Lead:
"Gentle Night" is a romantic love tragedy. Dick, a psychiatrist who pursues romantic love, marries the millionaire's daughter Nicole despite the persuasion of others, Nicole is mentally ill because of incest with her father, she does not really love Dick, dependence and use is her ultimate goal.
Therefore, as soon as she can live like a normal person, she immediately abandons Dick and throws herself into the arms of the upper class, and Nicole extracts and exploits Dick's energy and intelligence, and eventually leaves him. In this way, Dick's love dream came to an abrupt end. The cold reality cannot tolerate dreams, and if romantic love is mixed with the atmosphere of money worship, the soul of the dream will inevitably not escape the tragic ending.
Main contents of the story:
Dick is a young and promising psychiatrist, and his patient Nicole falls in love with him during the process of being treated, and Dick is also fascinated by Nicole's beauty, so the wrong love leads to an unhappy marriage. In the life after that, Dick did his best to take care of his sick wife, hoping that she would recover soon, while his medical career became increasingly desolate, and Dick, who had been physically and mentally exhausted for a long time, had no future, and at the same time, love quietly left.
Nicole left Dick and threw himself into the arms of Young Master Tommy. Desperate, Dick ended up spending the rest of his life alone in his home town. Dick's love tragedy is that he can't resist the Nicole family being able to offer him the wealth and status that his heart desires.
He wants to use these to achieve his career, and he can't deny that he longs for high society and wants to be a member of high society, so the ghost makes God bet his future on the untrustworthy Nicole, and this misconception, coupled with history and society and many other factors, inevitably leads to Dick's love tragedy.
One. Analysis of the causes of Dick's tragic fate
1. Dick's character flaws
1.1 Vanity
The story of "Gentle Night" takes place in Europe, but it still shows the social life of the "jazz age" in the United States. Dick Daver is a young and promising psychiatrist from the Midwest who conducts pathological research on psychiatric disorders in Zurich, Switzerland. He was involved in the treatment of the rich woman Niccol Warren.
Nicol suffers from mental illness due to the millionaire's father's incest with her, and during the treatment, Nicol falls in love with Dick, who marries Niccol despite the persuasion of others. For Dick Daver, the union with Niccol Warren is ostensibly combined with love and has entered "a high society that never belonged to him", but in fact, he cannot resist the temptation of the Warren family to provide him with the status and wealth that he aspires to in his heart.
Dick's desire to accomplish his career on the terms offered by the Nicoll family also prompted him to accept the world of the rich and confidently step into it, betting on his ideal of combining love and career on his marriage to Nicoll.
But in essence, he has only become a tool for the service of others, he has blurred his sober consciousness in the temptation of love and wealth, and in the process of realizing his ideals, he has become a lost lamb, and he is only a wish, an illusion, and he cannot and will never be a part of them.
In this process of confusion, Dick meticulously heals his wife, panders to the upper class, acts as an ideal servant, and generously pays his energy to Nicoll and to all who need him. The huge wealth of his wife's family also made him work hard to realize his dream as soon as possible. Eventually, Dick gradually loses himself in his fortune.
Under the surface of gentle wealth, a qualitative change occurs, and as Nicol's condition gradually improves, the value of Dick's continued use by the Warren family no longer exists, and Nicol's self-awareness also makes the hidden danger of his abandonment gradually revealed.
Under the guidance of vanity, he gradually neglected his career as a psychiatrist, resulting in the gradual loss of his personality, self-esteem and self, resulting in the tragic end of depression and depravity.
When a person is confused because of money and status, then he will gradually lose his personality, self-esteem and self, until finally, losing all wealth and power, will awaken his self-consciousness.
1.2. Cowardice.
Although Dick entered the rich circle through his marriage to Niccol, he was still not accepted by the upper class. The rich always identified him as Nicol's "nanny doctor", influenced him with their exploitative morals and value norms, consumed his will, and shattered his dreams more or less, directly or indirectly, in various forms such as temptation, wealth, violence, purity, etc., and assisted society in engulfing him.
Niccol, who married Dick as a patient, depended on and possessed Dick, and as soon as her illness was cured, she immediately turned to the other family property. Her "hook-shaped eyes" represent the attitude of high society to the Old World, and she is like the goddess of the money dynasty.
This woman, as the source of seduction, as a machine that extracts and exploits Dick's life and energy, eventually represents her class in abandoning Dick and finding a new love. Niccol's sister Babe Warren is a woman of power, ruthlessness, skill and wealth, she chose Dick as her sister's nanny doctor and husband, and in the course of their ten-year marriage, she used money to consume Dick's fighting spirit, shattering Dick's dream of a comeback again and again: she used her influence and power to free Dick, who had been imprisoned after clashing with the police, and aggravated Dick's already serious mental crisis again and again.
Dick Daever, the "diver", is in the warren family's ocean of money, at the mercy of the Warren family, rather than controlling his own destiny. At the same time, Rosemary, who is innocent and pure and relies on personal struggles to become a new star in film and television, has always been appreciated by Dick.
But later she also sold her virginity in order to enter the high society life, pursue vanity, and skillfully ended her feelings for Dick, she broke the idol of purity, success, and youth in Dick's mind, making Dick, who "needs love", completely lose hope and sustenance, indulge in alcohol and completely degenerate.
It can be said that Dick's tragic ending is inseparable from his cowardice and dare not resist the encroachment of high society on him. Dick was seduced by high society and was eventually destroyed by high society. The survival pathology of high society can be seen through Dick's experience, and Dick ends up falling prey to the brutal Vanity Fair.
