（英语语言文学专业论文）身体、话语、权利——品特剧作中的女性人物形象解读.pdfVIP

iv 身体、话语、权利身体、话语、权利 品特剧作中的女性人物形象解读品特剧作中的女性人物形象解读 研究生：刘明录 年级：2006 级 学科专业：英语语言文学 指导老师：刘玉红教授 研究方向：英美文学 中文摘要中文摘要 在哈罗德品特的剧作中，女性人物经历了从消极被动到积极主动的演变过程，这些 变化集中反映在她们的身体行为和口头语言的变化上。在他的早期剧作中，女性人物主要 是消极的形象，在男权社会中她们被边缘化了，有的屈从于自己的命运，有的也尝试过挣 扎，但其抗争是软弱无力的。在品特的中、后期剧作中，女性人物逐渐走向独立，她们有 了自己的选择，敢于争取自己的权利，从男性世界的束缚中获得了一定的解放，在一定程 度上掌握了自己命运。然而，品特剧作中女性人物形象的演变并不是一个单一的、直线上 升的过程。品特一方面受到同时代蓬勃发展的女权主义运动的影响，另一方面，作为男性， 他不可避免会以男性视角来观察事物。这两个方面的影响导致了品特笔下女性形象的复杂 性。使得他的女性形象既有消极的一面，也有积极的一方面，只是在各个时期积极和消极 所占的比例有所不同。前人对品特剧作中的女性形象大多持有负面的观点，认为她们是边 缘化了的女性，是品特剧作中的次要人物，或仅从个别作品入手，而不是从多个作品、多 个层次进行动态的分析，而从她们的身体行为和口头语言的变化动态地分析这一形象嬗变 的文章更是不多。本文选取了品特的早期剧作房间 、中期著作归家 、后期著作山 地英雄作为研究对象，对其女性人物的身体行为和口头语言的特点进行了读解，从剧作 中女性身体行为和口头语言的演变剖析品特对于女性看法的动态变化历程。全文分为四部 分，引言部分介绍了品特的文学成就、品特剧作中的女性形象及其演变、前人对品特剧作 中的女性主题的研究现状。第二章对品特剧作中的女性的身体行为和口头语言的特色及其 演变进行了分析。女性身体行为和口头语言的变化反映了她们逐渐从消极被动到积极主动 的发展趋势。第三章分析了品特剧作中的女性形象的复杂性的原因。第四章是论文的结论 部分。 关键词：关键词：品特；戏剧；女性； 身体；口头语言 v body discourse rights: an analysis of female image in pinters plays postgraduate: liu minglu grade: 2006 major field of study: english language and literature supervisor: professor liu yuhong orientation: british and american literature abstract in english female image in harold pinters plays has gone through an evolutional process from passiveness to activeness. this evolution is demonstrated in the continuous change of their body behavior and discourse. female have been marginalized in a society controlled by male. some of them surrender to their fate, and some have ever attempted to struggle, but their resistance is weak and powerless. in the middle and late period of pinters plays, female gradually become independent. they own their choices and dare to fight for their rights. they are liberated from the bond of the males society and become masters of their own fate in some degree. however, the evolution of pinters female image is not a simple and linear developing course. pinter, on the one hand, is influenced by the booming feminist movement in his age. on the other hand, as a male, it is unavoidable for him to observe this society with a male perspective. the two affections finally lead to the complexity of his female image, making them both passive and active. but the proportion of passiveness and activeness in various periods is different. many critics give negative view on pinters female, thinking that they are marginalized females and sub-important characters. they usually give comments on pinters female only from one aspect or in a single work, rather than study various works, or study one or more works in a dynamic view. this thesis adopts pinters early play the room, mid-term play the homecoming, and late play mountain language as study objects to analyze the development of his female images in his three literary periods in terms of body behavior and discourse. it consists of four chapters. the first chapter mainly gives a brief introduction to pinters literary achievement, the research situation of his plays and the development and evolution of female images in his plays. the second chapter tries to analyze the development and evolution of pinters female by comparing the changes of body using and discourse in different works which finished in different periods. the evolution of body and discourse indicates that pinters female image gradually develops from passiveness to activeness. the third chapter tries to dig out the reasons of the complexity of pinters female image. and the last part is the conclusion. key words: pinter; drama; female; body; discourse iii acknowledgements the accomplishment of my thesis results from the help from all sorts. with help from my supervisors, friends and family, the research went smoothly. i, therefore, would like to first express my appreciation and thanks to my supervisor, professor liu yuhong. she has been providing me with generous help, continuous encouragement, creative guidance and constructive criticism which make me avoid taking a detour in my study and research. i will never forget that professor liu yuhong revised the thesis draft word by word and sentence by sentence. special thanks go to the professors in the college whose support and advice help me make the completion of my graduate work possible. they are zhang shunin, lu xiaohong, yan xingzhi, bai jingzhe and guan yongping. in the mean time, i am very grateful to all my teachers in the college of