| This dissertation aims to conduct a systematic research on ethical and moral thoughts ofShakespeare's plays in the light of a combined method of literary ethical criticism and narrativecriticism. On the one hand, it presents a horizontal inquiry of vast ethical realms depicted in hiscomedies, tragedies and late romances to investigate the unique ethical phenomenon and moralviews in ethical fields of regalism, family, love, interpersonal relations and utopia respectively. Itcarries out an analysis of the profound ethical reasons behind characters'actions as well as moralenlightenments from the conflicts and endings, meanwhile performing a historic and objectivecomprehension and judgment of the ethical rules and moral standpoints of his plays by exploringthe specific historic circumstances, the turbulent reality of social transitions from old corruptworld into the new world of novel thoughts and actions,instead of casting arbitrary,subjectiveand lopsided moral judgments in terms of modern moral codes. On the other hand, this thesisconducts a vertical, diachronic study on the ethics of his plays from the dimension of paradoxicalrelationships between"interests and morality", the core concepts of ethics, which runs throughthe whole writing as a vertical axis and main line and integrates all above horizontal study invarious ethical fields. In this case, it presents an evolutionary orbit of the changing ethical andmoral thoughts from construction to deconstruction with development of the playwright's deeperreflections upon life and human nature, drawing a clear global picture of his arduous quest intoexistential essence of human and ultimate meanings of life, thus further interpreting idealisticconnotations of his ethical utopia in his late romances.The first chapter sorts out the complex historical background of ethical narration in his playswritten during the transitional period of contradictions between Renaissance humanism andchurch religious doctrines. Humanism attaches importance to individual dignity, value andcreative wisdom and tears off the bondages imposed upon human beings by churches so as tobuild a happy secular paradise with free will and combined sensual and rational creative forceson their own without God's interference whereas original Christianity assumes ample humanismspirits from the perspectives of natural sensuality and rational spirits (including cognitive, moraland religious rationalities) inherited from ancient Greek and Rome cultural sources. Humanismand Christianity merge on the spiritual point of consistent approaching to, ascending to andtranscending the idealistic world of ultimate truth, goodness and beauty with humanism flauntingnatural desires, individual dignity and value to pursue a secular realistic happiness in contrast tooriginal Christianity emphasizing the rational and spiritual competence of human beings torealize a happy and idealized transcendental paradise of ultimate goodness and divine love. Inthat sense, Renaissance refers to revival both of natural sensuality and human rationality. InBritain, religious faith and humanism strike a good balance and merge into one, which assuresthe national stability and development and is given a fantastic exposition in Shakespeare's plays.From the perspective of ethical criticism, Renaissance takes a radical transformation fromtheocracy to humanistic rights, or rather, from divinity-oriented, rationality-oriented and collectivism-oriented ethics to human-oriented, desire-oriented and individualism-oriented ethics,which revolves around individual rights and interests with a strong individualism streak, aimingto promote individual dignity, freedom and value realization. Shakespeare's plays are a realmirror of historic reality and a loyal track of ethical and moral evolution from the socialtransition, carrying his ethical narration of concerns and reflections upon the relationshipsbetween individual interests and morality as well as his narrative ethics of his aesthetic visionsand artistic techniques.The second chapter deals with ethics of monarchical power from the perspective of theconflicting powers which constitute the political authority, mainly the Pope, the king and thearistocrats, as well as the kings'individual ups and downs in the power pursuing, thereforepresenting the ethical evolution of power from the Pope to the king complete with theconformation of regalism and displaying the ethical indications, values and moral ideals in theprocess. Ethics of monarchical power stands for an ethical and secular pattern of power, theessence of which embodies humanism ideas in the area of political power. His plays depictedthree turning points in ethical relational revolutions. First, his plays display how the kingschanllenged religious authority, eventually beat and go beyond it, which means it's the king whotakes the place of the Pope and becomes the agent of God in the world, the highest authority overreligious power, and realizes the power transition from the superhuman power to human power;which represents the thought of sovereignity being in kings'hands. Second, his plays describethe history of battles between the new king and rebellious aristocrats, how the kings win oversecular powers and become the most powerful monarch with their outstanding wisdom, insightand strategies, which confirms human capacity to build, rule and govern a secular kingdombased on human power. This ethical adjustment of the king's authority from his being one of thearistocrats as an adherent to his being highest authority above the whole aristocratic stratumrepresents the idea that the most powerful man becomes the king. Third, his plays show therealization of tyranny system, in which the king's power goes beyond religious authority and thegovernment parliament and rises to the highest level than ever, which indicates that theawareness of human subjectivity as well as subjective creativity has been sublimed to historicalrecords. In the transitional process, the contradiction between power and morality comes intobeing. The playwright gives a vivid depiction of the fates of a few kings to convey his ethicalreflections upon the moral confusions of power and desire, however, between the power andmorality, keeps a consistent pursuit of being morally good, which is revealed by a dramaticcontrast between King Richard the Third and King Henry the Fifth: the former is defected by hisselfish desire to usurp the throne and expand his own interests ignoring the welfare of his peopleand the nation while the latter is perfected by his devotion to his responsibilities for his peopleand country turning out to be a most powerful empire reigning over French and Britain, and ispresented as an idealistic king among all the kings in history by the author, asserting the politicalmoral virtue of being a king, that is, an ethical change in the