从《首相》管窥功利主义桎梏下的维多利亚社会

The Victorian Society in the Shackle of Utilitarianism Perceived from the Prime Minister

在维多利亚时代的功利主义原则引导下,《首相》描述巴里赛和格兰考拉夫妇为追求地位和权力不惜压抑自己的天性、牺牲他人利益,结果人格扭曲、失去自我,揭露功利主义导致人们忽视人性、造成道德和生存困境的事实,指出只有保持内心的自然情感、拒绝功利主义的负面影响,用真实善良的情感构建自我主体,才能最后实现全社会的道德重构。

Guided by Utilitarianism in the Victorian Era, Palliser and his wife Glencora in The Prime Minister suppress their nature and sacrifice others＇ interest in their pursuit for social status and power. As a result, they distort their personality and lose themselves. The novel exposes the fact that Utilitarianism causes people to forget their nature, and leads to the predicament of morality and survival and further points out that only by keeping inner true feelings, refusing the negative influence of Utilitarianism and constructing the identity with true and kind feeling, can the whole society realize the moral reconstruction.