foreign studies, guangxi normal university. they have helped me to develop an interest in english language teaching and to acquire an understanding of many aspects of literature in my graduate studies. warm thanks also go to many friends in the field whose names do not appear here, but who will recognize the influence of their contributions in the pages of this paper. finally, i am grateful to my dearest parents and daughter for their warm encouragement and generous support. over the past three years, they have consistently supported me, both financially and emotionally. in my studies, i am forever indebted to them. 37 论文独创性声明论文独创性声明 本人郑重声明：所提交的学位论文是本人在导师的指导下进行的研究工 作及取得的成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不含其他个人或其 他机构已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。对本文的研究作出重要贡献的个人和 集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。本人承担本声明的法律责任。 研究生签名： 日期： 论文使用授权声明论文使用授权声明 本人完全了解广西师范大学有关保留、使用学位论文的规定。广西师范 大学、中国科学技术信息研究所、清华大学论文合作部，有权保留本人所送 交学位论文的复印件和电子文档，可以采用影印、缩印或其他复制手段保存 论文。本人电子文档的内容和纸质论文的内容相一致。除在保密期内的保密 论文外，允许论文被查阅和借阅，可以公布（包括刊登）论文的全部或部分 内容。论文的公布（包括刊登）授权广西师范大学学位办办理。 研究生签名： 日期： 导 师签名： 日期： 1 chapter 1 introduction 1.1pinter and his literary achievement the 2005 nobel prize for literature was awarded to an english dramatist, harold pinter (1930-2008). one of the reasons is that pinter “in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppressions closed rooms” (h, 2008). after hard working and ceaseless probing in the literature field for about five decades, pinter finally received the honor he deserved and was regarded as one of the most unique, influential english playwrights in the twentieth century. pinter was born in east london into a jewish family in 1930. the whole family was supported by his father, a tailor, so it is understandable that they had a tough life. moreover, it was an age that nazi was in power. as a young boy, he experienced the bitterness of human life, the cruelty of the war and the discrimination of race, which exerted a far-reaching impact upon pinters life and writing. in 1942, pinter entered a local grammar school and then studied in london royal academy of dramatic arts for two terms. in 1949, he began to work as an actor and started to publish poems. he remained as an actor until he published his first play the room in 1957, which marked the beginning of his career as a great dramatist. with twenty-nine plays, pinter is undoubtedly a productive playwright. his major works include: the room (1957), the birthday party (1958), the caretaker (1960), the homecoming (1965), old times (1970), no mans land (1975), betrayal (1978), mountain language (1988), and party time (1991). in the meantime, pinter not only focuses on drama writing, but also directs twenty-seven theatre productions, including james joyces exiles, david mamets oleanna, seven plays by simon gray and many of his own plays including the latest, celebration, and the first, the room at londons almeida theatre. for his great achievement on literature, pinter has received many awards. he won the shakespeare prize (hamburg), the european prize for literature (vienna), the pirandello prize (palermo), the david cohen british literature prize, the laurence olivier award, the legion dhonneur and the moliere dhonneur for his lifetime achievement. in 1999, the royal society of literature named him “a companion of literature”. he has received honorary degrees from seventeen universities (h, 2008). in 2005, he won the 2005 noble prize for literature, the highest honor available for a writer in the world. combining his personal experience with his talent, pinter creates different drama styles in his three literary periods. the first period when “the comedy of menace” produced is from the late 1950s to the mid 1960s. comedy of menace is an important contribution made by pinter. the title was labeled by irving wardle in 1958, which refers to pinters early plays such as the room, 2 the caretaker, and so on. pinters dramas often are involved in strong conflicts among ambivalent characters fighting for verbal and territorial dominance and for their own remembered versions of the past; stylistically, they are marked by theatrical pauses and silences, comedic timing, provocative imagery, witty dialogue, ambiguity, irony, and menace. some one called pinters comedy of menace “sacred joke” or “black comedy” (coppa, 2006:44) because on the one