relationship between the king'spower and his responsibilities, aiming at the conversion from the king's supreme power to hisVI fulfillment of responsibilities as a king to protect the rights and interests of his people and fightfor increasing national strength.The third chapter involves ethics of romantic love, which is also observed through the angleof changing relationships between lovers and among people and other ethical responsibilitiesconcerned as well as through the angle of individuals undergoing their twisting destiny to touchupon their emotional pursuit and moral traits. Ethics of romantic love in Shakespeare's plays arealso an embodiment of humanism in the area of romance characteristic of .individualismdisposition to natural desires, worldly happiness and their rightful ambitions. The young loverstake their initiative to break through outer shackles of asceticism, autocracy and feudal hierarchy,set up their own value of supreme love above and beyond everything and make a free, romanticand colorful exhibition of love adventures. However, the playwright gives full play to a carefulexposure of the collisions between sensuality and reasoning, desire and morality, egoism andaltruism. In the plays, antagonists overcome their inner drawbacks, such as arrogant, selfish,hypocritical, suspicious, etc, and advance an array of love virtues like genuine, trustworthy,sincere and loyal, especially the virtue of altruism, a kind of value orientation to self-sacrificeand lover's interest above one's own, which adds positive value to love ethics. In comparison, hisplays also imply that the supreme love, as a type of passion and natural sensuality, has thepotentiality to pull lovers into the whirl of addictive lust and physical pleasures in neglect ofother duties and responsibilities, which incurs fatal damage to love and brings about negativevalue to love ethics.The fourth part elaborates on family ethics in Shakespeare's plays, covering marital relations,intergenerational relations and relations of siblings. Evolution of these relations is ascribed to theincreasing awareness of individual dignity, value, freedom, right to pursue happiness andconfidence in their capability to reach a better life, typical humanism incarnate in the area offamily life, which has the momentum to penetrate through restrictions of traditional patriarchyand primogeniture. In marriage, wives start to step from behind the scenes onto the stage toexhibit their own personality and talents and outshined their husbands in many ways, whichhighlights an ethical transmutation that wives play a more important role in marital happinessand become indispensable partners of their husbands in life. Between parents and their offsprings,the latter start to shake off fetters of paternal supremacy and strive for their own freedom, dignityand right to pursue love on their own will while the former stick to the tradition to exert theirsupremacy upon their children ignoring and trespassing their rights and freedom. The battlesbetween parents and children show that family affections and the supremacy of fathers havedwindled dramatically. In contention for inheritance right, lovers and glory are brothers andsisters, who lose kinship feelings for each other and focus on their own interests. Shakespeare'splays, on the one hand, display an objective view on the legitimacy and justifiability forindividual rights, freedom and value, yet on the other hand expose its enormous damage tofamily bond and betray a feeling for traditional kinship affections which should have hadsupremacy over everything. The fifth chapter expounds social interpersonal ethics, which is cut into from the angle ofvarious social interpersonal relationships, such as people in friendship, in social leagues, indifferent ranks, races and religions, etc. who rely on and benefit from each other whereasconfronting each other due to material and spiritual competition for interest, desires and honorand so on. The play master puts people at a crossing of selfishness and justice, egoism andaltruism, evil and morality so as to display the moral principles and revelations from theconsequences of their moral choice and action. In friendship, his plays convey some ethicalnobility of self-sacrifice and selflessness for the other friend's interest, which emphasizes thatfriend's interests and needs always come to the first priority and shows sublimation of moralrationality in humanism. Among people in all walks of life, the plays pay tributes to friendly,tolerant, considerate and benevolent behaviors, condemn treachery, deception, conspiracy,revenge and like, revealing a preference for good virtues of supremacy of friendliness andselflessness and showing the playwright's care for life and humanism respect.The sixth chapter formulates ethical connotations of the utopia presented in Shakespeare'splays which encompasses four dimensions of construction: sublimation of religious faith, pursuitof natural virtues, persistent quest for ways of human self-redemption and exploration intoidealized social system and interpersonal relationships. In his late romances, religious essencemerges into his human-oriented ethical system presenting a picture of his Utopia where humanbeings get to self-redemption by way of their rationality in the enlightment of religion,highlighting the moral, rational and spiritual essence of human beings on the balance betweensensuality and rationality, body and soul, desires and morality and reaching the idealistic moralrealm of love, truth, goodness and beauty in his artistic world.In conclusion, the ethical and moral thoughts conveyed in Shakespeare's plays embodyhumanism values in various areas of people's daily life in Renaissance in terms of preference tonobility, rationality and morality. The coverage of his plays encapsulates all the walks of life,from the national politics to family, from individuals to society, from reality to the ideal, and hiscontinuous accumulation in experiences and insights into human nature contributes to theevolution and development of his progressive ethical comprehension and moral thoughts,whereby his temperament of being a son of Renaissance morality runs through to the end andforms a kind of altruism ethics, characteristic of human-orientation and dynamic balancebetween desire and rationality, individual and others'interests, secular pursuit and religiousbeliefs. In conclusion, his plays show that the human nature is after all the kind of spiritual,moral and rational existence, and the moral pursuit of being enterprising, progressive, accendingto perfect goodness goes through his plays at all the phases as well as his perseverance andconsistent exploration into moral virtues of being friendly, tolerant, abstinent, just andbenevolent as a track of his spiritual exploration.
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