香气的隐喻:《安东尼与克莉奥佩特拉》的身体政治

The Metaphor of Perfume: The Body Politics in Antony and Cleopatra

嗅觉是人类身体认知世界的五种基本感官之一。在西方文化中,气味有着特殊的文化意义,特别是香气能激起梦幻、幻想和渴望等美好意味。而在莎士比亚的时代,香水及香气不但是人们日常生活中的使用物品,同时在舞台表演中也是一种重要道具。在悲剧《安东尼与克莉奥佩特拉》中,莎士比亚通过埃及艳后的"异香"探讨了香气所代表的身体政治,暗示出克莉奥佩特拉异国芳香的女性身体特质与伊丽莎白一世的相似性,同时也表明香气在戏剧中重要而复杂的文化意义。

Olfaction is one of the five basic human senses(sight,hearing,touch,taste,smell)to understand and perceive the world.In the Western culture it contains specific cultural connotations.Perfume,in particular,evokes dreams,fantasies and desires.During the time of Shakespeare,perfume was not only a necessity in daily life,but also a crucial prop on stage.In his tragedy,Antony and Cleopatra,Shakespeare explores the body politics through the metaphor of Cleopatra’s"Invisible,strange perfume"and implies that Cleopatra’s female body feature of aromatic exotica is quite similar to that of Elizabeth I,thus revealing the important but complex cultural implications of perfume in the play.