论《灰姑娘》中神力的象征意义.doc

AbstractCinderella is a character of fairy tale creating by Brother Grimm. It is about a dutiful and good-hearted girl who is abused by her stepmother and sisters, and she is working in kitchen day and night. Afterwards, she gets the help of divine power because of her treating friendly for animals and touching the god. After going through the obstruction of her stepmother and sisters, she lives a happy life with the prince. Later, people use “Cinderella” to describe those who are beautiful, kind and loyal. This essay analyses deep symbolisms from the process Cinderella getting happy life with the help of divine power that we can expound the deeper significance of Cinderellas image from three parts, pursuing of moral perfection, respecting for nature and making up the deficient feeling of human beings.Key words: Cinderella; divine power; symbolism; morality; nature摘要灰姑娘是格林童话中塑造出的童话人物形象，讲述的是一个孝顺且心地善良的女孩子，长期受到继母和姐姐们的虐待，在厨房里做女佣，每天都是灰头土脸脏兮兮的，后来由于善待小动物而且孝感动天，所以得到了神力的帮助，在历尽继母和姐姐们的阻挠后终于和王子快乐地生活在一起的故事。后来人们常用“灰姑娘”这个词去形容那美丽、善良和忠诚的女孩。本文在分析灰姑娘借助神力的帮助而获得幸福的过程中挖掘其深刻的象征意义，即从追求道德完善，尊重自然和弥补人类匮乏感三方面来解读灰姑娘更深沉意义上的形象。关键词：灰姑娘；神力；象征意义；道德；自然ii1. IntroductionThe story of Cinderella is well-known in the treasure trove of fairy tale in the world. Once upon a time, there was a poor girl, her mother died. Cinderellas father married a stepmother, and she had two daughters. The two daughters were very abominable; they took away the cloths from the girl, only giving clothes in rags for her and calling her “Cinderella”. One day, her father went to a distant place and gave her a branch of hazel tree. She planted it in her mothers grave. As time went by, the branch of hazel tree grew up. Every day, there was a strange bird parking in the branch to satisfy little girls will. One day, the king held a dancing party for choosing a wife for the prince. But, stepmother didnt allow Cinderella to attend, while her daughters would go. The bird gave a pretty dress for her attending party when she wished in her mothers grave. The prince was attracted by Cinderella. Finally, after several twists and turns, Cinderella has a happiness life with the prince. The beautiful, kindness, hard-working and loyal heroine was through the hard life of temper and with the help of divine to get the final happiness. For the research of divine power and the meaning of symbol in this work in domestic research, The Symbolic Significance of Divine Power in Cinderella of Lin Xiaowen is more comprehensive. As we know, the prototype of Cinderella is enjoyed popular support. Everyone loves and envies Cinderella. They image that they can get protection by divine and gain happiness life like her one day. At the same time, I also want to know deeply: Why Cinderella can get the help of divine? Why the lovely birds help her so many times? How the hazel trees can give her splendid dancing clothes and golden dancing shoes? This is the unique aesthetic thinking fairy tale brings to us. So, this essay attempts to analyze the divine symbolism in Cinderella for the three parts that pursuit of moral perfection, respect for nature and make up the deficient feeling of human beings, telling people that they should handle the relations between human and human, human and nature, human and society correctly. 2. The Symbolic Meaning of Divine PowerFairy tale is a kind of fantasy colorific fiction works in childrens literature. Also, fairy tale is the most symbolic meaning in style type, and its symbol and metaphor beauty is innate esthetics characteristics. Symbol of fairy tale is expressing by the fairy tales image or the whole activities of people even the whole contents of the story. The life reflects in fairy tale is not the real life itself. The symbolic characters in fairy tales although have the same feature in being a symbol of characters, things have a certain characteristic similarities to each other; in any sense are appropriate and consistent by no means. We dont put the feature, action, language and some details of fairy tales images into social life so simply and add assumption and analogy to it. We dont think something must have reasons so that determine one image to present one person, one plot allude to anything, even link some political concepts with class relations together. In fact, the symbolic image of fairy tale can only generalize a certain character, not including those who are the symbol of all. We should see the purpose of this fairy tale from the image, character, the whole meaning described about story of the fairy tale works, and we see what it sings, what it ironies, what it hints and what it reveals. We should see whether authors can catch a symbol of important features and characters of some people and things, and the symbolism he has taken have positive significance or not. Only in this way, can we correctly understand the symbol of fairy tales. Cinderella is