【正文】 y by cont rast. Wi lson i n The Gr eat Gatsby wor ks by pr esenti ng. Gat sby l ost hi s lover t o Tom and Wil son lost hi s wi fe t o Tom . By present ing Wil son’s case t he novel i st i nt ends t o point out t he profound cause of Gat sby’s t ragedy. Dr. Watson i n t he st ories of Sher l ock Holm es ser ves as a f oil t o t he her o, r enderi ng t he det ecti ve sm ar t er t han he woul d ot her wise appear t o t he r eader. By t he degr ee of t hei r devel opm ent, charact ers can be grouped as round charact ers and f lat characters. Thi s di visi on i s pr oposed by E. M Forster. Round charact ers ar e f ul l y developed whil e fl at characters ar e not. Or we can say t hat round charact ers gr ow whi l e fl at charact ers do not. Usual y t he r eader i s al lowed access t o the i nner li f e of t he r ound char act er and perm it ted t o l ear n about many sides of t he round character. The flat charact er i s a “cl osed” charact er to whose i nner t houghts t he reader i s deni ed acces . Usual y one side of t he f l at char act er is shown i n the novel . Most heroes are round charact ers who gr ow emoti onal ly or spir it ual ly. Chapter Three Theme Ar i st ot l e i n Poeti cs l i st s si x basi c el ements of tr agedy. Mel ody ( song) and di cti on (l anguage) f al l i n t he gener al cat egor y of styl e, and spect acle i s r el evant to set i ng i n our di scussi on of fi cti on. The ot her t hr ee aspect s are m yt hos or pl ot , ethos or char act er , and di anoi a, whi ch we gener al l y t r anslat e i nt o “t hought ” i n Engli sh. Acor di ng to Ari st ot l e, pl ot i s the “soul ” or shaping pri nci pl e or f icti on, and characters exi st pri mari l y as f unct i ons of t he pl ot . I n m ost of t he st or i es, pl ot pl ays the r ol e of pri nci pal str uct ur e of t he st ory. But, as Nort hr op Fr ye poi nts out, besi des the i nt ernal fi ct i on of t he char act er and his/ her soci et y, t her e i s an ext er nal f i ct ion consi st i ng of a r elati on bet ween t he wr it er and t he wr it er ’ s societ y. We i ndeed have li t er ar y wor ks by t he l ikes of Shakespeare and Hom er i n whi ch ar ti st r y is plet el y absor bed i n t hei r i nt er nal char act ers and we can har dl y per cei ve t he exist ence of t he aut hor. However, as soon as t he aut hor’ s per sonali ty appear s on t he hor izon, a rel ati on wi th t he r eader i s est abl ished, and som etim es there seem s no stor y at al apart f r om what he aut hor is conveyi ng t o hi s/ her r eader. I n t hi s case, t he pr im ar y i nt er est in di anoi a, t he idea or thought t hat r eader get s fr om t he wr it er , whi ch i n m oder n cr it ici sm we gener al y cal l “t hem e”. I. What Is Them e? One of t he saf est m ent s t o make about novel s is on t he t heme. Ever yone is enti tl ed to extr act a them e based upon hi s underst andi ng of t he novel. Theme m ay be the m ost dem ocr ati c el em ent s i n li ter at ure, because i ts defi nit i on i s t he l east r estr i cti ve. The t hem e of a novel i s it s cont roll i ng i dea or i t s centr al i nsi ght. Bei ng an i dea or an i nsi ght , t he t hem e shoul d be abstr act and i t should generali ze about li f e. Label ed as cont roll i ng or cent r al , the t hem e shoul d be capabl e of uni f yi ng t he whol e novel . So t he t hem e of a st ory, then, i s whatever general i dea or i nsi ght t he enti r e st ory r eveal s. I . Cl ar if icati on about Them e Comm on as i t is, them e suff er s som e mi sunderst andi ngs. One m i sconcepti on about t heme i s t hat each novel has a t hem e or them es, or t hem e i s im port ant t o al l novel s. I n f act, some novel s, i nter esti ng ones t hough, do not pr ovide any i nsi ght i nt o li f e. For exampl e, m any novel s of rati oci nat i on and novels of horr or. These novel s ar e aim ed at ent er t ai ni ng t he reader, not at im pr ovi ng his understanding of li f e. They may som etim es t ouch upon the human natur e or social problems, but t hese i sues ar e only used t o push t he pl ot f or ward and t hey ar e not m ent i oned f or t hei r own value. Them e exi st s onl y i n t he novel t hat seri ousl y at em pt s t o refl ect l if e f ai thf ul l y or i ntends to r eveal tr uth about l if e, or i n t he novels t hat ar e based on i deas or theori es of l if e. ( f or exam ple, novel s of i deas). Anot her mi sconcepti on about t hem e is t hat t he t hem e i s lar gel y what t he novel is. Som e peopl e di scar d t he novel when t hey t hi nk that they have got t he t hem e. I t shoul d be m ade cl ear t hat t he novel is not wr it ten t o convey an i dea but t o convey an i dea art isti cal ly. The novel is a work of art wher eas t he t heme i s onl y an abst r act i dea. An anal ogy fr om dail y li f e m ay hel p cl ar if y t hi s questi on. People al need vit am ins and get t hem f r om var i ous ki nds of veget abl es and f r ui ts. Only t hose wi t h def ici ency of one ki nd or anot her have to t ake vi t ami n pil ls t o get he r equir ed amount . The dif fer ence bet ween t he t hem e and t he novel i s m uch l ike t hat bet ween t he vi tami ns and t he veget abl es. The r eader someti mes fi nds t hat the t hem e of a novel is sim il ar t o or even t he sam e as what he has alr eady known about l if e and t hat he is sti l f asci nat ed by the novel . Them e appeals solel y to t he i nt el lectual level of r eadi ng whil e the novel as a whol e mai nl y appeals t o t he em ot i onal evel . Anot her pi tf al l concer ni ng the t hem e is t o conf use a theme wi t h m or al or lesson. Usual ly, a mor al or a l eson is t he advi ce st at ed or im pl ied i n a par abl e or f abl e. It i s somet hi ng of a r ul e by whi ch one can r egul at e his behavi or . For exam pl e, “Be ki nd t o your nei ghbor s, ” or “Honesty i s t he best pol icy.” But a t