标题: Prelude to Shakespeare’s Hamlet [打印本页] 作者: 廖康 时间: 2012-9-10 13:51 标题: Prelude to Shakespeare’s Hamlet
贴一篇当年上学时的作业，其中有模仿莎翁风格的抑扬格五音步诗行:
Prelude to Mel Gibson’s Movie Version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Kang Liao
Fade in:
It is dawn. The royal palace is veiled by mist. The atmosphere is secretive and mysterious. Looking into the window of Gertrude’s chamber, the camera reveals Gertrude and Claudius in bed. They both wear nightgowns and are half covered by the blankets. Claudius leans against the pillows with a blank gaze at the void and his fingers playing absent-mindedly with a lock of the queen, who lies in Claudius’s arm and holds his neck looking at him passionately. It is quiet, and birds’ singing can be vaguely heard.
Gertrude:
Behold, Claudius, yonder larks are singing,
Which I wish were still songs of nightingales
That gave our loving tune the counterpoint.
Claudius sits and looks up and speaks with anger waving his right arm:
Oh, cursed larks! Why do you leave your nests
So early to interrupt lovers’ night?
Oh, Night, my stallion, black and beautiful,
Gallop not so fast away with joy!
My joy that’s so enormous yet so rare
That only when he’s away can I find here.
Oh, why must he who only enjoys fighting
Occupy the battlefield of caressing,
And yet caressing he knows not how to give?
How I wish there would be more challengers
To draw him into combats oftener!
How I wish a stronger hand would him slay!
Gertrude also sits up, holds Claudius’s neck again and speaks tenderly:
No, talk not slaying, Claudius, he’s King,
Thy brother, the Protector of Denmark.
Be content, dear Claudius, don’t complain.
I fear complaint would ruin what we have.
Claudius looks down at Gertrude and says impatiently:
Content, how? When soon will drums and trumpets
Announce his triumphant return today,
When we again shall have to pass so many,
So many sleepless nights, and separately,
And thou in bed with an impotent man,
And I with no one that interests me,
And you the Queen, august and regal Queen,
And I, a humble subject, bow must I
Before you, rather than embrace my love.
Content, oh, how can I?
Gertrude speaks first in a soothing and then joking tone:
Be soothed, dear.
I understand thy suffering; for the same
I suffer too, and maybe more, a lot more,
For thou mayst go and find some substitute,
But I can only wait until he takes
A nap, and snatch some hungry snaps of thee
That never satisfy my starving love.
Claudius speaks defensively and reassuringly:
Oh, substitute, but I have none at all.
Thou art my only paradise on earth,
And nor can my starvation cease with snacks.
So long as naps not fall into a long sleep,
So long I long for thee and long wakes keep.
Gertrude is touched and speaks dearly:
Dear Claudius, how thy sweet words enchant me!
As thou didst twenty years ago, when King,
Old Hamlet, went to fight old Fortinbras,
And thou then tookst me into thine own arms,
And into raptures previously unknown,
In which our son, young Hamlet, was conceived.
They kiss.
Claudius gets up and walks back and forth between the bed and the wall, which is mostly covered by the arras. Gertrude remains in bed leaning against the pillows and watching Claudius, who speaks more to himself than to Gertrude:
Our son, to whom too I shall have to bow,
When he succeeds the throne of Kingdom Dane.
A father bows to his, his own son. God!
Is this thy cruel mock of lovers’ sin?
I have been forced to hide a father’s love,
To suffer being called “uncle” by my son,
To suffer hearing Hamlet calling him,
Not me, the endearing word, “father,” God!
Isn’t this enough for a lover’s punishment?
Do I one day to Hamlet have to bow?
Gertrude gets up, goes to Claudius, and hugs him consolingly:
Poor Claudius, question not almighty God.
I fear his powerful hand will inflict
More severe punishments upon us both.
Claudius pushes her away and speaks jealously and decisively:
Fear not! Thou, being a woman, knowst not
My pain as an illegitimate father,
Without a son’s respect and endearing love,
Which thou as mother hast received so much.
How I do envy thee! To gain my share
Perhaps there’s only one…but who’s o’erthere?
