《双城记》中查尔斯·狄更斯的人道主义

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摘 要

查尔斯·狄更斯是十九世纪一位典型的批判现实主义作家。人道主义精神是狄更斯作品不变的话题，他的作品《双城记》也深刻地反映了这一点。本文将从狄更斯的政治态度、对小说中不同类型角色的刻画、小说中所蕴含的宗教主题三个方面分析《双城记》中所体现的狄更斯的人道主义精神。然而，由于狄更斯的资产阶级身份，他的人道主义带有着自身的局限性。但是其资产阶级局限性并没有减弱他的人道主义对他所处的时代所产生的积极影响，而且这种精神在当今世界仍有积极的借鉴意义。

关键词：查尔斯·狄更斯；《双城记》；人道主义

Contents

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………1
2. Literature Review…………………………………………………………2
3. Humanitarianism Embodied in Dickens’ Political Attitude…………3

3.1 Dickens’ ambivalence about the Revolution and the revolutionaries………4

3.2 Social reformation…………………………………………………………5

1. Humanitarianism Embodied in Characterization……………………….5

4.1 Negative characters………………………………………………………6

4.2 Contradictory characters…………………………………………………6

4.3 Ideally positive characters…………………………………………………9

5. Humanitarianism Embodied in the Means of Religious Salvation……9

5.1 Human love………………………………………………………………10

5.2 Spiritual resurrection………………………………………………………11

6. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………12

Works Cited…………………………………………………………………...14

1. Introduction

Charles Dickens is regarded as the greatest English novelist and a literary genius of the Victorian period in the 19th century and made significant contribution to British literature. Domestic academics generally regard him as “the reflector and critic of English capitalism, and the backbone of Victorian’s morality.” (Zhao 35) In a word, he is the conscience of Victorian England. He has created some most memorable fictional characters and his works and short stories have enjoyed everlasting applaud. His works, including A Tale of Two Cities and many other masterpieces, such as Oliver Twist and David Cooperfield, all have condemned the darkness of British parliamentary system, laws, judiciary and prison, but they are just made up a tiny part of the content. Around the year of 1857, Dickens decided a writing of history, especially a work of reflecting the Revolution breaking out from 1789 to 1794.

In Victorian era, since poverty, child labor and prostitution could be noticed everywhere and the Revolution strongly exerted inspiring influence upon people under oppression, people focused more attention on human beings themselves, therefore leading to the trend towards humanitarianism. Humanitarianism, dating from the Renaissance, historically focused on human, calling for qualities of kindness, charity, and love to all human beings. Now it has extended to the grounds of age, race, or religion. Charles Dickens chose humanitarianism as his main theme and brought it to a summit.

The Crimean War in 1853 and the Panic in 1857 brought great concern to Dickens for British future under this unrest and gloomy situation. Accordingly, Dickens wanted a way of giving vent to his anger and anxiety and to waken up the self-satisfied British government. Due to these concerns and after years of conceiving, Dickens gave birth to the great work he’s ever made, A Tale of Two Cities.

A Tale of Two Cities is set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. It has given a real account of the reason and the main outline of the Revolution and it has depicted the sufferings of the French peasantry demoralized by aristocrats in the years before the Revolution, the brutality demonstrated by revolutionaries towards the former aristocrats, and many sad social parallels with life in London during the same period. Dickens has created many characters which served as living embodiment or opposition of his humanitarianism. His sympathizing with the oppressed people, refuting and railing at violent revolution, epitomize his humanitarianism in action. The involvement of Christianity is his humanitarianism in spiritual aspect.

2. Literature Review

In English literary history, Charles Dickens is the one and only that rivals William Shakespeare and his humanitarianism reflected in his works deserves everlasting discussion. By now, scholars have been mainly focusing on three important perspectives.

