Marius The Epicurean And Walter Pater's Aesthetic Ideas

The aestheticism flourished for only tens of years, but the significance of those aesthetes is quite overwhelming in the whole history of English literature. Walter Pater was a very important figure in this movement; he introduced the aesthetic ideas to England and also spread those ideas through his works.Based on quite a lot of studies on the related articles as well as Mr. Pater's works, this paper aims to study the aesthetic ideas of Mr. Pater and the characterization of the hero, Marius, in his fiction Marius the Epicurean. Through the analysis of the characterization here, the conclusion is that Marius is the figure that reflects Mr. Pater's own aesthetic ideas to a great extent.This paper consists of five parts:The first part is the introduction, which is consisted of the introduction of Mr. Pater and the current studies. The first chapter focuses on the aesthetic movement and the aesthetic ideas of Mr. Pater, which is roughly divided into three parts. The second and third chapters are the main chapters. Characterization is introduced in those two chapters and the characterization of Marius is analyzed, too. By the characterization of Marius, the search and beliefs of Mr. Pater's are presented just before the readers. Separately, the second chapter deals with the methods of telling and the third chapter deals with the methods of showing. The last part of the thesis is the conclusion, which states the significance of this paper.For so many years, people have focused on Mr. Pater's aesthetic ideas only through the studies on his prose or criticisms. They regard Mr. Pater as a stylist, a language master, or a philosopher, but they barely studied him as a novelist and ignored the characters he had made. But in Marius the Epicurean, a young heart ceaselessly searching for experience and pleasure is shown to us down and out; the valuation and philosophy of Mr. Pater's life can also be felt greatly.