G. Eliotが見たCasaubonの孤独(吉田徹夫教授退職記念号)
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概要
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Born in 1819, Mary Anne Evans - who was later to assume the name 'George Eliot' - translated some German essays on Christianity into English and pubhshed them until she started on her literary career in 1857. Middlemarch (1871-72) is commonly considered to be her most important work and recognized by Virginia Woolf as the magnificent book which with an its imperfections is one of the few English novels written fbr grown-up people. As the sub-title 'A Study of Provincial Life' shows, George Eliot tries to make a study of the people living in Middlemarch, a fictional provincial town in England. Middlemarch has been often thought as a story to deal with the inequality between the sexes in marriage, largely from the wife's point of view. This essay, however, will focus on the situation of husband - Edward Casaubon, a wealthy and middle- aged scholar - and attempt to examine his 'isolation' which is disclosed and intensified through marriage. Mr Casaubon does not feel delight though he wins Dorothea Brooke who is a lovely and noble-hearted girl of a respectable family. She has an ardor to be a helpmate of a great man who she thinks is a sort of father and could teach her even Hebrew if she wished it. Contrary to his expectation, his very young wife has her own opinions about his learning which, she finds after marriage, has been criticized for being anachronistic. Indeed, Marriage brings him a new pain of feeling obliged to give much consideration to his wife and to meet her expectations. His self-doubt, jealousy against his compeers and distrust of everybody's feeling towards him which are the results from living in obscurity for years find a new victim - his wife, though he obviously thinks himself as a victim for being deprived of his right as a husband. Mr Casaubon hates his young cousin Will Ladislaw who evidently despises Casaubon's pedantic learning as it does not pursue the truth earnestly. lt is natural that Mr Casaubon keep Dorothea away from Will who will positively be regarded favorably by his young wife. His self-doubt, jealousy and distrust of disposition on his scholarly compeers does not spare his wife. His distrust of others makes him keep staying outward of them. Eliot says that Mr Casaubon's marriage, like religion, erudition and authorship is fated to become an outward requirement. In fact, He tries never to go inward not only of other people including his wife but also of his learning and even of himself. In another words, he only goes around the true essence of things. Being afraid effacing the truth, he does not want to seek the truth. Instead, he does want to win or earn something which appears to be truth. His affliction comes from that he can not win the 'outward' truth. His 'isolation' however, comes from that he gives up seeking after the truth. This is his 'isolation' which isolates himself from everyone, from everything.
- 2005-02-28