Analysis of the Female Images in The Moon and Sixpence《月亮与六便士》中的女性形象分析文献综述

 2021-12-30 20:51:03

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文献综述

1.IntroductionWilliam Somerset Maugham is a British novelist and playwright. His representative works include the drama Circle, the novel The Shackles of Life, The Moon and Sixpence, and the collection of short stories The Tremor of Leaves and so on. Maugham was born in Paris on January 25, 1874. After graduating from high school, he studied at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He studied medicine in London from 1892 to 1897 and obtained the qualification of a surgeon. His first novel Lisa of Lambeth was published in 1897. In 1915, he published the novel The Shackles of the World. During the First World War, Maugham went to France to join the field first aid team, and soon entered the British intelligence service to collect information about the enemy in Geneva; later he went to Russia to dissuade Russia from withdrawing from the war and had contact with Kerensky, the head of the interim government. In 1916, Maugham traveled to the South Pacific and then to the Far East many times. In 1920, he went to China and wrote a travel note On the Screen of China in 1922, and wrote a novel Color Scarf in 1925 with China as the background. Later, he went to Latin America and India. In 1919, the novel The Moon and Sixpence came out. Maugham settled on the Mediterranean coast of France in 1928. During the Second World War, he went to the United Kingdom and the United States to promote the joint anti-Germany, and wrote the novel Blade in 1944.The Moon and Sixpence was first printed in 1919. It is one of Maugham's most popular works, also known as the Three Wonders with his The Shackles of Human Nature and Blade. The novel is based on the life of the French impressionist painter Paul Gauguin, but it is not a biography, but a fictional work. The whole novel is roughly composed of three sections: the life of the protagonist in London and Paris, the life of the protagonist in Marseille, and the life of the protagonist in Tahiti. The novel revolves around the life of Charles Strickland. A broker on the British Stock Exchange, who had a solid career and status, and a happy family, but was obsessed with painting, suddenly abandoned his home and went to Paris to pursue the ideal of painting. No one could understand his behavior. He was not only physically suffering from poverty and hunger in a foreign country, but also suffering mentally in order to find ways of expression. After some bizarre encounters, the protagonist finally left the civilized world and fled to the isolated island of Tahiti. He finally found the tranquility of his soul and the atmosphere suitable for his artistic temperament. He lived with an aboriginal woman and created one masterpiece after another that shocked future generations. Before he contracted leprosy and became blind, he painted a great work representing the Garden of Eden on the walls of his house. But before his death, he ordered the indigenous women to burn the painting after his death.The protagonist of the novel, Strickland, had different emotional fetters with three important women in his life. The three important female characters were divided into three different types of women by Maugham: the inconsistent and the hypocritical Stricker Mrs. Rand; the bohemian Blanche who extinguishes moths for love; the perfect wife Aita, who was pure and innocent. They had different styles of life, but they all had a soft spot for Strickland. Therefore, through the interpretation and analysis of three important female characters appearing in the novel, this article seeks the intention and reason why Maugham had this tendency when portraying female characters.2. Literature review2.1 Researches abroadResearches on The Moon and Sixpence by foreign writers can mainly be categorized into the following types: (1) Focusing on Stricklands image and characteristic. Since Maugham was a fan of patriarchy, he created the image which was similar to himthat's Strickland. He agreed with male power and men's achievement that should be emphasized and their mistakes should be narrowed. Therefore, some of the authors and researchers kept their eyes on what Strickland had done on art and they showed great interests and praises on his great work and his fearless spirit. For example, some researches (Rogal S., 1997) stated that Strickland is an artist who refuses to compromise with the hypocritical conventions of his society. Also, some reseaches ( Halperin J., 1990) commented Maugham in such a way "the social man may assume masks, but as soon as he puts pen to paper and pretends to be someone else he can speak of nothing but himself." That means the way Maugham created Strickland is the real thinking of Maugham. No matter how Strickland treated his women, it all depended on Maugham's opinions. Besides, some of the researchers found out some similarities between Strickland and a famous painter Gauguin. Just like researches (Calder R., 1989) stated that Strickland is only 'loosely based upon Paul Gauguin' and 'more fictional than biographical'. He argued that Gauguin is the archetype of Strickland and Stricklands is fancier than Gauguin's life. Similarly, an anonymous author also