From Arthur To The Gadfly--A Brief Analysis Of Voynich's The Gadfly Trilogy

The Gadfly Trilogy was the representative work of the English authoress E.L. Voynich. The trilogy which was as realistic as a biography, not only narrated the life of the Gadfly, but also introduced his antecedents. Besides, the authoress depicted the character and the mentality of the Gadfly in great detail. The reverberations the trilogy had in the UK and the US was quite different from that in China and Russia, which was a special phenomenon in literature. This paper analyzes the Gadfly's character and the Gadfly Trilogy.This paper contains five parts besides introduction and epilogue.Part One. Analysis of how Voynich, the authoress depicted the Gadfly's growth and change by using comparison. At first the Gadfly was a young man from a wealthy family who was naive and timid. He got cheated because of his innocence and carelessness, and after that he went into exile in South America. He suffered great pain and humiliation, but those hardships made him a great hero with iron will.Part Two. Analyze the character of the Gadfly which had relation with his experience. Due to the agony he suffered in the past, he disguised himself and was riot able to trust others any more. What's more, the Gadfly had inborn melancholy which could be traced back to his previous generations.Part Three. Analyze the emotional world of the Gadfly, basing on The Gadfly and An Interrupted Friendship. Hero as the Gadfly was, he had the same emotions and feelings as an ordinary man. The love between the Gadfly and his father, his friend, and his beloved were all very touching and moving, which made the Gadfly more real to life.Part Four. Analysis of the origination of the Gadfly based on both reality and myth. The Gadfly was similar to the Italian revolutionalists, and was also to some extent alike Byron and Garibaldi. And the nickname'the Gadfly'was probably from the Greek myth or Socrates. Part Five. Analysis of the different reverberations the Gadfly Trilogy had in different countries. The trilogy was neglected in the Uk and the US because it was contrary to the mainstream literature, and was against the religious tradition. However, The trilogy became the talk of the town in China and Russia because it was in tune with the social background and the political environment. Also, there might be other reasons, such as the artistic values of the trilogy and the charm of the hero.