The Shrinking Shoe – Walter Besant
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课程笔记
The story at a glance
- "The Shrinking Shoe" (1895) by Walter Besant (1836–1901), a Victorian novelist and social reformer.
- A playful retelling of Cinderella: Katie De Lisle, 17, nearly misses her first ball; a godmother arrives with a dress and white satin shoes.
- Her partner, Geoffrey Armiger, shyly tells her his secret ambition — to become a great Statesman. Two days later a jewelled white satin shoe arrives; it fits only Katie.
- Five years later Geoffrey, now a rich baronet, has wasted his life in "the Profession of Amusement". When he visits Katie, the shoe has "shrunk" — a symbol of his shrunken promise.
- Key ideas: ambition and idleness, idealism, wealth as a burden, love as moral inspiration, fairy tale vs reality.
Part I: the ball
- The two Elder Sisters go to the ball; Katie, left at home, cries and hears the valse in her imagination.
- Her Godmother arrives late with a surprise: a ball dress, pearls, flowers and "the most charming pair of white satin shoes" — "You are a Fairy!"
- At the ball her first partner is a shy young man, "Mr Geoffrey something"; she is a light dancer with soft eyes and a sympathetic voice.
- At supper he tells her the great secret of his life — his ambition; she tells him of her Cinderella evening: "now all I want is to find the Prince". His eyes say: "If I could only be the Prince!"
- A parcel arrives: a white satin shoe with a silver buckle set with pearls. Too small for the Elder Sisters, it fits Katie. But the "prince" never calls — too shy.
Part II: the ambition
- Geoffrey, poor and without political connections, dreamed of rising like Canning, Burke and Disraeli: "I, too, will become a Statesman."
- His family expected him to take a family living (a church post).
- Katie's response: "It is splendid! You must succeed." — perhaps he could be a great Statesman and a great Poet.
- The narrator stresses that a young man's ambition is "the most sacred thing" he can reveal — and that Katie's sympathy drew it from him.
- Besant's humorous narrator comments freely (e.g. "six thousand five hundred and sixty-three variants of this story").
Parts III–IV: five wasted years
- A cousin's death makes Geoffrey Sir Geoffrey, a rich baronet: the path to his ambition is now clear — yet he does nothing.
- He tells the cousin Horace: "The Profession of Amusement is, in fact, deadly dull"; his fortune is "like a millstone" round his neck; "the ambitions are dead".
- He sees Katie's photograph — "the face of an angel" — and her poem about waiting for "my Prince and King", a great man "daring some great thing". She has refused many suitors.
- Katie lost her fortune and lives quietly at Shellacomb Bay near Torquay, nursing convalescents.
- After a night of cards, among empty bottles, he laughs bitterly — "What a Prince and King!" — and burns his invitations and papers: a first gesture of change.
Part V: the shrunken shoe
- Geoffrey sails his yacht into the bay; Katie recognises her Prince at once.
- Asked what he did for his title, he admits: "Nothing. I succeeded." and that he has lived only for pleasure. Katie is heartbroken: "You have destroyed the one illusion that I nourished."
- He asks her to try on the slipper: it is now too small — "The slipper has shrunk"; "the silver buckle is black, and even the pearls are tarnished".
- Geoffrey understands: "A world of promise in it… Hope, and courage… silver gone black, pearls tarnished, colour faded, the thing itself shrunken."
- He vows to renew his ambitions: "expand the shrinking shoe". Katie: "how can a man say×if×, when he ought to say×shall×?" — she sends him away until the slipper fits again. He replies "Au revoir. Not farewell." — an open ending.
Methods and themes
- Intertextuality: Cinderella (sisters, godmother, "Pumpkin and Mice", slipper, Prince) — used playfully, then turned into a moral tale.
- Symbolism: the shoe shrinks with Geoffrey's character; tarnished silver and pearls = lost promise.
- Intrusive, ironic narrator who addresses the reader and mocks conventions.
- Katie's moral strength: she refuses to accept less than her ideal, and inspires reform.
- Themes: wasted potential; the corrupting ease of wealth; idealism; love as a spur to duty.
- Section B pairings: "George Silverman's Explanation" (sacrifice and ideals), "Indian Summer of an Uncle" (comic courtship), "A Story of a Wedding Tour" (a woman's choice).
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练习题
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1.Who wrote 'The Shrinking Shoe'?
Easy- AWalter Besant
- BOscar Wilde
- CCharles Dickens
- DSaki
2.Which fairy tale does the story retell?
Easy- ASleeping Beauty
- BSnow White
- CBeauty and the Beast
- DCinderella
3.Who helps Katie go to the ball?
Easy- AHorace
- BGeoffrey
- CHer Godmother
- DHer Elder Sisters
4.What secret does Geoffrey tell Katie at the ball?
Medium- AThat he is engaged
- BHis ambition to become a great Statesman
- CThat he is secretly rich
- DThat he loves her sister
5.What arrives two days after the ball?
Medium- AA white satin shoe with a pearl-set silver buckle
- BA letter of proposal
- CA bunch of roses
- DA necklace
6.Why does Geoffrey not call after sending the shoe?
Medium- AHe is ill
- BHe is abroad
- CKatie refuses him
- DHe is too shy
7.How does Geoffrey become rich?
Medium- AHe marries an heiress
- BHe becomes a Statesman
- CHis cousin dies and he inherits a baronetcy and fortune
- DHe wins at cards
8.What does Geoffrey call his idle life?
Medium- AThe Great Game
- BThe Profession of Amusement
- CThe Grand Tour
- DThe Life of Leisure
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