| As a well-known realist writer of Victorian England,George Eliot(1819-1880)tends to touch upon social,political and moral issues from the grand philosophical,historical and cultural perspectives(different from other contemporary writers such as Charles Dickens and William Thackeray),which leads her works to a “Tolstoyan depth and reality” and fills them with her reflections on Englishness.In one of her representative novels Adam Bede(1859),Eliot attempts to represent Englishness on a higher level of the inherent wisdom of British philosophy,history and culture through her truthful and detailed representation of social life,in the hope of rectifying the disorderly social realities of her time.While both overseas and domestic studies of Adam Bede have focused more upon meliorism,feminism,ethics,ideology and artistic techniques,attention has been scarcely paid to how Englishness is dealt with in this novel.Thus,based on a close reading of the novel and enlightened by the theories of Kate Fox,Paul Langford and Antony Easthope,this thesis tries to analyze how Englishness takes up the thematic implications in Adam Bede from three aspects:conservatism,empiricism and utilitarianism.As the three aspects of Englishness discussed in Adam Bede,conservatism,empiricism and utilitarianism are both self-contained and logically and organically related with one another.Firstly,the novel illustrates conservatism in Englishness with religious themes,realistic creation and philosophical reflections on Being.Religious writing is mainly manifested in the background of the traditional Anglican Church,Eliot’s own humanistic religious ideas,the opposition of the Reverend Irwine and Reverend Ryde in the novel,as well as Dinah’s preaching as microhistory and the Methodist religious revival movement in the 18 th century as macrohistory,all of which form the conservative characteristics of compromise and reconciliation of Englishness.Realistic writing also contributes to the representation of conservatism in Englishness in the novel,which is mainly found in the characterization of round characters,the truthful portrayal of daily rural life on the plains of the countryside in the midlands,and the proposition of the moral function of goodness and beauty in literature.Philosophical reflections on Being come up in the novel to show Eliot’s appealing to conservatism in Englishness.Tightly shackled by the “Pain-Body”,“Adam in the early chapters” and his mother Lisbeth used to feel regretful for the past and anxious about the future.Seth,however,achieves inner peace and joy because he was good at living in “Now” or achieving “presence”,which helps him connect with Being.Seth,who always remains gentle,patient and compromised in contrast to Adam in the early chapters and Lisbeth,is presented by Eliot with compromise and reconciliation,making him the spokesman of conservatism in the national spirit of the English people.Secondly,the novel tends to show empiricism which is one part of the English traditional culture through its representation of materialist epistemology,anti-essentialism,epistemology of emotional experience and physiognomy.In Adam Bede,Eliot emphasizes direct observation and induction as the ways of understanding the world.She opposes essentialism,advocates the portrayal of round characters and resists Dickens’ characterization of flat characters.Eliot adopts a physiognomy technique of “judging the appearance of a person” in her creation,viewing the body as a moral signpost.Its significance lies in its confirmation of the objective,transparent phenomena of the world.These claims of empiricism are consistent with the literary concepts of 19th-century realism,while the emphasis on the motivational and cognitive functions of emotions in Adam Bede is in line with the claims of Romanticism.Lastly,Adam Bede reflects Eliot’s defense of utilitarianism in her representation of Englishness.Between Bentham’s utilitarianism and Kant’s deontology,Eliot chooses the former,supporting the established rule of the aristocracy in maintaining social stability,which reflects the inherent link between utilitarianism and elitism.The resistance to the core trait of Continental rationalism,namely,logical reason,is another manifestation of utilitarian thought in Adam Bede.The novel points out the loopholes of Continental rationalism in religious concepts,mathematical concepts,and logic,that is,people often trap themselves in the symbol tower of concepts and logic and believe that they should prove the authenticity of these concepts and logic through the practice of combining cognition,sensation,emotion,and even intuition in daily life.Therefore,Eliot is more inclined to believe that knowledge of the world is gained from life experience and practice.This pragmatic attitude also reveals utilitarianism in British thinking.Through the study of Englishness in Adam Bede,this thesis finds that Eliot expresses her worries about the French Revolution and the fluctuating workers’ movements through her affirmation and promotion of conservatism.The literary expression of Antony Easthope’s view that empiricism is the deep-rooted structure of typical British discourse in Adam Bede proves that empiricism,as a typical characteristic of Englishness,is a deep philosophical logic that lies in the fusion of realism and romanticism.The maintenance of elitism,the vigilance towards populism,and the cautious critique of Continental rationalism in Adam Bede express the status of utilitarianism in Englishness.Adam Bede proves to be Eliot’s in-depth exploration of Englishness.It is her further excavation,endorsement,and promotion of the traditional,positive,and constructive wisdom accumulated in Englishness.It is also her claim to the power of literature to discipline and correct the social,political,moral,and spiritual issues of the times. |
