| 摘要: | 法蘭西絲柏尼的《依芙萊娜》是十八世紀小說與戲劇巧妙融合的絕佳典範。它不僅充分顯示了柏尼本身對戲劇認知的深度與廣度;其小說所呈現的世界也正好反映了十八世紀充滿「戲劇性」色彩的社會。此戲劇性是來自於:一、戲院的蓬勃發展;二、經濟發達所帶來的炫富現象;三、一股驅策時下女性扮演「淑女」(The “Proper Lady”) 的社會風氣。其中,尤以後者為十八世紀女性身心的發展帶來了重大的箝制與壓抑。
本論文旨在探討女性如何發展出一套有效的策略顛覆、反制此一具有強大壓迫性的「淑女」形象及其背後的父權體系。第一章將會重建「淑女」論述的時空背景,以說明此一文化產物如何在行為手冊裡被有系統地建構。其目的是想藉由改造女性的外在行為與內在思維,使之「安分守己」,以延續男性的支配與統治。唯有透過此一重建,才能領略柏尼與時下女性所共同面臨的困境與難題。接下來的兩章則著重於探討女性的因應之道。第二章將分析柏尼的寫作策略。將喜劇元素納入作品中,柏尼一方面成功地躲過社會審查制度;另一方面在喜劇效果的掩護下,不僅批判了男性的暴力與殘酷,同時也暴露了女性受壓迫的處境。此一策略的重點是,希望這本小說的女性讀者們也能看見自己相同的命運;並且能像小說中的女主角一樣,挺身而出,為自己也為其他女性同胞發聲,如此以增強女性之間的團結力量。第三章則討論女性的角色扮演策略。不直接與父權對抗,十八世紀女性巧妙地挪用了「淑女」形象及「淑女」論述,使自己獲得了跨出私領域,探索外在的世界的機會。本章主要以女主角依芙萊娜為例,說明依芙萊娜如何戲扮「淑女」,如何策略性地挪用「淑女」論述,並以此成功地左右並掌控她生命中具有決定性力量的男人:如父親般的監護人及未來的丈夫。所以,即便是身處父權的壓迫,女性並非全然被動或受到宰制的。女性其實是能夠巧妙地運用迂迴的策略,在直接破壞父權的核心的同時,也成功地扭轉了局勢。
Frances Burney’s Evelina is an outstanding example of the interplay between fiction and theater in the eighteenth century. Not only does it testify to Burney’s wide knowledge of and her familiarity with the drama, but the world presented in this novel exactly reflects the theatricality and performativeness of the eighteenth-century British society as well. Such theatricality and performativeness in fact result from the remarkable development of the theater, conspicuous consumption and social emulation, and a social tendency which encourages eighteenth-century women to imitate the female ideal—the “Proper Lady,” among which the latter particularly imposes considerable limitation and repression upon contemporary women.
This thesis aims to explore how women develop their own effective strategies to resist and subvert such a powerful and oppressive female ideal and the patriarchal system behind. Chapter One will reconstruct a specific historical context to explain how the “lady” discourse is systematically fabricated in eighteenth-century conduct books for women, whose goal is to confine women to domesticity and eventually to perpetuate male domination by re-shaping women’s outer conduct and inner mind. It is only through constructing the context that readers can clearly see the dilemmas and difficulties Burney and her sex face in their daily life. The following two chapters will deal with the countermeasures developed by women to resist and subvert patriarchal oppression. In Chapter Two Burney’s writing strategy will be analyzed. Under the cover of comedy, Burney not only successfully escapes social censorship but “smuggles in” her feminist criticism against patriarchy, criticizing male violence and cruelty as well as exposing female oppressed situation. More importantly, female readers may be thus fully awakened to their similar oppressed situation through reading this novel and have courage to step forth for themselves and for other women like Evelina, which in turn will strengthen women’s solidarity. Chapter Three will discuss female masquerading in this novel. Instead of directly confronting the patriarchal society, eighteenth-century women skillfully exploit the “Proper Lady” and the “lady” discourse, through which they gain themselves an opportunity to walk out of the private sphere to explore the outer world. This chapter will reveal how Evelina successfully guides and manipulates the opinions of her guardian and her future husband, two important and powerful men in her life, by strategically acting the “Proper Lady” and employing the discourse of femininity to her advantage. In conclusion, women under patriarchal oppression are not necessarily passive or manipulated. Women in fact are able to maneuver certain circuitous tactics to resist, whereby they destroy the patriarchal system from the very core and simultaneously turn the tables. |
