The Image Of The Devil In Akutagawa Ryunosuke’s Works

Works of Ryunosuke Akutagawa often show grumpy images of character and uncanny style. This is the reason why he was famous for the genius of ghost. In the works with the color of Christianity, the Devil, as the important element, has an important function for revealing the tendency of minds and spiritual situation of author, which we cannot ignore.Under the background of modernization of learning from the west, the shape of the Devil in the works is the product of receiving the minds of Christianity. From the origin of bible, the author explores the image connotation of the Devil in the western religion from the initiator and terminator of the evil and the defier who looks askance at God-from the two sides. In the Genesis, the serpent whose original image represented decoy duck was rendered greatly as the negative image in the Middle ages. There is an atrocious image to shock the heart in the bible, which interprets goodness on the other hand. From the decoy duck to the mutineer and the destroyer, the image of the Devil has been enriched and developed, which shows deep complexity. Compared with traditional the Devil in the west, cultural tradition in Japan on the basis of pantheism of expresses the tendency of general description much more when describing the image of the Devil- power of rival, which is also the cultural basis for the author. The author expounds the feature of the Devil in the Japanese traditional culture from three sides. Owing to the special geographic position and climate environment, the natural worshipful concept-everything has soul, has been interiorized in Japan. Under the concept, Japanese think that people live in the world full of demon. people can communicate with demon and maintain a intimate relationship, which play a important role in the shaping of the image of the Devil for author. What is more, the attitude of Japanese society towards western religion is acceptant with resistance, which deeply influences the reflection of the Devil image for author.Apart from the background of minds, I also explored the concept of the Devil for the author and classified the images of the Devil in the works. I expounded from three aspects that contain evil, death and hell. I want to comprehend his unique cognition so that I can explore the root of unique tendency of aesthetic appreciation for author. The author detested the evil, but at the same time, he was trapped in the evil and felt helpless. This contradictory minds directly formed the important spiritual character for the Devil image. When classifying the Devil image, I mainly expound from three aspects. In the description of feature of magic essence for the Devil, the author especially emphasized the inner feature of ghosts and goblins. The manifestation of evil inherits traditional feature of western religion. The evil expressed from image has the power which can shock the heart. For the divinity, it emphasizes opinion of life and death. Barbarity is the expression of primitiveness and dissimilation. Barbarity adds enjoyment and satire in the expression of art and sometimes plays a important role in the level of narration and structure. Besides, when shaping the image of the Devil, the author puts the emphasis on human connotation. The author introduces the judgment of morality and ethics for people when expressing the reflection on the meaning of image of the Devil.When expounding the creative image the Superfluous Devil in the works of author, I try to analyze traditional superfluous man from the beginning, exploring spiritual peculiarity and behavior features of Superfluous Devil, revealing the paradox between applying new thoughts and being trapped in traditional concept. I try to analyze special value and meaning for Superfluous Devil in the special context from the perspective of narration, way of expressing, connotation, etc. Inheriting the Devil of western Christianity reveals historical progress of modernization after Meiji restoration. However this reference mostly just embodies theme and figure image. Under the frame the culture of Christianity, the author mostly shows the personal understanding of social history and character of human nature. The author shows the understanding for history of the Devil and reality by the unique description of image of the Devil.The author shapes the image of the Superfluous Devil with unique social meaning and aesthetic value by western religion and his affected culture. The author expresses the deep reflection on social development and human values by extremely absurd methods.