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Immoral at First Sight: Frankenstein's Monster, Physiognomy, Disability

第一瞬間就不道德:科學怪人怪物、面相學與失能

摘要


In most cases, discussions of disability are based on impairments of bodily or mental function. However, one should notice that in literary representations, there are characters that have sound bodily functions but are perceived as the disabled due to ugliness. Research in the field of disability studies points out that the theme of first look is significant in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Since the fast decision of one's character is salient in the story, this paper will look into Johann Caspar Lavater's Essays on Physiognomy, which taught the Victorians to read others' faces in the urban zone efficiently. In nineteenth-century London, rambling on streets was a fresh urban experience to Londoners, since they had to encounter strangers, exchanging a brief glimpse instead of elaborate talks. Putting forth the famous motto "the morally worst, the most deformed" (1840, p. 99), Lavater's physiognomic theory became a pervasive cultural discourse that equated the eccentric face with repellent personality. First, this paper will investigate how Lavater's notion of conformity between the face and personality proves evident in Frankenstein. Second, this paper aims to discover how the nineteenth-century physiognomical perspective views one with a different face as the disabled. Last but not least, I will employ the theory of aesthetic blindness to investigate the ugliness of the monster. Hopefully, this will explore how the prejudice against people with the disabled face is based on visuality, namely an ocularcentric aesthetic.

並列摘要


一般對於失能的討論大多建立在生理或心理上功能受損之上。然而在文學作品中,有一些角色雖具備健全身體功能,卻因為醜陋而處在如同失能者般被歧視之情境。為研究這個現象,我們鎖定了瑪麗雪萊的小說《科學怪人》作為討論對象。失能研究學者曾指出在《科學怪人》中,觀看其實是佔有主要地位的。故事中關於對他人性格的瞬速判斷有鮮明的描寫,這讓人發現到約翰克斯.柏拉維特的著作《面相學》運作的痕跡。《面相學》是英國維多利亞時期,指導人們有效判讀都市中迎面而來路人的臉的準則。對於十九世紀的倫敦人來說,在街道上漫步躍升為新穎的都市經驗,人們開始只能在路上與陌生人快速交換眼神,缺乏時間進行交談。在這種情境下,拉維特的面相學理論提出「道德上越差,臉也越畸型」的理論,成為維多利亞英國重要之流行觀點,教導人們把怪奇的臉與令人厭惡的人格作連結。本論文因此首先要探討拉維特關於內在人格與外在第一眼觀看對應的理論,如何表現在弗蘭肯斯坦博士把他人做面相學分類的情節中。再者本論文將著手探討,十九世紀面相學觀點,如何把臉部不符合主流要求的人視為失能的做法。最後,本論文將運用「美學之盲」的理論更清楚勾勒小說中怪物醜陋的文化意義。

並列關鍵字

科學怪人 拉維特 面相學 失能 美學之盲

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