 Summarize Shakespeare's literary career.
Shakespeare's literary career can be divided into four periods.
1) Period of Early Apprenticeship:
This period is marked by youthfulness and exuberance of imagination, by extravagance of language, and by the frequent use of rimed couplets with his blank verse. The main plays written in this period are: Love’s Labour's Lost, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Richard III. But the typical works of this period are his early poems, such as Venus and Adonis and Lucrece.
2) Period of Rapid Growth and Maturity:
In this period, which dated from 1595 to 1600, Shakespeare excelled all his contemporaries in historical plays and romantic comedies. Owing to the premature death of his rivals , or their withdrawal from drama, Shakespeare reigned as master at first with no one to challenge his supremacy. The main plays written during this period are A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Richard II, Henry IV, Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar.
3) Period of Gloom and Depression;
This period, which dated from 1600 to 1607, marks the full maturity of his power, which was devoted largely to tragedies. In this period Shakespeare produced his most powerful works. In depth of thought, in searching analysis of human motive, in the expression of the profoundest feelings, his tragedies are one of the most magnificent creations of the human mind. The main tragedies of this period are Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. During this period, Shakespeare also wrote his sonnets.
4) Period of Calm after Storm:
This period marks the last few years of Shakespeare's literary work. His last few years (1608-1613) had neither the lightness of the beginning nor the sober violence of the middle period of his career. They had a spirit of serenity, and optimism. Shakespeare again turned to comedies. His best plays produced in this period are The Winter's Tale, The Tempest, but these plays all show a falling off from his previous work.
5 Briefly comment on the main tragic heroes in Shakespeare's four greatest tragedies.
Shakespeare's greatest tragedies are-.Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. They have some characteristics in common. Each portrays a noble hero, who faces the injustice of human life and is caught in a difficult situation and whose fate is closely connected with the fate of the whole nation. Each hero has his weakness of nature: Hamlet, the melancholic scholar-prince, faces the dilemma between action and mind; Othello's inner weakness is taken advantage of by the outside evil force; the old king Lear, unwilling to totally give up his power, makes himself suffer from treachery and infidelity; and Macbeth's lust for power stirs up his ambition and leads him to crimes. With the concentration on the tragic hero, Shakespeare dramatizes the whole world around the hero. A-long with the portrayal of the weakness of the hero, we see the sharp conflicts between the individual and the evil force in the society.
《威尼斯商人》 “The Merchant of Venice”
1、作者：William Shakespeare （威廉姆 莎士比亚）
2、人物关系
▪安東尼奧 (Antonio)：威尼斯的大商人，他經營海外貿易並擁有巨資，與落魄的貴族子弟巴薩尼奧結為生死之交，甚至不惜為他押下自己身上的一磅肉。安東尼奧性格憂鬱，而且也是一個偏激的種族主義者，夏洛克對他岐視猶太人的控訴並非沒有根據。