First, scholars mostly analyze the characterization in this novel. A Tale of Two Cities is a realistic novel. It carries Dickens’ lifetime pursuit of spiritual realization and meaning of life. The analysis has divided the characters into three kinds: the aristocrats represented by Evrémonde brothers, the revolutionaries exemplified by the Defarges, and the ideal ones illustrated with the Manettes and Charles Darnay. After the dividing process, lessons are drawn “Dickens teaches the lesson that relentless implacability, unrelieved by any sense of proportion, let alone mercy, will meet the end expressed in the old saying about those who live by the sword.” (Newlin 3)

Second, the reason why the violent means was exerted is given great attention. Previously, people considered it was originated from many aspects. One significant aspect is due to the long-lasting feudal regime, bringing pains and sufferings to its people. Another one is the uncontrolled social order and the undying desire of war, breaking up the peace forged between the King and the Bourgeois class. Thus, researchers arrive at a conclusion the violent means is advisable. “Good things are the same as bad ones. They are all achieved by subversion and violence. And there is no way more efficient.” (Migne 56) On the basis of former efforts, recent studies show much interest in the spirit of revolution and denying the negative effects the French Revolution has created.

Third, the humanitarianism in this novel has had considerable attraction. The Defarges are the center of this heated discussion. Used as the starting point, the Defarges’ cruelty and violence serve as a foil to Dr. Manette’s charity and fraternity. The rest of the scholars research on humanitarianism from Dickens himself and has found out his humanitarianism is not a universal one and has its own limit, which is bourgeois comfort and satisfaction and results in “Dickens tried hard to fly but got encumbered by this lumpish time.” (Zhao 27)

This paper, on the basis of former researches, concentrates on Dickens’ humanitarianism by analyzing Dickens’ political attitude and his characterization. It further explores the deeper implication from a Christian point of view.

3. Humanitarianism Embodied in Dickens’ Political Attitude

England experienced far less bloodshed than France did and Dickens took pride in this. His political attitude stemmed from the relatively smooth path England had once come through. Mildness, getting rid of unnecessary killing, and echoing with people, represent the English version. Dickens’ humanitarianism lies in his preference for a mild revolution without blood. Unfortunately, the French Revolution went an opposite way and Dickens’ expectation for the similar outcome turned out into meaningless massacre and devastation of humanity. Therefore, Dickens was ambivalent about the Revolution and the revolutionaries, from definite support to serious blame and consistently had faith in a humanitarian way of social reformation leading to a new social order.

3.1 Dickens’ ambivalence about the Revolution and the revolutionaries

Dickens had a swinging attitude towards the French Revolution and the revolutionaries, mainly owing to his bourgeois ideology and social status, and the Glorious Revolution Britain had gone through. Dickens sympathized with the oppressed. However, while he exalted the overthrow of the incapable aristocracy and the corrupt system of feudal France, he detested the violent means, moral disorder and dehumanization about which the revolution has brought.

At first, Dickens championed the Revolution with enthusiasm due to ordinary people rising up against oppression, throwing away outdated traditions and worthless pomp and ceremonies that had once surrounded the old regime, and the heroes coming up from the ordinary regarded as the savior of this old decadent country, hence he spoke highly of this revolution as the spirit of that age. He depicted the preparation before the Revolution in an epic way, such as “As a whirlpool of boiling water has a centre point,……, already begrimed with gunpowder and sweat,……, disarmed one to arm another, laboured and strove in the thickest of the uproar.”(Dickens 221) But as the time passed and the revolutionaries became increasingly crazy, the revolution culminated in the execution of the royal family and the notorious Reign of Terror, a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the Revolution and marked by mass execution of enemies of the revolution. Dickens, then, became shocked and was at a loss, wondering and afraid of revolutionary spirit being tainted with darkness and human blood.

