摘要
本篇论文主要探讨了三位现代评论家对于《弗罗斯河上的磨房》的评论，并在此基础上进一步挖掘出：在他们对小说的精彩阐述中，虽然切入点不尽相同，却都在不同程度上直接或间接的证明了小说的结构一致性这一观点。本篇论文借此证明，《弗罗斯河上的磨房》不仅具有丰富的道德内涵和社会意义，给人以启迪， 还具备了完整严谨的结构框架，给人以艺术美的享受。
在这三位评论家中，K. M.牛顿（K. M. Newton）明确提出：《弗罗斯河上的磨房》是一个有机的整体，小说的结尾是属于这个有机体不可分割的一部分。着重于他对小说中丰富的“回忆”世界的阐述，本篇论文在这一部分展示了牛顿对“回忆”在小说中所起的两个重要作用的阐述是如何有助于我们欣赏小说所具备的结构一致性。通过将他关于“回忆”的论点扩展到两个具体的主题——家以及对哥哥的爱，小说结尾与其他部分的一致性就表现的更加突出和明确。和牛顿一样，莎丽·沙特尔沃斯（Sally Shuttlworth）也从心理分析的角度对小说进行了评论。不过与前者不同的是，沙特尔沃斯的着重点在于讨论乔治·艾略特对有机一致论的矛盾态度。基于这一点，她从小说的叙事结构和人物心理两个不同的角度充分展示了乔治·艾略特的这一矛盾态度。本文从这两个角度出发，分别探讨了沙特尔沃斯的论点与小说结构一致性的微妙关系，并从中得出结论：无论是从小说分裂的叙事结构，还是从人物的两分心理世界看，小说女主人公的命运以及最后的洪水片段不仅充分展示了这一分裂性，更是这一分裂性的产物。本文讨论的最后一位评论家，南茜·亨利（Nancy Henry），则从乔治·艾略特的生平经历，特别是她与十九世纪英国帝国主义和殖民主义的关系角度，对《弗罗斯河上的磨房》进行了另人耳目一新的评论。借用大量的有关作者的生平资料，亨利主要探讨了乔治·艾略特作为殖民文学的阅读者，移民青年的母亲以及帝国事业的投资人是如何影响到她对《弗罗斯河上的磨房》这一作品的创作。本文特别关注了亨利所讨论的前两个角色，并从中展开探讨了有关性别角色错位和家在移民青年的心理危机中所起到的双重作用这两个主题。在对这两个主题的深入讨论中，作者都发现小说主人公玛格的命运归宿即可以说是亨利所提出的性别角色互换的结果，也可以说是家的双重作用在玛格的最后死亡中的戏剧化体现。
通过对这三位评论家论点以及对文本的深入研究，本篇论文希望能够驳斥那些认为小说的结尾是多余的，或者认为乔治·艾略特在《弗罗斯河上的磨房》的结尾处理上缺乏成熟思考的观点。从本篇论文的探讨可以看出，《弗罗斯河上的磨房》在结尾的艺术处理上是成功的，不仅揭示了小说的结构完整性，更表现了乔治·艾略特在处理小说主题以及艺术结构两方面的杰出才能。
This thesis examines the critical studies of three great modern critics of The Mill on the Floss and explores the diverse and complex ways in which their arguments contribute to prove the structural unity in the novel.
K. M. Newton’s Memory and The Mill on the Floss, among the three critical studies, stands out as one who explicitly upholds the views of the end of the novel forming an organic part of the whole novel. Focusing on his discussion of the psychological world of memory, this study shows how his understanding of the two important roles memory plays in the novel can help us to appreciate the novel as a single structure. As the discussion moves from his general concept of memory into its more specific contents—home and infantile union with the brother, the close tie between the ending and the preceding parts of the novel appears to be more salient. Similar approach of psychoanalysis is adopted by Sally Shuttlworth, who however, focuses on exploring George Eliot’s divided allegiance to the organicist principles of unity and finds that the psychological world of the novel consists of two levels—consciousness and unconsciousness. This study traces this duality running through Eliot’s presentation of the characters’ inner world, especially that of Maggie and comes to a conclusion that Maggie’s death in the final scene is largely determined by Eliot’s ambivalent attitudes towards an unified schema in historical development. In arguing that George Eliot’s close involvement with the mid-nineteenth-century British imperialism and colonialism has influenced her writing of The Mill on the Floss, Nancy Henry draws widely on the biographical material of George Eliot, examining her relationship with the emigrant sons and reading experience of colonial literature, from which two themes of the novel are explored, including the gender roles and the ambivalent view of home. This study gives particular attention to these two issues and achieves such impressions in the discussion of each issue that Maggie’s death in the final episode is structurally relevant or even indispensable to the artistic design of the novel as an organic whole.
Through its detailed examination of these three critics’ arguments and the related textual evidence, this study challenges the commonly held belief that The Mill on the Floss, though rich in its moral implications, has artistic flaw as betrayed in George Eliot’s failure in arranging a proper conclusion for the novel. The Mill on the Floss, perceived in this light, betrays the author’s great genius in both handling moral questions and artistic construction.
引文
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