责任、利益和机会:《威尼斯商人》中朗斯洛特的交易欲望化身

Responsibilities,Interests and Chances:Lancelet as an Embodiment of Transactional Desire in The Merchant of Venice

莎士比亚在《威尼斯商人》中用戏剧化手法揭示出丑角朗斯洛特的三种经济身份——经济行为决策者、经济交换的中介者和交易欲望化身,描绘出重商主义时期经济运行的微观图像。朗斯洛特的经济身份既促进了关于鲍西娅和夏洛克的元经济理解,又揭示出戏剧中的语义交换行为的经济内涵,突破了鲍西娅式仁慈和夏洛克式贪婪二元对立的传统模式。莎士比亚似乎是想说,代表着那些不屈不挠地推动早期资本主义中经济交换发展的力量不是那些地位显赫的商人、高利贷者、女继承人,而是如朗斯洛特那样的普通老百姓。

Shakespeare used dramatic skills to uncover three kinds of economic identities of the clown Lancelet in The Merchant of Venice:the decision-maker of economic behavior the intermediary of economic exchange and the embodiment of transactional desire offering a vivid micro image of the economic operation of England in the mercantilism period.Lancelet economic identities might be helpful for the meta-economic understanding of Portia and Shylock,with the function of uncovering the economic meaning of the semantic exchange behaviors in the play,breaking through the traditional conflict of Portia’s kindness and Shylock’s greedy.Shakespeare seemed to suggest that the ordinary persons such as the servant Lancelet rather than the persons with high social status such as merchants usurers or the heiress represent the inexorable impetus to promote the development of early capitalism.