莎士比亞與社會：「威尼斯商人」及「馴悍記」之時事性

Shakespeare and Society: Topicality in the Merchant of Venice and the Taming of the Shrew

Shakespeare's plays have been scrutinized for centuries from various perspectives. This paper aims to explore what sixteenth-century society had influenced Shakespeare to write his plays in terms of the topicality of such areas as identity, social hierarchy, and exchange, which respectively correlates with society. Through a comparative reading of Shakespeare's plays and the proclamations issued by Elizabeth I and James I, it may be promising to explore the relationship between Shakespeare and sixteenth-century society. Two of Shakespeare's plays-The Merchant of Venice and The Taming of Shrew-share some thematic issues, such as the change of identity, the highlighting of upper social ranks, and the different modes of trade. These issues permeated in sixteenth-century hierarchical society; and Shakespeare, as a dramatic poet of society, would have depicted them in his plays. This paper will investigate these issues based on the evidence found in the proclamations issued by Elizabeth I and James I. A comparative study of sixteenth-century proclamations and the two plays reveals that Shakespeare's perceptive insight of society, especially the problematic aspects of society, has made himself beyond a poet. In summary, Shakespeare seems to ridicule his society by turning some anti-society scenarios or law-violating plots into laughter.幾世紀以來，文學評論家一直以各種觀點來檢視莎士比亞戲劇。本篇論文的主旨是要探討十六世紀社會對莎士比亞戲劇的影響，主要針對與社會息息相關的三個方面─身份、社會階級、交易─來探討時事性對莎劇的影響。將莎劇與英國女王伊利莎白一世和英國國王詹姆士一世所頒佈的政令文告比對之後，很有希望可以探究莎士比亞與十六世紀社會的關係。有兩部莎劇─《威尼斯商人》與《馴悍記》─具有共同的主題性議題，比方說，身份的改變、大處落墨上層社會階級、還有不同模式的交易。這類議題普遍存在於十六世紀社會裡；而身為社會詩人的莎士比亞可能會在戲劇中描繪這類議題。本篇論文將依據英國女王伊利莎白一世和英國國王詹姆士一世所頒佈的政令文告來探討這些議題。將十六世紀的政令文告與《威尼斯商人》及《馴悍記》加以比對，即可顯露莎士比亞對社會的敏銳見解，尤其是社會的問題面，這點已使他超越詩人的局限。簡而言之，莎士比亞似乎將反社會的劇情或抵觸法律的情節轉變為笑點，藉此嘲諷社會，娛樂觀眾。