摘 要

贵族阶层是封建社会一个特殊的群体，他们享有一系列特权，包括政治、经济和文化特权，无论是欧洲贵族还是中国贵族，在革命风暴的洗礼下，都逐渐走向没落。查尔斯·狄更斯和老舍笔下的封建贵族阶层体现了与众不同的贵族形象，同时又存在很多异同点。

本文以《双城记》中查尔斯·达尔内和《茶馆》中常四爷为研究对象，探讨在社会变革中二人的异同，并分析其原因，进一步了解不同社会环境下封建贵族阶层的特点。本包括六部分。第一章介绍了两位作者及两部作品和研究近况；第二章介绍了两部作品发生的社会背景；第三章介绍了法国贵族和满族贵族在当时社会背景下的特点；第四章详细分析了查尔斯·达尔内和常四爷的异同点；第五章探讨了其原因；最后一部分为总结。

关键词：革命；查尔斯·达尔内；常四爷；比较

Abstract

The aristocratic class was a special group who enjoyed a series of privileges including political, economic privileges in feudal society. Under the revolutionary storm baptism, the class were declining gradually, no matter they were European aristocrat or Chinese aristocrat. The images of the aristocratic class in Charles Dickens’ and Lao She’s description were quite different from the fixed general image. Meanwhile, there were various similarities and differences between them. In this paper, taking Charles Darnay in A Tale of Two Cities and Chang Siye in Teahouse as the objects of study, this paper discusses the similarities and differences between Darnay and Chang Siye and the causes to reveal the characteristics of the feudal aristocratic class in the revolutionary storm.

This paper contains six parts. The first part is the introduction to the authors and their novels as well as the literature review; the second part tells the social backgrounds of the two works; the third part focus on the characteristics of the aristocratic class in the contemporary societies; the fourth part makes a detailed analysis of the similarities and differences between Darnay and Chang Siye; the fifth part discusses the causes of these similarities and differences; the last part is the conclusion.

Key words: revolution; Charles Darnay; Chang Siye; comparison

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Charles Dickens and A Tale of Two Cities 2

1.2 Lao She and Teahouse 2

1.3 Literature review 3

2 The Social Background of the Two Works 5

2.1 The French Revolution 5

2.2 The unsettled time in the first half century of the 20th century in China 6

3 The Sketch of the Feudal Aristocratic Class in France and China 7

3.1 The characteristics of the feudal aristocratic class in France 7

3.2 The characteristics of the feudal aristocratic class in China 8

4 A Detailed Appreciation and Comparison of Charles Darnay and Chang Siye 9

4.1 Analysis of the similarities of Charles Darnay and Chang Siye 9

4.1.1 Personality 9

4.1.2 The attitude towards the revolution 11

4.1.3 The social status 11

4.2 Analysis of the Differences of Charles Darnay and Chang Siye 12

4.2.1 The social status 12

4.2.2 Personality 12

4.2.3 The attitude towards the revolution 13

5 Analysis of the Causes of the Similarities and Differences of Charles Darnay and Chang Siye 14

5.1 Social context of the characters 14

5.2 Writing purpose of the writers 14

6 Conclusion 16

References 17

Acknowledgements 18

The Feudal Aristocratic class In The Revolutionary Storm

- The Comparison and Analysis of Charles Darnay in A Tale of Two Cities and Chang Siye in Teahouse

1 Introduction

We all know that Dickens and Lao She are great writers in literary field. Dickens had a huge influence on Lao She’s writing style. There were many comparisons between Dickens and Lao She from the angles of humorous style, humanitarianism and the characteristics of the lower class. However, few studies focused on the two works, especially on the comparison of the feudal aristocratic class in the unsettled times. The two characters, Darnay in A Tale of Two Cities and Chang Siye in Teahouse were the typical representatives of French and Chinese aristocracy respectively in feudal society. Comparing the two works-A Tale of Two cities and Teahouse, we can discover that both stories happen in the revolutionary storm. A Tale of Two Cities exactly revealed the change of society through the joys and sorrows in a family. Teahouse reflected the overall social change in China for more than half a century through the rise and decline of Yutai Tea House. The fates of all the members were determined by the society, while the tragedy of them illustrate the suffering brought by the transformation.

Both Dickens and Lao She lived in the period of social transformation, experiencing the change of time, so they shared something in common when they depicted the images of the same kind of people(Zeng, 2015). Moreover, the aristocratic class itself have the similar social identity, economic status and political power. They were born with glory, with the privilege and servants at their service and live a superior life. Facing the social turmoil but with different forms and in different situations, they showed their attitude and behaviors. They had to either follow the declining fate or be changed or eliminated(Zeng, 2015). They represented the aristocratic class of France and China in the chaotic society. So this paper tries to make an original comparison and analysis of the two characters to reveal the changes of the declining aristocratic class and can give readers a new understanding of the two characters, the two works and the social changes in France and China. Furthermore, it’s a way to learn more about the history and culture of France and China.

