Unspeakable Feeling, Unquenchable Desire: Lovelace's Dilemma in Samuel Richardson's Clarissa

難言之情、難隱之慾：山繆‧理查森小說《克萊莉莎》中勒福萊斯的困境

闕帝丰(Di-Feng Chueh)

《NTU Studies in Language and Literature》 26期 (2011/12) Pp. 49-71

https://doi.org/10.6153/2011.26.02

摘要

本文旨在探索山繆‧理查森小說《克萊莉莎》中的男主角羅伯特‧勒福萊斯在追求女主角克萊莉莎的當中，掙扎在自身兩種截然不同男性氣概的困境。理查森在小說的前言中明白點出，勒福萊斯的種種行為，尤其是他對待其他女性角色的方式，都說明了他的浪蕩子本性。這樣的論點可以從小說中許多地方找到佐證，但我認為，除了浪蕩子本性之外，勒福萊斯在小說中也展現出自己多愁善感的一面。勒福萊斯的浪蕩子與多愁善感這兩種相互扞格的男性氣概，在與克萊莉莎相遇之後同時地被喚醒。勒福萊斯一方面想盡辦法要引誘克萊莉莎掉入他的陷阱，以便成為他的玩物；但同時，勒福萊斯對於克萊莉莎的愛使得他不停地掙扎於自己浪蕩子與多愁善感這兩種男性氣概之間，而不知道該如何去面對自己與克萊莉莎的關係。對於勒福萊斯而言，他對克萊莉莎的愛是一種難言之情。除了愛之外，勒福萊斯對於克萊莉莎也充滿了難以隱瞞的慾望。透過研究勒福萊斯在與克萊莉莎相遇之後所產生出的「情」與「慾」，我想要說明的是，除了受害者之外，加害者也可能會被噤聲或是難以說出自己所遭受的困境。就如同勒福萊斯一樣，由於受到自身浪蕩子與多愁善感本性的相互影響，他在追求克萊莉莎的過程中變得不知道該如何去面對以及說出自己的情緒，而導致自己受到難以平復的創傷。透過這樣的探討，我們可以看出理查森並不單單只是將勒福萊斯形塑成一個傳統的浪蕩子，而是在他的身上加入了其他男性氣概的特徵，並且透過這些不同男性氣概之間的交互影響，讓我們看到就算是加害者的勒福萊斯，也可能感受到苦痛。

關鍵字

浪蕩子 ； 多愁善感 ； 創傷

並列摘要

The aim of this paper is to examine how Robert Lovelace struggles between his sentimental feeling and libertinism in his relationship with Clarissa and the meaning of this process in Samuel Richardson's Clarissa. Lovelace is a professed libertine to the opposite sex, as Richardson describes in the preface of the novel. Many critics take Lovelace to be a Restoration type of libertine because he and other Restoration libertines are often ruthless in their behavior to their female counterparts. While finding this argument forceful, I contend that Lovelace is not a typical Restoration libertine character due to his possible feelings of sentiment.After meeting with Clarissa, Lovelace vows to seduce our heroine. Had Lovelace been a merciless libertine, he would have become a flat, insipid libertine character owing to similarities he shares with his Restoration antecedents. In fact, Lovelace's compassion amid his desire for conquest is also gradually awakened over the course of the novel because he from time to time sympathizes with Clarissa's ordeals. At this moment, Lovelace is at a loss to know what to do with Clarissa since his seduction and benevolent feeling are contradictory to each other. In order to carry out his plan, Lovelace tries to avoid those sentimental feelings or ”reflections,” as he terms them in the novel. Nevertheless, his efforts prove to be in vain, since these ”unspeakable” feelings constantly haunt him.By looking at how these sentimental feelings traumatize Lovelace in his relationship with Clarissa, I will conclude that not only victims but also oppressors, such as Lovelace, may sometimes be baffled and silenced by others' misfortunes, even though they are the cause. Thus, examinations of how the discourses of silence and ineffable feelings are wrought in Richardson's Clarissa should not be fixed to the portrayal of the victimized heroine, but they should be extended to that of Lovelace's dilemma. By doing so, we can arrive at a more nuanced understanding of how Richardson characterizes Lovelace.

並列關鍵字

libertine ； sentimental feelings ； trauma

參考文獻

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