为什么克拉丽莎非死不可?——“美德”在小说《克拉丽莎》里的内涵

Why Does Clarissa Have to Die?: Exploring the Meaning of Virtue in Clarissa

继《帕梅拉》的成功以后,理查逊出乎意料地在他的第二部小说《克拉丽莎》中一改以往圆满的结局,让他的女主人公在心碎和悲痛中死去。小说的悲剧结局引发了评论界的争议和不同的解读。评论界少有提及的是,以教化读者为己任的书信体小说巨匠理查逊正是借女主人公克拉丽莎的死来展现他所推崇的美德的真正涵义。因此把克拉丽莎的死置于对美德自身的讨论中才能深刻地揭示她的死的真正意义:美德是具有感化和改造力的楷模,也是如康德所提出的理性主体自觉遵守的定言命令。美德只有把美德本身而非世俗的报偿作为其目的,才能征服以男主人公洛夫雷斯为代表的贵族。在此意义上,克拉丽莎非死不可。

Ensuing the happy success of Pamela,much out of the readers expectation Samuel Richardson contrives a tragic ending as letting his heroine die in heartbreak and despair his second novel Clarissa.The tragic ending provokes divided interpretations among the critics.However,what evades the critics attention is that it is exactly with Clarissa s death that Richardson,a great epistolary writer who undertakes the responsibility of moralizing his readers,demonstrates the true meaning of virtue.Therefore,the significance of Clarissa s death would not be disclosed unless it is discussed with the meaning of virtue:virtue is a model that has the power to touch the heart and reform the evils;it is also the Categorical Imperative proposed by Kant.Only for the sake of virtue itself instead of worldly reward can virtue conquer the aristocrat represented by Lovelace.In this sense,Clarissa has to die.