An analysis of Nancy’s double character in
Oliver Twist
《雾都孤儿》中南希双重性格分析
摘 要
本文以英国批判现实主义大师查尔斯·狄更斯的小说《雾都孤儿》为主要研究资料。首先，本文从英国批判现实主义的起源与发展入手，综述批判现实主义的思想特征与艺术特征；其次，本文将主要以批判现实主义的思想特征和艺术特征为出发点，分析并研究南希双重性格在小说中的表现；最后，本文将从人性和社会环境因素出发，并结合狄更斯在创作南希该人物时的思路，剖析其双重性格形成的深层次原因。从而可以看出社会环境对人的性格与个性具有较深的影响，但是无论环境多么恶劣，它都无法泯灭人类本性中的善良成分。
ABSTRACT
This paper is mainly based on one of the masterpieces of Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, which is deemed as one the representatives of English critical realistic literature of the 19th century. It first introduces the origin and development of critical realism in England and illustrates the ideological and artistic features of critical realism. It then, based on its ideological and artistic features, analyzes the manifestations of Nancy’s double character in this novel. It finally discusses the reasons for Nancy’s double character from the perspective of human nature and social environment as well as Charles Dickens’ viewpoint of Nancy. As a result, it proves that social environment has a great effect on human’s character, but however adverse the environment is, it may never tarnish the goodness in human nature.
1．Introduction
Charles Dickens, the greatest representative of the English critical realistic literature of Victorian era, was born in February, 1812. In his childhood when he thought himself a ―very small and not-over-particularly-taken-care-of boy‖ [1]215, he was fond of playing outdoors and reading books, especially showing an ineffable interest in picaresque novels of Tobias Smollett and Henry Fielding. As a matter of fact, this period was an idyllic but significant time for his whole life for it had had a great influence on his works which later gained a worldwide reputation.
As the founder and one of the eminent representatives of English critical realism in 19th century, Charles Dickens is responsible for some of English literature's most iconic characters [2]136. He is much loved by readers around the globe not only for his well-portrayed characters such as Oliver Twist and David Copperfield, but also for his exhaustive depiction of contemporary life as well as the relentless denouncement towards the dark social reality. His novels and short stories have never gone out of print. A concern with social reform is an eternal theme that runs throughout his every work. In his novels, he maintains ―an unbroken faith in people with an entire pessimism as to capitalist society.‖[3]354
The story is set in the 19th London. The hero, Oliver Twist, is adopted by an orphanage as soon as he was born. He can’t bear the poor and hungry life in that place, so he escapes. Unfortunately, however, he is kidnapped by the evil gang of Fagin. Although intimidated by force and beguiled with money, young Oliver is unwilling to steal. With the help of Nancy, Brownlow and other kind-hearted people, Oliver finally escapes from the abyss of vice and misery, finds out who he really is and leads a happy life. The wretched and tortuous experience of Oliver and Nancy is a living embodiment of author’s miserable childhood.
From the perspective of the novel itself, Oliver Twist is not deemed as the quintessential representative work of Charles Dickens in the strict sense. Some scholars argue that Oliver Twist is a realist work smacking of romance for it exhibits some humorous language, comic characters and a happy ending to readers. As far as its historical and literary significance are concerned, however, Oliver Twist marks the beginning of the English realist literature in Victorian Era. Charles Dickens spares no
efforts to reveal the hypocrisy and inhumanity of parish workhouse through the description of the little Oliver’s childhood in this novel. Furthermore, Dickens gives realistic pictures of the horrible existence in workhouse. One of the important characteristics of the novel is the real and specific description of people who lived at the bottom of the capitalistic society. Their miserable lives are just the live mirror of the dark and evil sides of British society of 19th century. Those works aroused readers to think about the need of a nationwide social reform as well as the social reasons for all sorts of criminal phenomena at that time. Along with the success of this well-known novel, ―Dickens became more and more at odds with bourgeois society and more and more aware of (and exasperated by) the absence of any readily available alternative‖.
[4]248
In spite of her status as a secondary character in Oliver Twist, Nancy plays an irreplaceable part in the development of the novel. As a humble female thief in the gang of Fagin, Nancy is instigated to kidnap Oliver into this evil gang, but finally she sacrifices her own life to save Oliver from the abyss of miseries and sufferings. Due to the complexity in her character, Nancy has become a popular subject studied by some scholars.
Although Charles Dickens was once criticized for molding a character of ―thieving, whoring, slut of the streets‖
[5]107
, there is no doubt that Nancy is one of
literature's earliest examples of the stock character of the ―tart with a heart‖—the stereotypical character of a tragic or fallen woman who makes her way through life by means of crime and often earns a wage as a prostitute, but is still a good and compassionate person.
The thesis here is intended to introduce the rise and development of critical realism as well as its ideological and artistic features firstly; secondly, it will analyze Nancy’s double character from the perspective of the ideological and artistic features of critical realism; thirdly, it continues to bring out the reason for her tragedy from the perspective of the goodness of humanity and the influence of social reality on human nature.