I think I heard some noise behind the arras.
They look at the arras and listen, but apparently there is nobody.
Gertrude:
‘Tis late, thou hast to go, my dear, adieu!
Claudius:
Adieu, dear Gertrude, soon I’ll be back for you.
Claudius exits. The scene fades out and into the funeral of King Hamlet at the beginning of the movie.
Commentary
The Ghost in Hamlet tells the prince:
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wits, with traitorous gifts ---
O wicked wit and gifts that have the power
So to seduce --- won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming virtuous queen.
(I. 5. 42-46)
Therefore, we know that Gertrude and Claudius have had sexual relations before, not after, King Hamlet’s death, which is also how Hamlet understands the Ghost because in Act V, Scene II, Hamlet says to Horatio that Claudius has “whored my mother” (64). However, the Ghost does not mention when the adulterate relationship begins or how long it has lasted. This unknown information allows me to suppose that Gertrude and Claudius may, just may, have begun their adultery even before Hamlet is born, that Hamlet may even be Claudius’s son. Based on this possibility I wrote the prelude, which can readily fit into the latest movie version of Hamlet, in which Mel Gibson plays the protagonist.
In Act I, Scene I, Horatio tells Barnardo and Marcellus that King Hamlet was once challenged by Fortinbras of Norway to the combat, “in which our valiant Hamlet --- / for so this side of our known world esteemed him --- / Did slay this Fortinbras” (84-86). It is my intention to make this event more significant than the explanation for “this same strict and most observant watch / So nightly toils the subject of the land” (I. 1. 71-72). I let Gertrude say:
when King,
Old Hamlet, went to fight old Fortinbras,
And thou then tookst me into thine own arms,
And into raptures previously unknown,
In which our son, young Hamlet, was conceived.
Thus, I suggest that King Hamlet’s slaying of Fortinbras is not so consequential as his absence from home itself, because the latter gives Claudius the opportunity to seduce Gertrude. This accords with Shakespeare’s theme that the trouble and tragedy of Denmark start within rather than without, as we learn from Act I, Scene II that Claudius sends Cornelius and Voltemand to Norway to suppress young Fortinbras’s “further gait herein” (31), and from Act II, Scene II that as soon as Claudius’s letter is presented to Norway, young Fortinbras “receives rebuke from Norway, and in fine / Makes vow before his uncle never more / To give th’ assay of arms against your majesty” (69-71). The trouble without is thus easily pacified, but the trouble within is just beginning.
I made the conception of Hamlet as a result of Claudius’s seduction of Gertrude in order to intensify the tragic element of the play. I intend to let the audience know from the very beginning that Prince Hamlet is taking an appalling task, namely to avenge his legitimate father on his biological father, while he himself does not know the whole truth for sure. Towards the end of the tragedy when Hamlet finally takes the revenge, the audience should feel all the more intensely the pity and terror that Hamlet is made to kill his own father, that Claudius should be punished so severely for his crimes as to be killed by his own son. Thus, Providence can be shown all the more awe-inspiring, and the catharsis of the tragedy can be achieved more thoroughly.
Many critics believe that Hamlet is a man of words and thoughts but not a man of action, that he always hesitates and procrastinates in the course of taking the revenge. This belief even gives rise to the publication of Earnest Jones’s book Hamlet and Oedipus, which offers the Freudian explanation for Hamlet’s hesitation and procrastination. I do not see exactly when and where Hamlet ever hesitates, or procrastinates. My prelude, I hope, can provide a better explanation for what may be going on in Hamlet’s mind, when he makes his famous soliloquy, “To be or not to be…” that is often used to demonstrate his hesitation. Hamlet is cautious and intelligent. If he does not completely believe the Ghost’s words until he has trapped Claudius with the play within the play, he can also deduce something beyond what the Ghost has told him and ponder on the possibility that Claudius just may be his birth father. He is tortured by this thought, by the frightening truth that is beyond this life, by the dread of what his “opposing” may result in, and by the “rub,” the possible eternal punishment that he would receive in the other life if he should kill his biological father. It is not suicide that he is planning to commit, and it is not death that he fears, but it is for what he will die that he meditates. It is the aftermath of death that “puzzles the will” (III. 1. 80). This is why he decides “to be” and “to suffer.” Eventually, Claudius commits new crimes by letting Hamlet and his mother be poisoned. These crimes dispel all Hamlet’s misgivings, and immediately, he takes actions and kills his uncle on the site of the crimes.
