But Emma Bovary might come if you but ardently14 desired. And the fascinating Anna Karenina. Or Becky Sharp with her sly graces. Perhaps some of Dosto?evsky's enigmatic, bewildering girls should be included in the list, for they brim over with magnetism15, very often a malicious16 magnetism, and their glances are eloquent17 with suffering, haunt like the eyes one sees in a gallery of old masters. I do not speak of Sonia, but of the passionate18 Natasia Philipovna in The Idiot, or Aglaya Epanchin, in the same powerful novel, or Paulina in The Gambler. However, we cannot allow ourselves the luxury of so many favourites, even if they are only made of paper and ink. I confess I am an admirer of Emma Bovary. To the gifted young critics of to-day the work, and its sharply etched characters, has become a mere19 stalking horse for a new-fangled philosophy of Jules Gaultier, called Bovarysme, but for me it will always be the portrait of that unhappy girl with the pallid20 complexion21, velvety22 dark eyes, luxuriant hair, and languid charm. Anna Karenina is [Pg 313] more aristocratic; above all, she knew what happiness meant; its wing only brushed the cheek of Emma. Her death is more lamentable23 than Anna's—one can well sympathise with Flaubert's mental and physical condition after he had written that appalling24 chapter describing the poisoning of Emma. No wonder he thought he tasted arsenic25, and couldn't sleep. Balzac, Dickens, and Thackeray were thus affected26 by their own creations, yet Flaubert is to this day called "impersonal," "cold," because he never made concessions27 to sentimentalism, never told tales out of his workshop for gaping28 indifferents.
As for Becky Sharp, that kittenish person seldom arouses in me much curiosity. I agree with George Moore that Thackeray, in the interests of mid-Victorian morality, suppressed many of her characteristics, telling us too little of her amatory temperament29. Possibly, Mr. Moore may err30, Becky may have had no "temperament," notwithstanding her ability to twist men around her expressive31 digits32. That she was disagreeable when she set herself out to be I do not doubt; in fact, she is the protagonist33 of a whole generation of disagreeable heroines in English fiction. Bernard Shaw did not overlook her pertness and malevolence34, though all his girls are disagreeable, even—pardon the paradox—his agreeable ones. But they are as portraiture far too "papery," to borrow a word from painters' jargon35, for my purpose. They [Pg 314] are not alive, they only are mouthpieces for the author's rather old-time ideas.
I mention the four heroines of a former period, Valérie, Becky, Emma, Anna, not because they are all disagreeable, but because they are my pets in fiction. Thoroughly36 disagreeable girls are Hedda Gabler, Mildred Lawson, and Undine Spragg. Of course, in a certain sense old Wotan Ibsen is the father of the latter-day Valkyrie brood. The "feminist37" movement is not responsible for them; there were disagreeable females before the flood, yet somehow the latter part of the last and the beginning of the present century have produced a big flock in painting, music (Richard Strauss's operas), drama, and literature. Hedda boldly carved out of a single block stands out as the very Winged Victory of her species. In her there is a hint of Emma Bovary; both are incorrigible38 romanticists, snobs39, girls for whom the present alone exists. She is decadent40 inasmuch as her nerves rule her actions, and at the rising of the curtain her nerves are in rags. Henry James finds in Ibsen a "charmless fascination," but by no means insists on the point that Hedda is disagreeable. Nor is he so sure that she is wicked, though he admits her perversity41. The late Grant Allen once said to William Archer42 that Hedda was "nothing more nor less than the girl we take down to dinner in London, nineteen times out of twenty," which, to put it mildly, is an exaggeration. The truth [Pg 315] is, Hedda is less a type than a "rare case," but to diagnose her as merely neurasthenic is also to go wide of the mark. Doubtless her condition may have added bitterness to her already overflowing43 cup; nevertheless Hedda is not altogether a pathological study. Approaching motherhood is not a veil for her multitude of sins. How soon are we shown her cruel nature in the dialogue with devoted44 Thea Rysing, whose hair at school had aroused envy in Hedda! She pulled it whenever she got a chance, just as she pulled from its hiding-place the secret of the timid Thea. Simply to say that Hedda is the incarnation of selfishness is but a half-truth. She is that and much more.
