作为历史主义者的莎士比亚——兼论莎士比亚历史剧对我们的启示

Shakespeare as a Historicist: The Illuminations of His History Plays to Us

毫无疑问,莎士比亚首先应被当作一位艺术家,或者更确切地说,一位戏剧艺术家。但是他同时也应被视为一位历史学家,或一位历史主义者。说到作为历史主义者的莎士比亚,我们通常会想到他的《约翰王》、《爱德华三世》、《理查二世》、《亨利四世》、《亨利五世》、《亨利六世》等历史剧。因为剧作家在这些历史剧中基于真实的人物创造出一些令人难忘的历史人物。实际上,如果我们全面阅读理解莎士比亚的悲剧、喜剧和历史剧的话,我们会很容易地发现,他除了取得卓越的艺术成就外,还扮演了一位历史主义者的角色。他不仅写出了一些历史剧,更重要的是,他的悲剧和喜剧也可以被视为某种形式的历史剧。虽然从今天的观点来看,他的戏剧叙述并非总是忠实于真实的历史记载,但是它们确实是"文本化"或"戏剧化"的历史叙述。与莎士比亚的历史剧在西方所受到的重视和研究相比,中国的莎剧研究是很不全面的。但是具有讽刺意味的恰恰是,在今天的中国电视荧屏上,我们却能常常看到许多基于真实人物的历史题材电视剧,这些电视剧往往用一种反讽和戏仿的后现代手法对历史事件和人物加以再现,但是成功者却寥寥无几。因此我们应当说,莎士比亚所扮演的历史主义者的角色并未得到认可,至少在中国的语境中是如此,尽管他那些卓越的历史题材的戏剧在某种程度上预示了中国历史题材电视剧的兴起。

Shakespeare should be first regarded as an artist, or more exactly, a dramatic artist. But he should also be viewed as a historian, or a sort of historicist. In speaking of Shakespeare as a historicist, we usually think of his history plays like King John, Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, etc., for the playwright has created some unforgettable historical figures in these plays based on real people. Actually, if we have a comprehensive reading and understanding of all Shakespeare＇s plays, tragedies, comedies and history plays, we can easily find that he actually plays the role of a historicist apart from his superb artistic achievements, not only because he has created quite a few history plays, but more important, his best tragedies and comedies could also be regarded as a sort of history plays. Although, from today＇s point of view, his theatrical narrations are not always faithful to the real historical records, they are indeed ＂textualized＂ or ＂dramatized＂ historical narratives. As compared with the study of Shakespeare＇s history plays in the West, the study of Shakespeare＇s drama in China is far from comprehensive. However, ironically speaking, on today＇s Chinese screen, we easily find so many ＂invented＂ ＂history plays＂ produced as TV dramas based on real people although in an ironic and parodic way of representation, but very few could be regarded as effective and successful. Thus we should say that Shakespeare＇s role as a historicist has not yet been recognized, at least in the Chinese context, although all his superb plays on history have more or less anticipated the rise of Chinese TV history plays.