An Analysis of Symbolism in Melvilles Moby Dick开题报告

 2023-01-15 07:05:00

1. 研究目的与意义

The American novelist Herman Melville is a great master of symbolism who was world-famous in particular for his masterpiece Typee and Moby-Dick. Melville had once been misunderstood and forgotten in that time, and he was not known until the rediscovery of his works in 1920s. Melville is now openly regarded as one of the greatest writers in the 19th century American literary history.As his most representative work, Moby-Dick is not only a whaling tale or sea adventure, but also a philosophic novel with symbolic meanings. The popularity of this novel gives me a curiosity to research it.Although Moby-Dick was a commercial failure and out of print at that time, later it got tremendous attention from all over the world and proved to be infinitely open to interpretation and discovery. Due to the ubiquity of symbolism and diversity of the theme, the novel has aroused heated discussion among critics. The book is highly symbolic. Almost everything, from typical characters to natural landscapes, mentioned has its symbolic meaning. It is a masterwork contains drama, adventure, philosophy, and research. The study of Moby-Dick can help us profoundly illustrate the relationship between man and nature.In recent years, scholars devoted themselves to the studies on Moby-Dick and the research on its symbolic meaning is enduring. Moby-Dick#8217;s symbolism has been excavated multiple meanings, this paper provides a systematic analysis on the symbolic meaning of the novel from the aspects of theme and clue. Since the novel describes the fierce battle between man and nature, after study, we know the oppression in the society and the importance of harmonious relationship between man and nature.

2. 研究内容和预期目标

This paper systematically analyzes the symbolic meaning from two aspects of the novel''''s theme and clue to reflect the inner meaning of different characters and things through surface analysis.The whole essay concentrates on the study of symbolism in Moby Dick, and the symbolic analysis of main characters and imagine in the novel. The difficulties lie in the research of the use of symbolism and the thematic significance. Readers can realize the intended meaning from novel through their own ideas.This essay consists of five parts. The first chapter begins with the main information and introduction of the novel and author. This writing draws on author#8217;s experience at sea as a common sailor, exploration of literature and philosophy, and engagement in the contradictions of American society in a period of rapid change. The second chapter mainly analyzes the symbolism of two themes: revenge, and man and nature. The third chapter analyzes the symbolic meaning of novel''''s two main clues and the relevant main characters and images. The fourth chapter is the thematic significance of novel. Once people expose to nature, the only choice is to act as a conqueror, then the relationship between him and the vanquished one must be opposite, both of them are mutual hatred, incompatible. The fifth chapter sums up the good use of the symbolism in the novel. Through the analysis, we can find that Moby-Dick is a small real world and the meaning it embodied is thought-provoking.

3. 国内外研究现状

Melville''''s Moby Dick was first published in London in 1851, but did not get significant repercussions until 1919. It is called a monumental book for readers to understand arbitrarily. William Faulkner (1927) confessed he wished he had written it himself, and D. H. Lawrence (1923) called it 'one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world', and 'the greatest book of the sea ever written'. 'Call me Ishmael' is one of world literature''''s most famous opening sentences. From the early critical reception to the modern criticism, Moby Dick has been studied in various perspectives due to its significance in Melville''''s literary career and its rich implications. Moby Dick was not broadly recognized by public until the 1920s. From then on, comments on this book gradually appeared. In British and American critical fields, throughout 1970s and 1990s, more and more critics started to fix their eyes on Moby Dick. As it is not only a very big book, but also a peculiarly full and rich one, and from the very opening it conveys a sense of abundance, of high creative power, that exhilarates enlarges the imagination (Richard Chase, 1962:39). The novel is generally regarded as an encyclopedia of many things: history, religion, philosophy and so on, in addition to a detailed account of human beings'''' encroachment on nature (Wu, 1998). There were pieces of analysis which deal with Moby Dick. For instance, the data showed that when came to the researches of Moby Dick in China by 1997, there were more than 90 essays commenting on Moby Dick had been collected in China''''s National Knowledge Infrastructures. Some of them refer to its symbolic meaning. For example, Chen (1997) said 'from the point of nature, Moby Dick was nature itself; and in terms of social politics it was the capitalist system; and it was the incarnation of evil if we analyze it from the point of good and evil'. Chen (1997) also considered Moby Dick was the symbol of the power of God. In addition, about the whale''''s color, Liu (2005) thought 'white is the symbol of pureness and innocent and on behalf of the mysteries of the universe'. When readers read the whole novel carefully, they can find that the glittering part moving readers most is the multiple symbolic meanings in the novel. The thesis will carry out a detailed analysis of the symbolic meaning in this book from three aspects as follows.

4. 计划与进度安排

OutlineI. IntroductionII. Symbolic meaning of the themes2.1 Symbolic meaning of revenge2.2 Symbolic meaning of man and natureIII. Symbolic meaning of two main clues3.1 Ahab and Moby Dick3.1.1 Symbolic meaning of Ahab3.1.2 Symbolic meaning of Moby Dick3.1.3 Symbolic meaning of White3.2 Ishmael and the hunting3.2.1 Symbolic meaning of Ishmael3.2.2 Symbolic meaning of Pequod3.2.3 Symbolic meaning of hunting3.2.4 Symbolic meaning of seaIV. The Thematic Meaning of Moby Dick4.1 The Criticism of Social Oppression 4.2 The Critique of Man#8217;s Crazy Plunder to NatureV. Conclusion Biography

5. 参考文献

[1] Bloom, Harold, ed. Herman Melville#8217;s Moby Dick. New York: Chelsea House, 1996. [2] Harriet, Todd A. The Quest in the Works of Herman Melville. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1996. [3] Herman, Melville. Moby-Dick. New York: Bantam, 1981.[4] Joseph, Campbell. The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology. New York: Viking Press, 1959.[5] Slade, Leonard A. Symbolism in Herman Melville#8217;s Moby Dick: From the Satanic to the Divine. Leviston, New York: E. Mellen Press, 1998.[6] William, Braswell. Moby-Dick is an Allegory of Humanity#8217;s Struggle with God. Leone, 1949.[7] 常耀信.《美国文学选读》[M].天津:南开大学出版社,1991.[8] 陈秋红.《白鲸》象征意义的文化阐释[J].外国文学研究. 1997(2):96-99.[9] 耿晓京. 对《白鲸》两位主人公的剖析[D]. 南京师范大学, 2003:10.[10] 李晓宁.《人生﹒悲剧﹒启示－论《白鲸》中死亡的象征意义》.四川外语学院学报, 2004年3月，第20卷第2期.[11] 刘杰的《论〈白鲸〉中的象征意义》.佳木斯大学社会科学学报.2005年3月,第23卷第2期.[12] 虞建华.《20部美国小说名著评析》[M].上海:上海外语教育出版社, 1989.[13] 王平.《白鲸》主题意义的三种解读[J]. 安徽工业大学学报, 2008 (9):105[14] 王义. 解读《白鲸》中人鲸冲突暗指[D]. 山东: 山东师范大学, 2011.[15] 张宏涛. 象征主义作为现代主义开端的重要意义[D]. 山西大学, 2006:16-17

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