西方文學史當中，維多利亞時期被視為是一個重要的分水嶺。在此之前，人類習慣用宗教的角度去看待世界，但十八世紀中開始，工業革命在西方展開，各種機器的發明使得當時科學極具的發達，科學帶來的影響逐漸改變當時的人民，人類開始採用科學的角度去思考這個世界。達爾文(Charles Darwin)的兩部作品，包括物種原始(Origin of Species)及人類原始及類擇(The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex)，當中進化論和物種原始的概念造成維多利亞時期社會的一片震撼。本文主要使用達爾文的兩大概念—天擇及性擇—探討狄更斯(Charles Dickens)的小說—遠大期望(Great Expectations)。第一章主要介紹達爾文的進化論及其理論產生背景，其中包含天擇(Natural Selection)及性擇(Sexual Selection)，其中看出為求生存，生物會自行突變以適應環境的變化，第二章主要針對天擇的概念探討狄更斯之小說，透過物競天擇、均變論(Uniformitarianism)及巨變論(Catastrophism)的對照、達爾文對演化概念及唯物論(Materialism)的詮釋、推論出外在環境對生物的影響。第三章則是針對性擇的概念探討書中女性與男性角色之互動，透過無性生殖(Parthenogenetic Reproduction)、母性本能(Maternal Instinct)及男性競爭天性(Male Competitive Tendency)的概念，探討達爾文及狄更斯作品所中隱含之性別意識。

The Victorian period can be regarded as a watershed of the history of literature. Before the Victorian period, people tended to see the world from a religious point of view. Because of the improvement of science, Victorians began to change their attitudes and started to consider things from a scientific perspective. Charles Darwin, the author of The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, introduced evolutionary theory and created a heated dispute that has lasted, to some degree, even until today. This thesis applies Darwin’s two ideas— natural selection and sexual selection— to investigate into Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations. The introduction briefly discusses Darwin’s evolutionary theories and their application in Dickens’s Great Expectations. The first chapter investigates natural selection and sexual selection with more specifics. Simply put, for example, organic beings evolve in order to adapt to the environment. Male of all species try to seduce females in order to propagate. The second chapter deals with the difference between uniformitarianism and catastrophism, and how Darwin challenges the idea of “progress” and how natural selection applies to the notion of materialism. In addition, recalling Darwin’s observation that organic beings would change themselves due to the pressure of survival, readers of Dickens’s novels see how environmental changes bring effects upon characters. The third chapter concentrates on Darwin’s sexual selection, including the contrast between parthenogenetic reproduction and sexual selection, female supremacy in the animal world and male dominance in the human society, as well as female’s maternal instincts and male’s competitive tendencies. Finally, I conclude with the gendered ideology that both Darwin and Dickens reveal in their works. In conclusion, approaching Dickens’s novel from the perspective of Darwin’s evolutionary theories, we see how Victorian literature and science merged together.

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