▪巴薩尼奧 (Bassanio)：將家產揮霍一空的落魄貴族，因經濟關係而去娶波西亞。
▪波西亞 (Portia)：才貌雙全的富家女嗣。
▪葛萊西安諾 (Gratiano)：安東尼奧和巴薩尼奧之友，後娶奈莉莎。
▪奈莉莎 (Nerissa)：波西亞的貼身女侍。
▪夏洛克 (Shylock)：以放高利貸致富的猶太人。
▪潔西卡 (Jessica)：夏洛克的女兒，後襲捲父親財產與羅倫佐私奔。
▪羅倫佐 (Lorenzo)：安東尼奧與巴薩尼奧的朋友，潔西卡的情人。
▪杜巴 (Tubal)：猶太人，夏洛克的朋友。
▪朗西洛特·高波(Lancelot Gobbo) ：夏洛克的僕人。丑角。
▪老高波(Old Gobbo)：朗西洛特之父
▪莎萊里奧 (Salerio):安東尼奧和巴薩尼奧之友。
▪索拉尼歐 (Solanio):安東尼奧與巴薩尼奧之友。
▪摩洛哥親王 (The Prince of Moroco)：波西亞的求婚者。
▪阿拉貢親王 (The Prince of Arrogon)：波西亞的求婚者。
▪威尼斯公爵 (The Duke of Venice)：威尼斯的統治者。
3、考点及题型
1 Give a brief analysis of Shylock, a character in Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice.
The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s important plays and Antonio is usually regarded as the victim and therefore has received floods of sympathy. At the same time, Shylock is unquestionably a miser, a cold hearted anti cruel usurer. In the play, Antonio is a successful merchant who borrows a large sum of money to help his friend Bassanio to marry Portia. Shylock has made a strange bond that requires Antonio to surrender a pound of his flesh if he fails to repay him within a certain period of time. Unfortunately, Antonio's ships have all been lost, and he is penniless, and has to repay the pound of flesh. But the pound of flesh doesn’t simply show that Shylock is cruel and cold-hearted. What Shakespeare wants 1o show is that Shylock, as a Jew, should also be sympathized and be understood. The contradiction between Shylock and Antonio is not only a personal one, but an irreconcilable one that is imposed by the society. For centuries, the Jews have been prejudiced and persecuted. Instead of this the Jews have survived and because of their wit and their wealth, they have been the aim of jealousy and hatred. We can say that Shylock’s hatred towards or revenge on Antonio is not the result of his nature, not to say the so- called greed, cruelty. As far as the Jewish race is concerned, they have their own beliefs, their unique way of life. But they are not dangerous to other races. What Shylock has done is just a challenge to people who are prejudiced against the Jews. Just because of people’s deep-rooted prejudice. Shylock has to undergo certain severe penalties, including compulsory conversion to Christianity.
Therefore, we can say that we should show more sympathy on Shylock than on Antonio and that Shylock is one of the tragic figures in the play. Reading the play, we can hear Shakespeare’s indignation toward the social injustice. From Shakespeare's portrayal of Shylock, we can clearly see the real progressive significance of the play, namely, it is an outcry for those who are, exploited and for those who are prejudiced against.
《简爱》 “Jane Eyre”
1、作者：Charlotte Bronte (夏洛蒂 勃朗特)
2、人物关系：
简爱——罗切斯特（恋人/夫妻）——疯女（夫妻）
海伦－－简爱（孤儿院好友）
布洛克尔赫斯特——坏人，孤儿院主持
圣约翰——简爱（表兄妹，简爱的追求者之一）
戴安娜和玛丽－－简爱的表姐，圣约翰的胞妹
爱丽思·费尔菲克斯－－罗切斯特的女管家，简爱的朋友
阿黛勒－－罗切斯特的朋友的女儿，罗切斯特是她的监护人，简爱的学生
英格拉姆小姐－－罗切斯特的追求者
3、考点及题型
1 Why is Jane Eyre a successful novel?
The work is one of the most popular and important novels of the Victorian age. It is noted for its sharp criticism of the existing society, e.g. the religious hypocrisy of charity institutions, the social discrimination and the false social convention as concerning love and marriage. At the same time, it is an intense moral fable. Jane, like Mr. Rochester, has to undergo a series of physical and moral tests to grow up and achieve her final happiness. The success of the novel is also due to its introduction to the English novel the first governess heroine. Jane Eyre is a completely new woman image. She represents those middle-class working women who are struggling for recognition of their rights and equality as a human being. The vivid description of her intense feelings, and her thought and inner conflicts brings her to the heart of the audience.
2" 'Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? So you think I am an automaton? — a machine without feelings? And can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? — You think wrong! — I have as much soul as you — and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty, and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, or even of mortal flesh; — it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal — as we are! '"
A. Identify the author and the title of the novel from which this passage is taken.
B. Who is the narrator and whom is the speaker addressing?
C. Summarize the speaker's meaning.
A. From Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.
B. The speaker is Jane Eyre and she is speaking to Mr. Rochester.
C. Jane is trying to show Mr. Rochester that she must leave him because she doesn't want to become his accessory. She feels hurt because Mr. Rochester has not told her about his wife and in her mind he doesn't treat her as an equal being-
3 Briefly analyze Charlotte Bronte's literary creation
Charlotte Bronte's works are all about the struggle of an individual towards self-realization, about some lonely and neglected young women with a fierce longing for love, understanding and a full, happy life. All her heroines' highest joy comes from some sacrifice of self or some human weakness overcome. Besides, she is a writer of realism combined with romanticism. On one hand, she presents a vivid realistic picture of the English society by exposing the cruelty, hypocrisy and other evils of the upper classes, and by showing the misery and suffering of the poor. Her works are famous for the depiction of the life of the middle-class working women, particularly governesses. On the other hand, her writings are marked throughout by an intensity of vision and of passion. By writing from an individual point of view, by creating characters who are possessed of strong feelings, fiery passions and some extraordinary personalities, by using some elements of horror, mystery and prophesy, she is able to recreate life in a very romantic way. The vividness of her subjective narration, the intensely achieved characterization, especially those heroines who are totally contrary to the public expectations, and the most truthful presentation of the economical, moral, social life of the time—all this earns her works a never dying popularity.
4 What kind of character is Jane Eyre?
Jane Eyre is Charlotte Bronte's most successful and popular novel and it is a powerful and fascinating story of elemental love and hate. The success of the novel is due to its introduction to the English novel the first governess heroine. Jane Eyre, an orphan child with a fiery spirit and a longing to love and be loved, a poor, plain, little governess who dares to love her master, a man superior to her in many ways, and even is brave enough to declare to the man her love for him, cuts a completely new woman image. In this novel Charlotte characterizes Jane Eyre as a naive, kind-hearted, noble-minded woman who pursues a genuine kind of love. Jane Eyre represents those middle-class working women who are struggling for recognition of their basic rights and equality as a human being. The vivid description of her intense feelings and her thought and inner conflicts brings her to the heart of the audience.
