对山姆谢泼德的《被埋葬的孩子》中畸形父子关系的原型解读教材

1、An archetypal interpretation of the Perverted relations between the father and sons in Buried Child 对被埋葬的孩子中畸形父子关系的原型解读 摘要 山姆谢泼德擅长将个人生活经历写入其家庭剧，描写家庭中常见的矛盾， 而且延续古希腊悲剧题材，将古希腊神话，圣经故事和西方文学中反复出现的原 型主题运用到创作中，表达严肃的主题。其家庭三部曲之一被埋葬的孩子里 就到处是男人间的战争，充斥着父亲对儿子的提防和儿子对父亲的僭越。本文以原型理论为依据，以父亲与儿子们各自鲜明的形象和怪诞的举止为切入点，分析贯穿戏剧

2、始终的死亡一一再生主题以及仪式化现象，从而解读父子间畸形关系的 渊源所在。关键词：被埋葬的孩子；原型理论；死亡再生主题；仪式化；父子关系AbstractSam Shepard prefers to in tegrate his own life experie nces into his family plays, followi ng the themes of Greek tragedies, with motifs recurri ng in Greek mythologies or Biblical stories, as well as expressing serious them

3、es. The typical one of his family trilogy Buried Child is a good example, which is surrounded by man war, filling with the father s guard ing aga inst his sons and the sons arrogati on to their father. Basedon archetypal theory and using the absurd behaviors and dist inct images of the father and hi

4、s sons as a breakthrough point, the thesis an alyzes the death-rebirth theme and rituals going throughout the whole play so as to in terpret the orig in of the perverted relati on betwee n the father and his sons.Key words: Buried Child; Archetypal Theory; Death-Rebirth Theme; Rituals; Perverted rel

5、ationBuried Child, an elegy for the falling traditional values and awakening of American Dream, is Sam Shepard epresentative drama wi nning the Pulitzer Prize in 1979, the one with a str ong color of Gothic mystery, absurd and horror. The whole play revolves around a “ family secret ” , for which th

6、e family meeb all suffer different degrees of loss of self and torture and alie nate with each other, especially the the father Dodge and his two sons Tilde n and Bradley. Fin ally they find their own way back to being human with the secret s coming out杜新he wash.（宇,2007）Shepard applies the subject m

7、atter of Greek mythologies and tragedies into the play, imitating Eugene O Neill styte, and makes death-rebirth theme go throughout the story.（韩曦,1997） Under the repressive dull atmosphere, the whole family entangle and torture together surro un ded with con flicts betwee n husba nd and wife, father

8、 and sons. The perverted relati on betwee n Dodge and his two sons Bradley and Tilde n becomes the focus of the play.The story happe ns in an America n Midwest family, which is a huge emoti onal wastela nd. Dodge, the patriarchic father, is old and sick, only gets some comforts from whiskey and twi

9、nkli ng televisio n; his wife Halie flirts with a priest to get his support ing of sett ing a statue for her dead sonAn sei; their elder son Tilde n was once a vigorous all-America n but now nearly an idiot, and his brother Bradley lost his left leg in an accident, weak- min ded but abusive; the gra

10、ndson Vi nee is a young musicia n, coming home with his girlfriend Shelley but confronted with everybody s deni al. Being absurd and empty, all of them are substitutes of archetypal characters from Greek myth or classical tragedies. For example, Dodge is like a falling “ king guarding his scepter in

11、 James George Frazer s masterpieceThe Golde n Bough, while Bradley and Tilde n are rebellious sons with Oedipus complex.The thesis mainly focus to interpret the causes of the perverted relati on betwee n the father and his sons, mea nwhile the death-rebirth theme and recurri ng rituals throughout th

12、e story are aslo expla in ed. And the perverted relation is analyzed from two aspects: one is the father s guard ing aga inst his sons, the other is the sons arrogati on to their fatDodge s guard ing aga inst his sons can be perceived from his defe nse of the symbolized subjects of his “ kingship b”

13、waring of Tilden and Bradley eve n Vi nee to his impolite ness to Shelley. And the series of ridiculous and absurd description of Dodge s appearanee, behaviors andIan guage can be used as a win dow. For example, the descripti on in act one “sittingon the couch, facing the TV the blue light flickerin

