
威廉·莎士比亚
《亨利五世》是莎士比亚戏剧里比较重要的历史剧之一,以1414—1420年间英法两国交战并最终和解的历史事实为背景,主要描述了亨利五世在战争前夕召集群臣商议、铲除内奸,哈弗娄城前劝降,阿金库尔大战等内容,浓郁的战争气氛笼罩全剧。该剧表达了爱国主义思想,其优美的文字、隽永的思想以及高超的写作技法,值得中国读者学习,既可以提高读者的写作水平,又可以培养读者的文学修养。
《亨利五世》以1414至1420年英法“百年战争”为历史背景,聚焦英格兰新王亨利五世的统治与征战历程。即位之初,国内政局动荡不安,部分贵族暗中勾结法国势力或国内叛乱力量,企图动摇王权。在顾问们的献策下,亨利五世果断出手铲除内奸,迅速稳固了自身的统治根基。 为振奋民心、转移国内矛盾,亨利五世决定发动对法战争,其中“阿金库尔战役”成为全剧的戏剧高潮。战前,他召集群臣共商大计,亲自慰问出征士兵,以坚定的意志与富有感染力的言辞展现出卓越的领袖魅力,极大地凝聚了军心。战役中,英格兰军队凭借亨利五世的出色指挥,上演了以少胜多的经典战局,大败法军,他的军事才能与人格魅力在战火中得到充分彰显。 战后,亨利五世迫使法国签署了带有屈辱性质的《特鲁瓦条约》,并与法国公主凯瑟琳订婚,通过政治联姻与条约约束进一步巩固了来之不易的和平局面,也让王权更加稳固。全剧最终在胜利的欢呼与婚礼的喜庆氛围中落幕,莎士比亚借亨利五世这一形象,塑造了理想化的君主典范,深刻表达了对国家统一、民族荣誉与开明统治的由衷赞颂。
角色、权力与反讽:《亨利五世》的双重镜像 前言 当莎翁的历史剧长卷铺展至《亨利五世》,一场关于成长与代价、荣光与反讽的深刻叩问便随之启幕。这部裹挟着英雄豪情与权谋冷意的剧作,既是哈尔王子蜕变为英格兰君主的终章,亦是莎翁对权力本质最隐晦的解构——它褪去《亨利四世》中福斯塔夫式的鲜活烟火,以君王加冕的璀璨荣光为幕,却在字里行间藏下无数辛辣伏笔,让每一份热烈的赞颂都暗含值得玩味的留白。 哈罗德·布鲁姆以通透的文学洞察,拨开后世影视改编与学术解读的层层滤镜,回溯文本本真的肌理。在他笔下,亨利五世绝非单一维度的爱国英雄,而是“令人着迷的怪物”,是权术锻造的“辉煌盛典”:他能在阿金库尔战场吟出“我们是手足相连的兄弟”的滚烫誓言,亦能冷漠处决旧友、屠戮战俘;他褪去哈尔的懵懂矛盾,习得驾驭人心的帝王之术,却也永远遗失了那份浸润着机锋与温情的本真。而福斯塔夫的退场与被弃,恰是这场权力蜕变最痛的注脚——那个承载着人性自由与鲜活智慧的灵魂,终成君王登顶路上被舍弃的尘埃,也成了莎翁藏于剧作深处的怅惘与悲悯。 布鲁姆借叶芝、哈兹利特的锐利评述为引,串联起文本内外的多重维度:从剧中合唱队对“战神哈利”的盛赞与潜藏的反讽,到弗鲁爱林以亚历山大弑友喻亨利弃友的精妙暗喻;从历史上亨利五世的征伐霸业,到权力惯性跨越世代的永恒回响,每一处解读都直指核心——莎翁从未赋予亨利五世单一的评判,他让君王的魅力与冷酷共生,让荣光与伪善交织,既让观者沉醉于英雄史诗的激昂,亦让人心生对权力异化人性的寒凉。 这份解读,无关片面的道德评判,亦非刻板的历史考据,而是对莎翁戏剧精神的深度共鸣。它带我们看见《亨利五世》的双重面貌:既是英格兰民族记忆中的英雄赞歌,亦是一部关于人性、权力与自由的悲剧性寓言;既让我们读懂哈尔到亨利的蜕变之重,也让我们窥见莎翁对人性本真的珍视与对权力逻辑的清醒审视。翻开这篇评述,便是与一场深刻的文学对话相逢,在英雄的荣光与反讽的余韵中,重识这部不朽剧作的真正厚度。 19 HENRY V This brilliant and subtle work will always be popular; I could say "for the wrong reasons," except that all reasons for Shakespeare's eternal popularity are correct, one way or another. And yet Henry V is clearly a lesser drama than the two parts of Henry IV. Falstaff is gone, and King Henry V, matured into the mastery of power, is less interesting than the ambivalent Prince Hal, whose potential was more varied. 这部精彩绝伦又意蕴深厚的剧作将永葆其魅力;我本想评价其"受众欣赏角度存在偏差",但转念想到,任何使莎翁作品历久弥新的欣赏角度皆有其合理性。不过较之《亨利四世》上下两部,《亨利五世》在戏剧艺术上显然略逊一筹。随着福斯塔夫的退场,已完全掌控权术的亨利五世国王,其人物魅力反不及那个充满矛盾张力的哈尔王子——毕竟后者拥有更为丰富多元的可能性。 The great Irish poet W. B. Yeats made the classic comment on this aesthetic falling away in his Ideas of Good and Evil: [Henry V] has the gross vices, the coarse nerves, of one who is to rule among violent people, and he is so little "too friendly" to his friends that he bundles them out of door when their time is over. He is as remorseless and undistinguished as some natural force, and the finest thing in his play is the way his old companions fall out of it broken-hearted or on their way to the gallows. 