Charmless never, disagreeable always, she had the serpent's charm, the charm that slowly slays45 its victim. Her father succumbed46 to it, else would he have permitted her to sit in corners with poet Eiljert L?vborg and not only hold hands but listen to far from edifying47 discourses48? Not a nice trait in Hedda—though a human, therefore not a rare one—is her curiosity concerning forbidden themes. She was sly. She was morbid49. Last of all she was cowardly. Yes, largely cerebral50 was her interest in nasty things, for when Eiljert attempted to translate his related adventures into action she promptly51 threatened him with a pistol. A demi-vierge before Marcel Prévost. Not as admirable as either Emma Bovary or Anna Karenina, Hedda Gabler married George Tesman for speculation52.[Pg 316] He had promised her the Falk villa—the scene plays up in Christiania—and he expected a professorship; these, with a little ready money and the selflessness of Aunt Julia, were so many bribes53 for the anxious Hedda, whose first youth had been heedlessly danced away without matrimonial success.
Mark what follows: Ibsen, the sternest moralist since old John Knox, doesn't spare his heroine. He places her between the devil of Justice Brack, libertine54 and house friend, and the deep sea of the debauched genius, L?vborg. To make a four-square of ineluctable fate she is flanked on either side by her mediocre55 husband and the devoted bore, Thea Rysing—Elvsted. Like a high-strung Barbary mare—she was of good birth and breeding—her nerves tugging56 in their sheaths, her heart a burnt-out cinder57, Hedda saw but one way to escape—suicide. She took that route and really it was the most profound and significant act of her life, cowardly as was the motive58. She was discontented, shallow, the victim of her false upbringing. In a more intellectual degree Eiljert, her first admirer, is her counterpart. Both could have consorted59 with Emma Bovary and found her "ideals" sympathetic. Emil Reich has called Hedda Gabler the tragedy of mésalliance. It is a memorial phrase. George Tesman and Charles Bovary are brothers in misfortune. They belong to those husbands "predestined" to betrayal, as Balzac puts it. Councillor Karenin [Pg 317] completes the trio and Anna hated his large ears; but before Karenin, Charles Bovary was despised by Emma because of his clumsy feet and inexpressive bearing, and his habit of breathing heavily during dinner. George Tesman with his purblind60 faculties61, amiable62 ways, and semi-idiotic exclamations63 will go down in the history of fiction with Georges Dandin, Bovary, and Karenin. As for Hedda, her psychological index is clear reading. In Peer Gynt one of the characters is described thus: "He is hermetically sealed with the bung of self, and he tightens64 the staves in the wells of self. Each one shuts himself in the cask of self, plunges65 deep down in the ferment66 of self." Imperfect sympathies, misplaced egoism—for there is a true as well as a false egoism—a craze for silly pleasures, no matter the cost, and a mean little vanity that sacrificed lives when not appeased67. She is the most disagreeable figure in modern drama. Were it not for her good looks and pity for her misspent life and death she would be absolutely unendurable. The dramatic genius of Ibsen makes her credible68. But what was the matter with George Tesman?
We cannot help noting that wherever the feminine preponderates69, whether in art, politics, religion, society, there is a corresponding diminution70 of force in the moral and physical character of the Eternal Masculine. In the Ibsen dramas this is a recognised fact. Therefore, Strindberg called Ibsen an old corrupter71. What [Pg 318] is the matter with the men nowadays? Hadn't they better awaken72 to the truth that they are no longer attractive, or indispensable? Isn't it time for the ruder sex to organise73 as a step toward preserving their fancied inalienable sovereignty of the globe? In Thus Spake Zarathustra, Nietzsche wrote: "Thou goest to women. Remember thy whip." But Nietzsche, was he not an old bachelor, almost as censorious as his master, that squire74 of dames75, Arthur Schopenhauer?
