面子理论视阈下《还乡》中游苔莎的悲剧探析

The Face Theory Approach to Eustacia's Tragedy in The Return of the Native

根据布朗(Brown)和列维辛(Levison)的"面子理论",人们在社交中应适当采取礼貌策略来满足听话人的面子需求。运用"面子理论"来解读哈代小说《还乡》中的女主人公游苔莎与她丈夫克林以及她与婆婆姚伯太太之间的对话,我们认为游苔莎悲剧的主要原因在于,彼此之间不能很好地照顾对方的面子;在撕破彼此面子的同时,也为这部家庭悲剧埋下了伏笔,这对我们处理各种家庭关系很有启迪意义。

Brown and Levison's Face Theory points out that people should take some politeness strategies to improve listeners' face-satisfaction needs in the interactions.With a thorough analysis of the dialogues between Eustacia,the heroine in Tomas Hardy's The Return of the Native and her husband and those between her and her mother-in-law based on Face Theory,this paper holds that the tragedy results from the main characters' incapability of taking each other's face into consideration in their interactions,and that the inharmonious relationship foreshadows the breakup of the family.The analysis from this perspective could enlighten us on how to maintain the house ties.