1.1 Charles Dickens and A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens was one of the greatest novelists and humorists in the 19^th. He enjoyed a reputation all over the World. His works disclosed and criticized all levels of society with exquisite and artistic methods(Ahui, 2016). He was sent to work in a London factory at the age of ten. He experienced the tough life in London when the capitalism developed fast in Britain so that he wanted to criticize the British society and provide a mirror for contemporary Britain. A Tale of Two Cities is Charles Dickens’ most important historical novel. It was set in London and Paris and presented a rather vivid picture of the French society before and during the French Revolution. It was different from other historical novels in that the characters and plots were imaginary. Taking Doctor Manette as the main clue, Dickens mixed the unjust verdict of Doctor Manette, love between Luice and Darnay and revenge from Madame Defarge to reveal the repression from the aristocratic class, the poverty of the lower class and the evils of the development of capitalism(臧嫦艳, 2012). The characters’ destiny witnessed the revolution of the society, and in turn the unsettled time predict their tragedy. Charles Darnay hated bad behaviors of the class of privilege, even detested his families. In the social turmoil, facing great changes in political, economic and cultural life, he took a different attitude towards himself and the society.

1.2 Lao She and Teahouse

Lao She was a contemporary Chinese novelist and dramatist, whose works were unique in style, and made an outstanding position in literature history. He was famous for his unique Beijing cavity and humor all over the world. Teahouse was the Chinese classic works of contemporary drama which receives highly evaluation from readers and audiences at home and abroad. It was set in Beijing from the early 1900s to the founding of The People's Republic of China, revealing the intensified social contradictions. With all kinds of and all classes of people getting together, it formed a miniature society. A small tea house was a big world, which symbolized the various aspects of life and social transformation. The plot moved forward with the dialogue that vividly reflected the characteristics of both the main characters and the minor characters. There were over 70 characters in this work, all of whom were designed distinctively.

1.3 Literature review

Lots of studies have appeared about these two works respectively in recent years. From the angles of humorous style, selecting their representative works such as The Pickwick Papers and Lao She’s Lao Zhang’s Philosophy, this paper tried to analyze and compare humor from new perspectives, making other readers understand humor better. In terms of the individualized characters, Zhou Xiaowei describes the opposite attitude and endings of the same group-lower class in their different works. Liu Sumin divided the same group-ironic character into three types: educator, merchant and hypocritical people to present the similar writing skills on ironic writing of Dickens and Lao She.

As for A tale of two cities, previous researches were mainly about the themes, characters ,humorous language, writing styles, the sources of Dickens’ description of the novel and his attitude towards the French Revolution(Fu, 2016).

In 1921, J. A. Falconer published “The Sources of A Tale of Two Cities”. He thought that Dickens was deeply influenced by Carlyle’s The French Revolution and pointed out that Collins exerted an important influence on A Tale of Two Cities. In 1977, John and Mc Williams published an essay“Progress without Politics: A Tale of Two Cities”. This essay showed that Dickens had little faith in political progresses, distrusted all institutional progress and feared of revolutionary violence. In 2009, the book Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cites and the French Revolution edited by Colin Jones, Josephine Mc Donagh, and Jon Mee came out. According to them, this book enlarged the understanding of the French Revolution and gave the readers brand-new interpretations of the novel. In China, the study of A Tale of Two Cities continued to follow the convention established in the previous century by focusing on the following aspects: the creative ideas and themes, characters, writing skills, the French Revolution. Zhang Ahui analyzed the irony from the perspective of speech act theory which was different from the humor and irony use in the novel. In the article “Analysis of Dickens’ humanitarianism from A Tale of Two Cities”, Yi Shuquan thought that the novel centrally and vividly shows Dickens’ humanitarian spirit, which still has the positive side and the negative side. Guo Yanan and Han Meizhu concluded that Dicken’s benevolent spirit paid much attention to the stability of the society, praised people’s efforts to use their love to dissolve hatred, emphasized that people should chase material wealth and spiritual happiness through their own hard work, and cared about children’s living and education, which were worth learning. Chen Qiao studied the heroin personalities about Lucie and points out that Lucie was a kind and loving person who was different from Madame Defarge. Luice transformed her hatred into love and many people were touched by her action. Li Na made a comparative study about the self-sacrifice spirits between A Tale of Two Cities and The Great Gatsby.

As for Teahouse, it received extensive attention from the researches of home and abroad. There were a lot of studies from different and comprehensive perspectives about Teahouse such as the structure of drama, the language charm, the character personalities and the national culture and artistic value reflected in it.

Yang Yingping highlighted the idea of aesthetic character of Teahouse, and argued that the means of expressing aesthetics presents a epic drama and made the audience not lost in the dark age, instead, thought spontaneously with the stylized people in the drama. And he thought Lao She’s unique description about stylized characters in the Tea House fully reflected the theme, ideological connotation and artistic value. In the article “ On Teahouse”, the Japanese writer Shikang Jingyi pointed out the symbolism of the scene and characters, which revealed the contradictions of the contemporary society. Han Yuan regarded the Beijing cavity as a distinct style to show Lao She’s love for Beijng custom and the highest pursuit of literature.

2 The Social Background of the Two Works

2.1 The French Revolution

The French Revolution was a series of social and political upheavals that occurred in France dating from 1789 to 1799, which overthrew the monarchy, aristocracy and religious privileges and finally established a republic. The new liberal and radical ideas such as endowed human rights and separation of three powers took the place of old principles.