hand we may be attracted by the funny act conducting from the very common people in the society in the play, on the other hand, we cant help considering our settings due to the uncertain, frightened and supernatural atmosphere existing in the play. after enjoying the joke, what we have in mind not only pleasure, but also deep thinking. we may identify with the characters in the play, and begin to concern about our living condition. the second period when “the memory play produced is from the late 1960s through the 1970s. the memory plays is another important contribution made by pinter. in this period, pinter adopts a lot of characters memory as the content of his plays. the entire play often consists of dialogues and memory. the experience of past comes from the characters mouths. truth often combines with lies. reality exists in dream, or just the opposite. there isnt a clear border among the past, present and future. therefore, it is very difficult for readers to distinguish when and where the accident happens. actually, it is not necessary for people to distinct them because what pinter aims at reflecting is the truth in those speakers hearts (王岚, 陈红薇, 2007:117, my translation). old time is the representative work of this type. and the third period, when the so-called “political play” produced is after the 1980s. pinter is blamed for his lacking of concerning about politics. people understand the theme of his early plays as territory fight. actually, pinter reveals his concerning about common peoples life and their living conditions as well. however, he deliberates to conceal his notion in his works. in his plays, pinter never finds it necessary to explain why things occur or who anyone is, the existence within the play itself is justification enough. just as commented by steven h. gale, “pinter demonstrates the events taking place, leading his audience to a psychological understanding not only of what has happened but also why it has happened” (gale, 2006:91). discussing of politics in his early comedy of menaces seems absent. but from his memory comedy and political plays, we can see it clearly that pinter has directly demonstrated his concern on the common people and the worsening living environment. the proportion of political elements in his plays increases considerable. the homecoming indicates his idea about females rights. mountain language concerns about humans freedom of speech. ashes to ashes (1996) is the denunciation of the cruelty of war. in 2001, interviewed by anne-marie cusac, he said, “looking at their truth, finding what they really are, and not attempting to in any sense apologize for them, and certainly not to explain themjust to present them” (2001). “just to present them”! actually, pinter is 3 using his unique way to show his political ideas. tracing the development of pinters plays, we can find out how much pinter has influenced contemporary drama creating. kimball king has ever said: in the english drama history, we cant neglect pinters leadership in every aspect. no matter how concise the meaning of samuel becketts poetic theatre indicates, or how great the contribution john osborne has made on stage creating as a milestone, pinters position is irreplaceable. he has thoroughly shifted peoples expectations and feelings on contemporary english plays forever. it is unavoidable that the language, acts and meanings of play performing should be measured by his achievements since his appearing (king, 1980:246). what have thoroughly shifted peoples expectations and feelings on contemporary english plays are pinters unique expressive techniques on dramatic language, acts and meanings. pinters persistent probing of drama creation eventually leads to the birth of a new drama style, his owe style, which is called “pinteresque”, and the word has been listed in the oxford dictionary as a term today. according to the dictionary, “pinters gift for portraying, by means of dialogue which realistically produces the nuances of colloquial speech, the difficulties of communication and the many layers of meaning in language, pause and silence” (drabble, 1993:767). when we read pinters play, we may find out that we are in a world of nameless fear, erotic fantasy, obsession and jealousy, family hatreds and mental disturbance. using his style, pinter has successfully displayed a mysterious and attractive world. 