The Collapse And Reconstruction Of Humanistic Order

Timon of Athens is Shakespeare’s last tragedy.The thesis takes Timon of Athens as a text and uses Greimas’ narrative semiotics as a theoretical basis to interpret the collapse and reconstruction of the ideal humanistic order in the text.Then it further analyzes the crisis of humanistic order in the work and Shakespeare’s desire to rebuild the humanistic ideal and regulate the humanistic order.This thesis uses an interdisciplinary approach to explore the deep structure of the text from a semiotic perspective.This thesis consists of an introduction,a body and a conclusion,the main contents of which are as follows.The first part of the thesis introduces the background of the work,the literature review and the framework of the thesis.The second part is the main part.It consists of four chapters.Chapter One is the theoretical foundation,which introduces the theory of Greimas’ narrative semiotics and the feasibility and significance of using Greimas’ narrative semiotics to interpret Timon of Athens.Chapter Two,Chapter Three,and Chapter Four are the key parts of the thesis.It is mainly based on Greimas’ narrative semiotics to interpret the manifestation of humanistic order in the text from surface to deep,the collapse of ideal humanistic order,and the reconstruction and regulation of ideal humanistic order.Chapter Two explores the discursive representation of humanistic order in Timon of Athens from two perspectives: spatial symbols and character symbols.The spatial symbols are selected from three types of typical spatial imagery to symbolize the ideal humanistic order,the return of the ideal humanistic order and the collapse of the ideal humanistic order.The selected symbols of the characters are symbols of Shakespeare’s ideal humanistic order,the destroyer of the ideal humanistic order and the guardians of the ideal humanistic order.Chapter Three uses the canonical narrative schema and actantial narrative schema to explore the narrative process and causes of the collapse of the ideal humanistic order in the text.The collapse of ideal humanism led to the disorder and chaos of the humanistic order,and at the same time triggered Shakespeare’s desire to return to thinking of the reconstruction of ideal humanistic order.Chapter Four explores the reconstruction and specification of the ideal humanistic order.The semiotic square is built through the text in order to uncover the deep structural themes beneath the surface narrative.That is,the critique and revelation of human nature and Shakespeare’s desire to rebuild the ideal humanistic order.The concluding section provides a brief summary and conclusion of the ideas in this thesis.By analyzing the text through Greimas’ narrative semiotics,we can understand the ugly human nature and dark reality that Shakespeare exposes in his works and understand his disappointment.At the same time,we can see the light of Shakespeare’s humanist ideals and his desire to rebuild an ideal humanistic order.