〈趙氏孤兒〉在英國：亞瑟墨菲的〈中國孤兒〉首演中的東方與女性

The Orphan of Zhao in England: The Orient and Woman in the First Production of Arthur Murphy’s The Orphan of China

本文從女權主義和東方論述觀點，重新詮釋墨菲的〈中國孤兒〉首次演出時所呈現的社會文化與政治意涵，以說明性別和種族在十八世紀英國民族主義和帝國主義的建構過程中所具有之重要意義。藉由探索墨菲此劇中所展現之女性與國家的文化特質和轉變，本文試圖論證：墨菲該劇首演中對東方和女性主義原型的論述，不僅討論東西方或男女間的關係，或對英國本國的省思，同時也是為了宣傳英國在歐洲的文化優勢，以鞏固英國國家認同感。

This essay seeks to offer new approaches to the first production of Murphy's The Orphan of China via the revisionist perspectives of feminism and Orientalism, and to demonstrate the significance of the roles that gender and race play in structuring eighteenth-century English nationalism and imperialism. By exploring cultural conditions and transactions of femininity and nationality in the making, this article attempts to suggest that, in the first production of The Orphan of China, Orientalism and protofeminism are intended not only to invoke the relationship between the West and the East or between man and woman, nor merely for the self-examination of the home nation, but also to champion English cultural supremacy in Europe and to reinforce notions of English national identity.