The Jew and the Moor Shakespeare’s Racial Vision15.doc

The Jew and the Moor: Shakespeare’s Racial Vision 犹太人与摩尔人：莎翁的种族见识 摘要:种族非莎剧最重要主题之一，但莎翁于五剧本中透过十一人物呈现其「种族见识」。犹太人与摩尔人代表两种最基本的种族主义：在以基督教和白人为中心的莎剧世界里，宗教和肤色成为种族歧视的主因。本论文谈到莎剧中各项种族的傲慢与偏见，探究种族主义的相关因素，归纳莎翁对种族问题的看法，最后提出莎翁心灵所见的灵象：「羞锁客」(Shylock) 摔不掉种族意识的锁，而奥赛罗永远被种族主义的手巾绑住而喊叫：「噢！地狱啰!」(Ot, hell,O!)。从莎剧中，我们可以看出：莎翁看到种族各异，但主张种族间应有自由、平等、博爱，所以他是人道主义者，其宏大的心灵带来的是不偏不倚的种族见识。 Abstract:Race was never Shakespeare’s central theme, but Shakespeare’s comprehensive soul has created an impressive racial vision. Five of his plays have touched on racial problems and his racial personae are above ten. The Jew and the Moor are two most prominent figurers representing two basic types of racism in Shakespeare. Racialism can be distinguished from racism. Intrinsic racism and extrinsic racism are due to racial pride and racial prejudice, respectively. Shakespeare’s world was a white-centered Christendom. Skin color and religion were thus the elemental features (of nature and nurture) that induced racism, Venice or Italy being Shakespeare’s convenient locale for dramatizing his racial actions and reactions. In this paper, instances of racial pride and prejudice in Shakespeare are presented, the causes of racism are investigated, Shakespeare’s views of race and racism are discussed, and his racial vision is delineated. The conclusion is: Shakespeare recognizes the existence of racial differences but he is not a racist. Shakespeare is in fact an impartial, humanitarian dramatist preaching interracial liberty, equality, and fraternity. In his vision there is always a Shylock locked up shyly in his racial ideology, accompanied by an Othello crying “Ot, hell, O!” for villainous misuse of racial consciousness. The playwright’s comprehensive soul wants every one of us to shy away the racial “bond” that cuts our hearts and discard the racial “handkerchief” that brings us tragedies instead of curing our headaches. I. Comprehensive Soul It is well known that John Dryden, in his “An Essay of Dramat