德伯家的苔丝第一季

I may still let myself get immersed in the tragic mood after watching Tess of the D'Urbervilles, thus this opera review will seem quite emotionally unstable, or even becoming extremism, anyway, I must write down sth. after watching this tragedy, which, to my understanding, can never be categorized as a tragic romance. Honestly, I am not sympathetic with anyone in this drama, including Tess, all of whom have been living life in their own way, no intention of being judgmental here.

 

But I must get clear on my own thoughts, why, I mean why Tess fell so much in love with Angel and ended herself up in such misery? I can not tell any merits from Angel from the very beginning, even back to that May Dance on the lawn, come on, at the first glance, I conclude that he is an emotional unstable youngster who can barely bear any responsibility, en, I am also way too poignant. He adopted dual moral standards, I bet Tess's life would be getting better, or even a happy ending with Alec or other normal but kind man without ever getting the chance to meet Angel. I am more than willing to adapt this sentence "If we had danced that day, how happy we might have be" to " If we have hadn't met on that day, how happy I might have be", poor Tess, you got the wrong way!

 

There is no doubt that Angel is a devil, but this can still make no difference to Tess if she chose to keep that secret what she has already sworn to her mum, an incapable but intelligent mum who always cared for Tess. That's to say, Tess's purity should be blamed, at least partly, for her own tragedy, devil needs counterparts not a real angel to match with each other. In the mean time, Tess is a perfectionist, she can't stand any flaws lying between Angel and herself, yes, her pursuit of perfect love without any reserve from that man she deeply loves predicts her destiny. Poor Tess, there is never ever perfect love like you imagined in the real world, why not let go of the past and move on? Purity, Perfectionism, they are far from the worst part of Tess's characters, when I saw how pleased and relieved she was after hearing Angel's confession of his own misbehavior, I can't help feeling badly sad for this poor girl, she shall know the principle of equity can't be translated into reality, especially a world ruled by men back then, which is almost the case nowadays. Till now, Purity, Perfectionism, and Principle of equity, I don't think these suffice to lead Tess to hanging, here comes the last but the most important reason: her poignancy. I feel uncomfortable to put this poor girl like this, but truth will prevail anyway. Frankly speaking, I can't resist getting angry while seeing how mean and cruel she has behaved towards Alec, whose inside equals outside, who is the only character in the drama never pretending to be an angel. I believe he really tried best to get a fresh lease of life by means of following god and disseminating his doctrine as a preacher, and he may go astray for temptation again. I am not entitled to judge whether he is a devil, but I don't think he deserves being stabbed by a bread knife. He is much better than Angel, he may ask for an exchange for his life-saving offer, come on, an imaginary angel can't save your family from starvation, but a real devil can. That's the unmerciful truth of life, fighting against it or living in untopianism may incur real troubles, which are well expressed in Tess's story.

 

Of course, we can still scold Alec as many others have already done over these years and we should despise Angel who deserves vicious blame. There is a book review telling that this story was intended to be against religious authorities, say, Christian, I should say I can't be more happy for Angel's non-belief in God, otherwise I would feel twice hurt because of his selfish behavior. Anyway, I should not be that much judgmental, as Tess's experienced mum has put it like this " This one is not different from the other".

 

In the here and now, my point is: what can we girls learn from Tess's story? Yes, it's just a fictive novel narrating a story happening long long ago and far far away...but there must be sth. in common which is applicable even today. Shortly, I emphasize that Tess' s purity, perfectionism, principle of equity, and poignancy (4P) ended herself up in hanging, and others in undeserved death or life-time self-accusation...I am currently incapable of delving deep into analyzing these "4P "characters, I however never imply that they are harmful, to the contrary, they are real goodness, which I appreciate a lot and try best to observe, in god's name. But we sometimes must adapt our principles to surroundings, not bending but catering to the society where we are born and destined to die, I must call myself a fool if I insist on becoming an angel so as to expect another one, so, come to the basics: it really matters how we live in this world, but how? I have no idea of this!

 

I will pray for God to guide me in life.

目前看了两集。一共四集。此观感随时更新。

演员选的挺好。演Tess的Gemma Arterton的确有小说里Tess的气质。哈代描写过Tess的嘴唇是微微上翘的，每句话说完之后嘴唇会孩子气的向上一撅。这个特点Gemma Arterton也有，不晓得是天生的还是训练出来的。
演Alec D'urberville的那家伙尤其好，第一次看他的蓝眼睛就觉得阴森，满是lust的阴森。
Angel Clare比起以上两个稍稍逊色一些，但也很不错了。

第二集里那几个挤奶女工的戏也是忠实原著的。Marian高大壮硕，Izz苍白理智，Retty小巧而神经质。Angel Clare把她们一个个抱过积水潭的情节是文学历史上最经典的情节之一（个人以为）。

