- 期刊
Yin and Yang: A Symmetry of Dualism between Contrasting Locales in ＂The Merchant of Venice＂ and ＂A Midsummer Night’s Dream＂
陰陽兩極：《仲夏夜之夢》與《威尼斯商人》之二元對峙場景的對稱美
摘要
《威尼斯商人》和《仲夏夜之夢》曾經被視為問題喜劇，其問題或許可以從陰陽的觀點來分析。兩劇的問題主要源於二元對立，女兒的自主與父母的干預、女性壓抑與主流父系文化的對立、以及男性為主的法律與女性慾望的解放。這類的二元對立常常被討論，這或許會與這兩部喜劇當中與陰陽概念相關的對比場景有關連。從陰陽二元論來推論，這些對比場景包含光明與黑暗、日景與夜景、男性化的場景與女性化的場景、陽光普照的場景與月光照拂的場景。兩劇之中的男性領域可由《仲夏夜之夢》的國王特修斯位於雅典的法庭和《威尼斯商人》的威尼斯城來代表，這兩個場所展現出井然有序且墨守成規的社會。反之，《威尼斯商人》的貝爾蒙以較為女性化的氛圍來裝點，與貝爾蒙相似，《仲夏夜之夢》的樹林場景和仲夏夜之夢的場景也都是柔和的夜景。兩劇的日景引出父權社會當中，男性透過法律來控制女性的事實。然而，夜景則是提供了一處世外桃源，讓想像力恣意發揮，女性慾望獲得成全之所。陰陽概念以平衡性及對稱性著稱，兩劇當中有數對二元場景亦有此特徵。這類呈現陰陽概念的二元場景應該不是巧合，而是一種文學上的巧妙安排，讓日景裡的主流父權主義與夜景裡的父權社會無法容許的慾望達到某種平衡點，這種平衡有些類似陰與陽之異中求同且同中生異的衝突對稱美。
並列摘要
As problem comedies, ”A Midsummer Night's Dream” (1600) and ”The Merchant of Venice” (1600) may be analyzed from the perspective of Yin and Yang. Both plays' problems might originate from pairs of opposites, such as daughter's free will and parental interference, female oppression and mainstream patriarchal culture, and masculine-oriented rules and female emancipation. These commonly discussed opposites can be associated with the contrasting scenes that have certain inferential links with the yin-yang concept in both plays. Derived from the yin-yang dualism, the contrasting scenes or loci are light and dark, day and night, masculine and feminine, sunlit and moonlit settings. Male sphere in both comedies can be exemplified by Theseus's court in ”Dream” and Venice in ”Merchant” that embody orderly and legalistic societies. By contrast, Belmont in ”Merchant” is glamorized with rather feminine atmospheres; like Belmont, the wood and midsummer night's dream in ”Dream” are set in soft nighttime scenes. The daytime scenes of both comedies bring out the fact of men's control over women by law in a patriarchal society. The nighttime scenes provide loci for boundless imagination and the fulfillment of female desires. The yin-yang dualism is noted for its balance and symmetry, so are the pairs of the contrastive scenes in both plays. These binary scenes that epitomize the yin-yang concept should not be a coincidence; instead, they should be acknowledged as a device that balance the mainstream patriarchalism in daytime scenes and the desires forbidden by patriarchal societies in nighttime scenes; this balance is like a cohesive and conflicting relation between a dark Yin and a bright Yang in a symmetrical array.