毋宁做我
毋宁做我

I read about the good, the beautiful, the self and love. *The better part of my heart is open.

不完美的苔丝

He had never before seen a women's lips and teeth which forced upon his mind with such persistent iteration the old Elizabethan simile of roses filled with snow. Perfect, he, as a lover, might have called them off-hand. But no -- they were not perfect. And it was the touch of the imperfect upon the would-be perfect that gave the sweetness, because it was that which gave the humanity./Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles

It is the incompleteness that is loved, when love is sterling and true. That is what differentiates the real one from the imaginary, the practicable from the impossible, the Love who returns the kiss from the Vision that melts away. A man sees the Diana or the Venus in his Beloved, but what he loves is the difference./Thomas Hardy, Later Years


克莱暗中窥视劳作的苔丝,后者唇齿间的美仿佛有侵略性,让他老是想起 “玫瑰含雪” 的比喻。这说明苔丝的美本质上有一种天然的魅力,她身体内似乎蕴藏着自然和大地的力量。


面对如此震撼的美,克莱给出了两种反应。如果不暇思索,他会说苔丝是完美的。但冷静思虑后,他不得不承认苔丝的唇齿并不完美。在这里,克莱有意区分了苔丝给他留下的两种印象:“完美” 是幻象,“不完美” 是真相。需要指出的是,苔丝的不完美是相较于女神无暇的仪容而言的,因此这里的不完美绝对不等于平庸或者丑陋。相反,她散发出一种不完美的美好。


苔丝唇齿间的瑕疵虽然让她遗憾从神界跌落到人间,但它造成的不完美却让克莱感到甜蜜。虽然人本性向往完美,但这时克莱的反应却不是幻象:经过抽丝剥茧,他谨慎地将苔丝对他的吸引力落实到她的不完美上。这不是还原,而是试图将强烈的感情模糊的源头具体化的努力。被不完美吸引,表面上有违直觉,克莱却给出了令人信服的解释:他之所以在不完美中感到甜蜜,是因为不完美赋予了苔丝人性。只有人才能让另一个人感到生命的甜蜜,而神却不能;人的价值就在这里。哈代在此借克莱肯定了人的价值,真实的价值。


笼统来说,哈代的很多作品都在探讨一个核心主题:幻觉与真相。二者的张力在他笔下的爱情和婚姻中体现得尤为明显。他对理想化带来的幻觉总是保持警惕,所以他塑造的人物,但凡耽溺于爱的幻觉,最终必定走向灾难。张谷若先生把《苔丝》的第四阶段 “The Consequence” 译作 “兰因絮果”,既契合了苔丝不断下坠的悲剧曲线,也反映了哈代的审美趣味和人生哲学。


哈代的小说通常能够给人以深层次的震撼,不是因为他所写的人物都像神一样的完美而扁平,而是因为他总能够在这些因为幻觉而走上自毁道路的角色身上看到人性。因此,我们便被这些不完美的人吸引,就像克莱被苔丝吸引一样。

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