Advanced English

《 高 级 英 语 》 ( 第三版）第一册

主编：张汉熙

外语教学与研究出版社

Lesson 3Lesson 3

Blackmail

by Arthur Hailey

Teaching Points

I. Background information II. Introduction to the passage III. Text analysis IV. Rhetorical devices V. Questions for discussion

I. Background Information

1. Arthur Hailey 2. Hotel

1. Arthur Hailey

Arthur Hailey is the author of a number of bestselling novels. Born in Luton, England, in 1920, he was educated in English schools until age fourteen. After a brief career as an office boy, he joined the British Royal Air Force in 1939 and served through World War II, rising through the ranks to become a pilot and flight lieutenant.

In 1949 Hailey immigrated to Canada, where he was successively a real estate salesman, business paper editor and a sales and advertising executive .He became, and still is a Canadian citizen. He makes his home at Lyford Cay in the Bahamas. In 1956 Arthur Hailey scored his first writing success with a TV drama, Flight into Danger, which later became a motion picture and a novel, Runway Zero-Eight (1958).

His works  The Final Diagnosis (1959)  In High Places (1962)  Hotel (1966)  Airport (1968)  Wheels (1971)  The Moneychangers (1975)

Though a Canadian himself, he set the scene of most of his works in the United States. Each of his books deals with one particular field of society. This is made clear by the titles of his books. It is this peculiarity of his that is value to those who are eager to learn about contemporary American society.

Hotel is a 1965 novel by Arthur Hailey. It is the story of an independent New Orleans hotel, the St. Gregory, and its management's struggle to regain profitability and avoid being assimilated into the O'Keefe chain of hotels. The St. Gregory is supposedly based on the Roosevelt Hotel.

The novel was adapted into a movie in 1967, and in 1983 Aaron Spelling turned into a television series, airing for five years on ABC. However, in the TV series, the St. Gregory Hotel was moved from New Orleans to San Francisco.

Hotel

The St. Gregory Hotel is the largest in New Orleans, Louisiana. For 4 days from Monday evening to Friday, the hotel goes through a succession of dramatic events. With the hotel’s mortgage due by the weekend and with no chance of getting further renewal, the owner, Warren Trent, reluctantly makes up his mind to sell his hotel to a chain hotel owner, Curtis O’Keefe.

Peter McDermott, the assistant general manager, has to tackle several other knotty problems: handling an attempted rape which has occurred in one of the hotel’s rooms; catching a professional thief operating in the hotel; pacifying a whole convention of several hundred dentists to putting up a member of the convention--a black doctor. Then there is the Duke of Croydon.

The Duke is an internationally famous statesman and the newly-appointed British ambassador to Washington. He and his wife occupy the best suite in St. Gergory. On Monday evening while driving back with his wife from a gambling house, the Duke and the Duchess, however, drive away. The hit-and-run becomes top sensational news in New Orleans. The hotel’s chief house detective Ogilvie notices the battered car when it comes back. Instead of reporting this to the police, he goes to see the Duke and the Duchess. He promises to keep quiet about what he knows and asks for a large sum of money in return for the favour. 

The Duke, now totally at a loss as to how to act, hides behind the skirt of her wife. The Duchess understands that to get themselves out of this mess, the car has to be driven out of the south where people are alerted about the hit-and-run. So she offers to pay Ogilvie more than he has asked on condition that he drives the car to Chicago up in the north. The greedy detective agrees. At one o’clock Thursday morning Ogilvie gets the car out of the garage. He is seen leaving by one person only, by Peter McDermott, the assistant general manager.

Though it strikes him as odd, Peter does not link this up with the hit-and-run until late that afternoon when he witnesses the funeral of the two victims of the accident. He contacts police headquarters right away. By this time, Ogilvie has crossed Louisiana and Mississippi, driving by night and concealing the car by day. He thinks that everything is going smoothly, little knowing that he is already being followed by the Highway patrol cruisers. In Tennessee, he is caught and sent back to New Orleans.

At first the Duchess tries to deny everything, but doesn’t succeed in convincing the police. The Duke then decides to go over to police headquarters before they come for him, wishing to save the little shreds of decency left in him. He takes an elevator to go down. This elevator which has been out of order for some time and badly in need of repair breaks down. As it goes down, one set of clamps holds and the other fails. The elevator car twists, buckles and splits open, throwing the Duke nine floors down to the cement ground. He dies instantly.