As for the revolutionaries, Dickens did sympathized with their sufferings and showed great admiration for their courage, faith, spirit of rebellion and perseverance at the first hearing of the revolution. However, as the Revolution became more and more malicious, the aggregate of distress and sorrow preserved since pre-revolutionary time had only to be collectively converted into its opposite and more extreme form, acting as an angry mob. Swept up by the terror, Dickens’ sympathy and applaud had been diluted and finally given up by himself, despising and abhorring the viciousness and mindlessness as the revenge becoming unavoidable, “their hideous countenances were all bloody and sweaty, and all awry with howling, and all staring and glaring with beastly excitement and want of sleep.”(Dickens 271)

3.2 Social reformation

The Revolution was then neither constructive nor beneficial. Instead, it was destructive, turning into a vicious circle. In the opening chapter, Dickens aimed to show the feudal France lagging behind and England, favored by god, proceeded smoothly but lawlessly. It seemed ridiculous and grim that both of them had kings who clung to their divine right to rule, but the results have polarized dramatically. France, less favored by god, inflicted poverty, corruption, incompetence of ruling and inflation under the old-fashioned regime. England, much frequented by spiritual revelation, was not taking full advantage of god’s favor. Dickens tried to decry English government’s blindness, lawlessness and disorder depicted in the opening chapter. He appealed to English government for the awareness of the circumstances of the society. Dickens’ message was that England could be redeemed if the chaos was responded to efficiently and tackled appropriately in time. In addition, Dickens wished a policy of benevolence be applied to console and govern so as to avoid bloodshed and violence.

While urging the rulers to be more humane and compassionate, Dickens preached a sermon of forbearance and forgiveness at the oppressed. After the Revolution, revolutionaries turned into living beasts, thirsty for blood and killing. The impression of courage, fraternity and liberalism previously embedded in Dickens’ mind totally collapsed. He stopped his exalting to warn people that revolutionary means was not a right path to justice. Dickens called on forbearance rather than fierce revolt, forgiveness rather than furious revenge. Through the sharp contrast, Dickens was determined to persuade ordinary people and the upper-class people to discard individual cruelty and indulgence, and to be sympathetic and tolerant in order to get rid of the possibility of violent conflicts as soon as possible.

4. Humanitarianism Embodied in Characterization

The characterization in A Tale of Two Cities differs greatly from that in Dickens’ other masterpieces which are fraught with comic and unforgettable characters with humorous dialogue. Some critics hold that the characters in A Tale of Two Cities are much less memorable except the heroes and the villains, while other critics consider the lack of impressive characters a merit rather than a drawback. Thus, Dickens’ purpose was to demonstrate a panorama of the dehumanizing effect of the Revolution and to restore the happenings and the twisted human nature in his imagination. His chief artistic object is the specific French society while his characters in the novel are reflection of the society and the key characters the essential parts of it. So the characters in A Tale of Two Cities are more or less experimental and also they are typical and impressive in a different way.

Readers can have a clear vision of Dickens’ castigation of the cruel oppressors, his compassion of the suffering oppressed, the glorification of human virtues such as love, forgiveness, sacrifice and loyalty which feature his bourgeois humanitarianism through three kinds of characters.

4.1 Negative characters

In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens made a harsh comment on the debauched, brutal and morbid aristocrats, represented by Monseigneur and Marquis. As the representative of feudal power, Monseigneur’s corrupt way of life, vulgarity, smugness and cruelty are depicted fully. “his morning’s chocolate could not so much as get into the throat of Monseigneur without the aid of four strong men besides the cook.”(Dickens 109) Except his troublesome chocolate-eating description, his indifference to life is also completely displayed when a child was killed by his furious carriage, “It is extraordinary to me……that you people cannot take care of yourselves and your children.”(Dickens 116)

The brothers Evrémonde, especially Marquis, are the absolutely negative characters who imprisoned innocent people at will such as Dr. Manette’s eighteen years of incarceration, illustrating the depravity and the decadence of the feudal noble class, incompetent to govern and gradually turning to be dandy and extravagant, their industry and function being that of dressing gracefully and eating sumptuously. Dickens greatly marveled at their total carelessness to the potential riot. The aristocrats represented by Marquis in A Tale of Two Cities are the direct incentive to the Revolution and their miserable endings are destined by their harsh deeds and indifference to life. As is shown at the conclusion of Chapter 9, Marquis was stabbed to death, “Driven home into the heart of the stone figure attached to it was a knife……paper, on which was scrawled: Drive him fast to his tomb. This, from Jacques.”(Dickens 135)

As it has mentioned above, it’s unavoidable that Marquis and Monseigneur, feudal aristocrats, former oppressors and exploiters or squeezers, will definitely embrace their ruthless endings, and they have only themselves to blame. Dickens showed his humanitarianism in his resolution to curse these negative characters to death and in his contempt for them.