爱尔兰伟大诗人叶芝在其著作《善与恶的观念》中对这种审美衰退作出了经典评论:他[亨利五世]具备统治者驾驭暴戾民众所需的粗野品性,其粗糙的神经对旧友也毫不留情,时过境迁便将其弃如敝屣。他如同自然力量般冷酷而平庸,而剧中最为精妙之处,恰在于那些心碎赴死或走向绞架的老友们退场时的姿态。 I read the play that Yeats read, but much Shakespeare scholarship reads otherwise. Henry V is now most widely known because of the films quarried from it by Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh. Both movies are lively, patriotic romps, replete with exuberant bombast, provided by Shakespeare himself, with what degree of irony we cannot quite tell but are free to surmise: 我所阅读的剧本与叶芝当年所阅别无二致,但当今莎士比亚学界的研究视角已大为不同。如今《亨利五世》之所以广为人知,主要得益于劳伦斯·奥利弗与肯尼思·布拉纳从中汲取灵感创作的电影作品。这两部影片皆是充满活力的爱国颂歌,满载着莎翁亲笔写就的激昂雄辩——至于其中蕴含多少反讽意味,我们虽难以确知,却尽可自由揣度: We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England, now a-bed, Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. [IV.iii.60-67] 我们,是寥寥数人, 是幸运的少数, 是手足相连的兄弟; 今日与我浴血并肩者, 不论出身何等卑贱, 都将成为我的兄弟。 这圣克里斯平日的光荣战绩, 将洗刷他过往的微贱。 此刻安卧英格兰床榻的绅士们, 必将因未能亲历此地而懊悔终生, 当后世传颂我们在此日的战功时, 他们都将羞愧于自身男子气概的匮乏。 [第四幕第三场 第60-67行] That is the King, just before the battle of Agincourt. He is very stirred; so are we; but neither we nor he believes a word he says. The common soldiers fighting with their monarch are not going to become gentlemen, let alone nobles, and "the ending of the world" is a rather grand evocation for an imperialist land grab that did not long survive Henry V's death, as Shakespeare's audience knew too well. 这是阿金库尔战役前国王的慷慨陈词。他心潮澎湃,我们也为之动容;但我们与他都心知肚明,这番誓言终究无法兑现。与君王并肩作战的普通士兵不会就此晋升为绅士,更遑论跻身贵族之列。至于所谓"世界末日"的恢宏意象——这场在亨利五世死后便迅速瓦解的帝国主义土地争夺战,用如此壮丽的辞藻来修饰,对于深谙历史的莎士比亚观众而言,实在带着几分辛辣的反讽意味。 Hazlitt, with characteristic eloquence, joins Yeats as the true exegete of Henry V and his play: 哈兹利特以其特有的雄辩,与叶芝共同成为《亨利五世》及其主人公的真正阐释者: He was a hero, that is, he was ready to sacrifice his own life for the pleasure of destroying thousands of other lives .... How then do we like him? We like him in the play. There he is a very amiable monster, a very splendid pageant .... 他是个英雄,这意味着他随时准备牺牲自己的性命,以换取摧毁千万生命的快感……那么我们究竟如何看待他?我们在剧中欣赏他。在那里,他是个令人着迷的怪物,一场辉煌的盛典…… This cannot be bettered, but is that all Prince Hal matured into: an amiable monster, a splendid pageant? Yes; for this, Falstaff was rejected, Bardolph was hanged, and a great education in wit was partly thrown away. 此论精妙绝伦,但哈尔王子最终仅蜕变为这般模样吗?一个讨喜的怪物,一场华丽的盛典?诚然如是;正为此,福斯塔夫遭弃绝,巴道夫被绞死,那段浸润机锋的伟大教养竟也半途荒废了。 Shakespeare's ironic insight remains highly relevant; power keeps its habit through the ages. Our nation's Henry V (some might say) was John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who gave us the Bay of Pigs and the enhancement of our Vietnam adventure. 