Survey of Selected Western Classics
Unit 9: 莎劇中的愛情
授課教師 :國立臺灣大學外國語文學系 邱錦榮 教授
本課程指定教材為：
William Shakespeare. The Norton Shakespeare Based on Oxford Edition. Gen. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York and
London: W. W. Norton, 1997.
William Shakespeare. The Riverside Shakespeare. Second Edition. Gen. Ed. Evans, G. Blakemore. Boston and New York:
Houghton Mifflin, 1997.
以下各處引用Shakespeare劇本內容之部分，以劇名及幕次標明。本講義僅引用部分內容，請讀者自行準備。
【本著作除另有註明外，採取創CC「姓名標示－
非商業性－相同方式分享」台灣3.0版授權釋出】
1
Introduction:
Universal appeal in Shakespeare’s plays
“Shakespeare is above all writers, at least above all modern
writers, the poet of nature; the poet that holds up to his readers a
faithful mirror of manners and of life. His characters are not
modified by the customs of particular places, unpractised by the
rest of the world; by the peculiarities of studies or professions,
which can operate but upon small numbers; or by the accidents of
transient fashions or temporary opinions:
2
they are the genuine progeny of common humanity, such as the
world will always supply, and observation will always find. His
persons act and speak by the influence of those general passions
and principles by which all minds are agitated, and the whole
system of life is continued in motion. In the writings of other
poets a character is too often an individual; in those of
Shakespeare it is commonly a species.”
--Samuel Johnson, “Preface to Shakespeare”(1765)
3
Introduction: Why Love?
Love is a recurrent theme in Shakespeare’s plays and
sonnets.
The representation of love in Shakespeare’s works has the
mark of his time; he mixed the concepts such as courtly
love, unrequited love, and sexual love in his works
skillfully.
Shakespeare explores love as a non-perfect yet inevitable
part of the human condition: a force of nature, earthy and
sometimes uneasy.
4
Love at First Sight
What made me love thee? let that persuade thee. . . there's
something extraordinary in thee. I cannot: but I love thee; none
but thee; and thou deservest it.
--The Merry Wives of Windsor, 3.3 59-61 *Falstaff to Mistress
Ford
Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?
--As You Like It, 3.5. 84
The sight of lovers feedeth those in love. 相看兩不厭
--As You Like It, 3.4. 54
5
Love Is Fickle
O, how this spring of love resembleth
Th' uncertain glory of an April day,
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away!
-- The Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1.3. 84-7
*soon
Friendship is constant in all other things
Save in the office and affairs of love:
Therefore, all hearts in love use their own tongues;
Let every eye negotiate for itself
And trust no agent.
--Much Ado About Nothing, 2.1. 182-6
6
Love is beyond reckoning
CLEOPATRA If it be love indeed, tell me how much.
ANTONY There's beggary in the love that can be
reckoned.
--Antony and Cleopatra, 1.1. 15
*It would be a pretty stingy love if it could be counted and
calculated.
7
Love is Illogical
But are you so much in love as your rhymes speak?
Neither rhyme nor reason can express how much.
--As You Like It, 3.2. 418-9
I know not why I love this youth; and I have heard you say,
Love's reason's without reason.
--Cymbeline, 4.2. 20-2
*Arviragus, when Imogen comes in disguise to their cave
8
Love is Illogical
If thou remember'st not the slightest folly
That ever love did make thee run into,
Thou hast not loved.
--As You Like It, 2.4. 33-5
This is the very ecstasy of love
Whose violent property foredoes itself,
And leads the will to desperate undertakings
--Hamlet, 2.1. 102-4
*Love is a fallacy.
9
Love Is Invincible? Yes and no
For stony limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do that dares love attempt.
--Romeo and Juliet, 2.2. 67-8
You would for paradise break faith and troth,
And Jove, for your love, would infringe an oath.
--Love’s Labour’s Lost, 4.3. 143-4
* troth: truth; pledged words infringe: violate a law
They say all lovers swear more performance than they are able, and yet
reserve an ability that they never perform.
--Troilus and Cressida, 3.2. 91
Cressida
10
Love is Blind
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.
--A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1.1. 231-2
But love is blind, and lovers cannot see
The pretty follies that themselves commit.
--The Merchant of Venice, 2.6. 36-7
11
Love is Suffering
Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs,
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes,
Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers' tears.
What is it else? A madness most discreet,
A choking gall and a preserving sweet.
--Romeo and Juliet, 1.1. 191-5 *discreet: polite and careful in what you do and say
Ay me! for aught that I ever could read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth.
--A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1.1. 132-34
Is love a tender thing? It is too rough,
Too rude, too boist'rous; and it pricks like thorn.