Claudius’s motives to murder King Hamlet are, of course, to mount the throne and marry Gertrude. I have no intention to defend the murderer or to whitewash the adultery, but I want to add two less important motives, which, I believe, will help to portray Claudius more as a sinful criminal than an evil incarnation.
The first motive is that Claudius wants to be loved, respected, and addressed by Prince Hamlet as a father. The second motive is that Claudius has suffered quite enough being treated as an uncle by his own son and seeing his birth son’s love go to his older brother, and Claudius is further tortured by the idea that the punishment will yet be even more severe if Prince Hamlet one day succeeds the throne, and he, Claudius, will have to bow to his own son. He cannot tolerate such a mock. Although he is aware that this is God’s punishment, he still tries to evade it by murdering his older brother before young Hamlet has reached his majority, so that it is more likely that Claudius can become King, even by election, to marry the queen, to be called father by Hamlet, and to be loved as such. Actually, Claudius has achieved the first two purposes, but Providence mocks him on his second two purposes.
Claudius does try to win Hamlet’s love. One of the first announcements he makes as King is to proclaim that “let the world take note / You (Hamlet) are the most immediate to our throne” (I. 2. 108-9). His eagerness to claim Hamlet as his son is also shown in the same scene when he says, “now my cousin Hamlet, and my son ---” (64). Moreover, I find in Claudius’s claim a father’s sincere love: “with no less nobility of love / Than that which dearest father bears his son, / Do I impart toward you” (110-12). This is why he prays that Hamlet should “throw to earth / This unprevailing woe, and think of us / As of a father” (106-8).
Hamlet’s rejection of Claudius’s fatherly love is so obvious that I do not need to quote anything from the play to prove it. His rejection naturally hurts Claudius’s feelings, and Claudius realizes that all his efforts to win over Prince Hamlet’s love are to no avail. What is worse is that he senses danger from Hamlet, who, he suspects, somehow knows about the murder and is trying to revenge the old king. As soon as Claudius confirms his suspicion, as Hamlet confirms his, after the play within the play, Claudius changes his mind and decides to get rid of Hamlet. Thereafter, Claudius is going farther and farther on the road of evil-doing.
It would be wonderful to write a soliloquy for Claudius to show how his fatherly love changes to the filicidal determination, but it is equally interesting and certainly more trusting to leave Claudius’s mental and emotional transition to the imagination of the audience. Moreover, I just want the prelude to remain in the audience’s mind as a predestinarian suggestion, and I certainly do not want to interrupt Shakespeare’s masterpiece itself.
We know from the play within the play and from the closet scene that Claudius alone is responsible for King Hamlet’s murder and Gertrude is innocent of this crime. Therefore, in the prelude I give some hints to Claudius’s murderous intention as well as to Gertrude’s innocence. Hence Claudius says, “How I wish a stronger hand would him slay!”
Gertrude responds, “No, talk not slaying, Claudius, he’s King, / Your brother, the Protector of Denmark.”
Then Claudius says, “So long as naps not fall into a long sleep, / So long I long for thee and long wakes keep.”
Gertrude does not comprehend his double meaning of “a long sleep.” And that is why Claudius does not finish his sentence “To gain my share / Perhaps there’s only one…” he does not want Gertrude to sense his evil intention. So he pretends to have heard some noise in order to cover up the intention implied in the unfinished sentence.
As for Claudius’s words that King Hamlet is impotent, we, on the one hand, do not have to believe him, but on the other hand, there may be some ring of truth. Maybe that is partly why Gertrude can be seduced by Claudius. Maybe that is exactly why the Ghost, without any explanation, forbids Hamlet to hurt Gertrude. How can the Ghost explain to Hamlet that he has not quite fulfilled a husband’s duty? If the prelude can initiate new interest in and imagination about the play, make Claudius less two-dimensional and show more development in his character, and if the prelude can offer more and different interpretations of the tragedy, I shall be satisfied.