莎士比亚的深刻反讽至今仍具现实意义;权力惯性的脉络贯穿世代。若将当代美国的亨利五世拟人化(或许有人会指认),约翰·菲茨杰拉德·肯尼迪可担此喻——他既策划了猪湾事件,又推动了越南战事的升级。 Some scholars may moralize and historicize until they are purple with pride, but they will not persuade us that Shakespeare (playwright and man) preferred his amiable monster to the genius of Falstaff, and his splendid pageant to the varied and vital Henry IV plays. 纵使某些学者沉浸于道德说教与历史考据而自得,他们终究无法令人信服——无论是作为剧作家或普通人,莎士比亚怎会偏爱那讨喜的怪物胜过福斯塔夫的绝代才情,又怎会钟情那浮华盛典甚于《亨利四世》系列剧中纷繁跃动的生命图景。 In Henry V the two religious caterpillars, Canterbury and Ely, finance the French wars so as to save the Church's secular estates from royal confiscation; both praise Henry's piety, and he is careful to tell us how Christian a king he is. 在《亨利五世》中,两位神职界的蠹虫——坎特伯雷大主教与伊利主教——为保全教会世俗产业免遭王室征用,不惜出资支持对法战争;他们交口称赞亨利的虔诚,而这位国王亦煞费苦心向世人昭示自己是何等基督教化的君主。 At Agincourt, he prays to God for victory, promising yet more contrite tears for his father's murder of Richard II, and he then proceeds to order the throats cut of all the French prisoners, a grace duly performed. 阿金库尔战场上,他一面向上帝祈祷胜利,承诺将为父王弑君理查二世之事淌下更多忏悔之泪;转瞬却下令割断所有法国战俘的咽喉,这番"恩典"被如数执行。 Some recent attention has been devoted to this slaughter, but it will not alter Henry V's popularity with both scholars and moviegoers. 近年来对此场屠杀的关注度虽有所提升,却丝毫无损《亨利五世》在学术界与影迷心中的经久魅力。 Henry is brutally shrewd and shrewdly brutal, qualities necessary for his greatness as a king. The historical Henry V, dead at thirty-five, was an enormous success in power and war, and undoubtedly was the strongest English king before Henry VIII. 亨利兼具精于算计的残暴与服务于残暴的精明,此双重秉性铸就了他的王图霸业。那位三十五岁便英年早逝的历史上的亨利五世,在权谋与征战中取得了非凡成就,无疑是亨利八世之前最强大的英格兰君主。 Shakespeare has no single attitude toward Henry V, in the play, which allows you to achieve your own perspective upon the rejecter of Falstaff. My stance I derive from Yeats, whose views on Shakespeare and the state deliciously share little with old-style scholarly idealists and new-wave cultural materialists: 莎士比亚在剧中并未对亨利五世赋予单一的态度,这正使得每一位观者都能对这位抛弃福斯塔夫的人物形成自己的见解。我的立场源自叶芝——他那关于莎士比亚与国家的精妙论述,既与旧式学院理想主义者迥异其趣,也与新潮文化唯物论者大相径庭: Shakespeare cared little for the State, the source of all our judgments, apart from its shows and splendors, its turmoils and battles, its flamings-out of the uncivilized heart. 莎士比亚对“国家”——这个我们所有评判的根源——实则兴致寥寥;他所瞩目的,不过是其浮华盛景与辉煌战事,是其间那野蛮心灵骤然迸发的炽烈瞬间。 When Shakespeare thought of the state, he remembered first that it had murdered Christopher Marlowe, tortured and broken Thomas Kyd, and branded the unbreakable Ben Jonson. All that and more underlies the great lament in Sonnet 66: 当莎士比亚思及国家政权时,他首先想起的是它曾谋杀克里斯托弗·马洛、刑讯折磨托马斯·基德致死,并为不屈的本·琼森施以烙刑。