德莱塞《欲望三部曲》主人公艺术形象解析

Analyzing the Artistic Image of Hero in Dreiser's Trilogy of Desire

《欲望三部曲》的主人公柯帕乌是19世纪末、20世纪初美国人格化资本的典型再现。在这一时期的美国思想领域里,出现了风行一时的"社会达尔文主义思潮",这一思潮把弱肉强食的自然界规律照搬到人类社会。柯帕乌就是一位精力充沛、全凭欲望行事、为达到个人目的不择手段、肆无忌惮的金融"巨人"。按照传统的道德标准,柯帕乌是一个道德沦丧、寡廉鲜耻的人物,对社会、家庭、婚姻各方面的传统道德表现出蔑视和反叛。他在能力、贪婪、无耻、阴险、冷酷、毒辣上都超出常人,还有无穷的精力、手段和克服逆境的毅力。在他特殊的头脑看来,人生的盾牌只有两个方面,既强和弱,在他心里并没有善恶意识。德莱塞对柯帕乌的描写暗合了斯宾塞弱肉强食的社会达尔文主义原则,道出了美国社会自由竞争价值观念形成的政治原则和思想基础。

Frank Cowperwood, the hero of Trilogy of Desire, had been representing personified capital of America from the late of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, when social Darwinism was prevailing for its degrading human society to a lower circle where ＂survival for the fittest＂ was the law. With ex- ceptional vitality, barbaric and lust - driving manners, he was determined to rise above the crowd at all costs, shaping his image of tycoon. Cowperwood, judged by traditional morals, was a barefaced and shameless hypocrite, and felt scorn for society, family, marriage and so on. He had extraordinary power, greed, impudence, obduracy and acrimony, with steady and tough - as - old - leather soul. In his queer mind, he held there were two shields in life： strong or weak, no good or bad consciousness. While describing Cowperwood the hero, Desire subtly matched the law of the jungle, principle of social Darwinism, revealing the political standard and ideological foundation which laid the basis of free competition in the American society.