April 25, 1992作者: 廖康 时间: 2012-9-10 13:53 基于那篇作业的想法，后来用中文写了这篇。
首先，让我们从语义和句式结构上分析这段独白。To be 的意思似乎明白无误，就是要“活着”，要“生存”。但具体到哈姆莱特的个人问题，这意味着什么呢？很多评论家天南地北地扯了一大堆哲理，就是没有认真阅读莎翁的原著。其实哈姆莱特紧接着说得很清楚，与“生存”相关的后果是：“默然忍受命运暴虐的毒箭”，与“毁灭” 平行的行为是：“或是挺身反抗人世无涯的苦难，通过斗争把它们清扫”。哈姆莱特扪心自问：“这两种行为，哪一种更高贵？”莎翁著作的版本很多，但是对这几行，我还没有见过不同的断句和注释。2 哈姆莱特明白无误地对自己说，生存之于他就意味着默然忍受命运的打击和折磨。起来反抗则意味着毁灭，与敌人同归于尽。换句话说，哈姆莱特这句独白也可以译为“忍了，还是拼了，这是一个值得考虑的问题”。他独自一人，亲离众叛，要与当了国王的叔父争斗，实际上就是向整个丹麦王朝挑战。即便有可能杀死仇敌，他自己也难逃诛戮，更不用说还要维护他自己的名声并申诉复仇的理由。父亲鬼魂要他完成的几乎是个不可能的任务。
哈姆莱特说：“睡着了也许还会做梦；嗯，阻碍就在这儿”(Ah, there’s the rub)，rub 这个词，本意是摩擦。随着16世纪初兴起的高尔夫球运动，这个字的衍生的意思“阻碍、麻烦、困难”以及固定的习惯用语there’s the rub在1590至1775年是非常通俗的。3 由于莎翁在此剧中用了这一表达法，促使它更加流行，并使其得以保留至今，但现在用得较少了。经历过大变故的青年王子万念俱灰，除了替父报仇以外，哈姆莱特对尘世已经没有什么可留恋了。由己及彼，他看到人生普遍的痛苦，因而感叹道：“谁愿意忍受人世的鞭挞和讥嘲、压迫者的凌辱、傲慢者的冷眼、被轻蔑的爱情的惨痛、法律的迁延、官吏的横暴和费尽辛勤所换来的小人的鄙视，要是他只要用一柄小小的刀子，就可以清算他自己的一生？”作为王子，很显然，他这段话讲的不是自己的情况，而是泛指众人，“他”并不是指他自己。哈姆莱特并非暗示他想自杀。那么，阻碍人结束自身苦难的东西到底是什么呢？哈姆莱特继续他哲学式的自问自答：“谁愿意负这样的重担，在烦劳的生命的压迫下呻吟流汗，倘不是因为惧怕不可知的死后，惧怕那从来不曾有一个旅人回来过的神秘王国，是它迷惑了我们的意志，使我们宁愿忍受目前的折磨，不敢向我们所不知道的痛苦飞去？”
2 只有在狄更斯的小说《尼古拉斯•尼古贝》中，尼古贝拿注释家开玩笑，说这句应该断作：To be, or not to be that, is the question. （活着，还是不那样活着，是个值得考虑的问题。）
3 见Oxford English Dictionary。
4 见第五幕第一场哈姆莱特与掘墓人的对话。
5 见第三幕第三场结尾。
2005年6月20日作者: fanghuzhai 时间: 2014-9-18 20:23 当年读哈姆雷特的时候，对乱伦颇有一番遐想。哈哈。读古希腊罗马神话亦然。作者: 廖康 时间: 2014-9-18 23:39 To leave, or not to leave, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The oppression and exploitation,
Or to vote Yes against an ocean of No’s,
And by Yes end th’ union? To leave, to sleep,
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand man-made shocks
That Scotland is heir to: it is a joy
Devoutly to be wished. To leave, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream – ay, there's the rub:
The parody may go on… The decision will be known soon.