这一切乃至更多的黑暗现实,构成了《十四行诗第66首》中那伟大悲叹的底色: And right perfection wrongfully disgraced, And strength by limping sway disabled, And art made tongue-tied by authority. 德懿受谤,身蒙不洁之尘; 伟力见损,屈从跛足之权; 巧艺钳口,失语于威令之前。 The censor, external and internal, haunted Shakespeare, made cautious by Marlowe's terrible end. I agree, therefore, with Yeats's conclusion, which is that Henry V for all its exuberance, is essentially ironic: 审查制度如影随形,令莎士比亚内外交困。马洛的惨烈结局令他如履薄冰。正因如此,我认同叶芝的最终论断:《亨利五世》纵然全剧意气风发,其本质却是反讽的: Shakespeare watched Henry V not indeed as he watched the greater souls in the visionary procession, but cheerfully, as one watches some handsome spirited horse, and he spoke his tale, as he spoke all tales, with tragic irony. 莎士比亚凝视笔下的亨利五世时,并非以观照幻象行列中那些伟大灵魂的深沉目光,而是带着赏鉴骏马般的欣然神色——看其英姿勃发,观其血气昂扬。而他讲述这位君王的故事时,亦如述说所有传奇那般,言语间浸透着悲剧性的反讽。 It is so much Henry V's play that the irony is not immediately evident: there is no substantial role for anyone except the warrior-king. 这部戏剧全然是亨利五世的舞台,以致其中的反讽并不显山露水:除了这位战士国王,再无任何角色拥有实质分量。 Falstaff's death, narrated by Mistress Quickly, does not bring that great spirit upon stage, and ancient Pistol is only a shadow of his leader. Fluellen, the other comic turn, is a fine characterization but limited, except perhaps where Shakespeare slyly employs the Welsh captain to give us a properly ironic analogue for the rejection of Falstaff: 福斯塔夫之死通过桂克丽太太的转述呈现,并未让那伟大的灵魂亲临舞台;而老皮斯托也不过是昔日领袖的残影罢了。另一位喜剧角色弗鲁爱林虽塑造精妙,却终究格局有限——除非我们留意到莎士比亚如何巧妙地借这位威尔士军官之口,为抛弃福斯塔夫之举提供了一个恰如其分的反讽注脚: Flu. I think it is in Macedon where Alexander is porn. I tell you, captain, if you look in the maps of the 'orld, I warrant you sall find, in the comparisons between Macedon and Monmouth, that the situations, look you, is both alike. There is a river in Macedon, and there is also moreover a river at Monmouth: it is called Wye at Monmouth; but it is out of my prains what is the name of the other river; but 'tis all one, 'tis alike as my fingers is to my fingers, and there is salmons in both. If you mark Alexander's life well, Harry of Monmouth's life is come after it indifferent well; for there is figures in all things. Alexander, God knows, and you know, in his rages, and his furies, and his wraths, and his cholers, and his moods, and his displeasures, and his indignations, and also being a little intoxicates in his prains, did, in his ales and his angers, look you, kill his best friend, Cleitus .. 弗鲁爱林:我记得亚历山大是生在马其顿的。我告诉您,上尉,要是您查查世界地图,我敢保证您准会发现,把马其顿跟蒙茅斯比一比,那地势,您瞧,简直一模一样。马其顿有条河,蒙茅斯也有条河——蒙茅斯那条河叫瓦伊河。