A Critical Analysis of the Round and Flat Characters in Emma 分析《爱玛》中的圆形人物和扁平人物开题报告

1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述包含参考文献）

A Critical Analysis of the Round and Flat Characters in Emma1.IntroductionJane Austen (1775-1817) was one of the greatest novelists in the history of English literature. Although she wrote only six novels in her life, regardless of Pride and Prejudice in the earlier period, Sense and Sensibility, Northern Abbey, or Mansfield Park, Persuasion, Emma in the later period. They are all widely circulated and praised by British and American readers. Jane Austens work has a unique style and superb skills, which today is almost a consensus in the history of literature. Among them, Emma is the most mature and complete structure. The characters of the novel have been repeatedly concerned by literary critics. Austen successfully created a series of characters with different personalities in her works, and her meticulous description of characters also reflected her ability to control the description of the characters. As Austens last novel, it is very essential for the readers to analyze the way in which she describes the characters in order to have a better study.2.Introduction of round and flat charactersThe concepts of round characters and flat characters were put forward by the literary critic Foster, in A Few Aspects of the Novel, which provided scholars from all around the world with an excellent perspective on the analysis of characters. In the creation of novels, there are different expressions of round characters and flat characters. A round character is like a geometric body, which is with multiple faces, a sense of hierarchy, and a sense of space; while a flat character only shows one face, and everything is gathered towards this one face. That is to say, a round character is like a ball and a flat character is like a circle. In the works of art, the characters are divided into round characters and flat characters, and the concepts of them have been used since Foster has proposed it in the book, so that it has been used by people and expanded to other literary genres other than novels. Round characters refer to characters with complex personality characteristics in literary works. These characters live and live in the novel are polysemous and changeable characters, and their characters have a process of formation and development. The shaping of the round characters breaks the simple classification method of good characters are all good and bad characters are all bad, and they portrays the characters according to the true colors of life. It reveals the complexity and richness of humanity more and more deeply, and has higher aesthetic value. This method of shaping characters gives the readers a multi-faceted, three-dimensional sensible impression, which can often bring spiritual vibrations. Flat characters were called simple characters in the 17th century. Nowadays, although people sometimes call them genre characters or comic characters, in the purest form of expression, they vaguely follow a simple idea. Many of the men, women, and children appearing in Austens writings are almost such comic characters that can be expressed in some simple images. They appear in the play just to express a simple idea or characteristic, and even live in various contradictions for a certain fixed idea.The round character has a relatively full personality, which can reflect the complexity and versatility of the character. The characterization of the flat character is relatively monotonous, lacking the change of character personality and the complexity of human nature. However, flat characters cannot be totally neglected because of the failure of some characters in literary works. In many literary works, there are a lot of charming and far-reaching flat characters. In Austens work Emma, many round characters and flat characters are wonderfully worth learning.3. The need of studyThis article is of practical and academic significance. First of all, in addition to the historical significance of an outstanding novel at that time, the most important thing is the characterization of the characters. A wonderful description of the characters can reflect the social phenomenon at that time, so it is necessary for the readers to analyze the characters in the novel from a multi-angle perspective. Secondly, there are many characters in Emma, which uses a narrative style based on irony to portray characters, presents a series of vivid characters to audiences through unique perspectives, and gives them different personality characteristics for different male and female roles. The external image and inner character make the readers establish a new and perfect character system and actively evaluate the characters. However, few scholars have systematically analyzed the various characters in Emma through the perspective of round characters and flat characters. In the end, Foster readily defined what he called a flat character, but he was slightly cautious about defining a round character, but only implicitly gave a definition of implied meaning. Foster doesnt look down on flat characters. On the one hand, it is because the flat characters cater to the desire of the art works to be permanent. On the other hand, a good novel requires both round characters and flat characters. In fact, flat characters are usually comic-style comedy, which also implies that tragic or more serious performance tasks are performed by round characters.Therefore, this article has huge development potential and far-reaching research significance, which is helpful to comprehensively help other scholars to study this novel.4. Literature reviewIn her novels, Jane Austen explored and awakened the self-independence consciousness of the young male and female protagonists in the book, and focused on the analysis and description of the characters in the works and the tension between women and social reality. They all laid the realistic tone of her novels in the reality of British society at that time. In addition, the novel language style and witty storyline setting of Jane Austens novels made her works with realism more popular with readers. So far, a large number of scholars have analyzed the male and female protagonists and other supporting characters in Emma from different perspectives, but they have not comprehensively analyzed the novel from the perspective of round characters and flat characters. The criterion for testing whether a character is a round figure is to see if he can surprise us in a convincing way, that is, a round character can provide readers with fresh fun from time to time, compared to a flat character. It has been repeating the same ideas and qualities. (Wang Yun, 2011) In Emma, the heroine, Emma, is an obvious round character. According to many scholars, the heroine Emma is very educated and culturally trained, and is a nearly perfect female image. Therefore, Emma has so many people in the text who like to be sought after, but it is not difficult to see that it is so close. Perfect women also have some blemishes, and Emma is also arrogant, so she thinks that the relationship between people is determined by their family background and social class. Marriage should be based on status and status property to decide. Therefore, when Martin proposed to Harriet, she prevented Harriet from accepting Martins proposing in every way. It can be seen that the heroine, Emma, is a typical round character. Her personality is multi-faceted, and her contradictions are opposites. She wants her best friend to be happy but does not understand which is really suitable for her best friend. What her best friend wants is to do it just according to her own ideas, without considering the consequences and the feelings of her best friend. In Emma, there are also many indispensable flat characters. When the readers dissect this work, analyze the characters, scenes, dialogues and their relationship to the entire story, they will find that there is nothing superfluous: all these different factors are secretly pointing to a center; all the natural and realistic descriptions, while seemingly similar to ordinary daily life, follow the two principles of simplicity and selection. There is nothing far-fetched or cumbersome. It is the authors ingenious arrangement and detailed description of these two minor characters that make the readers more clearly see Emma, a hero with a distinctive personality. Emma is not only a description of Emma and her character, and the main purpose and meaning of the novel are revealed through a series of characters, events and rhetoric. Therefore, the flat characters of the novel, such as Harriet, Martin, Elton, Jane Fairfax and Mrs. Weston and so on, all have value that cannot be ignored. Whats more, they also promote the plot of the novel. Austens key figures are detailed descriptions of these characters. These flat characters have been analyzed by scholars from various angles before, and their function of the storyline in Emma has also been analyzed. But few scholars analyze their function from the aspect of flat characters. This is what this article needs to explore further.5.ConclusionThe readers will find that the characters of round characters are boundless, full of flesh and blood, and are real and credible. Flat characters are characteristic characters, comic characters or type characters. Their personality characteristics are clear and easy to distinguish. The readers can also find that the characters in Emma can be summarized and analyzed from these two perspectives. As the most mature and structured work of Austen, the readers should analyze it comprehensively, so as to help future authors and readers to think about how to use it reasonably in the process of reading and creating novels. The characters are more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and bring the connotation of the works to the extreme. This article also analyzes the characters in Emma from two aspects of round characters and flat characters. Whats more, it also studies the effect of Austens way of portraying characters on the storyline. Finally, the author hopes that the above analysis can provide inspiration for readers and authors to think about characters in reading and writing later.

2. 研究的基本内容、问题解决措施及方案

This article analyzes the characters in Emma from two aspects of round characters and flat characters. Whats more, it also studies the effect of Austens way of portraying characters on the storyline. Finally, the author hopes that the above analysis can provide inspiration for readers and authors to think about characters in reading and writing later.