莎劇中的後設策略：《仲夏夜夢》及其它散例

Shakespeare's Metadramatic Devices: A Midsummer Night's Dream and Other Examples

後設文類獲得「正名」雖在一九六Ｏ年代之際，但是後設策略的應用其實在個別文類裡早已萌芽。比較精緻的後設戲劇形式在文藝復興後期出現，新興的劇型打破戲劇與實際人生的分界，劇作家自我審視的意圖遠超過其模仿真實人生的初衷。後設戲劇對戲劇之於人生的辯證可以簡化為：戲劇並不反映人生，戲劇反映自身，亦即：人生／戲劇在參考座標上已經主客體易位，「人生如戲」的古典說法可以新解為：戲劇提供我們觀省人生的看法。後設戲劇的理論在四十年前才成形，而莎翁在四個世紀前已經試驗了各種不同的後設策略以揭示戲劇本質。本文將以《仲夏夜夢》為討論的主軸，並援引其它九齣莎劇做為佐證，勾勒出莎劇的後設面貌。

Literally, metadrama is drama about drama. Technically, any play which has as its subject other play(s), or which attempts to describe and analyze theatrical practice and conventions and to establish general 'poetics' for this particular experimented with metadramatical devices, ranging from the play-within-the-play to verbal and special allusions to theatrical reality. Focusing on A Midsummer Night's Dream and drawing on nine other Shakespeare's dramaturgy in this respect. My reading of A Midsummer Night's Dream suggests that the play mirrors the process of theatrical production. The inner play seems on the surface to go against the grain theatrical representation, but one a deeper level, it serves as a point of departure for an investigation of representation.