可另外那条河叫什么名字,我这脑筋却怎么也想不起来了。不过反正都一样,就像我这根手指头跟那根手指头,模样没差别;两条河里都出鲑鱼。您要细看亚历山大的生平,蒙茅斯的哈里这一生倒真和他不相上下呢——因为万事万物都有对应的地方。亚历山大——上帝明鉴,您也知道——他发起火来,怒火冲天,气急败坏,大动肝火,脾气上来,心里不痛快,义愤填膺,再加上脑袋有点迷糊,就趁着酒劲,您瞧,杀了他最好的朋友克里图斯…… Gow. Our King is not like him in that: he never killed any of his friends. 高厄:咱们国王在这一点上可不像他:他从未杀害过自己的朋友。 Flu. It is not well done, mark you now, to take the tales out of my mouth, ere it is made and finished. I speak but in the figures and comparisons of it: as Alexander killed his friend Cleitus, being in his ales and his cups, so also Harry Monmouth, being in his wits and his good judgments, turned away the fat knight with the great-belly doublet: he was full of jests, and gipes, and knaveries, and mocks; I have forgot his name. 弗鲁爱林:您听我说,这可不地道啊——我的话还没说透、没说完呢,您就把它从我嘴里抢了去。我不过是打个比方、作个类比:就像亚历山大在酩酊大醉时杀了他的朋友克里图斯一样,蒙茅斯的哈里呢,在他神志清明、判断无误的时候,也把那位挺着大肚子、穿着紧身衣的胖骑士给打发走了——他满嘴俏皮话、讥讽、恶作剧还有嘲弄;我一下想不起他叫什么了。 Gow. Sir John Falstaff. [IV.vii.23-53] 高厄:约翰·福斯塔夫爵士。 [第四幕第七场 第23-53行] The drunken Alexander murdered his good friend Cleitus; Shakespeare ironically reminds us that Hal, "being in his right wits and his good judgments," "killed" his best friend, the man "full of jests, and gipes, and knaveries, and mocks." One great conqueror or "pig" is much like another, as Fluellen argues. 酗酒的亚历山大谋杀了挚友克里图斯;莎士比亚则用反讽笔法提醒我们:哈尔“在神志清明、判断无误之时”,“杀死”了他最好的朋友——那位“满嘴俏皮话、讥讽、恶作剧与嘲弄”的人。诚如弗鲁爱林所言,一位伟大的征服者(或称“畜生”)与另一位实在相差无几。 Henry V certainly is not Falstaff's play; it belongs to "this star of England," whose sword was made by Fortune. Yet its ironies are palpable and frequent, and transcend my own fierce Falstaffianism. 《亨利五世》自然不是福斯塔夫的舞台;它归属于“英格兰这颗星宿”,其利剑由命运女神亲手锻造。然而剧中反讽的笔触既鲜明又频现,其深意甚至超越了我个人对福斯塔夫式的炽烈推崇。 Urging his troops into the breach at Harfleur, King Henry had extolled their fathers as "so many Alexanders." Distancing is not so much bewildering in Henry V as it is suave and beguiling. 当亨利王在哈弗勒尔催促军队冲向城墙缺口时,他曾赞颂他们的父辈是“如许多的亚历山大”。在《亨利五世》中,这种疏离手法与其说令人困惑,不如说是圆熟而诱人的。 Henry V is an admirable politician, a brave basher of heads in battle, a peerless charismatic. 亨利五世是一位令人钦慕的政客,是战场上英勇无畏的猛士,是一位无与伦比、魅力非凡的领袖。 With Shakespeare we are delighted by him, and with Shakespeare we are rather chilled also, but carefully so; we are not estranged from Falstaff's brilliant pupil. 与莎士比亚一道,我们为他倾倒;亦与莎士比亚一道,我们感到些许寒意——但这寒意是精心调试过的;我们并未与福斯塔夫那位卓越的学生疏离。 In some ways, King Henry's hypocrisy is more acceptable than Prince Hal's, since the warrior-king is in no way a clean and clever lad doing his best to get on. 在某种程度上,亨利国王的伪善比哈尔王子更容易被接受,因为此时的战士国王已无需再扮演那个“努力保持干净、聪明向上爬”的年轻人了。 