--Romeo and Juliet, 1.4. 25-6 * boist'rous: noisy, loud
12
Love is Bittersweet
Good shepherd, tell this youth what 'tis to love.
It is to be all made of sighs and tears;—
It is to be all made of faith and service;—
It is to be all made of fantasy.
--As You Like It, 5.2. 89-92
By heaven, I do love: and it hath taught me to rhyme, and to be melancholy.
--Love’s Labour’s Lost, 4.3. 10
Loves are natural poets.
13
Unrequited love
•I am undone, there is no living, none.
•If Bertram be away. 'Twere all one
•That I should love a particular star
•And think to wed it, he is so above me.
•In his bright radiance and collateral light
•Must I be comforted, not in his sphere.
--All’s Well that Ends Well,1.1.85-89
Helena
14
projecting her intense and passionate gaze
•'Twas pretty, though a plague,
•To see him every hour, to sit and draw
•His arched brows, his hawking eye, his curls,
•In our heart's table—heart too capable
•Of every line and trick of his sweet favor.
•But now he's gone, and my idolatrous fancy
•Must sanctify his reliques. (1.1.90-98; emphases added)
*Helena studies Bertram's features, as if she were drawing
a portrait of him.
15
Quotable Quotes for Lovers
I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.
--Much Ado About Nothing, 4.1. 283
Doubt thou the stars are fire,
Doubt the sun doth move,
Doubt truth to be a liar but never doubt thy love.
--Hamlet, 2.2. 123-6 *[POLONIUS reads] Hamlet’s letter to Ophelia
My bounty is as deep as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee
The more I have, for both are infinite.
--Romeo and Juliet, 2.2. 133-5
For where thou art, there is the world itself,
With every several pleasure in the world,
And where thou art not, desolation
--Henry VI, Part II, 3.2. Suffolk to Queen
16
Quotable quotes about love
For where thou art, there is the world itself, and where
though art not, desolation.
--Henry IV, Part II, 3.2.
Journeys end in lovers meeting, Every wise man's son
doth know.
--Twelfth Night, 2.3. 44-5
Love goes toward love as school-boys from their books,
But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.
--Romeo and Juliet, 2.2. 157-8
17
A poem ascribed to Shakespeare:
humour or mischief?
• 再好的東西都有失去的一天
No matter how good things are lost one day
• 再深的記憶也有淡忘的一天
And then there are unforgettable memories of the day
• 再愛的人，也有遠走的一天
Beloved, but also a day to flee
18
• 再美的夢也有蘇醒的一天
And then the United States also have to wake up the dream of the
day
• 該放棄的決不挽留，該珍惜的決不放手
The retention will never give up, never let go of the treasure
• 分手後不可以做朋友，因為彼此傷害過
Can not be friends after breaking up, because the two sides hurt
• 也不可以做敵人,因為彼此深愛過
The enemy can not do, because loving each other too
19
“ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END”:
by whom and where?
• There is an end to everything, to good things as well.
• The proverb dates back to about 1374 (Geoffrey
Chaucer). First attested in the United States around
1680. The word ‘good’ was added much later.
“Everything has an end” and “Everything comes to
an end”are variants of the proverb.
20
Romeo and Juliet
1595?
21
Movie Adaptations
• Romeo and Juliet
(Franco Zeffirelli, 1968)
• Romeo + Juliet (1996)
22
Romeo × Juliet (2007)
• Though the animation borrows mostly from
Shakespeare's story, the manga adaptation
differs extensively from the original.
• In 2009, it was dubbed into English and
released.
23
Dramatis Personae
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Paris, young nobleman, suitor to Juliet
Montague, head of the house
Capulet, head of the house
Romeo
Mercutio, friend to Romeo
Benvolio, nephew to Montague, friend & cousin (堂兄) to Romeo (his
name means “good will”)
Tybalt, nephew to Lady Capulet, Juliet’s cousin (表兄)
Juliet
Friar Lawrence, a Franciscan
Nurse
*persona: The character an actor assumes in a play. Also, a mask an actor wears. In Greek
tragedy, the mask was large and conveyed the age, sex, and emotional state of the character
portrayed.
24
Plot Summary
• Romeo and Juliet fell in love with each other
at a ball.
• They got married secretly.
• Juliet’s father compelled her to marry to Paris,
who was royal-blooded.
• Romeo killed Juliet’s cousin by accident.
25
• In spite of their family’s opposition, they still
loved each other deeply.
• Juliet drank a fake poison, but she failed to inform
Romeo that she had not been dead.
• Romeo committed suicide.
• After Juliet regained consciousness and saw
Romeo’s body, she killed herself, too.
