徐渭《雌木蘭替父從軍》與希伯來傳奇《尤迪傳》的女英雄書寫

Heroines of Xu Wei's "The Heroine Mulan Goes to War in Her Father's Place" and the Hebrew Romance "Judith"

余境熹(King-Hei Yu)

《輔大中研所學刊》 24期 (2010/10) Pp. 157-174

https://doi.org/10.29444/JGICLDFJCU.201010.0009

摘要

徐渭（明武宗正德十六年〔1521〕－明神宗萬曆十一年〔1593〕）《雌木蘭替父從軍》和希伯來傳奇《尤迪傳》都以戰爭為背景，分別重點描寫了花木蘭與尤迪兩個女性英雄挺身而出，最後獲得勝利的事跡。因著此一表象，歷來論者都認為此二文本具有張揚女性意識的特徵。然而，更深入地剖析文本，將可看出：（1）兩名女英雄的功勞都是從屬於文本內的男性代表的，以致其能力的彰顯都有限制；（2）對於父權社會所強加給女子的規條，兩位女英雄也都是甘心樂意地接受的，具有認可並堅實有關制約的作用；（3）兩名女英雄在強調男女地位平等時，都接受公共空間對女性話語的限制，其挑戰男性的嘗試是不敢公然進行的，力度也因而減弱。凡此種種，都表現出《雌木蘭替父從軍》和《尤迪傳》雖然樹立起女性英雄的形象，但其於反對男尊女卑的議題實是佈滿漏洞的。通過這一推論，或可為《雌木蘭替父從軍》與《尤迪傳》提供新的認識面向。

關鍵字

徐渭 ； 《雌木蘭替父從軍》 ； 次經 ； 《尤迪傳》 ； 女英雄

並列摘要

Hua Mulan in Xu Wei (1521-1593)'s play ”The Heroine Mulan Goes to War in Her Father's Place” and Judith in the Hebrew romance ”Judith” both act as heroines in the texts as they are written to have won military victory for their nations respectively. Because of this, the two texts are recognized to have high intention in expressing female consciousness which opposes the patriarchy. Nonetheless, by close reading a different conclusion may be raised. In the first place, both Mulan and Judith's achievements are subservient to the male figures. For Mulan, she only receives orders from the supreme commander Xin Ping, and she accepts the rule that the approval of the Khan is essential to her contributions. For Judith, she highlights her weaknesses as a widow and emphasizes that the result of a war is always brought by the God's will. As a result, the performances of Mulan and Judith are all secondary to male figures in the texts. In the second place, both Mulan and Judith act actively to match up with the female images imposed by the males. Judith defends her chastity after the death of her husband, and she returns to be a gentle and soft woman after the end of war. And Mulan, apart from defending her virginity and being a docile lady at home, she also emphasizes on the practice of foot binding in order to suit male desire. As the two heroines are willing to match the male wishes, they indeed validate the control by men in the society. In the third place, as shown in the texts Mulan and Judith do not eager to express their opinions of female advantages in any public regions. Mulan is very modest at the court that she never mentions her importance in gaining the military success. She only flaunts her attainments to her parents when staying at home. Similarly, Judith criticizes the decision of the male officers at her home only, and she also chooses to withdraw from the public scene and lives as a silent woman till her death. Since the two heroines' challenges to males are strictly limited to private areas only, their strength is seriously weakened. Hence, though ”The Heroine Mulan Goes to War in Her Father's Place” and ”Judith” have produced China and Israel with two prominent female heroic figures, it can be observed that they are indeed not flawless in opposing the rules of patriarchy. Thus, the statement that the two texts have expressed strong female consciousness against the males may have to be corrected.

並列關鍵字

Xu Wei ； "The Heroine Mulan Goes to War in Her Father's Place" ； Apocrypha ； "Judith" ； Heroine