摘 要

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Life and experience of William Somerset Maugham 1

1.2 Introduction of the book 1

2. The Theory on Binary Opposition 3

2.1 Definition.........................................................................................................3

2.2 Literature review 3

3. Binary Opposition in Characterization..................................................................5

3.1 The contradiction between idealist and realist.................................................5

3.2 The opposition of rationalist and artist.............................................................8

3.3 The opposition between spiritual love and mundane love.............................11

4.Conclusion 14

References 15

Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................16

Abstract

William somerset Maugham was a famous British realist writer in the late 19th and early 20th century. His works are charming because they are calm and objective. The moon and six pence is one of his representative works.

The academic research on this work mainly focuses on the theme, narrative skills, artistic features and so on. This study attempts to introduce binary opposition in The Moon and Sixpence. There are many binary oppositions in this novel. The title, The Moon and Sixpence, is also one of these. This study analyzes three aspects of binary opposition: the contradiction between idealist and realist, the opposition of rationalist and artist, the opposition between spiritual love and mundane love. Binary opposition includes lots of theories. For example Descartes’ mind-matter dualism and spatial theory etc.. This paper used Descartes’ mind-matter dualism, and spatial theory, and John Lee’s rainbow of love theory to analyze characterization’s binary opposition. The first aspect analyzes the opposition between idealist and realist through comparing Maugham’s another fiction, The Razor’s Edge, with this novel to express that Strickland chose ideal and was an idealist, and compares Strickland with Stroevey to embody personal character’s opposition. Maugham wanted to express that there are different kinds of people in this world. The second aspect analyzes the contradiction of rationalist and artist via utilizing spacial theory and Descartes’ mind-matter dualism to reflect that people chose art when they firmly believed that art is above matter, even if art is based on matter. The third part utilizes the theory of rainbow of love to analyze spiritual love and mundane love between Strickland and three women, and gets a conclusion that Strickland produced many great works because of nourishing by spiritual love.

Maugham has always been a controversial writer in the history of literature. With a bumpy life, he has a particular understanding of people and society, especially when it comes to human shortcomings. In his novels, Maugham usually uses the way of binary opposition to express his views on human nature.

Keywords: The Moon and Six Pence; Personal Character; Binary Opposition

中文摘要

威廉·萨默塞特·毛姆是 19 世纪末 20 世纪初英国著名的现实主义作家。他的作品因既冷静又客观因而充满魅力。《月亮与六便士》是毛姆的代表作之一。

学界关于该部作品的研究主要集中在小说的主题、叙事技巧、艺术特色等方面。本研究尝试介绍《月亮与六便士》中的二元对立。这篇小说中有许多二元对立，小说的标题--月亮和六便士就是其中之一。文章分别从理想主义者和现实主义者的对立、理性主义者和艺术家的对立以及思特里克兰德与三个女性之间世俗之爱与精神之爱的对立三个方面对人物塑造进行分析。二元对立包含许多理论，比如笛卡尔的心物二元论和空间理论等等。这篇论文就利用了心物二元论和空间理论以及约翰李的爱情彩虹理论去分析人物塑造的二元对立。第一部分分析理想主义者与现实主义者的对立是通过将《月亮和六便士》与毛姆的另一部小说《刀锋》相对比，表达思特里克兰德选择了理想，是一名理想主义者。毛姆通过对比思特里克兰德和施特略夫，体现出人物性格的对立，他想要表达出这个世界上存在着各种各样的人。第二部分用空间理论和笛卡尔的心物二元论来分析理性主义者和艺术家的对立，反映出当人们坚信艺术高于物质时，人们会的选择倾向于艺术，即使艺术以物质为基础。第三部分用爱情彩虹理论来分析思特里克兰德和三位女士之间的精神之爱和世俗之爱的对立，并且得出结论在精神之爱的滋润下，思特里克兰德创作出许多巨作。

在文学史上，毛姆受到很大的非议,他一生曲曲折折,对人与社会有着特别的见解，尤其是在人性的缺点这一部分。在他的小说中，毛姆通常是利用二元对立的方法来表达他对于人性的见解。

关键词：《月亮和六便士》；二元对立理论；人物性格

Introduction

1.1 Life and Experience of William Somerset Maugham

William Somerset Maugham was born in Paris in 1874 and passed away in 1965 in France. Maugham created many novels through taking Britain and France as the theme. He was called fictionist and dramatist. One of his most famous novels is The Moon and Sixpence Maugham had an important position in 20^th century England. Maugham used objective and quiet ways to analyze people’s features. He hoped to express that fate is full of calamities in his novels. Not only did Maugham want to pursue a new era of self-worth in the Victorian era, but also he did not hope to overturn Victorian heritage. Thus, the characters of his novels tried to go after ideal after weighing the reality and the ideal. The most representative one is Strickland in The Moon and Sixpence Through describing other peoples in his novels, Maugham demonstrated different binary oppositions.

1.2 Introduction of the book

This novel describes an Britain man whose name is Strickland. Although he had a happy family, he still loved painting. Thus, one day, Strickland discarded his family to Paris to learn drawing. In others' eyes, Strickland must have went mad because of painting to give up his well-to-do life. Everyone looked down and saw sixpence everywhere, but only Strickland looked up and saw the moon in the sky. Through such description, Maugham wanted to reflect the opposition between ideal and reality.

In Paris, Mr. Stroeve believed Mr. Strickland was a genius and tried his best to satisfy Strickland's need without requiring a return. Even though Strickland carried of

Stroeve's beloved wife. Mr. Stroeve still hoped Strickland could go to Netherlands with him to draw pictures. Maugham expressed the opposition of matter and art via this way.

Throughout this novel, Mr. Strickland fell in love with three women in succession. However, Strickland just wanted to cope with mundane life via the first two women. Only the last one can satisfy his spiritual needs and help him to finish many masterpieces one by one. From this, Maugham tried to demonstrate the opposition between spiritual love and mundane love.

The Theory on Binary Opposition

2.1 Definition

The concept of binary opposition is that it seems to represent two contradictory but interdependent relationships. Binary opposition also refers to different aspects of the same thing, if you look at something from different angles.