The Pursuit Of Human Harmonious Relationship In The Forsyte Saga-from The Perspective Of Ethical Literary Criticism

John Galsworthy is one of the most important and prolific writers in English literature.He writes fifty-five works during his writing career, wins the Nobel Prize because of hisdistinguished art of narration in The Forsyte Saga. The Forsyte Saga trilogy consists of TheMan of Property, In Chancery and To Let. Galsworthy’s works are studied and focused by alot of scholars at home and abroad, but most of the scholars study on the perspectives ofhistory status and character analysis, there is little study and research about Galsworthy’sworks from the perspective of ethical literary criticism. This thesis attempts to discuss therelationships between man and man, man and himself by using ethical literary criticism. Sowe can explore people’s pursuit of human harmonious relationship in The Forsyte Saga.This thesis is divided into six parts.The first chapter is introduction. This part gives us a brief introduction aboutGalsworthy’s life experience, The Forsyte Saga trilogy, and the significance of this thesis.The second chapter is the literature review of this thesis. It covers the study ofGalsworthy and The Forsyte Saga at home and abroad.The third chapter introduces the theoretical foundation—ethical literary criticism. Itemphasizes to discuss two principles of the theory, including the pursuit of good between manand man, the pursuit of sublimation between man and himself.The fourth chapter explores the relationship between Soames and Irene and so on. It alsostudies Galsworthy’s ethical proposition from the pursuit of good between man and man. Atthe same time, Galsworthy wants to show us only love can achieve good by marriage, loveand family relationship. That is to achieve a harmonious relationship.The fifth chapter studies the pursuit of sublimation from the relationship between manand himself. Except for selfish Soames, June and Irene overcome their own throughself-sacrifice and self-awakening, reach the goal of sublimation.The sixth chapter is the conclusion of this thesis. Galsworthy reveals the selfishness andpossessiveness of the Forsytes in The Forsyte Saga, but he does not criticize blindly, heshows us some characters are full of love. Through the pursuit of good between man and man,the pursuit of sublimation between man and himself, Galsworthy explains his ethicalthought—appeals to pursue the human harmonious relationship.