令人困窘的權柄：波普《論人》中「一言堂信念」與「多重音言談」之衝突

Embarrassing Authority: The Conflict between Pope's Monologic Belief and Polyphonic Discourse in An Essay on Man

在《論人》（An Essay on Man）中，波普（Alexander Pope）宣稱要「辯明神對人一切作為皆公正」（1. 16），然而詩人主要討論焦點為「人生禮俗」，企圖描繪出「人性全圖」（“Design'' 343）。其論辯認定神將人和天地萬物，都擺在「存有大鏈」（the Great Chain of Being）中最適當的位置。不過波普言談中，充滿多重聲音，這和他宣稱全詩為「前後一致」的道德體系，實有衝突。這衝突至少展現在三方面：（一）他所呈現的神，形象模糊不清；（二）他描述的「存有大鏈」，特質曖昧；（三）他認定的宇宙秩序與和諧，前後矛盾――凡此皆和其「權柄」概念相關。波普熱中吸收基督教與希臘羅馬文化，和其當代同儕多有交流。換言之，他一生和古人、今人維持著「對話」關係。但是在此詩中，他從未能真正整合過這眾多本質相異的聲音。藉由巴克汀（Mikhail Bakhtin）對話論觀點，本文研究波普《論人》中「一言堂信念」與其「多重音言談」間之衝突。這衝突並非顯示波普論述失敗，而在展現對話於現實中無法避免。「多重音」和「異質性」在所謂「嚴謹一致」的論述中，仍然存在。

In An Essay on Man, Alexander Pope declares to“vindicate the ways of God to man”(1. 16), but he focuses mainly on“human life and manners”in order to draw“a general map of man”(“Design”343). Pope's vindication assumes the Almighty's preordination of all beings, including mankind, in their proper positions in the Great Chain of Being. However, Pope's polyphonic discourse contradicts his acclaimed“consistent”ethical system in at least three aspects: (1) his presentation of the blurred image of God, (2) his ambiguous description of the Great Chain of Being, and (3) the inconsistent discourse on the cosmic order and harmony—all are related to the concept of“authority.”Pope was eager to learn from both Christian and Greco- Roman cultures, and also from his contemporaries as well. In other words, he maintained a life-long“dialogue”with various sources. Yet he never synthesizes these disparate voices in An Essay on Man. From the perspective of Bakhtinian dialogism, I intend to study the conflict between Pope's monologic belief and his polyphonic discourse. This conflict reveals less the“failure”of Pope's argument than the inevitability of dialogue in reality. Polyphony and heterogeneity exist even in the allegedly coherent discourse.