The Two Lears: Shakespeare's Humanist Vision of Nature

兩個李爾：莎翁的人文自然觀

董崇選(Chung-Hsuan Tung)

《興大人文學報》 44期 (2010/06) Pp. 233-266

https://doi.org/10.30092/JHCLANCHU.201006.0010

摘要

莎翁爲自然／本性詩人。「自然／本性」爲《李爾王》之主題。劇中呈現許多兩面的對立，說明了人心善惡的永恆爭鬥。有兩個李爾：一愚蠢自私，一明智無私；一個不自然／非本性，一個很自然／即本性。但李爾始終不知「自然的正義」不等於「人爲的正義」。不過，他相信「自然／本性」勝過／先於「人爲／法術」。其實，莎翁在《李爾王》及其他許多劇本中，都提供一種人文主義的自然／本性觀，一方面讓良心嚮往原始無爲的自然／本性，一方面卻認知墮落後的、有爲的自然／本性，把人擺在「大存在鏈」的中間，上通神性，下接獸性，而把人生視爲好壞人性不斷更替造成的悲劇或喜劇、歷史或傳奇。

關鍵字

李爾 ； 自然 ； 人文主義 ； 二元對立 ； 靈魂之爭 ； 自然對技藝

並列摘要

Shakespeare is indeed the poet of nature. ”Nature” is the one single word that defines the theme of King Lear. The word's ambiguity in sense contains a number of binary oppositions: Great Nature vs. human nature, physical/material nature vs. spiritual/mental nature, natural affection between parent and child vs. natural affection between prince and subject, good nature vs. bad nature, normal nature vs. abnormal nature, etc. The binary oppositions suggest the psychomachia, the battle of the good soul against the evil soul. In Lear, most characters are flatly either good souls or bad souls. Lear and Gloucester, however, are round characters: they change from bad nature back to good nature. There are certainly two Lears in the play: the foolish, selfish Lear vs. the wise, unselfish Lear, or the unnatural Lear vs. the natural Lear. The two lears explain the middle position of human nature in the Great Chain of Being. Lear has learned, too late, two lears (lessons): the difference of human nature and the disparity between appearance and reality. He has not learned the lear that natural justice is not equivalent to human justice. But he has learned the Shakespearean lear (doctrine) that nature is above art. In fact, in many other plays as well as in Lear, Shakespeare provides a humanist vision of nature: placing the primary, unfallen nature of innocence above the secondary, fallen nature of experience, opposing human art or nurture to divine art or nature, and making his comedies or tragedies and histories or romances according as man's good natures or bad natures prevail in the fallen world. Meanwhile, we find this humanist vision of nature allows for the Neoclassic principles of moderation and of morality and yet recognizes the Romantic principles of change and of contrariety.

並列關鍵字

Lear ； nature ； humanism ； binary opposition ； psychomachia nature vs. art

參考文獻

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