Henry V has England and the English, captures France and its princess, if not the French, and will die young like Alexander, another conqueror with little left to conquer. 亨利五世拥有英格兰与英格兰民心,征服了法兰西及其公主(若说法兰西人民未被全然征服的话),并会如另一位已无多少疆土可征的征服者亚历山大一般,英年早逝。 Personal fidelities are shrugged off by so ideal a monarch; Bardolph hangs, and perhaps Falstaff would too, had Shakespeare risked that comic splendor on the French expedition. Something in us, attending or reading Henry V, is carefully rendered beyond care. 如此理想化的君主早已摒弃个人私情;巴道夫被处决,若莎士比亚敢让那喜剧瑰宝般的福斯塔夫随法军远征,他或许也难逃此劫。无论是观看还是阅读《亨利五世》,我们内心深处的某种情愫,都被巧妙地打磨得淡漠超然。 Henry is given to lamenting that as king he is not free, yet the former Hal is himself a considerable ironist, and has learned one of Falstaff's most useful lessons: Keep your freedom by seeing through every idea of order and code of behavior, whether chivalrous or moral or religious. 亨利时常慨叹身为国王便身不由己,然而从前那位精于反讽的哈尔,早已从福斯塔夫处习得了最宝贵的一课:唯有看透一切秩序理念与行为准则(无论是骑士精神、道德律法还是宗教信条),方能真正保有自我的自由。 Shakespeare does not let us locate Hal/Henry V's true self; a king is necessarily something of a counterfeit, and Henry is a great king. Hamlet, infinitely complex, becomes a different role with each strong performer. Henry V is veiled rather than complex, but the pragmatic consequence is that no actor resembles another in the part. 莎士比亚并未让我们窥见哈尔/亨利五世的真实自我;君王在本质上难免带有几分“伪饰”,而亨利则是一位伟大的君王。哈姆雷特因其无限复杂性,每位杰出的演绎者都能诠释出截然不同的面貌。亨利五世则是以朦胧示人,而非以复杂立身,但其实际结果却如出一辙:从未有两位演员能在此角色上展现出相似的特质。 Henry V or What You Will might as well be the play's title. Shakespeare sees to it that even the most pungent ironies can not resist the stance of the chorus, who adores "the warlike Harry," truly the model or "mirror of all Christian kings." Even if you wanted to hear duplicity in that, the chorus will charm you with: "A little touch of Harry in the night." 《亨利五世》或称《随心所欲》,倒不妨作为这部剧的剧名。莎士比亚刻意铺排,使最辛辣的反讽也无法抗拒合唱队的立场——他们由衷爱戴“战神哈利”,确乎视其为楷模或“所有基督教国王的明镜”。即便你从中听出了虚伪,合唱队也会用一句“黑夜中哈利那温柔的一抹神采”将你悄然俘获。 Shakespeare need not remind us that Falstaff, vastly intelligent and witty beyond all measure, was desperately in love with Hal. No one could fall in love with Henry V, but no one altogether could resist him either. If he is a monster, he is more than amiable. 莎士比亚无需提醒我们,那位才智超绝、机锋无匹的福斯塔夫,曾是何等绝望地深爱着哈尔。无人会爱上亨利五世,却也无人能全然抗拒于他。纵使他是个怪物,也远比“可亲”二字更令人着迷。 He is a great Shakespearean personality– hardly a Hamlet or a Falstaff, but more than a Hotspur. Henry V has the glamour of an Alexander who has staked everything upon one military enterprise, but this is an Alexander endowed with inwardness, keenly exploited for its pragmatic advantages. 