 However, the novel ends with a pleasant surprise. A sick, old eccentric man staying in the hotel turns out to be an extremely wealthy man from Montreal, Canada. Earlier, he fell seriously ill and was saved by Peter and his girl friend. To show his gratitude and repay their kindness, he buys the hotel from its former owner and makes Peter the new executive vice-president, with complete authority to run the hotel as he thinks fit.

Characters

The Duke and Duchess of Croydon, guests in the Presidential Suite

Ogilvie, house detective

Story of Duke and Duchess of Croydon

The Duke and Duchess of Croydon are hiding out in the hotel from their responsibility for a gruesome hit-and-run accident which had been the highlight of the newspaper as the famous hit-and-run case. The duke had gone to a night club and the duchess reaches the club to find her husband. On their way back the duchess hits a woman and her daughter and both the woman and her daughter died on the spot.

However in the accident the headlight and the trim ring of the car had damaged. Anyhow the duke and duchess reached back the hotel and try to find way out, so that there is left a slightest print of them being involved in an accident. When the waiter arrived in the presidential suite with dinner, the duchess intentionally hit the waiter so that her dress gets spoiled. The duchess created a big issue over this, just to make her presence felt in hotel so that it can be interpreted that she was in the hotel. But the chief house officer Ogilvie gets hint of it and tries to blackmail the duke and duchess.

They finally reach an agreement that Ogilvie would drive their jaguar to Chicago and a total of twenty five thousand dollars would be paid to him. Further by the time the police identifies that the broken headlight and trim pieces would be identified as pieces of which car, Ogilvie would be out of New Orleans. The travel was supposedly on Thursday night at 1 am.Oglivie gets a written note from duchess asking for permission to drive the car out of garage in case the garage officer asks for.

The moment he was driving the car out of hotel Peter was entering the hotel and they had eye contact, though peter did not think much of it. However recollecting all the events….a jaguar being driven by Ogilvie which belonged to duke and duchess….the broken headlight of the jaguar.… the fuss created by duchess on waiter all established a link towards the involvement of the duke and duchess. Peter enquired from garage officer and he informed that Ogilvie had a written note from the duchess and so was allowed to drive the car away, but somehow the note got misplaced.

Peter informed the police, captain Yolles of the incident but they could not prove it without any evidence. After working hard, the incinerator officer, responsible for garbage recycling managed to find the note. When the note was produced before duchess she frowned. The Duke then decided to admit his crime and decided to leave and stepped into elevator no 4 of the Hotel.

General History of British Nobility

The nobility of the four constituent home nations of the United Kingdom has played a major role in shaping the history of the country, although in the present day even hereditary peers have no special rights, privileges or responsibilities, except for residual rights to stand for election to the House of Lords and the right to certain titles.

The British nobility consists of two entities, the peerage and the landed gentry. Members of the peerage are titled (duke, marquess, earl, viscount, baron), and frequently referred to as peers or lords. The rest of the nobility is referred to as the landed gentry.

The Peerage

The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system. The term is used both collectively to refer to the entire body of noble titles, and individually to refer to a specific title. The holder of a peerage is termed a peer 。

Landed gentry

Landed gentry is a traditional British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rental income. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity looking after the management of their own lands.

Before the twentieth century, peerages were generally hereditary and (with a few exceptions), descended in the male line. The eldest son of a Duke, Marquess or Earl frequently has a courtesy title - often one of his father's subsidiary titles. For example, the elder son of the Earl of Snowdon is called Viscount Linley.

In 1958 the government introduced (non-hereditary) life peers and from then on the creation of hereditary peerages (except for members of the Royal Family) rapidly became obsolete, almost ceasing after 1964. This, however, is only a convention and was not observed by former prime minister Margaret Thatcher who had the Queen create three hereditary peerages (two of them, however, to men who had no heirs) and whose husband also received the hereditary non-peerage rank of baronet.

Until 1999 possession of a title in the English peerage entitled its holder to a seat in the House of Lords, once of age. The Scottish (since 1707) and Irish (since 1801) peerages elected some of their members to sit in the Lords. Since 1999 only 92 hereditary peers are entitled to sit in the House of Lords, chosen by ballot. A member of the House of Lords cannot be a member of the House of Commons.

Titles of Peerage

1 Dukes 2 Marquesses 3 Earls 4 Viscounts 5 Barons / Lords of Parliament of Scotland

Titles of the Landed Gentry

1 Baronets 2 Knights 3 Scottish Barons 4 Lairds 5 Untitled Classes

Etymology

Duke comes from the Latin dux, leader. Created in 1337. (female: Duchess)

Marquess comes from the French marquis, which is a derivative of marche or march. This is a reference to the borders ("marches") between England, Scotland and Wales, a relationship more evident in the feminine form: Marchioness. Created in 1385.

