功利主义的悲剧——重读狄更斯的《艰难时世》

Tragedy of Utilitarianism Rereading Dickens' Hard Times

《艰难时世》是杰出的批判现实主义作家狄更斯的不朽之作。小说中狄更斯对当时流行的功利主义思潮进行了有力的批判,从而揭示出小说中主要人物的悲剧性结局的根源。分析这部小说中两个典型的功利主义信徒——葛擂硬和庞得贝以及他们周围人物,指出功利主义对人性的摧残及其导致这些人物的悲惨性命运。

Hard Times is the immortal masterpiece of the great critical realistic writer, Charles Dickens. In the novel Dickens criticized the utilitarianism which was popular at that time strongly, thus revealing the root of the main characters＇ tragic endings. Through analyzing the two typical adherents of utilitarianism Gradgrind and Bounderby, as well as the characters around them, it is concluded that utilitarianism destroys and causes these characters＇ tragic fates.