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THE OPPOSITION OF THE CONCEPTS «GOOD» AND «EVIL» IN EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLKLORE
Abstract: The present investigation is devoted to the comparative analysis of the opposition «good» and «evil» as revealed in the Chinese and English fairy tales. It has been found that the image of the dragon is one of the vivid examples of the realization of the opposition understudy. It is claimed that the notion of this creature in Western culture differs significantly fi~om the Eastern one..
Keywords: concept, opposition of the «good» and «evil», folklore, fairy tale, Eastern and\ Western culture, image of the dragon, cognitive linguistics, linguistic analysis, symbol, comparative analysis.,
INTRODUCTION
: : i
••i - ■ ( i Image of the world, reflected in human mind has found its expression in language. Folklore, in particular a fairytale, has absorbed the totality of knowledge and peculiarities of people’s ideology - national concepts complex. The ethic concepts as "truth", "lie", "god", "faith", "blessing", "good", "evil" are the component part of the concepts complex of any nation. The concept where the opposition relationships are prevailable represents the contraposition "good" and "evil". The analysis of the fairy tales and myths allows to reveal the image of the main components of the ethos culture.
Taking into consideration one of the contemporary linguistic course named «Conceptual analysis and linguistic picture of the world", studying the folk tales is highly relevant. The scientific novelty of this study is that the attempt of the linguistic analysis of the ethic concepts "good" and ."evil" on the basis of the English and Chinese fairy tales was firstly undertaken. : , .
FAIRY TALE AS A NATIONAL PEtiULARITY OF CHINA AND ENGLAND
Before investigating the concepts "good" and "evil"; it is necessary to study the notion of a fairy tale, as one of the brilliant examples of the folklore. This genre was the subject of the researches of many Russian and foreign linguists such as S.Y. Neklydov, A.I. Nikiforov, V.Y. Propp, I.A. Razumova, L.I. Rubleva, D. Riordan and D.R.R. Tolkien. The works of these scholars are devoted to the origin of a: fairy tale, evolution of this genre, its ideological and social concernment, compositional peculiarities and functions. jHaving studied the points of view of jthe folklorists we came to the conclusion that a fairy tale is a particular form of narration, on which a specific type of thinking is based. Usually a fairy tale has a religious character, expresses definite ethic opinions and the ideals of the setting to| which the story-teller belongs[4]. There is the evident notion of "good" and "evil" in a fairy tale, which are conflicting each other. Generally a fairy tale ends with the glory of good and triumph of justice. !
The main object in cognitive linguistics is the notion of concept The concept is the Semantic formation which characterizes a person of a particular ethic culture; ideology of a person consists of the all concepts which are the conceptosphere[6]. As mentioned above, one of the key concepts of any language is the opposition "good" and "evil". Being the essential of any fairy tale this opposition reveals the images, on the basis of which this contraposition is formed.
One of the famous images in the folklore all over the word is a dragon; from ancient time this image being of particular interest for people. There are a lot of myths, legends and fairy tales in which a dragon is a dreadful monster, inspiring fear into people’s souls [1].
A comparative analysis of the material under study has shown that the image of a dragon is one of the vivid examples of the realization of the opposition "good" and "evil". In the western mythology the idea of a dragon was always connected with horror and fear. There were the legends about masses of gold and precious stones hidden in his cave. The only possible way to get the treasure was to kill his owner.
* Undergraduate student, Institute of Humanities, Far-Eastern National Technical University, Russia E-mail: neverforget4me(aimail. ru ,
** Associate Professor, Institute of Humanities, Far-Eastern National Technical University, Russia \
E-mail: [email protected] J 1
The dragon can be of different colors, it can glanngly shines, can let out fire and has the ability of changing appearance. In the fairy tale «St. George of Merrie England» the author creates the image of a horrible dragon:
«Now, no sooner did the dreaded dragon catch sight of the brave knight than its leathern throat sent out a sound more terrible than a thunder, and weltering from its den, he spread its burning wings and prepared to assail its foe»[3].