compared Strickland with Paul Gauguin that both Strickland's and Gauguin's work are genius but few of them are left. So the author showed his great sympathy to Strickland's great work. Since Strickland is the hero in Maugham's book, the researches around him vary all the time. (2) Focusing on female's characteristic and behavior. When researchers pay more attention to women' situation, they sign for their tragic fate in patriarchal society. Some researches (Woodburn O. R., 1947) stated that women in Maugham's book have different characters but share same tragic fate because of their desire for sexual need, no matter how unsuitable their lover is. Some researches (Louise P.S., 1942) also stated that women's attempt to control their men is opposite to Maugham's new concept to marriage, which suggests to maintain one' s identity and independence. (3) Apart from the previous two aspects, some of the researchers also put their sights on the narrator in the novel. Some researches (Sheldon W. L., 1995) found that the narrator in the novel, who is the central character, is a cold-hearted man that he witnesses all the suffering of the women unfeelingly and he shows no sympathy or compassion to the other people. Some researches (Laurence W., 2014) noted that the narrator concluded an expurgated but harrowing account of the death from leprosy in Tahiti of the artist Charles Strickland, omitting all references to Strickland's Tahitian family, the woman Ata and her son. So in these authors eyes, the narrator played the most important role in this novel. Therefore, as people can see in the previous literature review, most of the literary critics put their eyes on the image of Strickland, who also conveyed the personal ideology of Maugham. Strickland was often praised by the public for his persistence in chasing his dream and his irresponsibility was less to blame. Even he treated all his women cruelly, people still feel sorry and pitiful for his great work being burnt. His deeds outweighed his faults. However, researches and judgments about the three main females are rare. Many of the researchers consider that the females see Strickland as their shelters and put themselves on a lower status.2.2 Researches at home The researches on this novel at home can be categorized into two main types. The first type of researches mainly focuses on Strickland's pursuit of art. Some people thought: he dared to chase the moon, he chose to face suffering and bad luck, and such loneliness was beyond our reach. No matter how the world treated him, he just pursued his dreams. Because life was short, you must have the courage to chase a dream, and the protagonist happened to have such courage. Some people commented that he should be criticized when he abandoned his family and his son, even for his dream. The second type is mainly judgments and explanations about the role of women characters from a traditional point of view. This kind of researches is as follows: Some people thought that the three women in The Moon and Sixpence have only perceptual obsessions and no rational pursuits. They can only kidnap them with emotion and lack rational speculation. Also, some researches, such as, Li Xiaohan(2018) pointed out that the three female characters all have good qualities, but the encounterings and endings of these three women are not good. This is the inevitable result of women in a patriarchal society. Men confine women to sex, fertility, and family affairs, ignore their sacrifices, and treat them as accessories, but they are in a dominant and controlling position. By reviewing the researches about Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence at home, people can obviously find that both the males and females are being judged. The judgments about Strickland were focused on his talent in painting and his determination without being afraid of the secular perspective. On the other hand, the understanding to the three main female characters was also varied. People noticed the situation of the three women and showed their sympathy to them according to the different traits of character of these women. Compared with the researches abroad, researches at home give more attention to the female issue and situation. In conclusion, most of the researchers mainly put their eyesight on the analysis of the hero, Strickland and very few of them thought highly of the female characters. Though some of the researchers showed their sympathy to the females in the novel, few of them analyzed the female characters from the author's characterization, such as their remarks and behaviors, as well as their psychological activities, since they are not as important as the major role like StricklandReferencesCalder, R. W. (1989). The life of Somerset Maugham. London: Heineman Educational Books.Fu, H. L. (2020). The "give-up" spirits in W. Somerset Maugham's "The moon and sixpence". International Journal of Social Science and Education Research, 2(1), 15-26.Hastings, S. S. (2010). The secret livers of Somerset Maugham. New York: Random House.Lv, Y., 恶人野人－从《月亮和六便士》女性形象的存在主义解读看毛姆妇女观，《攀枝花学院学报》，（06）：48-52。

王明霞（2014），从女性主义视角解读毛姆的《月亮和六便士》，《海外英语》，24：207-209。

张雪芹（2011），论《月亮和六便士》中毛姆的厌女情结，硕士学位论文。

石家庄：河北师范大学。

朱宾忠（2018），毛姆和他的《月亮与六便士》，《博览群书》，（5）：4448。

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