AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF A MAD DOG

AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF A MAD DOG

by: Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774)

Good people all, of every sort,
Give ear unto my song;
And if you find it wondrous short,
It cannot hold you long.

In Islington there was a man,
Of whom the world might say
That still a godly race he ran,
Whene'er he went to pray.

A kind and gentle heart he had,
To comfort friends and foes;
The naked every day he clad,
When he put on his clothes.

And in that town a dog was found,
As many dogs there be,
Both mongrel, puppy, whelp and hound,
And curs of low degree.

This dog and man at first were friends;
But when a pique began,
The dog, to gain some private ends,
Went mad and bit the man.

Around from all the neighbouring streets
The wondering neighbours ran,
And swore the dog had lost his wits,
To bite so good a man.

The wound it seemed both sore and sad
To every Christian eye;
And while they swore the dog was mad,
They swore the man would die.

But soon a wonder came to light,
That showed the rogues they lied:
The man recovered of the bite,
The dog it was that died.

个人觉得这首诗用在这里真的非常贴切。

Walter因爱生恨，逼着Kitty去了疫区（The dog, to gain some private ends, Went mad and bit the man.）

而Kitty，一个表面上光鲜亮丽的“好人”（A kind and gentle heart he had, to comfort friends and foes; The naked every day he clad, When he put on his clothes.）实际上是个无趣，低俗，愚蠢的女人。

为什么死的却是狗。
因为有毒的是人啊。

Walter中了Kitty的毒，Kitty说是你擅自把我想得那么完美，Walter却说我知道你愚蠢甚至为了配合你的愚蠢我什么都愿意去做了。木讷寡言的Walter说了那么长一段话，反反复复的“我爱过你”，冷着脸逼迫对方踏上了一条惩罚之路。

忍不住想要感叹一下，果然我更能接受电影版的结局，小说版的实在太残酷了。（因为持续将诺顿的脸代入，实在看得我好苦_(:з」∠)_）

当Walter说出最后的遗言的时候，他知道自己根本没有惩罚到Kitty，他只惩罚了自己。Kitty会recovered of the bite，而自己只是一条死狗。