14、g on his face.he c6vsred himself in an old brow n bla nket . now and the n he takes a bottle out from un der a cushi on of the sofa and take a long swigand also in his talk with Halie, Dodge an swered, “ my appeara nee is out ofhis domain! It even out of mine! In fact, it disappeared! I nan in visib

15、le man!” A nd his wife Halie blames him, “ Y oisit here day and ni ght, festeri ng away! Deeompos ing! Smelli ng up the house with your putrid body! Hacking your head off until all hours of the morning! Thinking up mean, evil, stupid things to say about your own fresh and blood. ” (Shepard, 1981) In

16、 the talk with Tilden, Dodge said,“I dto talk about anything! I don want to talk about troubles or what happe ned fifty years ago or thirty years ago or the racetrack or Florida or the last time I seeded the corn! I don t want to talk period. Talking justwears me thi n.” (Shepard, 1981)Through all t

17、hese details, it can be see n thaDodge s in his dining years of life, self-seali ng, keep ing a dista nee from families, and lets his body and spirit goes corrupt while at the same time he comically defe nds his kin g-like dig ni ty. he is like a divi ne ki ng watchi ng all his properties, regard in

18、g his baseball cap as the crow n, bla nket as the rope or shelter, sofa as the throne, and refuses to give up the dignity of being in power.(刘玉菡,2014) This kind of patriarch s refusal of passing power tothe n ext gen eratio n can find its archetypal corresp onding in Frazer The Golde n Bough.In The

19、Golde n Bough, Frazer men ti oned an old custom in an cie ntRome. On the northern shore of the little woodland of Nemi stood thesacred grove and sanctuary of the goodness. In the sacred grove there grew a certa in tree. A grim priest was ordered to prowl round the tree at any time of the day, especi

20、ally at ni ght, with a draw n sword in his hand. He kept peeri ng warily around as if at every in sta nt he was expect ing to be set upon by an en emy. Since anyone who came close to the tree might break off a bough of it, the n the one was bestowed the privilege to duel with him. A can didate for t

21、he priesthood could only succeed to office by slayi ng the priest, and hav ing slai n him, he reta ined office till he himself was slain by a stron ger or a craftier. Such was the rule of the san ctuary. (Frazer, 2009: 13)In ancient beliefs, the rise and the fall of nature power of productivity were

22、 related to god or king li4e force. Therefore, if the king is weak and old, yet not willi ng to hand over the crow n to ano ther pers on, his subjects would be in trouble or disaster because of his denial of abdication. That the so-called king death and resurrection ritual. (Frazer, 2009) Obviously

23、in Buried Child Dodge is the old king while Brealey, Tilde n and Vi nee are the rivals for the thr one, but Dodge refuse to finish the death-rebirth ritual, that s why there s always a war amongthem.Dodge s bewari ng ofhe rivals is obvious. He persuadesTlide n to leave the house, belittles Bradley i

24、dentity and denies Vince kinship. The evidences are everywhere. He said to Tilden,“You re a grown mYou shouldn t be needing your parents at your age. It s unnatural. Tnothing we can do for you now any way. Could n ybu make a liv ing down there? Couldn ytou fin d some way to make a living? Support yo

25、urself? What dyacome back here for? You expect us to feed you forever? And when Halie said Bradley was born in the house, so the house is his as much as theirs, Dodge refuted, “ Hevas born in a hog wallow.he was born in a goddamn hog wallow! That where he was born and that s where he belongs! He doe

26、sn t belongs in this housethese goes to show that in stead of regard ing them as his sons, Dodge con siders them as his rivals, and he tries to exile all these un derly ing en emies so as to defe nd his kin gdom.Besides, Dodge s deliberate Ianguage attacks to Shelley is also kind of his psychologica

27、l reflecti on. The vulgar words “ fetch in gsmart-ass, fireball and temporary stuff he used to describe Shelley indicates his detest towards women because of his wife s betrayal. As the patriarch ofthe family, he cannot tolerate Halie adultery with their son and her attempt to hide the secret and ta

28、ke the illegitimate son as his. More importa ntly, the in cest suggests his ide ntity in this family as husba nd and father has vani shed, and it does not meet the moral prin ciples and rules of Christia ni ty. Which stre ngthe ns his hostile towards the pote ntial rivals who may violate his throne.

