琐事颠覆男权:论《琐事》中的女权主义意识

Male Authority Subverted by Trifles: On the Feminist Consciousness in Susan Glaspell's Trifles

苏珊.格拉斯佩尔的《琐事》是耐人寻味的,明妮.赖特(Minnie Wright)因受到长期的心灵窒息而杀害其丈夫这一事实出发,揭示了隐藏在其背后却贯穿全剧的三个二元对立关系:男性与女性的对立关系,男女价值观的对立,自由与压迫的对立。进而指出该体系中的对立关系是可以相互转化的,甚至一方可以反抗另一方。剧中的两位女性(黑尔太太和彼得斯太太)正是通过关注男人们所不齿的“琐事”与女主角无声的言说颠覆了男性的权威。

Starting from the fact that Minnie Wright, the heroine of Susan Glaspell＇ s Trifles, murdered her husband who has been suffocating her, this paper reveals the three binary opposites running through the play： the opposition between men and women, between their views about what is worth and worthless, and between freedom and oppression. It further points out that both sides in the binary opposites are inter- changeable, one side may even protest the other. In this play the two women （Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters）, along with the heroine＇s silent speech, subverted the male authority just by focusing their attention on the trifles that are mocked and overlooked by men.