Ethical Choice and the Formation and Deconstruction of Ethical Complex in Henry James's The Ambassadors

Foreign Literature Studies ›› 2017, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (6): 114-121.

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Ethical Choice and the Formation and Deconstruction of Ethical Complex in Henry James's The Ambassadors

Wang Yuehong, Yu Zongru

Online:2017-12-25 Published:2022-06-15
About author:Wang Yuehong is professor at the School of Foreign Languages in University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (Shanghai 200093, China). Her academic interests include British and American literature and translation. Email: wangyhx@163.com; Yu Zongru is a translator at Nanjing Beiruosi Biotechnology Limited. Inc.(Nanjing 239000, China). Her research interest is American literature. Email: yuzongru010604@163.com
Supported by:
“The Combination of Realism and Modernism in Henry James's Novels” (15BWW035), sponsored by National Social Science Fund of China; “A Study of the Aesthetic Modernity of Henry James's Mid-term Works”(14ZS119), one of the key projects of scientific research and innovation sponsored by Shanghai Municipal Education Commission

Abstract

Abstract: This paper applied the method of ethical literary criticism advanced by Professor Nie Zhenzhao to analyze Madame de Vionnet and Chad Newsome's Sphinx factor and Lewis Lambert Strether's ethical choice, to reveal the process of forming and reconstructing ethical lines and ethical complex in the works, aiming to explore protagonists' ethical and moral changes, the ethical salvation brought about by those changes and the social causes of conflict and integration of ethical consciousness between Europe and America. James manifested the theme of cultural conflict between Europe and America by describing the two opposing groups of Paris and America represented by Strether and Vionnet respectively. By displaying the characters' ethical dilemma, difficult ethical choice and awakening ethical consciousness, James expressed his own moral choice and value judgment, and his yearning for an ideal society with a civilized and harmonious ethical order.

Key words: The Ambassadors, Sphinx factor, ethical choice, ethical salvation, ethical complex

Wang Yuehong, Yu Zongru. Ethical Choice and the Formation and Deconstruction of Ethical Complex in Henry James's The Ambassadors[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2017, 39(6): 114-121.

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