4.2 Contradictory characters

The contradictory characters are not these contradictory-minded beings living in the novel. They are the characters who previously won Dickens’ heart completely, but as the Revolution coming to its peak they deserted their original purpose and became revenge-takers. Disappointed as Dickens was, he changed his attitude and got down to condemn them. Although Dickens censured the revolutionaries, his ambivalent attitude towards the revolutionaries mainly owed to his bourgeois thought he possessed.

Madame Defarge, the most typical one, was described firstly as a courageous heroine and then as an evil vengeance. Born in a tenant family whose members were tarnished and persecuted, Madame Defarge lost her father, brother, sister and brother-in-law at an early age. Consequently, she had deep hatred of the Evrémonde and was determined to take revenge. Dickens completely understood her situation and wholeheartedly sympathized with her sufferings. Therefore, before the Revolution, Dickens appreciated her courage, determination and outstanding ability of putting things together. As the disorder emerged, Madame Defarge, an outstanding symbol of the ordinary crowd, became insanely malicious and terrifying. Dickens began to portray her as a cold-blooded and vicious devil who had become an entire defiance of his humanitarian criterion and, at last, Dickens deliberately made her killed under her own pistol, which clearly indicated his attitude.

Sydney Carton, a talented barrister but a depressed and cynical alcoholic in fact, is another exemplar of contradictory characters. His advent brought about a feeling of obscurity and negativity. He actually was a very quick-minded man but he was amazingly willing to stoop himself to be overshadowed by Mr. Stryver, who was an arrogant ambitious barrister. In other word, Carton was a man having no knowledge of self-respect and no progressive purpose of life. As the plot carries on, Carton had fallen in an unrequited love with Lucie since he first met her. He then made a commitment to Lucie to rescue Darnay without hesitation but he never gave any hint of the means of self-sacrifice. However, this formerly indecent man profoundly explained Dickens’ humanitarianism at last in the way of self-sacrifice. He showed no fear of the scaffold or the guillotine, no sign of lingering on the imagination of his end and worldly life and he placed all his hope, longings and best wishes on Lucie, her husband and her baby. “I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy……I see her with a child upon her bosom, who bears my name……I see that child who lay upon her bosom……that my name is made illustrious there by the light of his. ”(Dickens 386)

His death didn’t take away his values and spirit, which would last permanently. Instead, his courage and faith testified Dickens’ humanitarianism in a heroic way, containing the circle of life from birth to death. Compared with other ideally positive characters who were morally complete and perfect, Carton represented a group of more real and normal people who were fighting against violence valiantly and selflessly.

Dr. Manette, the most typical humanitarian in this novel, showed his sympathy selflessly to all the people and he is shown as a special character owing to his ambivalence. At the very beginning, Dr. Manette, Lucie Manette’s father, once kept as a prisoner in the Bastille for eighteen years, viewed as a hero for his imprisonment in the hated Bastille and later successfully pleaded for his release, thought the Revolution was proper and inevitable. However, when his son-in-law Darnay, nephew of Marquis St. Evrémonde, put on trial again under new charges brought by the Defarges and Dr. Manette himself, known as the unnamed one, through the written account of his tough experience, was sentenced to death penalty, Dr. Manette then began to oppose people who revenged on others violently. Dr. Manette was horrified when he knew his words had been used to bring threat to Darnay. The letter which revealed Dr. Manette being imprisoned because the Evrémonde brothers had discovered that they could not bribe him to keep quiet, concluded by condemning the Evrémondes, “And them and their descendants, to the last of their race, I……denounce them to Heaven and to earth.” (Dickens 342) Dr. Manette was not only terrified, but also his protests were ignored, not allowed to take back his condemnation. Darnay was, thus, sent to the prison and sentenced to be guillotined the next day. After the trial, Dr. Manette put all his efforts into rescuing Darnay, while all his efforts turned out to be in vain.

