Also it is perfectly applied to describe Strickland。 Comparing the three stages of his life, the portrayal on this man is totally different。 In London, he is displayed as an unremarkable, well-off, middle-class stock broker who is very silent and unobtrusive (Elyas A, 1989)。 Even the narrator “I” said “I confess that when first I made acquaintance with Charles Strickland I never for a moment discerned that there was in him anything out of the ordinary”。 But in Paris, Strickland totally changed, living a destitute life with apathy and impersonal aloof towards everyone and everything outside the art。 Finally in Tahiti, the portrait of Strickland has already outbreak the bondage of the physical but to the depth of his inner soul。 

Here, the striking power of dream on Strickland finds its best representation。 In the Burning for Art – Interpreting The Moon and Sixpence（孙骞骞，2006），it shows the artistic pursuit of Strickland based on the text analysis itself, on the basis of the three women involved in Strickland’s life and the narrator “I” throughout the whole story who have witnessed respectively his craziness and obsession on painting, even devoting life to it at the end of the story (孙骞骞, 2006)。来,自,优.尔:论;文*网www.chuibin.com +QQ752018766-

This thesis will analyze it from the depiction of main character Strickland, to reveal the contradiction between the artistic pursuit and the realistic life。 Basically, the thesis will pide Strickland’s life into three life stage: firstly, the ordinary life as a stockbroker in London; secondly, the fanaticism for art in Paris; thirdly, the self-sublimation in Tahiti。 For the each part, it will focus on three aspects。 Above all, the influences of the three living places – London, Paris and Tahiti, have contributed to the drastic change of Strickland in his art pursuit。 Then, several distinctive passages will be selected for detail analysis in order to show the character of Strickland, for example, his attitude towards the surrounding people, and his passion towards painting, in order to make a clear explanation of this contrast。 At last, this thesis will particularly describe the change of this figure, Strickland, to intensify the passion for art。 

2。 The incompatibility between dream and reality

The Moon and Sixpence is generally regarded as another representative novel of Maugham after the publishing of his semi-autobiographic novel Of Human Bondage。 However, various readers and critics show different opinions and attitudes towards the former one。 Someone highly appreciate the novel, while others discard ( 顾弘，2004)。 For these who believe that the novel is not worth reading, they think Maugham has shaped the main character Strickland into an evil person who has not only destroyed his own family, but also Stroeve’s。 Besides that, his ruthlessness and disrespect towards women are always criticized by critics。 Therefore, it seems that in reality, Strickland is totally a rogue who has done immoral behaviors。 And in many readers’ eyes, Strickland is just a flat character。 However, many other critics have given a high praise and judgment on this novel, because Strickland has expressed his purely artistic fanaticism and finally has acquired the spiritual sublimation, which can hardly be achieved by our common person。 

In all, in the creation of this character, Maugham has actually built an ideally spiritual pilgrimage of Strickland for painting and this kind of pilgrimage has disaffiliated Strickland from the reality, common sense, human morality and so on。 The uncertainties of moral stance revealed in Maugham’s novel has showed his personal exploration of the modern western civilization and human personality, more clearly, the ambivalence and wavering between social reality and personal dream (马庆红，2009)。