他是莎翁笔下一位伟大的人物——虽难及哈姆雷特或福斯塔夫,却无疑超越了霍茨波。亨利五世拥有那种将一切孤注一掷于一场军事远征的亚历山大式的魅力,但这是一位被赋予了内在深度的亚历山大,且这种深度被他敏锐地用于攫取现实利益。 In Henry's vision, the growing inner self requires an expanding kingdom, and France is the designated realm for growth. Henry IV's guilt of usurpation and regicide is to be expiated by conquest, and the exploitation and rejection of Falstaff is to be enhanced by a new sense of the glory of Mars and kingship. 在亨利的愿景中,不断壮大的内在自我需要一个不断扩张的王国,而法兰西正是那命定的成长疆域。亨利四世篡位弑君的罪孽须以征伐来涤净,而对福斯塔夫的利用与抛弃,亦将因战神与王权荣光的新感悟而得以升华。 The transcended fathers fade away in the dazzle of royal apotheosis. Ironies persist, but what are ironies in so flamboyant a pageant? More than Shakespeare's heart was with Falstaff; Falstaff is mind, while Henry is but policy. 先王幽影,终湮没于君主神化的万丈光芒。反讽固然犹存,然在此等炫目盛典中,何足挂齿?莎士比亚所倾心的岂止是福斯塔夫其人;福斯塔夫即自由心魂,亨利不过帝王术耳。 Yet policy makes for a superb pageant, and something in every one of us responds to the joyousness of Henry V Militarism, brutality, pious hypocrisy all are outshone by England's charismatic hero-king. This is all to the good for the play, and Shakespeare sees to it that we will remember his play's limits. 然而权术自能铺展为一场恢弘盛典,而我们每个人心中,都有某种东西会对亨利五世的激昂欢腾报以回响。军国主义、铁血手段、虔诚的伪善——这一切都被英格兰那位魅力非凡的英雄国王的光芒所掩盖。这对剧本本身实为幸事,而莎士比亚也确保我们终将铭记这部作品的限度。
典型的民族主义叙事作品,跟电影勇敢的心其实是一种类型,民族英雄的戏剧,而民族英雄大部分是战斗的军事人物。
作为英国历史甚至是整个中世纪欧洲最顶流的国王之一,亨利五世的战神形象在近千年来一直被各种艺术作品反复雕刻和再现。在阿金库尔战役,亨利五世以少胜多,并打出了1比15的战损比。为“法国人只能在矮子、女人以及外国人的领导下才能打胜仗”这一名言做了不少贡献。而战后签订的《特鲁瓦和约》更是差点让法国灭了国,要不是他英年早逝,可能就没圣女贞德啥事了。 这样一个形象在任何时候都是激发民族自豪感的绝佳载体,尤其是在莎士比亚所处的那个刚刚经历过绝对主义王权、民族主义初显的伊丽莎白时代。这样一个战狼国王就成了莎翁讲好英国故事的绝妙素材。莎士比亚对亨利五世的偏爱早在《亨利四世》中就可见端倪。那部传世作品中的主角实质就是亨利五世,他的老爹压根没啥戏份。尽管事实上亨利四世数次镇压了国内大贵族的反叛运动,通过与德意志、斯堪的纳维亚、布列塔尼和佛兰德尔等邦国结盟赢得了国际上的承认,为兰开斯特建立牢固的统治基础,可谓雄才大略,但不妨碍莎翁在《亨利四世》中把他描写的如同一个憨厚近乎发呆的老登。 到了《亨利五世》中,亨利五世更是表现的天生神力,光彩照人,整体就是在吹着唠。从淡然对待王太子的羞辱、机械降般的处理叛乱、城墙下的嘴遁劝降到战斗前鼓舞士气的演讲,亨利五世的金句频出,道德勇武智商魅力全部拉满,是十足的六边形战士,与其说亨利五世是戏剧人物,不如说他是史诗作品中的英雄。莎翁通过旁白、手下狗腿子、敌人和亨利五世的自白对其完成了全方位的颂圣:亨利五世没有没有罪恶,没有固执,没有忏悔,有的只有是崇高的、无法战胜的国家和个人的英雄主义精神。 为了剧情热闹好看,莎翁在这部赞美国王的样板戏中插入了大量的喜剧和闹剧,将闹戏与正戏穿插演出。正戏中国王的独白有多宏大,闹戏中的对骂就有多低俗。下层军官对喷句句不离下三路;由于口音问题,法兰西公主凯瑟琳跟侍女爱丽丝她学英语都学成了脏话;王太子和大元帅之间的相互挖苦最后全落到了性生活上。文化人骂起人来真是厉害,低俗的高雅的啥样的都有,不看注释骂你你都听不懂。 而为了营造亨利五世伟光正的英雄形象,莎士比亚对历史的处理显得极为粗略。在《亨利五世》中,莎士比亚对再现亨利五世王朝复杂的真实历史毫无兴趣,不但剧中的哈利和真实的亨利相差甚远,剧中的历史桥段和现实世界也风马牛不相及。为了展示亨利五世的天生神力,莎翁甚至把阿金库尔战役的战损比扩大到了令人匪夷所思的1:400,击杀10000个法国重装骑士只死了25个英国战士,这已经接近手撕鬼子的强度了。剧作的最后,莎翁又强行安排了一个“皆大欢喜”式的喜剧性结尾:英国人喜上眉梢,法国人虽然受辱、但莫名其妙的充满了丰收的喜悦。更要命的是,戏剧的主题也过于肤浅。剧中既没有命运和意志搏斗的描写,也没有堕入罪孽与痛悔的人性之脆弱,全文只有史诗感而没有戏剧感。这使得《亨利五世》在深度远逊于莎翁的《哈姆雷特》《麦克白》等其他作品,难怪译者感觉,《亨利五世》是莎翁为了“挣快钱”写出来的。 其实莎翁对亨利五世的彩虹屁在逻辑上有些问题。剧中,亨利五世带领军队在士气低落、又饿又累的绝境中战胜了六万法国骑士,以此证明他的英武。问题是这种糟糕的局面本身就是你带队带进去的,你要真是伟大的战术家,一开始能把部队饿的两眼发青?这种逻辑现在还经常在虎扑论坛中看到,经常看到新闻说詹姆斯(或者哪个球星)在最后一节完成20分大逆转,不愧为超级巨星。咋了,前三节你没上?那落后20分不是你打出来的?个人感觉如果你真要吹,不如把前半部分之间去掉,让亨利五世从一个胜利走向另一个胜利。
