《简?爱》:精神追求抑或权力算计
2018-02-09孙胜忠
孙胜忠
关键词: 《简·爱》;精神追求;权力算计;成长小说;社会实用主义自我教育
摘要: 一般認为简·爱是一个自由与平等的精神追求者。笔者以为由于地位悬殊,简与罗切斯特之间一直处于一种征服与反征服的状态之中;她从桑菲尔德府出走似乎是为了逃离父权统治,寻求精神上的独立,但更是她迫于法律和社会习俗压力的无奈之举,从因果关系来看,或许这是她以退为进的一种策略;她最终实现社会地位的逆转,成为女主人,与她的个人奋斗不无关系,但主要还是得益于其叔叔的遗赠,即经济状况是她社会地位提升的决定性因素。因此,与其说简是一个自由与平等的精神追求者,不如说她是一个对社会下层和权威态度暧昧不明,通过权力算计和外来经济援助获得成功的女性。基于对当时社会、历史和文化语境的考察,《简·爱》可看作一部反映19世纪中叶社会实用主义自我教育观的成长小说。
中图分类号: I 106
文献标志码: A
文章编号: 10012435(2017)04050809
Key words: Jane Eyre; spiritual pursuit; power struggle; Bildungsroman; socially pragmatic Bildung
Abstract: The heroine in Jane Eyre is generally interpreted as a spiritual seeker after freedom and equality. Based on close reading of the text, this paper points out: because of great disparity of social status, Jane and Rochester have been in the state of mutual subjugation; Janes departure from Thornfield is a reluctant action under the pressure of laws and social conventions, or rather her strategy of retreating in order to advance, rather than her active flight from patriarchal mastery, nor her spiritual pursuit of independence; the final reversal of her social status by becoming a matriarch profits from her uncles bequest, namely, her rise to power is determined by her current economic position, rather than because of her personal strivings. Therefore, Jane is not a purely spiritual seeker after freedom and equality, her success is achieved by means of power struggle and external financial assistance, and her attitudes toward lower class and authority are ambiguous. Further exploration of social, historical and cultural context of that time indicates that Jane Eyre is a typical Bildungsroman which reflects socially pragmatic Bildung in the midnineteenth century.
如果说卡莱尔的《旧衣新裁》“标志着由浪漫主义时期向维多利亚时期的过渡”,[1]vii那么,勃朗特姐妹就属于这一过渡时期的“过渡性人物”,因为她们以作家身份出现在人们视野中的时候正值19世纪之交“伟大的浪漫主义时代”行将结束与英国工业资本主义即将开始之际,处于浪漫主义和革命的年代与危机重重的工业社会这种新的社会形态诞生相互重叠的时代。[2]xi这种矛盾交织的时代背景和错综复杂的社会形态与她们的社会地位、家庭环境和教育背景的结合在一定程度上造就了她们的多面人格。……