Earl comes from the Old English or Anglo-Saxon eorl, a military leader. The meaning may have been affected by the Old Norse jarl, meaning free-born warrior or nobleman, during the Danelaw, thus giving rise to the modern sense. Since there was no feminine Old English or Old Norse equivalent for the term, "Countess" is used (an Earl is analogous to the Continental count), from the Latin comes. Created circa 800–1000.

Viscount comes from the Latin vicecomes, vice-count. Created in 1440. (female: Viscountess)

Baron comes from the Old Germanic baro, freeman. Created in 1066. (female: Baroness)

Detailed study of the text and language points: 1. chief house officer: chief detective (employed by the hot

el) in charge of hotel security.

2. Bedlington terrier: a blue or liver-colored, woolly-coated terrier resembling a small lamp.

3. Ogilive: The author depicts him a coarse, vulgar and uneducated person. Hence his language is ungrammatical and slangy, e.g.

“There’s things it pays to check” for “there’s things …” “You two was …” for “you two were …” “they find who done …” for “when they find who did …”

etc. His pronunciation is also non-standard, e.g. “set” for “sit” “musta” for “must have” “kin” for “can” “shoulda” for “should have” “outa” for “out of” “gotta” for “get to”, etc.

4. Jaguar: trademark of a British motorcar

5. tables: gambling tables

6. what gives: U. S. colloquialism meaning “what happens”

7. ain’t it?: (slang) isn’t it, aren’t it, am not

8. you two was in the hit- ’n-run: you two are guilty of that hit-and- run accident.

9. This is for real: (slang) real; really.

10. cut it out: (collo.) stop what she was saying/doing.

11. Your high-an’-mightiness: Your Grace; Your Highness.

12. it’s no go, old girl. It was a good try: it’s no use. What you did was a good attempt at trying to save the situation. No good (sl.): no use, impossible.

13. “Now we are getting somewhere.”: We’re making some progress, accomplishing something.

14. Leastways, I guess you’ll call her that if you’re not too fussy.: I guess if you are not too particular about what words to use, at least you’d call her your ladyfriend.

15. Ain’t any doubt: (sl.) there isn’t any doubt.

16. square his shoulders: (sl.) face the consequence.

17. You people are hot: You are now wanted by the police.

18. it might be done: the plan might work.

II. Introduction to the Passage

1. Type of literature: a piece of narration (to be exact, a novel)

--character

--action

--conflicts

--climax

--denouement

--point of view

Introduction to the Passage

the Duchess: bold, calm, shrewd, prudent, strong-minded, not easy to yield

the Duke: weak, hide the skirt of his wife, simple-minded

Ogilvie: cunning, crafty, greedy,

Character and characterization When reading a story, we read for characters

among other things and pay attention to characterization. Characterization is the way the author depicts and portrays characters. Such depictions or portrayals may be direct and, in good fiction, indirect, to let the readers draw their own conclusion about the personalities of the characters.

Characterization may be achieved through describing the characters in various ways including how they look, what kind of place they live in, what clothes, furniture, cars, etc. they have, and most important, what they say, do and think. If characters’ actions are predictable and they remain unchanged or static throughout the actions, they are flat or two-demensional. If characters are unpredictable, change of grow with actions, they are rounded and three-dimensional.

Introduction to the Passage

Organization:

-- introduction

-- development

-- climax

-- conclusion

Development At the beginning of story, the house detective came

to blackmail the Duke and Duchess. Their relationship is one of enemies. In the first part of the conflict, the detective had the upper hand. However, as the plot develops, things change. The turning point comes as the shrewd and calculating Duchess dealt out an unexpected card which turned the former enemy into their accomplice and subject to her leadership. The ending of the story is unpredictable and this makes the story interesting. The story ends right after the climax. Usually the climax is followed by solution, the final result. However, the ending of this part is not the final result.

Climax

Paragraphs 101—109 describe the climax of the story.

Point of view

The “omniscient third-person narration

A story can be told in different narrative modes. The two basic types of narration are the first-person and the third-person. The voice that tells the story is called the narrator.

The firs-person narrator “I” is someone who is involved in the story. For the third-person narration, there are two kinds: One is the “omniscient” and the other is limited third-person narration. In the novel Hotel, the “omniscient” third-person narrative voice is used. The narrator is totally outside the events. The narrator refers to characters as “he,” “she,” or “they.” While the first person often describes or records a story as a personal experience, “omniscient” means all-knowing. This narrator can not only tell the reader everything pertinent to the story, no matter when it occurred, where it happened or who did it, but also can enter the minds of the characters, revealing how they thought and felt.