The epithet «dread» means that the dragon inspires the fear into people's hearts, who are also afraid of «burning wings» and «sound more terrible than a thunder» [3].
One more vivid .example of the description of the dragon is found in the fairy tale «The Little Buff-Calf»:
«And soon he heard it coming, roaring and raging from' afar off, and at last it came near, spitting fire, and with a tongue like a great spear^ and you could hear it roaring for miles»[3].
Such epithets as! «roaring», «raging» help to create the image of approaching monster is in human mind. The author compared his tongue with a «great spear», which makes him more terrible.
In contrast to the western mythology where the dragon is cruel and bloodthirsty, the Chinese dragon is the symbol of goodness. That must be due to the fact that for a long time a dragon in the Eastern culture was the totem that is an idealized creature. People felt reverent horror and anxiety, submissive respect and connected with a dragon their believes and changes for good. In the Chinese fairy tales the dragon is the honest creature, capable to make people’s dreams come true, for instance in the fairy tale «Jin xian mulong», the dragon being the god of rivers, made flood save the village from the drought:
«Jinlong tengkong er qu, yizhi fei xiang dahai, kuai dao haibian le, jinlong jiudi yT gun, gunchu yT tiao he dad lai, heshui bibi liu xiang tianye»[2].
The power of the dragon is expressed by the following words: ■
«Jinlong hui tou shi san ci, he dao wanle shi san ci»[2].
That means which side the dragon turns his head, the river turns to the same direction, it shows the total obedience to the dragon.
The image of a dragon in the English fairy tales is often connected with meanness, cunning and treachery. Abusing his power and strength, the dragon helps people in change of their lives. In the fairy tale «Artful Dragon», the dragon demands the lives of solders, who are in need of his help:
«He gave them ailittle whip, saying: Whip and slash with this, and as much money as you want will jump up before you. You can live as great lords, keep horses, and drive about in carriages. But after seven years you are mine»[ 3]. j j
Very often to be released from the dragon's power the victims have to solve a complex riddle, for example:
«In the North Sea lies a dead sea-cat - that shall be their roast meat; and the rib of a whale -that shall be their silver spoon; and thk hollow foot of a dead horse - that shall be their wineglass. If they guess it, they shall be free and out of my power»[3]. j
Furious and inviricible, at the same time the Chinese' dragon can be gentle and obedient, being in service of celestials beings, whom j he always transports on his back orjin a chariot. In the fairy tale «Qlnglong wo mo chi» the dragon is on the service 6f goddesses: ;
«Xiangchuanj kumun chu shang de yaochi shi xTwangmu niangniang juzhu difang, zhenshou yaochi de xiao qmgl6ng shi donghai longwang de shi ba dai sun»[2]. '
The image of the beautiful kingdom of heaven (kunlun chu shang de yaochi) has in no vain been created in this fairy tale, thereby the author stresses that the dragon, securing the goddesses is the attendant of good.
In the western folklore the image of a dragon is always identified with the great power of evil, which can not be compared with anything in the world, and nobody could kill this dragon:
«Very long ago, as old people told, there lived a terrible monster, who came out of the North. Nothing could kill him, its hole body was covered with scales, which were harder than stone or metal; its two great eyes shone by night, and even by day, like the brightest lamps, and anyone who had the ill luck to look into those eyes became as it were bewitched.. .»[3].
The hyperboles «Scales, which were harder than stone or metal», «great eyes shone by night» create the image of unconquerable powerful creature.
The Chinese dragon has a big family. Very often his brothers and sons appear in myths and fairy tales, and it is necessary to note, that there is no tale, in which these dragons are the symbols of misfortune and every time they are associated with virtue. However there is no English tale in which we can find a mention of dragon’s family.