The story permeates the author's quiet, calm and objective criticism and distrust of the rich and the society of money, which makes Dick's tragedy have a certain social significance, with the possibility of sublimating from a personal tragedy to a dream tragedy of all mankind.
(ii) Irreconcilable contradictions with the upper class
Dick, a middle-class doctor, was paid only three thousand a year, so he couldn't possibly live their kind of life. A small salary, in addition to paying his tailor's fees and personal living expenses, there are also electricity bills, nurses' salaries, etc. So in order to live, he had to save money to travel to cheaper places, drink the cheapest wine and wear cheap and suitable clothes.
In fact, Dick also wanted to live a life of luxury and luxury, like an upper-class gentleman, wearing expensive clothes, eating the best food, and spending holidays on pleasant beaches. But because of his bad salary, he couldn't do it.
The gap between the two different lifestyles, he began to feel depressed and stressed. In the end, he succumbed to the extravagant life of the Warren family. "Wealth will inevitably hinder his creative faculties, corrupt his will and morality, and thus lead to his tragedy." ”
Moreover, in this morally degraded society, most people are selfish, cold, and indifferent. Nicol's sister was selfish and cold, she never saw Dick as her own family, just an employee. And his wife, ——— Nicole, uses Dick to rescue himself from the madness vortex.
After getting married, "want to possess him and want him to always be on her side." She often despises Dick, never treats him equally and respects him, and in the end she falls in love with Tommy and abandons Dick. In the face of this, Dick's mind always inherits the traditional moral law and is faithfully committed to the perfect moral code, and he wants to be "a man of integrity, bravery, kindness, and intelligence." ”
Therefore, during his marriage to Niccol, he always endured his wife's unreasonable teasing and suppressed his emotions. He had to take care of her and endure her sudden madness, and had the obligation to take care of the rest of his family, but his efforts were not answered satisfactorily, and his moral ideals were mutilated by the reality of society.
The difference in thinking patterns has also become one of the important reasons why Dick is at odds with this society. Dick is a doctor who is used to expressing ideas in a scientific and logical way of thinking. But in the circles of high society, people tend to express their inner desires directly, looking for excitement and novelty, pursuing happiness and enjoyment.
He acted in a scientific way, often in a proper, calm and meticulous manner, "in a dignified, calm and meticulous manner, "keeping a sharp mind like a priest." He even treated his marriage with this logical thinking, and he treated Nicol with her haggardness on the condition of exchanging letters, and after marriage suppressed his emotions and lived with her.
In marriage, "door to door" is very important, and choosing to climb high or marry down will not be the best answer. Choose to climb high, unless you are very capable, unless you can stand on your feet or talk in the circle, otherwise, you climb high The other party will not look up at you, but treat you as a servant, there is no happiness to speak of, but also need to endure a stomach grievance and anger.
In the upper class, Dick couldn't find any place of his own. Faced with irreconcilable conflicts and contradictions with the upper class, Dick chose to resist, but ultimately ended in failure.
Third, resist, and ultimately fail
From 1919 to 1929, Dick's emotions went from hope and repression to resentment. In his struggle against conflict, he chooses to vent his stress and loneliness with indulgence. In the eyes of others, he married Nicoll for her money, but in reality, he never wanted to use his wife's money, and he even wanted "financial independence". However, everything he did was to gain Niccol's love and understanding.
The affair with the movie star Rosemary is actually "his love for Rosemary, it is his self-indulgence." He knew it was irrational about his affair with Rosemary, but loneliness and stress motivated him to do so.
Dick tried to fight his upper class by all means: alcoholism, feuds, and violence were all means by which he wanted to stay away from wealth and emptiness. After constant struggle, he eventually failed in both work and love, so he fell into loneliness and collapsed.
In ten years of married life, he often reflected and gradually realized the cruelty of reality, but he still firmly believed that it could be. Although his career was a little unsatisfactory, Dick still plucked up the courage to persevere.
After losing his job at the hospital, with the encouragement of his friend Franz, Dick opened a small clinic where he had a good relationship with patients and cured many patients, bringing them back to normal life. During his year and a half at the clinic, Dick became amiable, busy, enthusiastic and contented.
However, when he hears that Vinbe North has been poisoned to death, Dick realizes his loss, feels pain and frustration, and is determined to fight against his cruel fate. However, he found that everything had been lost. At the same time, his father's death also dealt a cruel blow to him.
He began to appreciate the preciousness of his father's love, began to approach his father and understand his father's behavior. He attended his father's funeral, accompanied his father, and said goodbye to his father, reinforcing his beliefs ——— "be a good man."
On his way back to France, he went to Lausanne to rescue gay teenagers who had fallen depraved from drug addiction, and to help the powerless father out of his worries and pain, and to help the boys build confidence and return to school.
epilogue:
The reason why Dick accepted the marriage to Nicoll, of course, there was his desire for wealth and status, but it also included his love for Nicoll, which was his choice of love. Over the years, Dick has physically and psychologically saved Nicoll, cleansed her father of her father's incestuous sins, and healed various mental disillusionments caused by social ills.
Because of this, he generously dedicated his whole body to those who needed him until his emotions ran out. Through Dick's suffering and misfortune and Nicol's emotional betrayal, the disdain of the Warren family and the entire high society, and the decay of his own career and the loss of his own personality, a tragic sublime view is conveyed.