In the novel Hotel the third-person narrative mode is employed, enabling the narrator to tell several things that happen in the hotel at the same time during a brief period of five days. The third-person narrator in the story “Blackmail,” in addition to telling everything the reader wants to know about what the Duke Duchess did, describes what they think and how their minds work. For example, Paragraphs 75 and 82 reveal how the Duchess is thinking of concocting a clever plan to bring about a turning-point in their currently disadvantageous situation.

III . Effective Writing Skills

1.making effective use of specific words to make the narration vivid

2.vividly and carefully describing the actions of the characters

3.using the languages which suit the backgrounds of characters

IV . Rhetorical Devices

Transferred Epithet 移就，转类 转类就是通常修饰甲类名词的形容词转而修饰

乙类名词。（把修饰词转位置不在修饰应该它修饰的名词，而去修饰一个根本不应该被它修饰的词。）

（ 1 ）约定俗成，几乎形成固定搭配： He insisted that our assumptions were all wet. 他

坚持说我们的假定错了。 (wet 修饰语浸水有关的名词，现在可用以修饰与概念有关的名词，如理念等。 )

His dry humor doesn’t seem intentional. 他的冷面幽默似乎并非有意装出来的。（ dry 通常修饰语气候有关的名词，如干旱，现在可用以修饰语态度有关的名词，如反应等。）

After several arid years, Europeans conceived the design of a very large jet air craft for carrying passengers on short flights, commonly referred to as the Airbus.

荒芜了几年之后，欧洲人构想出了一种喷气式客机的设计：容量较大，适宜于短程飞行。这种客机俗称空中客车。（ arid 原意是干旱，引伸为贫瘠的，例句中为 after unproductive, 指研究无结果的，属于形容词转类。）

（ 2 ）随机急性 The new tendency has raised many a conservative eyebrow.

这种新趋势引起了许多保守党人士的非难。 ( 眉毛本身没有倾向，移就的是保守党派人士的倾向于感情。 )

Of the thousands of people who stand under Michelangelo’s heroic ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, very few are aware that they are looking at perhaps the greatest watercolor painting in the world. 成千上万的访问者来到西斯廷教堂，屋顶上画有米开朗基罗的雄伟壁画；但鲜有参观者意识到她们仰望着的也许是世界上最伟大的水彩画。

（ Michelangelo was Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet. He was a towering figure of the Renaissance. For four years, Michelangelo worked on a 30-feet high scaffolding in the Sistine Chapel, lying on his back and looking upwards, to cover the whole ceiling and vault of the building with nine scenes from the Bible. ）

这是一则典型的移就。雄伟的 (heroic) 指的是米开朗基罗 1508 年至 1512 年受罗马教皇 Julius II 的委托，在教皇礼拜堂屋顶含辛茹苦绘就的、以“创世纪”为题材的史诗性壁画 (fresco) ；屋顶本身是称不上 heroic 的，Michelangelo’s heroic ceiling 即 Michelangelo’s heroic fresco on the ceiling 。由于结构紧凑， heroic 移就了 ceiling, 但含义是不可误解的。

Euphemism 委婉语

The word euphemism comes from Greek meaning “fain speech”. It is the habit of avoiding an unpleasant or taboo reference by substituting some indirect word or expression for the blunt direct one.

Euphemism 一词源于希腊语， eu 是前缀，意思是“好”， phemism 的意思是“说法”，合起来就是说“好听的话”，“吉利话”，汉语称之为“委婉语”，即使用语气较为温和、含义较雅致或含糊的表达方式代替生硬、粗俗、直露的说法。

Women’s beauty industry attracted a lot of young people. 女士美容业吸引了大量青年人。 美容实际是化妆 make up ，如果称 make up occupation太俗气，称为 beauty industry 就雅观大方。

On the 14th of March, at a quarter to three in the afternoon, the greatest living thinker ceased to think. (ceased to think: 去世 )

表示 die 的委婉语有 pass out/ away, go to heaven, be called to God, be gone, blow off, hop off, lose the decision 等；表示 death 有 the last call, the pay off, the one-way ticket等；表示 dead 有 finished, gone under, washed up 等 .

VI . Special Difficulties

1. understanding the colloquial, and even slangy English

2. analyzing and commenting on the three characters

VII . Questions for Discussion

1. Did Ogilvie deliberately delay his call at the Croydon’s suite? Why?

2. Why did the Duchess send her maid and secretary out?

3.Why did the Duchess decide to make the detective drive their car north?

4. Did Ogilvie accept the Duchess’ offer?