26
Liang Shan Bo & Ju Ying Tai
— Chinese counterpart
The Butterfly lovers
Chinese love tragedy
27
張讀《宣室志》：
「英台，上虞祝氏女，偽為男裝遊學，與會稽梁山伯者同肄業。山伯，
字處仁。祝先歸。二年，山伯訪之，方知其為女子，悵然如有所失。告
其父母求聘，而祝已字馬氏子矣。山伯後為鄞令，病死，葬鄮城西。祝
適馬氏，舟過墓所，風濤不能進。問知山伯墓，祝登號慟，地忽自裂陷，
祝氏遂並埋焉。晉丞相謝安奏表其墓曰『義婦塚』。」
28
Comments on the play
• Not often been ranked by professional critics
with Shakespeare’s tragic masterpieces;
lacking rhetorical control; allowing mere
chance to determine the destiny of the hero and
heroine; admired for its pathetic rather than
tragic power
29
Themes
• 1. The completeness and self-surrender of the
love between R and J is beautifully rendered and
celebrated (?).
• 2. The love of the young, with passions hardly
controlled, is in its very nature associated with
disaster and death. Crazy young love is
potentially tragic as well as potentially comic (as
in A Midsummer Night’s Dream).
30
Tragic love as the struggle for freedom
• The story of two individuals who actively claim their separate
individuality, their freedom. Nothing, not even mortality, can
separate or individuate us absolutely.
• The lover seeks recognition as a lover “in life” from the only other
one capable of bestowing this nontransferable prestige: the beloved.
Doth grace for grace and love for love allow.
The other [Rosaline] did not so.
--2.3.81-83, Romeo to Friar Lawrence
31
Individuation
• Two individuals who enact their separate
individuality, their own freedom, the only way
that they can--through one another, even in the act
of dying.
• Reference: Kottman, Paul A. “Defying the Stars:
Tragic Love as the Struggle for Freedom in
Romeo and Juliet.” Shakespeare Quarterly 63.1
(2012): 1-38.
32
Dramaturgy
•1. Prologue: rendered in choric sonnet. The sonnet
form recurs in the play.
•2. Skillful juxtapositions:
•Ex: Old Capulet lays his plans with Paris for a sane,
cold marriage vs. R and J make love in the same
house
•Ex: Juliet rapturously invokes the coming night vs.
Tybalt lies dead in the street
33
Focus of Lecture
•1.5 Ball Scene
•2.2 (or 2.1) Balcony Scene
34
版權聲明
頁碼
作品
2-3
“Shakespeare is
above all writers......
in those of
Shakespeare it is
commonly a species.”
Samuel Johnson, edited by R. W. Desai,
Johnson on Shakespeare (London:
Sangam Books Limited, 1997), p.98.
依據著作權法第46、52、65條合理使
用。
“There is an end to
everything, to good
things as
well……are variants
of the proverb.”
Gregory Titelman, America's popular
sayings: over 1600 expressions on
topics from beauty to money and
everything in between( New York:
Gramercy Books, 2004), p.5.
依據著作權法第46、52、65條合理使
用。
35
20
版權圖示
來源/作者
版權聲明
頁碼
21
作品
版權圖示
來源/作者
WIKIPEDIA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Romeo
_and_juliet_brown.jpg
作者: Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)
作品描述: Romeo and Juliet, Date 1870,
oil on canvas, Delaware Art Museum.
使用者: Jappalang
瀏覽日期: 2013/12/04
依據著作權法第46、52、65條合理使
用。
頁
碼
21
22
作品
版權圖示
來源/作者
WIKIPEDIA:
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficheiro:Francesco
_Hayez_053.jpg
作者: Francesco Hayez (1791-1882)
作品描述: Romeo und Julia, 1823, Villa
Carlotta.
使用者: Pimbrils 瀏覽日期: 2013/12/04
依據著作權法第46、52、65條合理使用。
WIKIPEDIA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_%2B_Julie
t
電影資訊：Romeo + Juliet. Directed by Baz
Luhrmann. Distributed by 20th Century Fox.
Release dates November 1, 1996. Based on
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.
使用者：Film Fan 瀏覽日期: 2014/03/15
37
依據著作權法第46、52、65條合理使用。
頁
碼
作品
張讀《宣室志》：
「英台，上虞祝氏
28
女……謝安奏表其墓
版權圖示
來源/作者
中国梁祝文化网：
http://cmspub.cnnb.com.cn/liangzhu/syste
m/2008/03/12/010031361.shtml
瀏覽日期: 2013/12/04
依據著作權法第46、52、65條合理使用。
曰『義婦塚』。」
38