How Was the Image of Dame Van Winkle Constructed?

Abstract：In Irvings work Rip Van Winkle， Rips wife Dame Van Winkle was depicted as an oppressor who was bad-tempered， shrew and termagant. Based on the theory of narrative perspective， the essay will analyze the characterization of the image of Dame Van Winkle， exploring how was this woman depicted as an entirely negative figure and raising questions to the truth of the image constructed by the author.

Key Words：Dame Van Winkle， Characterization， Narrative Perspective

【摘 要】 在歐文的筆下，Rip的妻子Dame Van Winkle被刻畫成了一個脾氣火爆，兇悍嘮叨的惡婦形象。本文基于敘事視角理論，從“零聚焦”和“內聚焦”兩個方面對主人公Rip的妻子Dame Van Winkle的人物塑造手段進行解讀，探求這位女性是如何一步步被刻畫成一個惡婦的，并對文中所塑造的形象提出質疑。

【關鍵詞】 凡·溫克爾太太 人物塑造 敘事視角

1.Introduction

Washington Irving was the first American writer of imaginative literature to gain international fame and was regarded as the father of American literature. His The Sketch Book marked the beginning of short story as a genre in American literature. It is a collection of essays， sketches， and tales， of which the most famous one is Rip Van Winkle. It tells a story of a common man named Rip Van Winkle. In order to get rid of his wife， Rip and his dog fled into mountains and encountered a batch of strangers. Accidentally， he fell asleep there. After he woke up and returned to his village， he found 20 years had past and everything had changed： his wife had died and he had become a citizen of United States.

In this story， Irving had a tolerant attitude in his narration towards Rip. Although he was indolent and irresponsible， Rip was still characterized as simple and good-natured. While his wife， Dame Van Winkle was depicted as a shrew， termagant woman who was disliked by her neighbors and even her husband. So through what approach was Dame Van Winkles image constructed？ Does everything about her seem that simple or， is she really the shrew， termagant woman just as depicted？ These questions will be discussed based on the theory of narrative perspective.

2.Analysis of Characterization of Dame Van Winkle Based on Narrative Perspective

In this part， the characterization of Dame Van Winkle will be analyzed based on the theory of narrative perspective.

2.1 A Brief Introduction of Narrative Perspective

In Hu Yamins Narratology， narrative perspective is defined as： the position or situation of narrator or character relative to the event in the story， or， from which angle is the event observed[ 胡亞敏. 敘事學[M].武漢：華中師范大學出版社，2004：19]. In accordance to Genette， Hu divides narrative perspective into three main types. The first one is zero focalization or non-focalization which is a traditional， omniscient perspective. In this kind of narration， the narrator can observe the event from every angle， penetrate into characters mind and move from one position to another freely. The second one is internal focalization. In this kind of narration， everything can only be presented by one or several characters observation and perception. The narrator says only what a given character knows and his or her internal activities. The third type is external focalization. In this kind of narration， the narrator presents everything objectively including characters appearance， physical activities， objective environment and so on， without exposing anyones emotion and thoughts. In this essay， Hus classification of narrative perspective will be adopted as theoretical foundation.

2.2 The Characterization of Dame Van Winkle through Zero Focalization

In the first 14 paragraphs of the story （before Rip went into the mountain）， zero focalization was applied. The narrator learned about everything including physical and internal activities of the characters， which is presented in the construction of the image of Dame Van Winkle.

For example， the narrator gave his depiction of Dame Van Winkle directly that： “……but his wife kept continually dinning in his ears about his idleness…… a tart temper never mellows with age， and a sharp tongue……” [1] Rip also undisguisedly showed his aversion to his wife： “……Rip had but one way of replying to all lectures of the kind……He shrugged his shoulders， shook his head， cast up his eyes， but said nothing……” [2]The image of Dame Van Winkle can be also presented by the attitudes of the housewives in the village： “……all the good wives…… to lay all the blame on Dame Van Winkle.” [3]Even the dog can reflected her characters： “……his dog Wolf， who was as much henpecked……his crest fell……casting many a glance at Dame Van Winkle……he would fly to the door with yelping precipitation.”[4] Through the direct and indirect depictions， the image of Dame Van Winkle was constructed as hot-tempered， termagant， devil-like and was repelled by her neighbors， her husbands and even her dog.

In addition， in depiction of Dames image， the narrator adopted several insulting vocabularies like “tart”， “termagant”， “terrible virago” and so on， which can also reflect the narrators attitude towards her. But we shall pay attention to that the narrator is the product of the real author's imagination. Many aspects about the authors， including gender awareness， political position， etc. will affect the creation， which in turn affects the narrator's narration.[5] Thus the narration about Dame Van Winkle， no matter a direct one or not presented the author s negative attitude， which may be due to the patriarchal ideology of the author. In the story， Dame Van Winkle always expressed her dissatisfaction to her indolent， irresponsible husband. She even “would suddenly break in upon the tranquility of the mens political assemblage， and call the members all to naught ……” [6]What Dame Van Winkle did was a challenge to the patriarchal society where women shall be tender and obedient at that time. Thus its reasonable that the author took such a negative attitude towards the disobedient figure.

