論莎士比亞的悲劇觀：從中期悲劇看起

Shakespeare’s Conception of Tragedy: The Middle Tragedies

莎士比亞從他創作的早期就已經開始對悲劇的形式做實驗。從歷史劇《約翰王》可以看出，他的興趣不僅在於展現人的苦難，也要展現人所錯失的（這是套用以色列政治家Abba Eban的說法）。在他中期的悲劇裡—像《凱撒大將》、《哈姆雷》、《奧塞羅》—悲劇主角對於其他可能可以避開悲劇的選項，都只有驚鴻一瞥。在晚期的悲劇裡，從《李爾王》開始，主角更完整地意識到對於自己行為所要負擔的責任，也更意識到因為他自己的種種決定，所導致的失落。

Shakespeare began experimenting with tragedy early in his career. As the history play, King John, shows, he was interested in showing not only what men suffer, but what they miss (to paraphrase a remark by Abba Eban). In the middle tragedies— Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello—the tragic protagonist has only an oblique glance at the alternatives available to avoid disaster. In the later ones, beginning with King Lear, the protagonist becomes much more fully aware of his responsibility for his actions and what he misses by making the choices he does.