論湯瑪斯‧摩爾《蒙兀兒公主》中的容忍倡議

Thomas Moore's Advocacy of Tolerance in His Lalla Rookh

本論文檢視愛爾蘭詩人湯瑪斯‧摩爾（Thomas Moore）在《蒙兀兒公主》（Lalla Rookh, 1817）中對於容忍議題的探討，主張摩爾大量使用「直喻」的現象，鼓勵讀者超越此時此地的限制，去感受不同人事物甚至文中不同故事之間的共同點，將容忍議題帶到政治、宗教、文學與愛情等領域中思考，使同情異己成為可能。本論文認為摩爾受後人詬病的迂迴手法與妥協態度，乃是當時反動鎮壓氣氛及家庭教育的產物。這位成功喚起愛爾蘭民族精神與愛國情操的詩人，在此作品中雖然高舉著透過詩歌感動人心促成政治變革的理想，卻似乎仍洩露自己的懷疑，以及身為被殖民者不得不委曲求全的無奈。

This paper examines the nineteenth-century Irish poet Thomas Moore's advocacy for “the cause of tolerance” in his popular oriental verse tale Lalla Rookh (1817). It is argued that the abundance of similes in this text encourages readers to look beyond the here and the now to explore points of similarity between disparate people, situations, objects, and even among the five seemingly disconnected stories in the text. Parallel to Princess Lalla Rookh, hopefully by discovering similarities between others and themselves, readers may likewise be able to transcend interpersonal barriers and to sympathize with people from different political, religious, and social backgrounds. The paper also proposes that Moore's much-condemned circuitous approach and compromising, conciliatory attitude was shaped by the repressive English administration of his time and Moore's family education. In Lalla Rookh he uplifted the ideal of effecting political reform by means of touching and reforming human hearts, particularly those of influential leaders. Yet he was not altogether optimistic about the effect of music and poetry, and he proved to be skeptical about his own advocacy for tolerance on the basis of sympathy. It cannot be denied that Moore contributed to the creation of Irish identity and self-worth and the awakening of Irish patriotism, but once the crops were ripe for harvest his conciliatory attitudes were doomed to be abandoned and had to be replaced with action.