the classic work in fairy tale, through the rich imagination, fantasy, exaggeration and symbolism way to shape image, reflecting life and conducting ideological education of children. The language is vivid; storyline is often twists and turns.Divine power plays an important role in Cinderella. And it can come from its own strength that can get through their own efforts or congenital conditions; divine power can also come from the extraordinary power creating by outside world, with the help of divine power, people can get what they expect. In the fairy tale, divine power has symbolic significance.Symbol is one of the basic artistic techniques. It refers to a particular thing in external characteristic, containing some profound thoughts of artist or the artistic methods expressing some rich and special significance reasons. Using the artistic techniques of symbol can make abstract concept more concrete and visualize, male the complex profound thing easier and single. It can also extend describing the implication, create a kind of artistic conception, in order to arouse peoples association and enhance the works expression and artistic effect. (Todorov, 2004:26)As a kind of aesthetics form, symbolism usually refers to a unique, complete image system as foundation, then perform or imply a beyond this image system of rich and deep aesthetics artistic conception as the way of expression. Therefore, the basic characteristics of symbolic artistic should be: firstly, it should has a unique and complete image system, not only locally and even isolated detail image; secondly, it should be able to perform or imply that image of system beyond a rich and deep aesthetics artistic conception. That is to say, it should not be just a simple analogy and one-way image interpretation, must have the meaning of philosophical connotation, and should be of deep integration between figurative and abstract. Generally speaking, “Cinderella” is the incarnation of beauty, kindness and loyalty. But from a deeper sense to read the appearance of Cinderella, especially the process she obtained the happy life with the help of divine power. What we can excavate the deep symbolic meaning is that if human want to live longer and peacefully on the earth, we should handle the relationship correctly between human and human, human and nature, human and society. It is said that the pursuits of moral perfection, respect social law, reach for the harmony among human, nature and society on the basic of respecting for nature and understanding the lack of oneself and deficient.3. Pursuing the Integrity of MoralityDivine power can come from its own strength that can get through its own efforts or congenital conditions. “Cinderella” is the incarnation of beauty, kindness and loyalty. Through her own divine power, pursuing the integrity of morality, and warning people should improve themselves and their moral cultivation. Morality is a kind of social ideology in which people live together and their behavior of the principles and norms, with the five functions of understanding, regulation, education, evaluation and balance. Morality often represents the positive social values, since the role of judgment behavior justified or not, however, different times and different classes, its moral values will change. (Wang Haiming, 2001: 32)Recognized from the current human nature, the moral responsibilities of things do not harm others as a criterion. In essence, men are born naturally well, which means man is born only instinct, but not a discipline. So, everyone needs instinct of exterior restriction and inner restriction; exterior restriction is a law, but the function of legal sanctions against human instinct is only an attempt to harm others in community such as the human aspects of major hazards. Therefore, we need inner restriction that is morality to restrict the instinct, while it is not illegal. No matter people are goodness or evil, the influences of morality to people are profound and lasting. The evil, morality prompted him to much from good; the good, morality prompted him to continue from good. Morality as the norm to peoples behaviors, often represents the positive social value orientation, plays a leading and promoting the function of people to perform good. It is because of moral strength, our society will become warm and harmonious. For fairy tale Cinderella with a cycle of mystery in this moral power that is divine power, it is regarded to authors as a kind of power to promote religion at the past. But in our opinion, the teaching before her mother died “Dear child, be good and pious, and then the good god will always protects you”, which was the essence of author or the fairy tale itself to calling a deep and pursuing an ardent human goodness nature. 