矛盾,非常矛盾的一部戏剧。 我其实是跳着看的,我看完了《理查二世》之后直接接的这本,因为前一部剧对于莎翁的笔法呀,还有情感、描写、文字运用期待值拉的有点太高了,所以导致看到这一部剧的时候,那个落差感就一下子来了。 首先是搞笑点这一块我实在是无法理解,这部剧里面穿插了大段的谐音梗黄笑话,特别体现在凯瑟琳学英语的那一段,很明显就是为了讨好观众。以及就是翻译没有办法翻译出来的语言差异,凯瑟琳和亨利的对话,以及除高尔另外的三位个上尉的口音差异。这些其实在翻译后很难体会到那种原汁原味的感觉,这是体验感大打折扣的部分。 其次就是作为一部英雄史诗,他为什么不爽?这里就必须提到莎士比亚无处不在的拧巴感和矛盾感。我一直认为这篇文章的末尾应该是亨利五世又发表了一次演讲,说我们这次远征法国多么顺利、签了怎么样的条约、甚至是四个王国在一起打仗,多么的齐心协力啊等等等等。但是很明显不是,结局最后莎士比亚在致辞里面说,虽然亨利五世赢得了一切,但是他的儿子亨利六世最后还是输掉了法兰西。以及在阿金库尔的战争期间,亨利国王假装成一个普通的士兵,威廉姆斯说的话,我认为真的非常引人深思。威廉姆斯说:如果君王的理由不正义,那么吃兵战死时的余孽,都要算在君王头上。但是亨利只能狡辩,回避了核心的问题。于是把责任外包给士兵的个人灵魂。接下来在战争结束后,亨利也没有去自己赴约,而是恶作剧的一般把手套给了另外一位军官,威廉姆斯把那个军官打了之后才站出来说出真实身份。其实真的充满了上位者对于底层人们的操控,最后的奖赏其实也带着几分的施舍。我当时真的以为亨利要把威廉姆斯杀掉了,但是没有这反而才是最令人匪夷所思的点。 我引用书中的一段话。英国作家兼出版商查尔斯·奈特在《莎士比亚研究》一书中说得更直白:“于是,《亨利五世》成了他整体构思的一个例外,剧中没有命运和意志搏斗之描写,没有堕入罪孽与痛悔的人性之脆弱——没有罪恶,没有固执,美有忏悔;有的是崇高的、无法战胜的国家和个人英雄主义精神。我们不该忘掉那些浴血疆场的英雄,他们最后的声音就是荣耀昂扬的颂歌。说到家,莎士比亚应该把这一素材写成一篇抒情巨制,而非戏剧。”我也认为如果说莎士比亚真的想要写一篇特别宣传民族主义的内容,那么就不该用戏剧这种形式。至少相比来说我是这么认为的。 这部剧还有一个特别大的特点,就是空虚。因为表演的成分绝对大于历史的成分。亨利这个人本身从一开始他的经历,他在《亨利四世》中的经历就是假的,为了创造出来一种奇迹感,或者是对底层的理解,都是表演出来的,都是假的。而我又是一个先看历史再看戏剧的人,所以我了解的非常清楚。包括阿金库尔的战亡人数,文中写的是英军只死了29个人、法军死了10000个人,这个数据已经夸张了,有一些反讽的意味了。为了体现上帝站在英格兰这一边,用这样夸张的手法。事实上,历史上的这场战役是极其冒进的,为了转移国内的矛盾而对法国实施的战争。再说回“人”,莎士比亚的作品中不乏有对于人性的探讨,但是在这部剧中,我们却很难看到亨利五世作为人的一面。因为它是宣传机器所要的完美的形象,是向外展示的权力,他没有恐惧,也没有欲望。有的只是一个完美的集合体,而在我眼中,只会认为他虚伪、傲慢、不够真实,因为他是表演出来的“完美”,而世界上没有完美的人,也没有完美的君王。所以相比于理查王来说,虽然他是个糟糕的国王,但是他作为人的那一面是可以让观众共情的。 以及就是语言文字这一方面。在《理查二世》中,莎士比亚的文字华丽、优美、颓然,但是在《亨利五世》中就变得非常的直白,甚至无趣。而且前者是完全用韵文写成的,没有一句散文。是一种高度形式化、像歌剧一样的戏剧;而后者剧中有大量的散文,是真实的嘈杂。理查王的灵魂在歌唱悲歌,亨利五世只有战争机器的轰鸣,这让我完全没有体验到文字的美感,至少在这一篇。 最后,这部剧是赶工出的作品,这真的非常能体会到。首先这部剧是有原身的,名为《亨利五世著名胜利》,原剧本本来就有很多粗俗笑话和松散的结构,莎士比亚在这个基础上进行修改,所以说就少掉了很多他的味道。还有对于民族意识宣传,我觉得这点完全都不需要提,整篇文章就是一篇主旋律大作。也许在商业和政治角度来看,这一部戏剧还是挺成功的,但是作为一个喜欢莎翁文学性、深入思考人性纠葛的我来说,我确实不爱这部戏剧。
虽年纪轻轻,在位时间也很短,但不可否认的是,亨利五世不仅是一位合格的国王,更是一位伟大的战士,他的贡献在当时可以说是历代级的。
如果从主线时间轴上前衔《亨利四世》后接《亨利六世》的角度来说还是挺重要一部戏剧,但写得很普... 首先是背叛了《亨利四世(下)》的收场白——没遵循福斯塔夫会在战场上“病死”的设定做具体填充而是让侍童几句话就草草带过他病重的消息,浪费了他本应被完整刻画的历程; 其次,亨利五世的题材本身戏剧性无几,没有深入命运与意志的搏斗或人性复杂与脆弱的描写还失了福斯塔夫这一虚构角色做形象的对衬或暗合,就剩各路人马变着法子花式颂圣,但仅国王本人自述算是坚毅有魄力,其他吹嘘即便有修辞也到了牵强附会的地步,局势不明朗、论述无重点; 更差的是如附录所言,太多粗俗的贵族式搞笑又水字数又给舞台添乱以哗众取宠,开场诗的找补有什么用?难怪有人说,全靠国王一人撑场的《亨利五世》是配角比国王更有亮点的《约翰王》的“互补品”。
《亨利五世》是莎士比亚最好的历史戏剧。经过前两篇对亨利五世的刻画,在本篇戏剧中亨利五世形象的前后对比已经非常明显,为史诗般的阿金库尔战役做好了一切准备。只是莎翁不擅长写战争场面,戏剧中全部直接跳过,他的心思全部放在了战争前后人物的心理刻画上面。亨利五世作为英格兰历史上非常著名的战士国王,他的一生璀璨辉煌,在最巅峰的时期却如流星般陨落,实在令人感到惋惜。