3.3 The Characterization of Dame Van Winkle through Rips Internal Focalization

The narrative perspective in the story was changed from non-focalization to Rips internal focalization after Rip went into the mountain，thus in the following part of the story， what we know about the characters， environment and event is mainly from Rips observation and perception. Thus in the following characterization of Dame Van Winkle， Rip played an irreplaceable role. First， let s look at what kind of person the observer is. At the first appearance of Rip， his characters were presented to readers： good-natured， kind and obedient hen-pecked while “the great error in Rips composition was an insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor……His children， too， were as ragged and wild as if they belonged to nobody.”[7] Through these depictions， we can see that Rip is a kind but indolent and irresponsible person. Thus its normal that his hot-tempered but hard-working wife was disliked by him.

In internal focalization， the narrator says what a given character knows and thinks， so the image of Dame Van Winkle constructed through Rip cant be a positive one. After Rip woke up in the mountain， the first thing he thought was： “what shall I make to Dame Van Winkle！” During his journey back home， Dame Van Winkle was mentioned by him for several times： “……he dreaded to meet his wife……expecting every moment to hear the shrill voice of Dame Van Winkle.” [8]As Dames husband， Rip took an obviously negative attitude towards her. Through Rip s internal activities， the termagant image of an oppressor was strengthened， and this image was accepted by readers naturally because in internal focalization， readers judgements are easy to be affected by the narration. Another interesting detail is that in Rips internal activities， the way he called his wife is “Dame Van Winkle” instead of more intimate and casual one， which means Rip had repelled his wife from the bottom of his heart.

While is it true or not that Dame Van Winkle is the kind of woman like that？ In internal focalization， what the narrator says is limited to the information the observer receives from the outside and his internal activities while the narration of other characters only covers their appearance and physical activities. Thus after Rip woke up in the mountain， what he thought about Dame Van Winkle was only a kind of speculation. He was unable to penetrate into his wifes mind. He thought that Dame Van Winkle must be extremely angry with him， while maybe she was quite worried and anxious during those 20 years.

Conclusion

In the story， Rips wife——Dame Van Winkle was depicted as a termagant and shrew figure. With the advancement of the analysis of her image from feminist perspective， we have raised a question： How was the simply negative image of Dame Van Winkle constructed？ Based on the theory of narrative perspective， the essay reaches a conclusion that： Dame Van Winkles image was constructed through 2 kinds of narrative perspective applied in the story. By zero focalization， Dames characters were reflected by different characters physical and internal activities. Meanwhile， the narration was influenced greatly by the patriarchal ideology held by the author. By internal focalization， Dame s characters were mainly presented through Rip s observation and perception. However， we cannot neglect the negative effects brought by internal focalization： the image constructed tends to be one-sided and incomplete， and readers judgements are easy to be affected. Thats why we need to make a detailed analysis of the text and its narration——to explore the implicit facts covered by the surface of narration and to have an object and just recognition of the characters， events and so on in the story.

注 釋

[1] 胡亞敏. 敘事學[M].武漢：華中師范大學出版社，2004：19

[2] 涂莎麗. 華盛頓·歐文作品導讀[M].武漢：武漢大學出版社，2003：7

[3] 涂莎麗. 華盛頓·歐文作品導讀：6

[4] 涂莎麗. 華盛頓·歐文作品導讀：4

[5] 涂莎麗. 華盛頓·歐文作品導讀：6-7

[6] 郭高萍. 論托馬斯哈代小說中的男權意識[J].重慶：重慶三峽學院學報，2009：77

[7] 涂莎麗. 華盛頓·歐文作品導讀：8

[8] 涂莎麗. 華盛頓·歐文作品導讀：4-5

[9] 涂莎麗. 華盛頓·歐文作品導讀：13-14

References

[1] Gerard， Genette. Narrative Discourse [M]. Oxford： Basil Blackwell.1980：186

[2] 毛信德.美國小說史綱[M].北京：北京出版社， 1988.

[3] 涂莎麗. 華盛頓·歐文作品導讀[M].武漢：武漢大學出版社，2003：3-23

[4] 董秋敏.《瑞普·凡·溫克爾》的魅力[J].河南大學學報， 2001 （5） ：75-77.

[5] 郭高萍. 論托馬斯哈代小說中的男權意識[J].重慶：重慶三峽學院學報，

[6] 周華北， 邵星宇.《瑞普·凡·溫克爾》中的桃花源[J].新西部， 2008 （18） ：114-115.

[7] 劉敏霞. 美國哥特小說對民族身份的想象：1776-1861[D].上海外國語大學，2011

作者簡介：張藝萌，中國傳媒大學外國語言文化學院研究生，英語語言文學專業，1997年1月出生，女，漢族，河南南陽人。