| Herbert George Wells(1866-1946)was one of the most talented English writers in the world.He was a prolific writer in many other styles,whether it be science-fiction or nonfiction.It is worth mentioning that his contribution to science fiction is the most unforgettable.H.G.Wells was known as “The Shakespeare of Science-Fiction”,and together with Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback,Wells was referred to as “The Father of Science Fiction”.One important reason that H.G.Wells received such fame and reputation is that his ethical thought has deeply penetrated into his works.His individual science-fiction works have been analyzed from Ethical Literary Criticism perspective,but lack of systematic research.This thesis aims to explore the ethical issues caused by science and technology in his three early science fictions,namely,The Time Machine(1895),The Island of Doctor Moreau(1896),and The Invisible Man(1897),the three early science fictions are his science-fiction masterpieces and the most representative ethical thoughts.With the hope of better systematically interpreting H.G.Wells' s ethical thoughts through some basic terms including ethical identity and social ethics from the perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism.Furthermore,this thesis not only analyzes various ethical crises caused by science and technology,but also explores Wells' s thoughts of evolutionary ethics,and reveals the practical value of Wells' s science fiction works and his warnings to our contemporary society.This thesis is mainly composed of five parts:Chapter one is an Introduction part,firstly,it briefly sketches out H.G.Wells' s life and literary achievements,as well as a rough content of the early three science fictions.Secondly,it summarizes the literary reviews abroad and at home related to H.G.Wells.Most research mostly centers on his view on novels creation,the Eco-criticism perspective or moral and ethical exploration of his individual science-fiction works.And based on the material collected,the last part of the chapter highlights the significance by applying Ethical Literary Criticism in a systematic way to better appreciate H.G.Wells' s science-fiction works.Chapter Two illustrates the main characters' loss of ethical identity and confusion after accepting the change of science and technology.In The Time Machine,degradation of the body,the weakening of language and thinking,and the loss ofhuman feelings in the Eloi and the Morlocks,which make them tend to be animals,lose human ethical identity.In The Island of Dr.Moreau,the alternation of human factor and animal factor in beast folks,even though they have the appearance of human beings,and they are clumsy to learn human language,imitate human behavior,the suppressed animal factor will be shown from time to time.In The Invisible Man,invisibility medicine makes Griffin's identity ambiguous.After being invisible,Griffin is equivalent to giving up human identity.So the invisible man is no longer human after he abandons the nature of man.H.G.Wells reveals the ethical tragedies from the destruction of ethical identity caused by science and technology.Chapter Three focuses on collapsed social ethics in the three science fictions.Disharmony and hostility of social relationship between Elio and Morlocks in The Time Machine,the Elio is nothing but a group of fat cattle,stocked by the Morlocks living underground,being fattened for slaughter.Besides,Elio is indifferent and ruthless to each other even refused to help someone who was dying.In The Island of Dr.Moreau,Dr.Moreau set up a “utopia human world” for his beast folks,it looks like a civilized world,but it is chaotic in reality.The barbarity and the fear of pain drove the beast folks against Moreau's totalitarian rule and killed him.Eventually,the beast folks' human nature was gradually degraded,and fallen into a terrible mutual hunting and chaos.Besides,Dr.Moreau intended to transform animals into rational humans and to become their master,he did not treat these beast folks as equal as human beings,completely lost humanity.There is a social community segregation in The Invisible Man.Although Griffin is a rare genius scientist in the world,the academic world is full of artificial forces,wantonly to steal the fruits of his labor.The invisible man was not accepted by others,so he frantically pursued power,to build a horror dynasty for dominating all human beings,it is obviously that he lost sense of social responsibility.The collapse of social ethics is also one of the important reasons leading to the ethical tragedy of these protagonists.Chapter Four analyzes the evolutionary ethics thought contained in Wells' s science fiction.Although there are many ideas affecting Wells' s life,in many of the ideas,the greatest impact on Wells is Darwin's theory of evolution.In the process of Wells' s all creation and ideological development,the theory of evolution is all through,and it is the ideological basis of Wells' s ethical and moral concepts.This chapter focuses on the embodiments of the theory of evolution in the early three works of Wells and its influence on Wells' s ethical and moral thoughts.Chapter Five concludes that ethical literary criticism offers a new approach to theinterpretation of H.G.Wells' s science-fiction works.Through the exploration of the ethical issues: ethical identity and social ethics,and analysis of his evolution ethics thoughts in his three early science fictions,H.G.Wells not only shows the changes brought about by the development of science and technology,but also explores the tragedy brought by the malignant high-tech,which aims to send a warning to the world.Just as his epitaph: God will destroy human beings,I warned you!... |
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