点击收听单词发音
1 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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2 annoyance | |
n.恼怒,生气,烦恼 | |
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3 hovering | |
鸟( hover的现在分词 ); 靠近(某事物); (人)徘徊; 犹豫 | |
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4 personalities | |
n. 诽谤,(对某人容貌、性格等所进行的)人身攻击; 人身攻击;人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 ) | |
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5 resounding | |
adj. 响亮的 | |
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6 eternity | |
n.不朽,来世;永恒,无穷 | |
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7 portraiture | |
n.肖像画法 | |
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8 dame | |
n.女士 | |
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9 demon | |
n.魔鬼,恶魔 | |
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10 nebula | |
n.星云,喷雾剂 | |
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11 alluringly | |
诱人地,妩媚地 | |
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12 everlasting | |
adj.永恒的,持久的,无止境的 | |
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13 tangible | |
adj.有形的,可触摸的,确凿的,实际的 | |
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14 ardently | |
adv.热心地,热烈地 | |
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15 magnetism | |
n.磁性,吸引力,磁学 | |
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16 malicious | |
adj.有恶意的,心怀恶意的 | |
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17 eloquent | |
adj.雄辩的,口才流利的;明白显示出的 | |
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18 passionate | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,激昂的,易动情的,易怒的,性情暴躁的 | |
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19 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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20 pallid | |
adj.苍白的,呆板的 | |
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21 complexion | |
n.肤色;情况,局面;气质,性格 | |
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22 velvety | |
adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的 | |
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23 lamentable | |
adj.令人惋惜的,悔恨的 | |
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24 appalling | |
adj.骇人听闻的,令人震惊的,可怕的 | |
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25 arsenic | |
n.砒霜,砷;adj.砷的 | |
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26 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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27 concessions | |
n.(尤指由政府或雇主给予的)特许权( concession的名词复数 );承认;减价;(在某地的)特许经营权 | |
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28 gaping | |
adj.口的;张口的;敞口的;多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 );张开,张大 | |
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29 temperament | |
n.气质,性格,性情 | |
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30 err | |
vi.犯错误,出差错 | |
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31 expressive | |
adj.表现的,表达…的,富于表情的 | |
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32 digits | |
n.数字( digit的名词复数 );手指,足趾 | |
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33 protagonist | |
n.(思想观念的)倡导者;主角,主人公 | |
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34 malevolence | |
n.恶意,狠毒 | |
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35 jargon | |
n.术语,行话 | |
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36 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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37 feminist | |
adj.主张男女平等的,女权主义的 | |
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38 incorrigible | |
adj.难以纠正的,屡教不改的 | |
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39 snobs | |
(谄上傲下的)势利小人( snob的名词复数 ); 自高自大者,自命不凡者 | |
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40 decadent | |
adj.颓废的,衰落的,堕落的 | |
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41 perversity | |
n.任性;刚愎自用 | |
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42 archer | |
n.射手,弓箭手 | |
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43 overflowing | |
n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的,充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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44 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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45 slays | |
杀死,宰杀,杀戮( slay的第三人称单数 ) | |
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46 succumbed | |
不再抵抗(诱惑、疾病、攻击等)( succumb的过去式和过去分词 ); 屈从; 被压垮; 死 | |
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47 edifying | |
adj.有教训意味的,教训性的,有益的v.开导,启发( edify的现在分词 ) | |
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48 discourses | |
论文( discourse的名词复数 ); 演说; 讲道; 话语 | |
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49 morbid | |
adj.病的;致病的;病态的;可怕的 | |
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50 cerebral | |
adj.脑的,大脑的;有智力的,理智型的 | |
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51 promptly | |
adv.及时地,敏捷地 | |
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52 speculation | |
n.思索,沉思;猜测;投机 | |
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53 bribes | |
n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 );向(某人)行贿,贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 );向(某人)行贿,贿赂 | |
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54 libertine | |
n.淫荡者;adj.放荡的,自由思想的 | |
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55 mediocre | |
adj.平常的,普通的 | |
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56 tugging | |
n.牵引感v.用力拉,使劲拉,猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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57 cinder | |
n.余烬,矿渣 | |
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58 motive | |
n.动机,目的;adv.发动的,运动的 | |
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59 consorted | |
v.结伴( consort的过去式和过去分词 );交往;相称;调和 | |
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60 purblind | |
adj.半盲的;愚笨的 | |
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61 faculties | |
n.能力( faculty的名词复数 );全体教职员;技巧;院 | |
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62 amiable | |
adj.和蔼可亲的,友善的,亲切的 | |
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63 exclamations | |
n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 );感叹;感叹语;感叹词 | |
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64 tightens | |
收紧( tighten的第三人称单数 ); (使)变紧; (使)绷紧; 加紧 | |
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65 plunges | |
n.跳进,投入vt.使投入,使插入,使陷入vi.投入,跳进,陷入v.颠簸( plunge的第三人称单数 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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66 ferment | |
vt.使发酵;n./vt.(使)激动,(使)动乱 | |
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67 appeased | |
安抚,抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 ); 绥靖(满足另一国的要求以避免战争) | |
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68 credible | |
adj.可信任的,可靠的 | |
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69 preponderates | |
v.超过,胜过( preponderate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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70 diminution | |
n.减少;变小 | |
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71 corrupter | |
堕落的,道德败坏的; 贪污的,腐败的; 腐烂的; (文献等)错误百出的 | |
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72 awaken | |
vi.醒,觉醒;vt.唤醒,使觉醒,唤起,激起 | |
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73 organise | |
vt.组织,安排,筹办 | |
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74 squire | |
n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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75 dames | |
n.(在英国)夫人(一种封号),夫人(爵士妻子的称号)( dame的名词复数 );女人 | |
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