英语论文网

iration to participate indiscussing taste.Therefore,just as Jameson argues that narrative is ideological and couldprovide an imaginative solution for the actual unsolved social contradiction.In TheMysteries of Udolpho,through describing the aristocracy’s cold attitudes to nature andtheir money-focus tastes,Radcliffe imaginatively disintegrates the exclusiveness of thearistocracy’s taste.Then,based on the imitation of aristocracy’s picturesque taste,shefurther constructs middle-class picturesque taste which concentrates on sensibility so as torealize their cultural legitimacy.

Chapter 5 Conclusion

5.1 Major findings

Based on a thorough study of Radcliffe’s rural writing in The Mysteries of Udolpho,it could be concluded that she tries to construct a utilitarian middle-class culture.Furthermore,the strategies,contents and reasons for her construction are revealed basedon the detailed analysis.To be specific,firstly,the thesis through the ideological narrativestrategy finds that Radcliffe imaginatively disintegrates the aesthetic exclusivity of thetraditional landed aristocracy and constructs a middle-class aesthetic culture thatemphasizes sensibility,hence materializing the cultural superiority of the middle class andnaturalizing their power.

Secondly,by adopting the strategy of historicization,this thesis reverts to the actualhistorical context and concludes that Radcliffe imitates the aristocracy’s historical traditionof pursuing science so as to approach the aristocratic“elegant tradition,”and she furtherconstructs a middle-class scientific culture with utilitarian tendencies to distinguish themiddle-class people from the lower classes and to establish the middle class’s social and cultural identity and gain its cultural superiority.

Finally,by adopting ideology’s“anti-containment”strategy,this thesis finds thatRadcliffe disintegrates the traditional landed aristocracy’s moral paradigm,whichemphasizes noble birth and lineage,and rewrites the concept of gentlemanliness thatemphasizes personal ethics and downplays birth so as to remove the ideological barriersblocking the middle class’s entry into the ruling class.

On the whole,this thesis explores Radcliffe’s construction of middle-class culture,which is implied in the rural writing of The Mysteries of Udolpho.Moreover,the researchfindings indicate that the author’s construction of middle-class culture also has aninseparable relationship with the commercial benefits and the middle class’s appeal to gainmore social discourse power.First and foremost,besides Radcliffe’s middle-class socialbackground,the middle-class readers and social environment also directly influenced herconstruction.Unlike previous literature that required aristocracy’s patronage,the Gothicnovel was a kind of commercial literature.The middle-class readers’likes and dislikesserved as the primary force manipulating the authors’writing.In the late eighteenthcentury,these newborn middle-class readers were eager to stand out conspicuously insociety and have their voice in the culture.

reference(omitted)