暴力、身体、记忆——品特戏剧中的刑罚书写与公平正义政治观

Violence, Body, and Memory: The Writing of Criminal Penalties and Political Viewpoints of Equality and Justice in Harold Pinter’s Plays

在英国戏剧家哈罗德·品特的戏剧中,刑罚意象极其丰富,既有不明组织对个人的私刑惩戒;也有国家权力机构对个人的处罚;还有个人滥用权力对他人的刑讯。剧中的刑罚只是作用于弱者身上,罪行的认定具有随意性,无明显罪行的个人身体受到刑罚的摧残,与刑罚公平正义的自然属性以及法律实施的普遍性和程序性相背离,展现出极其荒诞的一面。由于刑罚的施行体现了统治阶级的意志,属于国家暴力手段,因而剧中任意滥用的刑罚现象彰显了剧作家对于西方统治阶级强权政治的辛辣讽刺和对普通民众的关切,从侧面展现了他的刑罚认知和公平正义政治观。品特戏剧中的刑罚书写主要是突出了其暴力性,打上了二战及冷战时期的特别时代烙印,与品特的身份属性、人生体验和记忆相关。

In British playwright Harold Pinter’s plays, the image of criminal penalties is represented in a great variety, ranging from the illegal retributions imposed upon individuals by unknown organizations to the punishments inflicted upon individuals by national authorities and the torture of others through the abuse of one’s own power. As revealed in his plays, criminal penalties are merely levied on the vulnerable, conviction is randomly determined, and individuals are subject to physical torment without committing a true crime, which clearly deviates, to the extent of extreme absurdity, from the nature of criminal justice and the universality and procedure of law enforcement. Since the execution of criminal penalties embodies the ruling class’ s will and functions as violent measures by the state, the willful reliance on criminal penalties in his plays reveals Pinter’s pungent sarcasm towards the power politics of the Western ruling class and his concern with the common people. Moreover, it represents from the side his perception of criminal penalties and his political viewpoints of equality and justice. The writing of criminal penalties in Pinter’s plays mainly puts a stress on its violent nature and leaves a historical mark for the special eras of WWII and Cold War, a mark that is related to Pinter’s own identity, life experiences, and memories.