《慕色》婉约秀美《还魂》相形见绌——关于《牡丹亭》的反思

Delicate Beauty of ＂Sensual Love＂ Throws ＂Return of the Soul＂ into Shade --A Reexamination on The Peony Pavilion

对于《牡丹亭》的评价，近人多加以肯定和榆扬，以为是经典之作，本文则对《牡舟亭》在文学艺术上的利弊得失，予以重新检验讨论，期能作公允的评断，以供治《牡丹亭》学者之参考和省思。笔者检视《牡丹亭》诸出，发现《牡丹亭》五十五出并非全为精华，其中也有非精华，甚至是糟粕的。归结《牡丹亭》经典之处实在于《游园》《惊梦》《寻梦》三出，如果把《游园》《惊梦》作为一出，“历千古不朽”之因就在这两出。换言之，全剧“幕色”写得婉约秀美，而“还魂”则相形见绌了。而于演之场上时，则既要考虑全剧是否全系精华，也要考虑当代观众的欣赏习惯，一味求全，不足取也。

Recent criticisms of the play The Peony Pavilion are mainly positive and favorable, regarding it as a classic. This paper intends to reexamine the literary merits and demerits of the play so as to make an objective judgment for reference by future researchers of the play. After examining all the acts of the play, the author of this paper finds that of all the 55 acts, some are gems and some are dross, or even junk. The most classical acts go to three ones, namely Garden Ramble, Interrupted Dream and Search for the Dream. If Garden Ramble and Interrupted Dream are taken as one act, then the everlasting fame of this play lies in two acts. In another word, the delicate beauty of ＂sensual love＂ throws ＂return of the soul＂ into obscurity. So far as its performance is concerned, we need to consider whether the whole play is all good and the taste of contemporary audience. Pursuit of completeness is not desirable.