匣子、指环和契约:“威尼斯商人”的爱情故事

Casket,Ring and Bond: The Love Story of “Merchant of Venice”

莎士比亚在《威尼斯商人》中重点讲述了三个故事,分别是安东尼奥—巴萨尼奥的故事、巴萨尼奥—鲍西亚的故事、鲍西亚—安东尼奥—夏洛克的故事。这三个故事互为表里因果,共同讲述了一个“威尼斯商人的故事”。这个故事的主角不是安东尼奥,不是夏洛克,更不是巴萨尼奥,甚至也不是他们三人的合体,即安东尼奥—巴萨尼奥—夏洛克。这个故事有三个——确切说是三组——象征性的“客观对应物”:匣子、指环和契约。它们都与鲍西亚有关,事实上是密切相关:鲍西亚起初被它们封印束缚,但她通过三场斗争战胜了对手,并由此成为自身命运——同时也是自身故事——的主人。

Shakespeare narrates three stories in The Merchant of Venice,which are respectively the story of Antonio and Bassanio,the story of Bassanio and Portia,and that of Portia— Antonio and Shylock. These three stories,interlocked together,narrates a common story of “the merchant of Venice”,whose title hero is,as the story itself unfolds,neither Antonio nor Shylock,nor Bassanio,nor their concatenation. This story has three objective correlatives: the casket,the ring,and the bond,which are all closely connected with Portia. Portia,sealed by them at the beginning,through three battles defeats her enemies,and in the end becomes the mistress of her own fate as well as the heroine of her own love story.