Truth And Fabrication-Interpretation Of Robert Browning’s The Ring And The Book From The Perspective Of New Historicism

Robert Browning (1812-1889) is considered as one of the most important Victorian poets and playwrights, he is famous for his innovative practice of dramatic monologue. His long poem The Ring and the Book is ranked among the most excellent English poems in the19th century, since its publication in1869, the poem has won great popularity from the public and has brought Browning great fame as well.Ever since its publication, scholars and critics have analyzed the poem from the perspective of feminism, psychological portraiture, artistic method and so on. Nowadays, more and more scholars analyze the poem from the perspective of irony and dramatic monologue. Following other Browning scholars’research works, the thesis aims at making an analysis of truth and fabrication in The Ring and the Book with New Historicism.Besides the introduction and the conclusion, the thesis is composed of four parts.In the introduction, the thesis introduces the author and his poem The Ring and the Book and gives a number of views on the poem both overseas and domestic.Chapter One is about the methodology, New Historicism. Emerging, developing and flourishing in the1980s, New Historicism is a mode of literary study, emphasizing the bilateral relationship between history and text by using the terms of "textuality of history" and "historicity of texts". New Historicism is a reciprocal concern with textuality of history and historicity of texts.Chapter Two mainly elaborates how textuality of history is embodied in The Ring and the Book, analyzes the truth of the historical case and illustrates that history is not considered as fixed facts but as texts or discourses that also need to be interpreted. What the source book and the poem describe is not the absolute truth of the murder case, but only a discourse based on Pope Innocent XII’s judgment that was also partial and prejudiced. Chapter Three from the point of historicity of texts, elaborates that a text or discourse is the cultural and ideological product of its own historical conditions. What the poem reveals, as a discourse of the murder case, is characterized by Roman and Victorian styles. This is because in the process of his writing, although Browning tried to stick to the crude facts, he subconsciously naturalized and appropriated them in the form of adding his personal life experiences and social and cultural conditions in the Victorian era.Chapter Four emphasizes that history of a past event is the result of the multiple power struggles. The civilians and the Roman Church on the one side demanded a fair verdict by sentencing Guido to death and claiming Pompilia pure and innocent; and the nobles and the foreign powers on the other side tried best to get him pardoned. At last, by considering the situation comprehensively, the Pope confirmed the demand of the former.The last part is the conclusion which restates the key problems and arguments listed above and points out the significance of the research work conducted in the thesis. Approaching the poem The Ring and the Book and its author via the perspective of New Historicism, through analyzing, the thesis points out, history, like literary works, is also a kind of narrative, rather than something objective, for the former also contains the subjective and fictive elements, it is also influenced by the poet’s life experiences and social surroundings. Through the creation of Robert Browning, readers can further comprehend and better understand the essence of the poem:Truth can not easily exposed to individuals, only the art and glamour of works can help readers know the truth through their deep reflection and research.