On The Comic Art In The Pyramid By William Golding

Golding is a distinguished novelist in the United Kingdom in the post World War II era.His early novels were imbued with moral and religious allegory.However,his later works shows obvious sense of comedy.Former studies on Golding and his works are mainly on Lord of Flies while not many of them were on comic art of his works and The Pyramid.By means of systematic analysis of the comic art of The pyramid,the thesis spies on Golding's thoughts,to enrich the study of comic art in Golding's novels.This paper is divided into five parts.The Introduction consists of a brief summary of Golding's life and experience of writing and research as well as the main content and features of his novel The pyramid.It points out that the comic art is the charm of the novel.The first chapter analyzes the influence the comic art leaves on Golding.This chapter analyzes the meaning and history of comedy stating that the concept of comedy originated from the west.Then it holds that the absurd comedy,the black dark comedy and anti-traditional literary thoughts all have a great influence on Golding's later comic works.The second chapter explores the causes of formation in The Pyramid's comic art.From the social background,during World War II,Golding's writing is also subject to the influence of that era.The intent of The Pyramid is social critique.It expresses social class hierarchy in the United Kingdom and its impact on individuals.The novel is filled with satire to the class system.From the personal experience aspect,Golding's experience in the army and 19-year secondary school teaching experience had a great influence on his writing.The plot and characters of The Pyramid are mainly from Golding's real-life.The novel is his autobiography to some extent.The third chapter focuses on the comic art in the novel in the following aspects: the use of language,novel structure and character portrayal.It elaborates the language from the perspective of irony.The pyramid embedded dramatic language features with strong allegory and deep meaning.Then the chapter analyzes comedy structure in its structure and form.The chapter argues that using dramatic structure,namely,the control,suspense or conflicts,expression,the novel chooses sonata form in the three chapters in the novel,which is Golding's only consciously borrowed musical form in the structure of the novel and it reflects the mosaic of postmodern narrative structure.The chaptercontinues to analyze comedy characters portray of the novel.In Golding's novels,the comic characters' motivation and attitude are shown in front of us without disguise or camouflage,and this narrative way brings a better understanding of the rich inner world of the characters to the readers.There are four sets of comic characters in the novel: the first group is people of lower social status on the edge(Mr.and Mrs.Babbacombe and his wife,Captain Wilmot),the second group is pelagic fools(Robert,Mr.and Mrs.Claymore),the third group is the odd artists(old Mr.Dawlish,Bounce and Evelyn),and the fourth focuses on the analysis of the main characters: rich and complex character of Oliver and his mother.The fourth chapter is devoted to the analysis of the significance of comic art in The Pyramid.It inherits Neo comic tradition in Ancient Greece and comic traditions in United Kingdom and explores a new era of comic creation in his later works.Then it makes comparison with Golding's other two novels The Paper Man and The Spire,and analyses the meaning of comedy art in the novel.Then it points out that The Pyramid belongs to the Comedy of Manners category with a social comedy code.The Pyramid described has compact structure and fine narration,thus its artistic value and importance should not be underestimated.This paper is designed to help readers understand the art of the novel and the novelist.It provides a new perspective to the study of The Pyramid,and inspires the study of Golding's works.