3.1 The philosophies come in fairy taleFairy tale is the product that combing with fantasy and real life. The most distinctive features of fairy tale fantasy is surreal, one of the fantasy world does not exist in real life. Fairy tale is the symbol of overall collection and lyrical via a symbolic image system to obtain achievement. Fantasy and reality as a symbol of entity, implicative, concentration, deep and meaningful symbolic structure form organically led the achievement of the themes in fairy tales and aesthetic values. However, through the superficial phenomenon, we will find that, the refraction of real society will be found everywhere in these fantasy worlds, and penetrating the philosophies and thoughts in the real life.Men at their birth are naturally good. Their natures are much the same, their habits become widely different. A persons moral character is not innate, but learning in a certain social environment. Many of our views or ideas are obtaining by interacting with others or observing others behavior.3.1.1The goodnessIn Grimms Fairy Tales (2003:79), Cinderella is born in a wealthy family, but she losses her mother in childhood, after that she is abused by her stepmother and her two daughters. In the beginning of the story, Cinderella is from the apple of her parents eyes to reduce into isolated and humiliated marginal, constituted a sharp contrast to the image system, and implied that beyond a deep, rich aesthetic conception. On one hand, the girl dresses in rags and her nature of goodness. After her mother died, her “pretty clothes” are taken away, and force to wear “an old gray coat and a pair of wooden shoes”. On the other hand, there she has to do hard work from morning till night, getting up before daybreak, carrying water, lighting fires, cooking and washing. In the evening when she works until till she is weary and has no bed to sleep, even has to sleep by the fireside in the ashes. And as on that account she always looks dusty and dirty, they call her Cinderella. But she is always obeyed her mothers teaching, and remained pious and goodness.3.1.2 The evilThe beautiful appearance and the ugly nature make a great contrast with that. The woman brings two daughters into the house that have beautiful and fair of face, but vile and black of heart. Besides, the sisters let her do every imaginable injury, they mock her and empty her peas and lentils into the ashes, so that she is forced to sit and pick them out again. A young children observes, when her mother sees a decimal ethnic members, she always frowns her eyebrows and expresses some discontented expressions. At the beginning, children will be have neutral attitude to these members or their external features, when these stimulation with mothers negative emotions appear more times, then he probably via classical conditioned reflex to learn these responses of ethic minority negative emotion gradually. The moral characters of stepmothers daughters are learned by her mothers character, behavior and habit. 3.2 Calling for moralityCinderellas experiences symbolize the painful process of people pursuing the moral integrity. Morality is high quality which can distinct of human beings from other animals, and it is the essence of human survival values. Human beings respect and sympathy for each other, but they also slaughter each other. However, this is the competition between savage and high quality in humanity. (Shavitt, s., &Brock, T. 1994) Fairy tale uses the way of symbolic and metaphor warning people should improve themselves and their moral cultivation, and this is the insuperable mountain in human evolution process. Cinderellas behavior tells us that human being is pursuing perfect moral process constantly in social environment. Stepmother and her daughters evils have a distinct contrast with Cinderellas goodness. Though the comparison between goodness and evil, good will be rewarded with good, and evil with evil, which is the implication center in the fairy tale delivering to people very naturally, and also expressing the ideal of people pursue a better life. So people can understand easily that why Cinderella can get the help of hazel tree and birds.4. Respecting for NatureThe childhood of Brothers Grimm are living in the environment surrounded by hills, they love nature from childhood. They go into original forest and collect legends and fairy tales widely among people. The fantasy world in Grimms fairy tale is mostly grasslands and forests; this is the product of natural environment. Just as Friedrich Engels (as cited in Ecological Literature of Europe and America, 2003:56) writing Landscape in the early years said:“Only when I familiar with the wasteland in North German, I really understand Brothers Grimm. All these fairy tales almost happened here: As night fell, the world all gone, and the frightening deformed things in peoples fantasy are skimming over the earth, the desolate land make people feel fear even in a fair day. ”Engels point of view helps us unde