Dr. Manette’s ambivalence was formed together with the changing situation in French. Before the outbreak of the Revolution, there was a long period of dictatorial regime in Paris. The society was hierarchical and was divided into rigidly different classes. Struggles and tragedies were happening all the time. The sweeping Revolution was once giving hope to all miserable people, including Dr. Manette. Similar to other citizens, he showed adequate advocation and enthusiasm. Just at that subtle moment, his complaint letter was seized by his enemies and this letter was a evidence resulting in his incarceration. Personal misery and less favored by destiny, he became the victim in this promising event and he admitted all the sufferings were an unredressed injustice that needed a storming correction.

4.3 Positive characters

Positive characters are the good examples that social conflicts can be solved by humanitarian means, and hatred can be counteracted by love. They are the embodiment of all kinds of moral virtues which support hope for all human beings. The representatives are Lucie Manette and Darnay.

Lucie Manette, daughter of Dr. Manette, loved her family, took good care of his father, adored her husband and cherished the reunion of the family. She was an ideal pre-victorian lady, perfect in every way. She also tied nearly every character in the book together. She is fashioned by Dickens into a combination of humanitarianism and fraternity, the golden thread throughout the novel. She suffered a lot of misery in her childhood, her father being incarcerated and mother dead in depression. In spite of her painful experience, she was not angered or filled with anguish at all. On the contrary, she consistently reclaimed people around her and moved them deeply. Dickens’ humanitarianism is incisively highlighted by her perfection.

Charles Darnay, a young French noble of the Evrémonde who left France for England in disgust at the cruelty of his family, made up his mind to return to France at tremendous risk to save the imprisoned Gabelle and unfortunately was arrested by French revolutionaries. Darnay is another nearly perfect character next only to Lucie. The characterization of Darnay mirrors the valuable quality of love and morality absent in other upper-class ones.

Dickens delicately portrayed Darnay and Lucie for the purpose of establishing a universally promising and positive moral standard in a savaged world, which exactly stands for his humanitarianism.

5. Humanitarianism Embodied in the Means of Religious Salvation

As a critical realist, Dickens possessed a strong sense of social justice and responsibility. In A Tale of Two Cities, meanwhile, Dickens showed his deep religious root and proposed a sense of salvation, and also his Christian is much more profound than people ever realized. “A close reading of their works shows that both writers were more profoundly religious than is often realised and that they responded to topical religious debates in their writing.” (Carolyn 2)

It’s common to see the religious element deeply rooted in Dickens’ mind. Christianity influences the Western civilization in many ways. To some extent, there is no Western culture without its Christian belief and the civilization is considered as the integration of Christianity. If Christ Jesus is eliminated from literature, it will become a blooding wound for the literature, as the saying goes. Accordingly, as the vehicle of civilization, literature often reflects religion in different ways. Therefore, A Tale of Two Cities, one of Dickens’ numerous works, owns its Christian impacts.

5.1 Human love

A Tale of Two Cities is the one that has mostly reflected humanitarianism, advocating universal love and mercy. The essence of Dickens’ humanitarianism lies in his belief in human love, which exactly stands for the hope and confidence he held for a peaceful and better social order rising up from the mess of the devastated French at the end of the novel. These two elements can turn a weak person into a strong and daring one, and convert an old and barely hopeful nation into a prosperous one. They are more powerful than hatred and revenge, and the source of equality, fraternity and union. People equipped with deep human love are incredible and possess infinite courage and strength to back them through any sufferings and hardship.

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