Love Struggling in Moral Taboo——On "The English Patient" (2)

The moral taboo of "The English Patient" is revealed from the very beginning: Catherine comes out as a married woman. Amarsh was visibly attracted to her, but felt strongly that the taboo lay between them. Catherine also had a feeling for the handsome and deep-eyed Emma. They met constantly at the market and at dance parties, and the two tried their best to suppress their feelings. He and she stayed behind until the car overturned the sand slope, and when there was a sandstorm at night, the two took refuge in a small carriage. The two people who secretly admired each other were gathered together by external forces, and finally broke through their restraint and revealed their intentions.


From acquaintance to confession, it is no accident that the story takes place in the desert: the special environment of the desert and Amarsh's identity as a desert scholar secretly promote the development of the story-the


desert is a place with relatively weak moral binding: in Here, the forces of nature are powerful and ferocious, while the shackles and ties of civilization temporarily retreat. In such an environment, many civilized rules have to make concessions to nature, and in the face of natural violence, there are only lives that cherish each other and hearts that are sincere. When people resist the tyranny of nature side by side, it is easy to have a sense of mutual sympathy; when people face the vast and magnificent nature, they can hear the pure desires and desires of their hearts more clearly. The love between Amarsh and Catherine was able to temporarily forget the secular rules and grow naturally.


Amarsh's profession is to study deserts. Years of dealing with the rough and magnificent nature made him look down on many secular rules: nationality, national boundaries, political factions... In the face of the magnificent and magnificent nature, these concepts appear blunt and powerless. In the original novel, there is a detailed description of Ai Marsh's temperament: he and his colleagues from different countries in the expedition only "quarreled about the latitude and 700 years ago", "only interested in things that cannot be bought and sold". , not caring at all about the outside world." Occupation and environment make him a person who sees through the pretense of civilization and only pays attention to the essence of things.


Catherine is elegant on the outside and tough on the inside. She lives an ostensibly standard life: growing up in a wealthy family on the English coast, marrying her childhood friend Jeff, and accompanying her husband on research trips. But she has a strong energy in her heart, and she did not sway all of it in this kind of life. The film's pavement for her "derailment" is: she did not take the initiative to fall in love with Jeff, but agreed to marry under his hard pursuit. Catherine and Jeff's relationship was smooth and natural. There seemed to be a little spark hidden in a corner of her heart, which her childhood sweetheart husband couldn't ignite.


The scene of the film switches back and forth between the desert and the city (Cairo), and the strength of moral taboos also changes, showing the situation of "desert-weak" and "Cairo-strong". Catherine and Emmache had known each other after the stormy night, but when she returned to the Cairo hotel, she asked him to sit in, but he stopped and called her by her husband's last name: "Mrs. Kifton. ”, the two words of solemn and sadness, indicating that the moral prohibition has returned to him and restrained him, and she turned away sadly... The desert represents a free paradise without moral constraints, while the city is soaked by civilization and cut by rules jail. A love that transcends taboos, struggling between two worlds and two laws. The result of every attempt to alienate is to make love deeper and warmer, and love becomes more and more passionate and tenacious in the struggle.

At first, there seemed to be quite a lot of instinctive impulse to attract opposite sex in this relationship, but as the two souls got closer and closer, the love became deeper and purer. In terms of spiritual intimacy, Jeff was increasingly an outsider. The love between Amarsh and Catherine radiates more and more beautiful and powerful light. Their lives derive their greatest ecstasy and happiness from this love. No matter how powerful the power—war or death—can stifle this love. Audiences are increasingly inclined to sympathize, recognize, and appreciate them. It can be said that a considerable part of the reason why this love can overcome the traditional morality of the audience comes from the moving of love and the power of aesthetics.


But from a moral point of view, is this kind of love reasonable enough? (to be continued)

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