A Study Of The Conflict Between The Utilitarian Morality And The Common Morality In The Way We Live Now

Anthony Trollope’s works embody fully his moral and social values,and have attracted scholars’ attention on various of themes of them.As an interpreter of social change,Trollope examines different moral strains which conduct people’s life during the Victorian Era in his longest volume,The Way We Live Now.By employing Professor Nie Zhenzhao’s theory of ethical literary criticism,this thesis argues that there are two conflicting moralities in Trollope’s The Way We Live Now,and by revealing them from the three aspects of selfdevelopment,marriage and social activities,it illustrates Trollope’s opposition to utilitarian morality and his moral orientation of the common morality.This thesis consists of introduction,four chapters and conclusion.The introduction contains some basic information of Anthony Trollope and The Way We Live Now,and also the literature review,theory adopted,the central argument,research methods and significance of the thesis.The first chapter analyzes the ethical environment of Victorian Age,especially the dominant ideology utilitarianism,and Alan Donagan’s common morality,and finally explores morality as an ideology of social classes.The second chapter analyzes the moral conflicts in self-development between utilitarian morality which is based on utility and the common morality which is grounded in reason.The third chapter focuses on the moral conflicts between materialized marriage and duty based marriage.And by returning to the ethical environment of The Way We Live Now,this chapter reveals Trollope’s limitations in his moral criticism.The fourth chapter analyzes the moral conflicts in social activities which is caused by the emphasis of result and the absence of veracity in the common morality.The conclusion summarizes the thesis and concludes that The Way We Live Now reflects Trollope’s view that the replacement of common morality by utilitarian morality is not a progressive development.