_献给艾米莉的玫瑰_中女主人公艾米莉的性格特征解析_英文_

科技信息SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION2010 年 第 23期 Emily Grierson is the tragic main character in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily.” Since Faulkner reveals little of Emily’s inner self, her character largely remains in mystery. This essay thus tries to analyze Emily’s character, to see how it conducts her behavior, affects her life choice, and eventually, drives her to a tragic end. One intrinsic character of Emily is the arrogance of old South aristocrats. Such arrogance mostly originates in her family background. Emily’s father, the stubborn defender of traditional morals, imposes his rigid ideas of social status on her. He holds that the Griersons are the noblest in town, and thus drives away all of Emily’s young admirers, who he considers too humble to be associated with the Griersons. Under her father’s long influence, Emily develops a strong sense of superiority and arrogance. She stubbornly “[carries] her head high enough” even when her family is fallen. Out of pride, she neither admits her problems nor communicates her difficulties with the town people. Such arrogance isolates her from her environment, and fastens her downfall. Until her very death, the town people “[do] not even know she [is] sick,” and has “long since given up trying to get any information” about her. If Emily swallowed her foolish pride to accept the town people’s sympathy and help, her life might move in a different direction. Emily also suffers from mental disorder, indicated by her morbid understanding of time and death. This mental illness partly develops from the permanent psychological damage brought to her by her father. By forbidding her to socialize with any young men in town, Emily’s father literally seals her from the outside world. He makes himself the only human companion in her life, and therefore after his death, she suddenly becomes completely alone. Naturally, she can neither accept nor deal with this abrupt change, which eventually leads to her nervous breakdown. In a troubled mental state, she confuses the notion of life and death when she refuses to acknowledge her father’s death, as if death is not the end of life, but a way to preserve life in eternity. Besides the confusion of life with death, she also fails to distinguish reality from illusion, or to tell the difference between present and past. Mental sufferings have made her retreat to an illusional inner world, where time remains motionless, and her life unaffected by any outside events. Therefore, when the new authorities in town call on her to collect tax, she refuses to recognizes the present sheriff, and orders the new authorities to consult Colonel Sartroris, a man who is already dead for ten years. The incapability to follow the pace of time results in another significant character of Emily, stubbornness. She clings to the past so obstinately that she rejects changes at any degree. Her house remains in an ancient style though its surroundings have long been converted into a modern fashion. Her every personal belonging is so unusually antiquated that even her writing paper is “of archaic shape.” She refuses to employ any modern facilities or services, so when the whole town has applied the postal service system, she alone “[refuses] to let them fasten the numbers above her door and attach a mail box to it.” Her stubbornness is most obvious shown in her refusal to pay tax, when she unreasonably insists “I have no taxes in Jefferson” no matter how hard the town authorities try to persuade her. In a word, Emily’s stubbornness is so fierce, that once she has made a decision, nothing can reverse or challenge it. Once she has establishes a belief, she will cling to it until her death. This unreasonable inflexibility would eventually leads to her killing Homer Barron, her former fiancé. Arrogance, mental confusion and stubbornness, these three traits all together shape Emily into an eccentric chracter. However, Emily also has the typical trait of an ordinary girl, an instinctive thirst for love. Such natural passion has always been under her father’s strict suppression until it is evoked by Homer Barron, the man she passionately and unconditionally loves. With Homer, the introverted and conventional Emily could be aggressive and rebellious, and she would break any social or moral code for him. Homer is neither from decent family background nor morally noble. What is more, he has openly stated that he “[likes] men” and that he is “not a marrying man.” Therefore, Emily’s relationship with Homer is blamed as “a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young people.” However, she ignores all the denouncements. The more people gossip about her “indecent” behavior, the more devoted she is to Homer. Even the Baptist minister, who is supposed to be the highest authority in town, cannot persuade her out of the relationship with him. Neither can her family, led by her cousins, change her mind. Her public driving with Homer in a “yellow-wheeled buggy” and her openly buying personal gifts for him are nothing but the frank demonstrations of her love, and the defiant parades of her happiness. She wants the world to see her determination to guard her love with Homer. In this sense, Emily is almost a lovely woman. In a conclusion, Emily’s character is a mixture of arrogance, mental confusion, stubbornness and a nature passion for love. Such a complicated character contributes to her life tragedy. Her long suppressed passion for love, once awakened by Homer, immediately grows into a blind obsession. When Homer betrays and deserts her, her arrogant mind refuses to accept this painful truth, and her uncompromising obstinacy drives her to save their relationship at any price. In the confusion over life and death, she ends up with murdering Homer, through which she can finally preserve him securely and forever in the eternality of death. From the moment she murders Homer, Emily’s long bitter suicide literally begins. Since then, her passion for love, the animation and vitality that makes her a woman, has been buried alive. She struggles desperately for freedom and love, but still cannot break away from the destructive force of her dark character. She is a deformed rose that grows up from a twisted seed and in a twisted environment, and eventually withers in sheer loneliness and misery. 【References】 ［1］Faulkner, William. A Rose for Emily. Logan: Perfection Learning Corp, 2007. 作者简介：林予婷，女，北京师范大学语言文学学院。 ［责任编辑：王静］ The Analysis on Emily’s Character in A Rose for Emily 《献给艾米莉的玫瑰》中女主人公艾米莉的性格特征解析 林予婷 (北京师范大学 中国 北京 100875) 【Abstract】This essay analyzes the character of Emily Grierson in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily.” Arrogance, mental confusion, stubbornness and a nature passion for love have all together shaped Emily, and have eventually led to her doom. 【Key words】Emily Grierson；“A Rose for Emily”；Character 科 ● ○外语论坛○ 764