CONCLUSION
To sum up the analysis, it is necessary to point out, that a fairy tale is the outstanding example of the folklore. There is the evident notion of "good" and "evil" in a fairy tale, which are conflicting each other. The image of a dragon is one of the brilliant examples of the opposition of good and evil. Having studied the folklore of China and England, a fairy tale in particular, we made up a conclusion that the dragon in the culture of Chinese people is the symbol of good and wisdom, embodiment of power and action, everlasting mbvement. In English fairy tales dragon is a symbol of evil,: death and destruction. j :
Western notions of this preature differ significantly from Eastern ones.
REFERENCES
[1] The book about a dragon. Series "The countries and the nation of the world". 2002. Rostov-on-Don
[2] Min jian shen hua gu shi. 2001. Foreign Language Press, Dalian.
[3]English fairy Tales, 1994. Wordsworth Editions Limited, London.
[4]ProppV. Historical roots of a fairy tale. 1965. Moscow. ;
[5]Malyavin V. Chinese civilization. 2001. Moscow j;
[6]Dem’yanov Z. Cognitive linguistics as a variety of the expounded approach. 1994. Moscow.
Л.В. Карепанова
САМОСТОЯТЕЛЬНАЯ РАБОТА СТУДЕНТОВ КАК ФАКТОР СОЗДАНИЯ БЛАГОПРИЯТНОЙ ОБУЧАЮЩЕЙ СРЕДЫ
При переходе высшей школы на двухуровневую систему образования складывается новая концепция характера самого образования. Цель учебного процесса заключается во всемерном развитии у студентов способности к постоянному, непрерывному самообразованию.
В соответствии с миссией высшей школы необходимо решать следующие проблемы. Во-первых, важно уменьшить вре^я- энерго- и труд о- затраты преподавателя и студента по подготовке к традиционным лекционным, семинарским, практическим и другим занятиям. Во-вторых, надо обеспечить совершенно иное качество образования. В-третьих, очень ! важно вписаться в международное образовательное пространство.
В самостоятельной работе студентов различают два уровня: управляемая преподавателем самостоятельная работа студентов (УСРС) и собственно самостоятельная работа. [ '
УСРС - это особым образом организованная целенаправленная деятельность преподавателя и студентов, основанная на осознанной индивидуально-групповой познавательной активности по системному освоению личностно и профессионально значимых знаний, умений и навыков, способов их получения и представления> При этом центр тяжести переносится на самонаучение. УСРС должна позволить снизить аудиторную нагрузку как преподавателя, так и студента. j ¡
При организации собственно самостоятельной работы студентов роль преподавателя более пассивна. Она сводится, в лучшем случае, к выбору темы, целеполаганию, указанию учебнометодической литературы и форм представления результатов работы для оценкй
Технологическая цепочка УСРС выглядит следующим образом: преподаватель определяет трехуровневые цели деятельности (репродуктивный, продуктивный и твор^еск^й) и конкретные формы работы, выстраивает систему мотивации студентов, обеспечивает их учебно-методическими материалами, устанавливает сроки промежуточных отчетов о проделанной работе, организует деятельность творческих гругщ, читает вводную лекцию, проводит консультации, контролирует результаты самоконтроля и самокоррекции студентов, оценивает результаты их работы (индивидуальные или групповое).
Обязательным условием, обеспечивающим эффективность УСРС, является соблюдение этапности. Можно выделить следующие этапы управляемой самостоятельной работы студентов: подготовительный, организационный, мотивационно - деятельностный, контрольно-оценочный.
Немаловажную роль играет готовность профессорско-преподавательского состава -способность преподавателя выделять наиболее важные и посильные для УСРС темы дисциплины (курса); стимулировать внутренние механизмы саморазвития личности, самоконтроля и самокоррекции.
Приведем некоторые формы самостоятельной работы студентов:
- реферирование статей^ отдельных разделов монографий;
- написание тематических докладов, рефератов и эссе на проблемные темы; !
~ участие студентов в составлении тестов; ^ ^ ^
