Gender, Love and Drama: A Metadramatic Study of Shakespearean Romantic Comedies

[[abstract]]莎士比亞劇作的後設傾向向來是學者 批評的焦點，《皆大歡喜》中傑克將人生 比喻為舞臺、男男女女便是台上的演員， 印證所謂的「人生如戲，戲如人生」。莎 翁常有意無意的將他對戲劇及劇本創作本 身的關注融入劇本寫作當中，創造出似真 似假、亦真亦假的舞臺世界。本計畫擬從 後設劇場的觀點探討莎翁浪漫喜劇中的兩 性關係之戲劇面向，包括戲劇作品中戲劇 與人生、虛構與真實的辯證關係、同性情 誼、同性欲望、性別化主體、性別與情慾 之表演等。到底後設劇場能為莎翁喜劇中 的性別政治提供什麼新的視野呢？或許答 案在於戲劇本身所特有的曖昧性，真實與 虛幻交織的舞臺世界使劇作家遊移於現實 世界與戲劇世界，並將性別政治融入戲劇 的表演。 透過性別關係的戲劇面向，本計畫希 望能夠進一步檢視性別的形成與表演的關 連。例如，《威尼斯商人》的女主角波西 雅（Portia）在法庭這場戲中假扮成巴薩哲 （Balthazar）法官，藉由易裝穿上男裝、 並表演出一個男性主體的樣子。暫且不考 慮男童扮演女角的戲劇演出傳統所可能涉 及的性別爭議，從波西雅易裝的例子，我 們可以發現「服裝符號學」（the semiotics of clothing）或戲劇演出的戲裝一方面界定 了人的性別與社會地位，一方面也成為顛 覆社會階級制度中僵化的性別、地位區分 的可能手段。 此計畫擬以莎翁浪漫喜劇為研究對 象，包括《皆大歡喜》、《仲夏夜之夢》、 《威尼斯商人》、《無事自擾》、《第十 二夜》等共五齣戲。為什麼要研究浪漫喜 劇呢？主要的原因是莎翁在這些喜劇中處 理男女愛情所涉及的兩性權力掙扎，大部 份的學者企圖從社會批評的角度出發，勾 勒出當時社會的性別政治，而較少從後設 戲劇的角度檢視性別關係中戲劇表演的層 次。本研究打算從後設劇場的角度、旁及 心理分析與性別理論，探討劇中的性別政 治與戲劇演出的關係，包括角色扮演、易 裝（男扮女裝、女扮男裝）、戲劇搬演、 戲中戲、演戲與觀眾反應。希望這項研究 藉由對莎翁編劇手法的關注，使劇中複雜 多樣的性別政治與兩性關係得以展現。 本計畫只是一個開始，筆者未來打算 進一步擴及其他莎劇中相關性別議題的探 討，對莎劇中的性別與戲劇議題作完整、 全面的研究。[[abstract]]The metadramatic tendency in 2 Shakespeare’s plays is a very important aspect, and has often been discussed. Jaques, in As You Like It, begins a famous speech as follows: “All the world’s a stage,/ And all the men and women merely players” (2.7.139-40). This speech draws out the interconnection of life and drama. The present project intends to explore the thematic concerns of love and marriage, sexuality and gender in such a metatheatrical perspective, focusing on the dramatic and performative nature in gender relation in much detail. For example, the plays introduce a complex dialectical relation between life and drama, illusion and reality. Many interesting gender-related topics can also be found in Shakespearean comedies, such as same-sex love, homoerotic desire, female sexuality, gendered identity, performance of gender and sexuality; these topics are quite relevant to today’s gender issues. What can a metadramatic perspective provide for the understanding of sexual politics in the comedies? The quintessence of theater bordering between reality and illusion becomes a niche for the playwright to explore the dynamics of the world onstage and that offstage, and thus, brings out the performative and theatrical dimensions of sexual politics. In highlighting the performative aspect in gender relation, this study, thus, can examine the nature of gender formation in relation with performance. For example, in The Merchant of Venice, Portia crossdresses as Balthazar in the courtroom scene, adopting the male dress as well as masculine subjectivity. Suspending the theatrical practice of boy actor playing the female part for a moment, we can see that semiotics of costume, a dramatic device, indicates a person’s gender and social rank. It can also be adopted as a disruption to challenge the social codes of clothing governing one’s social position fixed in a social hierarchy. This research covers only the romantic comedies, namely As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado about Nothing, and Twelfth Night. Why romantic comedies in particular? It is partly because that these comedies dramatize the gender struggle in love, a relation involved power struggle and dynamics. Critics usually try to contextualize the sexual politics found in these comedies. But few try to explore the theatrical implications of sexual politics in these plays. My project proposes to study the gender issues in the light of metadramatic perspective with the considerations provided by psychoanalysis and gender theory, thus highlighting the interconnection of sexual politics with the various dramatic devices, such as role-playing, cross-dressing, mise-en-scéne, play-within-the-play, playacting, and audience reception. It is hoped that the findings of this study can shed new light on the implications of sexual politics presented in these comedies with a constant attention to the Bard’s dramaturgy. This project is only a beginning of an attempt to explore the metadramatic elements in Shakespeare’s plays in relation with the plays’ thematic concerns of sexual politics. If possible, I would like to include the Bard’s tragedies, history plays and romances in the future