有一些细节处理的很动人。例如：其他三个女工看着窗外的Angel，每个人都爱他，都恨不得明天就嫁给他。但是有人说：我们谁也嫁不成。因为他最喜欢Tess Durbeyfield。Tess背对着她们，听到这句话，幸福的闭上眼睛。真是动人的细节，一个年轻女子知道自己喜欢的人也喜欢自己时的那种心情。

The Independent有评论说此版本忽略了一些原著里含有的ambiguity。最明显的一处是：Tess在狩猎林里被Alec...的那个清晨，小说里的描写很模糊：rabbit和hare偷偷的跳来跳去，黑暗和寂静笼罩着一切，狩猎林里立着古老的的橡树和紫杉，鸟儿在沉睡着。那么守护Tess的天使在哪里？

为我的翻译表示道歉。以下引用原文：
Darkness and silence ruled everywhere around. Above them rose the primeval yews and oaks of The Chase, in which there poised gentle roosting birds in their last nap; and about them stole the hopping rabbits and hares. But, might some say, where was Tess's guardian angel? where was the providence of her simple faith?

此段中的描写含有性暗示（rabbit是哈代对sex的影射 - 此评论说），除此之外，还有含糊的意味。即，Tess在这一过程中的反应是模糊的：她当然是被迫的，但是这其中肯定有一定程度的被诱惑，并参杂了少女情窦初开的一时糊涂。在电视改编版本中Tess的惊叫把这一情节等同于强奸。此外小说中的Tess在被Alec在狩猎林里侵犯之后还和他继续过了一星期。记得我看的译本中说她“糊里糊涂的委身于他”。电视里她第二天就愤怒的离开，这个安排削减了哈代小说中的模糊性和复杂性。

