汤姆·斯托帕德的《君臣人子小命呜呼》:伦理学批评及其他视角

Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead:Ethical Criticism and Other Perspectives

汤姆·斯托帕德突破性的戏剧《君臣人子小命呜呼》于1966年8月在爱丁堡边缘艺术节初次公演,1967年4月在老维克国家剧院开演。该剧后来被奉为经典,在世界各地公演无数次。出乎寻常的是评论界对此连篇累牍地加以关注,集中追问的就是该剧究竟陈述了什么。作者汤姆·斯托帕德闭口不谈,被问时,他只说“该剧写的是两位埃尔西诺的朝廷大员。”他认为“每一个主观反应都有道理:不用认可或拒绝任何解读。”不可避免的是,迄今为止有关《君臣人子小命呜呼》的批评解读可谓众说纷纭,但一个显而易见的疏漏就是聂珍钊的文学伦理学批评学说。本文采用聂珍钊的主要概念,将斯托帕德的突破性的剧作作为一个历史时代的表述及伦理困境的分解进行审视。先结合莎士比亚的《哈姆雷特》探讨聂珍钊的中心思想,然后将其应用到对斯托帕德剧作的分析之中,并希望聂自己日后会用这些思想来研读其他剧作,包括《君臣人子小命呜呼》。

Tom Stoppard's breakthrough drama,Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,was first performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 1966.It opened at the National Theatre at the Old Vic in April 1967.Subsequently,it has achieved classic status,being performed innumerable times worldwide.Not unsurprisingly,much critical ink has been spent on it largely devoted to the question of what the play is all about.Its author,Tom Stoppard,has stood firm on it.When asked,he responds,"It's about two courtiers at Elsinore."He believes"that every subjective response has its validity:no interpretations endorsed,none denied."Inevitably,there have been diverse critical interpretations of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.Nie Zhenzhao's ideas of Ethical Literary Criticism are a notable omission from these.This article utilizes Nie Zhenzhao's key concepts to examine Stoppard's breakthrough drama as an expression of a historical period,of an unpacking of ethical dilemmas.A discussion of Nie's central ideas with reference to Shakespeare's Hamlet is followed by an application to Stoppard's play in the hope that he will himself apply them to other dramatic texts,including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.