The Plot Arrangement and its Literary Meaning in Eugenie Grandet

The Plot Arrangement and its Literary Meaning

in Eugenie Grandet

By Song Xueying

In partial fulfillment of the requirement

For the B.A. degree

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

June, 2017

Acknowledgements

I fulfill this thesis as an undergraduate student in Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology. I have benefited a lot during the past four years in both study and life. Hereby, I would like to express my appreciation to all the people who have helped and encouraged me a lot.

First of all, I have eternal gratitude to Professor Zhang Jun, my tutor, Thanks for his inestimable help and patient instruction he bestowed upon me. I am deeply influenced by his specialized knowledge and rigorous attitude. Also, I have gratitude to the teachers at the Department of English for their insightful lectures, which inspires me to compose this paper.

Lastly, I owe my sincere gratitude to my friends and beloved family for their selfless love and support during the difficult course of the thesis.

Contents

Abstract: 1

摘要： 2

Chapter One. Introduction 3

1.1 The writing background 3

1.2 A brief analysis of the characters in the novel 3

1.2.1. Eugenie Grandet 3

1.2.2. Pere Grandet 4

Chapter Two. The analysis of the plot Arrangement 5

2.1The daughter’s birthday party 5

2.2The detailed actions of arranging a room for Charles 5

2.3 The Swearing between the lovers 6

2.4.1 The plot of robbing of the dressing box 7

2.4.2 Cheating his daughter to renounce of a succession 8

2.5 The betrayal of Charles 8

2.6 The rest of the wealthy woman’s life 9

Chapter Three Functions of the plot Arrangement 11

3.1 Promoting the plot development. 11

3.2 Characterizing characters and revealing the theme of the novel. 11

Chapter Four. The Literary Meaning in this novel 13

4.1 Money influencing the domestic affection 13

4.2 Reflecting the low status of women under the materialistic age 13

4.3 The importance of education 14

Chapter Five. Conclusion 15

References 16

The Plot Arrangement and its Literary Meaning

In Eugenie Grandet

Song Xueying

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology, Nanjing 210044

Abstract: Eugenie Grandet is one of the best pictures of The Human Comedy written by the French critical realistic novelist Balzac. The novel revolves around the heroine's love tragedy, involving the ups and downs created by the domestic tyranny in the Grandet’s family, the infighting between the banker and the notary outside the family, love between the Charles and Eugenie, who in the end suffered from Charles’ treachery, these three intertwined episodes of clues consist of this novel. The great success of this book in the history of literature lies in its special plot setting techniques and the literary connotation that profoundly reflects the social situation at that time.

This paper consists of five chapters. The first chapter starts with the background of the novel and features of the characters, and makes the preparatory work well for the next plot analysis; the second chapter analyzes the main characteristics and methodological theories in the six plots; the third chapter probes into the functions of the plot developing, charactering protagonists and the theme of the novel; the fourth chapter is about the literary connotation of Eugenie Grandet; the fifth chapter is a summary of the article.

Key Words: Eugenie Grandet; Plot arrangement; Literary meaning

摘要：《欧也妮·葛朗台》是法国批判现实主义小说家巴尔扎克《人间喜剧》中的"最出色的画幅之一"。小说围绕描述了女主人公欧也妮的爱情悲剧，以葛朗台家庭内专制所掀起的阵阵波澜、家庭外银行家和公证人两户之间的明争暗斗,欧也妮对夏尔·葛朗台倾心相爱而查理背信弃义的痛苦的人世遭遇三条相互交织的情节线索连串小说。这本书在文学史上取得巨大的成功在于其特殊的情节设置技巧以及深刻反映当时社会情况的文学内涵。

本论文主要从五个方面入手，第一章从小说的写作时代背景以及人物性格特点入手，为接分析情节设置做好铺垫；第二章深入分析书中六大情节的设置特点以及方法理论；第三章从推动情节发展、塑造人物形象以及揭示文章主旨几个方面的功能作用进行总体分析；第四章讲述《欧也妮·葛朗台》的文学内涵；第五章对文章进行了总体概括。

关键字：《欧也妮·葛朗台》；情节设置；文学内涵

Chapter One. Introduction

1.1 The writing background

French capitalist revolution which took place in 1789 not only overturned Bourdon Dynasty, but also it mopped up the feudal order of European countries. The first half of the nineteenth century was the beginning of the establishment of French capitalism. Napoleon was defeated in the battle of Waterloo completely in 1815, and thus the Bourbon dynasty had a restoration, whose rule continued to 1830. As the reactionary policy of Charles X provoked the people, the July revolution only tore down the restoration dynasty in three days, and then began the 18-year reign of the July dynasty. The American thinks: “the July dynasty is the most powerful among the European countries, but it is also regarded as the rotted and tyrannical dynasty.”(Wang, 1996:77) So it is reasonable that the reign never lasted so long.

Eugenie Grandet was published in 1833, which was within the early period of the July dynasty. In the restoration period, although the nobility returned from abroad to France, their actual status could not be the same as they were in the era of French Revolution, because the bourgeoisie has been strong. Louis XVIII, who had just come to power, had to enact a new constitution to carry out the constitutional monarchy, making concessions to the bourgeoisie in order to maintain the shaky regime. Although the bourgeoisie has lost political power, they can still contend against the aristocracy by their strength of the economy. In the restoration of the late dynasty, the bourgeoisie not only in the city, but also in the aristocracy maintained a wide range of rural areas. So the restoration dynasty has actually gone. Balzac was keener than his contemporary writers, observing this major social phenomenon and writing it into the novel in a unique way.

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