The Adult Characteristics in the Language of Oscar Wilde’s Fairy Tales
Abstract：Oscar Wilde has written different genres of works. Among them, his fairy tales cannot be ignored. Besides children, Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales are also aimed for adults. These fairy tales are not only innocent and imaginative, as fairy tales normally do, but also unusual in their language style. He uses ornate language, realistic social reflections and flexible techniques to create a new type of fairy tales. The adult characteristics, which cause the passage more suitable for adults, make his fairy tales distinctive.
This essay analyzes the adult characteristics in the language of Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales from three aspects. It first looks at their low readability for young readers caused by the wide use of complex words and archaic words; it then studies the rhetorical devices such as parallelism, wit, irony and symbolism which are to be associated with social reality through readers’ efforts; it finally discusses the philosophical language which expresses Wilde’s profound thoughts towards human life and the world. The essay concludes that Wilde’s fairy tales target mainly at an adult audience.
Key words: Oscar Wilde; fairy tale; adult characteristics
王尔德童话中语言的成人特征
摘 要：奥斯卡·王尔德是英国19世纪最杰出的作家之一，他的作品多样，有小说、戏剧、散文、论文等。其中，他的童话作品不容忽视。王尔德的童话除了面向儿童，也面向了广大的成人读者。其童话作品不仅具有天真浪漫的色彩，更有着独特的语言风格。他运用文藻华丽的语言，对社会现实的映射以及多样的修辞手法，令人耳目一新。与此同时，他所运用的语言中也蕴含了成人特征，即其语言更适合成人阅读。
这篇文章将主要从三个方面来分析王尔德童话中语言成人特征。语言的成人特征，就是指语言对于儿童而言接受度较低，更适合有一定文化背景的成人阅读。王尔德的童话与其他童话相比对于儿童来说可读性稍低，因为他广泛采用了复杂词汇和古体词。此外，他的文章语言运用了丰富的修辞手法，包括排比、讽刺、诙谐和象征。这些修辞手法的运用往往需要读者联系社会环境对其加以理解，对涉世未深的儿童来说具有一定困难。最后，他的语言往往渗透着哲理和对社会的批判，这些对于缺乏社会经验的儿童而言也无形之中增加了难度。文章最后得出结论奥斯卡·王尔德的童话是主要面向成人创作的。
关键词：奥斯卡·王尔德；童话；成人特征
Contents
1. Introduction 1
1.1 Oscar Wilde and His Fairy Tales 1
1.2 The Definition of Adult Characteristics in Language 2
1.3 Literature Review 2
1.3.1 Studies Abroad 3
1.3.2 Studies in China 4
1.3.3 A Brief Introduction of the Present Research 5
2. The Low Readability 7
2.1 The Analysis of Readability 7
2.2 Complex Words 8
2.3 Archaic Words 10
3. The Rhetorical Application 12
3.1 Parallelism 12
3.2 Wit 14
3.3 Irony 14
3.4 Symbolism 15 王尔德童话中语言的成人特征:http://www.chuibin.com/yingyu/lunwen_206583.html