《苔丝》 “Tess”
1、作者：Thomas Hardy (托马斯 哈代)
2、人物关系：苔丝本是一位纯洁美丽又非常勤劳的农村姑娘，她向往人生的真和善，但又时时遭到伪和恶的打击。苔丝的悲剧始于为了全家人生计去远亲家打工，却因年幼无知而被亚雷骗去了处女的贞操，成了一个“堕落”的女人，受到社会的非议，把她看成不贞洁的罪人；苔丝后来与青年克莱相爱，又因为新婚之夜坦诚有污点的过去而被丈夫遗弃，而与近在眼前的幸福失之交臂；出于高度的家庭责任感和自我牺牲精神，苔丝为换取家人的生存而再次违愿沦为亚雷的；最后因为丈夫的回心转意使得绝望的苔丝愤而举起了复仇的利刃，终于成了一个杀人犯，最后不得不付出了生命的代价，导致“象游丝一样敏感，象雪一样洁白”的苔丝最后终被完全毁灭。
3考点及题型
1 Show your comment on Tess of the D’Urbervilles and its heroine
This novel is one of the best and most popular works by Hardy. It is a fierce attack on the hypocritical morality of the bourgeois society and the capitalist invasion into the country and destruction of the English peasantry towards the end of the century. Tess, as a pure woman brought up with the traditional idea of womanly virtues, is abused and destroyed by both Alec and Angel, agents of the destructive force of the society. And the misery, the poverty and the heartfelt pain she suffers and her final tragedy give rise to a most bitter cry of protest and condemnation of the society. Of course, naturalistic tendency is also strong in the novel. In a way, Tess seems to be led to her final destruction step by step by Fate. Coincidence adds one “wrong” to another until she is caught up in a dead-end. As Hardy says at the end of the novel: “Justice was done, and the President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess.”
2 "Still, it was strange that they should have come to her while yet so young j more that strange; it was impressive, interesting, pathetic. Not guessing the cause, there was nothing to remind him that experience is as to intensity, and not as to duration. Tess's passing corporeal blight had been her mental harvest."
A. Identify the author and the title of the novel from which this passage is taken.
B. Who does "him" refer to?
C. What does the last sentence of the passage mean?
A. From Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles.
B. Angel Clare.
C. It means that the corporeal suffering that Tess has experienced makes her spiritually mature before her age.
3 Show your comment on Tess of the D’Urbervilles and its heroine
This novel is one of the best and most popular work by Hardy. It is a fierce attack on the hypocritical morality of the bourgeois society and the capitalist invasion into the country and destruction of the English peasantry towards the end of the century. Tess, as a pure woman brought up with the traditional idea of womanly virtues, is abused and destroyed by both Alec and Angel, agents of the destructive force of the society. And the misery, the poverty and the heartfelt pain she suffers and her final tragedy give rise to a most bitter cry of protest and condemnation of the society. Of course, naturalistic tendency is also strong in the novel. In a way, Tess seems to be led to her final destruction step by step by Fate. Coincidence adds one "wrong" to another until she is caught up in a dead-end. As Hardy says at the end of the novel; "Justice was done, and the President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess. "
4 Write an essay on Thomas Hardy.
Thomas Hardy is a great poet as well as a great novelist. His novels are all Victorian in date. Most of them are set in Wes-sex, the fictional primitive and crude rural region which is really the home place he both loves and hates. They are known for the vivid description of the vicissitudes of people who live in an agricultural setting threatened by the forces of invading capitalism. His best local-colored works are his later ones, such as The Return of the Native (1878), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure. These works, known as "novels of character and environment," are the most representative of him as both a naturalistic and a critical realist writer. Hardy experienced a change from being cheerful and optimistic to despairing and pessimistic in his writing career.
Living at the turn of the century, Hardy is often regarded as a transitional writer. In him we see the influence from both the past and the modern. As some people put it, he is intellectually advanced and emotionally traditional. Influenced by Darwinism, Hardy believes that man's fate is predeterminedly tragic, driven by a combined force of "nature," both inside and outside. This pessimistic view of life predominates most of Hardy's later works and earns him a reputation as a naturalistic writer. Though Naturalism seems to have played an important part in Hardy's works, there is also bitter and sharp criticism and even open challenge of the irrational, hypocritical and unfair Victorian institution, conventions and morals which strangle the individual will and destroy natural human emotions and relationships.
Hardy is not an analyst of human life or nature, but a meditative story-teller or romancer. He tells very good stories about very interesting people but seldom stops to ask why. He is a great painter of nature. His heroes and heroines, those unfortunate young men and women in their desperate struggle for personal fulfillment and happiness, are all vividly and realistically depicted. They are not only individual cases but also of universal truth. And finally, all the works of Hardy are noted for the rustic dialect and a poetic flavor which fits well into their perfectly designed architectural structures. They are the product of a conscientious artist. 下载本文
