西方文学四大吝啬鬼形象意蕴解析

An Analytic Reading of the Four Misers’ Images In Western Literature

本文旨在重新解读人们早已熟知的四大吝啬鬼形象。贪婪和吝啬是他们共同的性格特征,由于对物质财富的强烈占有欲吞噬了人之为人的高贵品格和人间至情,人性被极端地扭曲,其惨烈程度不亚于生命的毁灭。而在以往的研究中,我们往往忽略了去深究造成他们人性扭曲变形的内在原因,即人对人自身需求的无知,以致失去了主体性,使他们无法抗拒外界环境的物质诱惑而沦为奴隶。这种对四大吝啬鬼形象深层意蕴的解读,也许能对当今人们在经济社会中处理人与金钱的关系问题时有所启示。

This article is aimed at reading and analyzing the images of the four well-known big misers. Greediness and meanness are their common characteristics. Their inborn nobleness and human kindness were swallowed, even their human nature were extremely distorted by their intense material desire, which was as bad as the destruction of life. In the previous research, we used to neglect the internal reason of the distortion of their human nature, that is, people＇s ignorance to their own needs makes themselves slaves to money, for they cannot resist the material temptation. Therefore, the analysis of the connotation of the four misers＇ images can hopefully help people in the contemporary economic society to deal with the relationship between man and money.