An Ethical Analysis On The Characters In An Outcast Of The Islands

Since F. R. Leavis who comments in his The Great Tradition (1948): "[...]Conrad is among the very greatest novelists in the language - or any language" (Leavis 257), this Polish-bora English writer has received constant attention from the critical world, and becomes the hot issue in Chinese academe in recent years. However, these researches are confined to Conrad's works in major phase as Heart of Darkness (1899) and Lord Jim (1900) while neglect his early works such as An Outcast of the Islands (1896).Ethical criticism has attracted the domestic critics' attention in recent years. Different from social ethnics, ethical criticism focuses on ethical, moral and objective review on literature and gives historical dialectical explanation to it. It is a kind of methodology applied to literary criticism, which has to combine literary reading and understanding together and meanwhile to emphasize the social responsibility and moral obligation of literature as well. Conrad holds the belief that moral discovery should be the object of every tale and moral is definitely one of the most significant themes in his fictions. The social and ethical significance can be revealed more profoundly by the use of ethical criticism.An Outcast of the Islands is a work with rich moral significance. Morality functions as an important part in the figure's characterization. Moral defects make white imperial heroes degenerate into anti-heroes, while the former morally inferior natives in imperial discourse achieve moral subversion through their actions. Although the present thesis has shown the modern heroes' moral corruption, it tries to convey a more profound theme, which is that Conrad draws a clear moral outline of English imperial society by anti-heroic characterization, regrets about untimeliness of moral idealism in front of reality, denounces moral degeneration in imperialism courses and expects moral revelation to the readers.In the light of ethical criticism, this thesis examines three different kinds of characters by weaving the moral phenomenon of betrayal and fidelity. It explores moral's fundamental function in their characterization and attempts to probe into the deep social reasons. After introducing the theoretical background and significance, this thesis firstly analyzes the explicit anti-hero Willems and his moral degeneration, secondly focuses on the implicit anti-hero Lingard and his moral idealism and thirdly deals with the moral subversion of the implicit heroes Aissa and Babalatchi who contrast sharply with the white colonialists. Finally in the concluding part, the present thesis indicates that the contemporary imperial and colonial discourse and rapid developing industrialism are the main reasons for heroes' vanishing, and draws the conclusion that only by becoming morally upright and positive to social change can people get proper balance in spirit and live more fulfilled lives.