A Study Of Benjamin Disraeli’s Critique On The Utilitarianism Of The Victorian Era In Sybil

Benjamin Disraeli was a famous prime minister of the Great Britain in the Victorian Era. He is also a novelist and regarded as the founder of English political novels. The "Young England" trilogy is his masterpiece. In Sybil, the second book of the trilogy, he selects a much wider social background, fully demonstrates bourgeoisie utilitarianism thoughts hidden in the trend of "progress" and exposes the most terrible social, political and spiritual crises triggered by the prevailing utilitarianism in the nineteenth century. As a politician, Disraeli seeks to find a solution to these crises caused by utilitarianism on the basis of his own conservative politics. He advocates to come back to the tradition of the ancient England and based on this he further proposes three elements to form the national polity:the church, the crown and respected nobility. Aristocracies should take their responsibility to the people and revive the power of the church and the crown to confront with the social division caused by utilitarianism. The characters Disraeli creates in this novel, for instance, the young aristocracy Egremont and the pure girl Sybil, are the best annotation for his political ideas. Although to some extent Disraeli’s politics is unrealistic in political reality and the "Young England" movement fails, he completely presents his conservative politics in his novel Sybil and makes them the powerful weapon to confront with utilitarianism and those crises on social, political and spiritual aspects.The present thesis consists of five parts.Introduction part reviews the critical researches on both the "Young England" trilogy and the second book of the trilogy Sybil after a brief explanation for the topic selection; meanwhile it provides a brief introduction to thesis, methodology and the significance of this study.Chapter One introduces the development of utilitarianism ideas, the core ideas of Bentham’s and Mill’s utilitarianism philosophy, the acceptance of utilitarianism in the Victorian Era and literary opposition to utilitarianism in the Victorian Era.Chapter two aims to introduce Disraeli’s conservative politics and its critique on utilitarianism. "Young England" movement takes an opposite stand with utilitarianism, and their leader Disraeli also proposes his own conservative politics to fight against Peel’s utilitarian and liberal conservatism. "Young England" trilogy which was created during the period of "Young England" movement is obviously under the influence of his conservative politics and shows his critique on utilitarianism.Chapter Three is the core chapter of the whole thesis and it makes an analysis on Disraeli’s critique on utilitarianism in the text of the novel Sybil. This chapter can be divided into three parts:first of all it reveals the utilitarianism thoughts and mentality hidden in the trend of "progress"; then it presents the social, political and spiritual crises triggered by utilitarianism; finally it explores Disraeli’s solution to these crises through analyzing two main characters in the novel-Sybil Gerard and Charles Egremont.Conclusion part summarizes the whole thesis and draws a conclusion:Disraeli’s critique on bourgeoisie utilitarianism is reflected in his novel Sybil and at the same time he also puts his own conservative politics into the text of this novel to confront with the prevailing utilitarianism in the Victorian Era and the social, political and spiritual crises caused by utilitarianism ideology.