閱讀多利安•格雷的雌雄同體形象

Abstract

摘要 本論文在英國維多利亞時期的學術及文化氛圍中，重新檢視和建立多利安•格雷(Dorian Gray)的創新性別形象。我首先要提出的是，在《多利安•格雷的畫像》(The Picture of Dorian Gray)中，除了大家都已熟悉的、樂於挑戰文化常模的亨利•沃頓爵士(Lord Henry Wotton)以外，多利安•格雷其實是一個一直以來都受到評論家們忽視的前所未見的新形別角色，因此十分值得對之進行一番探討。從歷史的角度而言，奧斯卡•王爾德(Oscar Wilde)對這個雌雄同體的年輕形象的描繪，並非是他個人發明的單一創作；這個看似純粹虛構的人物，事實上具現了維多利亞時期牛津學者們，對帶有含糊性別特徵的貌美男孩的一種美學追求。另一方面，非常有趣的是，多利安•格雷在故事中不只是一個具有強大的美的力量的、總是令人神魂顛倒的男孩，他同時也是一個罪犯，傷害又殺害自己與他身邊的人，並因此被中產階級社會排擠。因此本論文的研究重心，將放在追溯促使王爾德創造這樣一個雌雄同體角色的歷使背景上，另外還要分析多利安•格雷如何在故事中發揮一個反中產階級角色的作用，以及探討他在故事中多次受到強調的、具壓倒性力量之美的表面力量，所帶出的可能意涵。 論文第一章考察維多利亞的一些文化現象，如牛津運動(Oxford Movement)、烏拉尼亞(Uranian)詩派、格萊斯頓(W. E. Gladstone)和佩特(Walter Pater)的美學主張等，並據此分析王爾德作品中反覆出現的雌雄同體角色，他們分別是年輕國王、W.H.先生和多利安•格雷。第二章主要要透過與亨利•沃頓爵士之比較，發掘多利安•格雷這一反中產階級角色的含意，和在探討的過程中指出，亨利•沃頓爵士的行為事實上並未十分附合一個反中產階級角色應有的表現。最後，由於雌雄同體的多利安•格雷成功地示範了美的膚淺表面之豐富潛力，第三章著力於檢視他所帶有的坎普(camp)意義。總而言之，多利安•格雷的出現不只印證了維多利亞對男孩的模糊性別形象特徵的要求，他也成為了一個前衛的性別形象，預示著二十世紀坎普理論對深度主體的挑戰。隨著論文進入尾聲，讀者將可發現這位美少年反映了王爾德對迷人的年輕男孩的愛，同時也揭示了他與維多利亞中產階級的異性霸權之激烈衝突。

Abstract The thesis re-examines and establishes the deviant gender image of Dorian Gray in the context of Victorian intellectual and aesthetic culture. I argue that in The Picture of Dorian Gray, besides the well-known eccentric dandy, Lord Henry Wotton, Dorian Gray is an unprecedented gender figure that has long been ignored by most critics, and should thus be explored in details. Historically speaking, Oscar Wilde’s portrayal of this androgynous youth is not a singular, personal creation; the fictional character in fact crystallizes the Victorian Oxonians’ aesthetic pursuit of beautiful boy with ambiguous gender traits. And curiously enough, Dorian Gray is not only a captivating boy who employs the power of an invincible beauty, but also a sinner who hurts and kills both himself and others, and is therefore entirely excluded from the middle-class society. It is thus interesting to trace the historical background which moves Oscar Wilde to create such an androgynous character, to analyze how Dorian Gray functions as an anti-middle-class figure, and to probe into the possible implication of his overwhelming surface beauty. The first chapter traces the Victorian cultural phenomena such as the Oxford Movement, Uranian poetry, W. E. Gladstone and Walter Pater’s aesthetic claim, and speculates the recurrently depicted androgynous characters in Wilde’s works, who are the young king, Mr. W. H., and Dorian Gray. The second chapter aims at exploring the anti-middle-class implication of Dorian Gray, through comparing him with Lord Henry Wotton, whose behaviors in fact never quite fulfills the anti-middle-class mode. The third chapter scrutinizes the camp sensibilities in the androgynous Dorian Gray, since he successfully exemplifies the rich potentialities of the shallow surface of beauty. In a word, Dorian Gray does not only epitomize the Victorian demands of boy’s ambiguous gender appearance, but also serves as an avant-garde figure that anticipates the twentieth-century camp challenge of deep subjectivity. He mirrors Oscar Wilde’s love for the enchanting youthful boy, and in the meantime unfolds his bitter conflicts with the heterosexual hegemony of the Victorian middle class.