    最后还是决定看一看《苔丝》的电影版本，1979年版，172分钟。想起自己还是文学专业，难得有时间不看真的对不起自己这个专业。于是，看完这部电影，竟有那么多复杂的想法。皱皱眉头，还是凑合写出来看看效果吧。
    不知为什么会选择重温爱情主题的电影，但是，文学没有爱情，也就难以称其为文学吧；同样，爱情欠缺悲剧，也难以称为真实的爱情吧。
    带着在选读里看到的选段的构想，电影果然是少了很多的情节，不过，还是拍出了整部作品的线索：苔丝（Tess）为了摆脱家庭经济上的困境，被迫借着德伯世家的头衔投靠家亲戚阿列克（Alec），被迫失去了贞洁；后离开阿列克赴农场与安吉尔·卡莱尔（Angel Clare）相识，因安吉尔无法接受苔丝被玷污而离苔丝而去最后顿悟，苔丝被推至绝望边缘杀死阿列克与却安吉尔私奔未果最终走上绞刑场。
    不禁会想起霍桑的《红字》。虽然两者创造的时代背景并不相同，但是可以说哈代和霍桑拥有着相同的焦点，那就是对所谓高尚的社会道德伦常的讽刺和挑战。其实比较分析不难发现，霍桑所创作的的《红字》，背景是17世纪的美国波士顿，一个深受清教主义传统道德伦理枷锁束缚最深的地方；类似地，《苔丝》所描述的是19世纪末20世纪初维多利亚时期下工业资本主义迅猛发展的英国社会。两个社会背景都强调一个人活着要坚守传统的习俗和礼义，否则便被视为社会的异端。现实犯下的过错都一并归结为道德的过失和异常，遭社会的排斥、控诉和唾弃。而在这种表面高尚的价值观下，人性本身又普遍隐藏着种种的私欲和伪善，正如资本主义疯狂地崛起那般，轰隆隆的机器无情地粉碎了昔日宁静而和谐的农场关系，人与人之间的关系变得更为复杂。与此同时，趋于对物质的也已变形的崇拜淹没了人们内心对于道德的再理解，而为了表现文明，整个社会还要穿上皇帝的新装，却难以掩盖其狰狞而破陋的本质。清教徒认为海斯特是个贱女人，丈夫还是个满口宣扬仁义礼智的牧师，前夫苦心复仇；一如苔丝的命运，几经坎坷和挣扎，却始终无法逃离毁灭的命运。从她们勇敢地表达自己的欲望，从她们义无反顾地为自己为家庭为爱情赎罪的那一刻起，她们已经被这个所谓正经的世界遗弃。但如今想想，这样的结局不只是具有单纯悲剧的性质，至少站在哈代这位著名的批判现实主义作家的角度来看，对受罚者的嘲笑和鞭打，实质上是对施罚者的嘲笑和控诉。
    哈代给这部作品加上了一个副标题：“A pure woman”，引发了和《红字》里关于红字A意义同样的讨论。人们习惯从苔丝自身分析pure的意义，但我觉得要讨论pure，需要介入两重视角，即既要立足与苔丝自身两度经历来谈pure，又要站在当时社会层面来解读。非常明显，苔丝的悲剧是诸种社会因素合力的结果，在当时的社会限制性下，这种关于纯真和世故、工业和农业、欲望和道德的冲突无法避免，对此作出的种种挑战而产生的悲剧也是难以逃脱。苔丝敢于大胆反抗传统道德、追求幸福，然而她却不能彻底摆脱传统道德对自身的羁绊，这又表现了她性格软弱的一面。她在受到世俗舆论、传统道德戕害的同时，可悲的是她同样用这一道德标准来静观自己，这就使她的悲剧显得更浓重、更深沉。苔丝是暴力的受害者，是无辜的，她明白这一点，但是在受到乡里人非议的同时，她也认为自己是“有罪”的。她“根据陈腐无聊的习俗，布置了不同情自己的形体和声音”，用“一堆使自己无故害怕的道德精灵”来恐吓自己。即使在大自然中间，“老是把自己看作一个罪恶的化身，侵犯了清白的领地”。这种静观的结果，必然造成她内在的自我折磨和谴责，因此，使她所受的磨难，所遭受的不幸和痛苦，就更加沉重和强烈。苔丝按照传统的贞操观来衡量自己的清白与否，她比别人更不能忘记自己的“耻辱”。几年过去了，随着岁月的流失，村子里的人几乎不大记得她的遭遇了，“但是她看得很明白，她在那儿就老得难受。”她远离亲人、故乡来到无人知道的塔布篱，为的就是忘掉自己的过去。克莱的爱使她感到幸福，可是在体验到幸福的同时，感受到更多的是内心的痛苦与折磨，是恐惧、不安、悔恨和羞耻。这一切都表明苔丝无法忘记过去，更无法卸掉背在自己身上沉重的精神十字架。她似乎天生灵魂有罪，注定永远受折磨，永远遭痛苦，心灵永远不的平静。这种“灵魂有罪”，使她负疚、自责，使她即使被克莱无情抛弃，也认为是自己的罪过，默默忍受命运的摆布。因此，她在遭到世俗舆论、传统道德迫害的同时，又受制于它的道德准则，毫不留情地责难自己；她在大胆地反抗传统道德的同时，又囿于它的观念成为传统维护者。这就从更深层次上表现了传统道德对苔丝人性的迫害、心灵的扭曲。这点和《红字》里的狄姆斯台尔（Dimmesdale）具有相似的心理构成。苔丝性格中真善美的毁灭，是社会的扼杀的结果，但悲剧的形成又同性格的内在矛盾不可分割。哈代要表现的，也许就是通过悲剧的形式，展示欲望在一个虚伪的社会里是怎样被解读为不纯洁的东西。在一个一直宣扬道德高尚的维多利亚社会，其实最为肮脏的是道德本身，因为它对于灵与肉的冲突法则无法达成统一的看法，就如卡莱尔让苔丝原谅自己以往的堕落，却无法原谅苔丝犯过的过失。但即使说苔丝存在道德的过失，也并非出于私欲，而是为了成全家庭才被迫做出自我牺牲。面对只有欲望的性爱，她承认自己的错并决意离开，顶受一切自立起来。可见她的灵魂依然能用pure来辩护。
    哈代的宿命论、悲观主义和怀疑主义在这部作品里也有体现。苔丝的悲剧无疑成为哈代宿命论的一个象征性的宣示。苔丝的家庭背景，到她的两次悲惨遭遇，以至于其反抗、挣扎、自我救赎到最后走向毁灭，都很难读得出名叫“希望”的东西。对于苔丝，无论是阿列克还是安吉尔，她都爱不起，也恨不起，每一次绝望的反抗，都意味着把自己一步步推向自我毁灭的边缘。这场三角关系，可能是文学史上最纠结的关系，带着二十二条军规性质的矛盾：因了阿列克，安吉尔无法承受苔丝的过去；为了能和安吉尔相守，绝望之下的苔丝杀死阿列克，却随着陷入了将要逮捕的另一网子里。谁都始终无法成全谁真正的爱恋。这种宿命论的观点成了哈代特色的创作基调。同时，作为一名现实主义者，哈代对当时资本主义的永恒性所抱的怀疑态度也反映在苔丝对于传统道德社会的徒劳反抗之上。现实的危机与不可克服的矛盾，宗教与传统道德对现实矛盾与危机的掩饰，一切表面的正义和高尚，也许在哈代眼里，都是有待质疑的地方。
    总的来说，哈代的这部《苔丝》就像是一股暗流，虽然不算激越，但是能给所有一本正经的道德主义者一个惊诧的信号，让他们猛然回头，重新审视真实的社会，需要面对的是一种怎样的真实。