An Ethical Analysis On The Theme Of The Nigger Of The "Narcissus"

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) is recognized as one of the greatest English novelists at the beginning of the 20th century. Since Dr. F. R. Leavis incorporated his works into the chain of"the great tradition"of English novels in The Great Tradition (1948), Conrad has received constant attention from academic cycles at home and abroad. The Polish-born English writer has produced plenty of well-known sea novels after he spent more than twenty years in the sea, and The Nigger of the"Narcissus"(1897) is his first masterpiece of this genre.Literary ethical criticism has attracted the domestic critics'attention in recent years. Different from social ethics, it attempts to conduct an objective research on literature from ethical perspective and offer a historical dialectical explanation. As a kind of literary criticism, it requires a combination of literary reading and understanding, exposing the ethical values of literature like social responsibility and moral obligation.It is Conrad's artistic idea that"moral discovery should be the object of every tale,"and The Nigger of the"Narcissus"is such a work with rich moral significance. In the novel, the heroes'lives, under some specific circumstances, are constantly threatened by alienating forces from outside as well as evil factors from characters'inner world. Two types of figures are molded and positioned into different moral hierarchies, which are Singleton who is loyal to his duty and Wait who indulges in Narcissism. From the image of Singleton, Conrad implies that a major part of British nature is formed in the long-existing combat between man and sea, and this nature is represented by the characteristics of British Merchant Service, that is"tradition, discipline and moral ideal."Conrad is an artist who not only portrays the greatness and caprice of the sea, but also eulogizes the virtues that the sailors acquired in fighting with the sea. Those courageous sailors can always pass the tests by clinging to fidelity and duty, cross the"shadow-line"in their lives, achieve the moral perfection by confronting difficulties, and eventually lead to a resurrection journey.In light of literary ethical criticism, this thesis probes into the moral predicaments the characters confront, and how they get an epiphany in morality which leads them to a rebirth. This thesis mainly analyzes the significance of the traditions of British Merchant Service in the characters'moral perfection and probes into the profound social and political reasons. After introducing the theoretical background and the significance of the research, this thesis firstly analyzes the extrinsic and intrinsic debilitating forces that the sailors suffer in the dangerous sea, and the moral predicaments they involve themselves in. Secondly it focuses on how the sailors realize their plight in the cruel reality and how they get an epiphany and actualize their psychological changes. And thirdly it points out that the traditions of British Merchant Service have left a profound imprint on the sailors'morality and psychology. Finally, the present thesis makes a brief review on the values of morality in the novel, and draws a conclusion that only by getting rid of Narcissism and shouldering the social responsibility can a person achieve the balance in morality and soul.