1.2 reviews of pinter 1.2.1 the research of pinter abroad nowadays, the research on pinter and his plays have become one of the hottest issues in the western world. papers and books about pinter and his plays are countless. many universities and colleges have set up research centers of pinter. for example, in the u.s., a research association of pinter issues a journal called pinter review to publish research papers about pinter and his plays. however, people didnt regard pinter as so remarkable a person when he began to step into the field of drama. from sharp criticism to the noble prize for literature, the recognition to pinter and his plays has gone a long journey in the western countries. it can be divided into three periods: the misunderstanding period, the gradually recognizing period and the fully understanding period. in the misunderstanding period, most of the people devalued pinter and his plays. yeal 4 zarhy-levo named this phase as “the phase of critical consensus” (2006:213). in this period, pinters comedy of menace was gradually developed. as a new-appearing dramatist, he just began to publish his plays. at that time, the mainstream of english drama was realistic drama. meanwhile, john osborn has published his famous play look back in anger, and sammul beckett has published waiting for godot. they are symbols of the theatre of the absurd. it is natural that pinters plays are compared with the realistic drama and the two famous dramatists plays. in peoples eyes, pinters plays are terribly strange. they are neither completely similar to the style of the two famous dramatists nor connected with reality. under the situation, virtually, when pinters the birthday party was performed for the first time in london, what he received is abundant criticism. many years later, when pinter recollected that unforgettable night, he said: i went into the empty dress circle and looked down into the stalls. six people were watching the performance which, i must say, didnt seem to be generating very much electricity. i still have the box office return for the week. the thursday matinee brought in two pounds six shilling. (billington, 2001:85) the income of the box office for a performance is only two pounds and six shilling! only six people went to see the performance! the number of the income and audience show that the recognition to pinter and his play is so low. the audience, even the director and the performers couldnt understand the nameless danger, the ambiguous words, and the uncertainty in the play. they regarded the play as a monster and thought it without any significance to the society. w.a. darlington thought pinter published something out of reality, which confused people. bernard luvin thought that pinters plays lack of seriousness. one of the articles in the stage pointed out that though pinter had expressed the unrest and contradiction of current society, he hadnt given a way out. he didnt pay close attention to social reality (陈红薇, 2006:56, my translation). in the gradually recognizing period, people began to understand pinters plays from various perspectives. some scholars studied pinter in terms of the theatre of the absurd. comparing pinters plays with other absurdist writers such as beckett and ionescos, they regarded pinter as the representative of european pioneer writers in britain this time. undoubtedly, martin esslin was one of the representatives of this circle. his book, the theatre of the absurd recognizes pinters plays as the theatre of the absurd for the first time. he pointed out that pinter was “absurdist rather than realist” (esslin, 1978:273). harold bloom thought that “pinter is the legitimate son of samuel beckett” (bloom, 1987:1). pinter himself acknowledged that he was influenced by beckett a lot. he has ever said, “i read heminway, dostoevski, joyce, and henry miller at a very early age, and kafka. id read becketts novels, too.” “when i read them it rang 5 a bell, thats all, within me. i thought: something is going on here which is going on in me too” (esslin, 1982:40). in the meantime, some scholars set about studying pinter from the aspect of psychoanalysis. after reading pinters early works systematically and carefully, esslin thought that there existed odipas complex and other psychoanalytic relations. later, lucian p. gabbard tried to study pinters play from the angle of dream structure. thomas alder and marc silver