29、As for the sons arrogation to their father, it can be proved by ananalysis of their inner Oedipus Complex. The complex is named after Oedipus Rex, a hero in Sophocles Oedipus the King who killed his fatherand married his mother accide ntally. It is used to describe boys desire for their mother, and

30、jealousy and an ger towards their fathers. The same is true to the two rebellious sons Bradley and Tilde n iBuried Child. There are many absurd ritualized sce nes seem in gly un related with the plot that suggest their Oedipus Complex. In act one, when Dodge is sound sleep, Tilde n just sits stari n

31、g at him for a while, the n checks to see if Dodge s well asleep. He pulls out the bottle hidden under the cushion, takes a long drink and sticks it in his own pocket. Then he gathers an armload of corn husks and crosses back to sofa. He looks dow n at Dodge as he gently spreads the corn husks over

32、the whole length of Dodge s body. After another drink, he gathers more husks and repeats the procedure un til Dodge is completely covered in them except for his head. (Shepard, 1981:82) Tilden s cold violenee and nonsense behavior reveal his inner desire to kill and bury his father.And as Bradley en

33、 ters the house, he eve n pushes this kind of desire to an extreme, “ He looks at Dodge s sleeping face aihdahakes his disgust. He violently knocks away some of the husks, then jerks off Dodge baseball cap and throws it down center, Dodge stays asleep, Bradley switches on the clippers. Lights start

34、dimming. Bradley cuts Dodge s hair while he sleeps. Lights dim owly to black with the soundof clippers and rain.(Shepard, 1981:82) Accordi ng to the talks betweenHalie and Dodge, we know it he second time Bradley abusively cutDodge sair when Dodge is sound sleep. Since hair is the symbol ofone s hea

35、d or dignity, Bradley s violenee shows his disrespect and hatredto his father. Meanwhile the change of lights indicates the decliningcon diti on as well as power of Dodge.In gen eral, sons rebellious beari ngs result from their perverted lovefor their mother. In Buried Child, Shepard proved it in de

36、tails throughBradley and Tilde n s odd acti ons in front of Shelley .In Act two, Tilde n exposes his inner desire for wome n directly through his con tact with Shelley. Tilden keeps moving around Shelley slowly in a circle, and stares at her coat. He asks for a touching of it. After being approved,

37、Tilde n gen tly feels the fur aga in and aga in. Fin ally he eve n puts it on.These series of gen tle touch ing and feeli ng of the fur gives away Tilde n strong desire to acquire and possess. Si nee Halie out, Shelley is considered as a temporary substitute of Halie in Tilden s heart. TheOedipus Co

38、mplex also drives Bradley s odd impulse. He calls Shelley aprostitute and forced to stick his hand into her mouth, which can be see n as a ritual of sex.Moreover, Tilden and Bradley s cowardice in front of their motherHalie is ano ther evide nee. Whe n Halie mistakes Tilde n for steali ng thecorn, a

39、nd said,“You re going to get kicked out of this house, Tilden, ifyou don tell me where you got that corn! (Shepard, 1981:76) Tilden starts crying softly to himself but keeeps husking corn. As is referred, Tilde n is in his late forties and has no thi ng to do at home except stay ing in the backyard.

40、 Facing Halie s blame, all he can dcirig jkike arychild who worries in furiate his mother and losi ng her love.Needless to say Bradley, the typical one being outwardly aggressive and in wardly coward. He is hostile to every one except his mother Halie. He arrogates his father, laughs at his brother

41、and scared Shelley, but whe n Halie criticizes him for Dodge s blanket)e just lies back down on the sofa, turns his back toward Halie, and whimpers softly like a baby. After Halie ksowing what he has done to Shelley, Bradley is so eager to clarify hi mself that he reputes,“ I never did anything! I n

42、ever touched her!She propositi oned me! And I tur ned her dow n. She s notiy type, you know, mom.” (Shepard, 1981:120) so, as the temporary substitute of Halie, Shelley is symbolically sexual assaulted by both Tilden and Bradley. They take the molestation as a psychosexual fulfillment of marryi ng t

43、heir mother.Throughout the process of the plot, from Dodge s illiberal defense cthe symbolized subjects of his kinship, Tilden spreading corn husks over Dodge boSy and stealing the whiskey to Bradley s cutting Dodgehair and tak ing up the bla nket and sofa, as well as the follow ing Halie and Vi nee sett ing rose aside Dodge. All of which seems to hold certai nrituals that share somethi ng in com mon. As is men ti oned in preced ing parts, these seem in gly similar rituals can find their archetypes in responding to“ Killing the king and king -rebirth tradieoth姜萌