| Abstract: | 本論文援引艾倫‧西蘇(Hélène Cixous)之陰性書寫與西格蒙德‧弗洛伊德(Sigmund Freud)之本能衝突心理分析，試圖探討田納西‧威廉斯(Tennessee Williams)《慾望街車》(A Streetcar Named Desire)劇中男女主角的對立關係，以及女主角心理層面的欲望與死亡衝突。第一章著重於分析白蘭琪與史丹利對立衝突的外在肇因。雙方成長背景的差異、懸殊的身份地位、以及各自所遵循的文化標準，皆清楚地揭示出男女主角的南轅北轍與之後無法避免的衝突。第二章前半部佐以西蘇之費絡斯中心(phallocentrism)概念，探討史丹利在伊里郡(Elysian Fields)如何利用性別差異的基礎建立以男性為中心的國度，進而分析他如何利用暴力手段使其男性權力地位屹立不搖。第二章後半部將援引西蘇之陰性書寫概念，試圖論述劇作家如何透過白蘭琪這個角色以書寫陰性(femininity)與欲望來打破費落斯中心所強加於女性身體的偏見:女性應該是沈默的、被動的不存在體。第三章試圖從兩種不同觀點探討白蘭琪的內在自我衝突。第三章前半部將著眼於弗洛伊德的愛欲與死亡本能衝突(the instinctual opposition between Eros and death)，歸結白蘭琪是因為對其丈夫自殺的罪惡感無法釋懷，而導致她以自我折磨的方式不斷地徘徊、沈淪於欲望與死亡的陰影之中。第三章後半部將透過西蘇對寫作與死亡具有相互關連性的理念，探究白蘭琪在劇中的欲望抒發/威廉斯於《慾望街車》的欲望書寫如何與死亡作連結，進而從瀕臨死亡的邊境中挖掘出人生真理。白蘭琪在劇末的徹底精神崩潰不應完全被視之為女主角悲劇性的殞落。劇作家威廉斯或許透過史黛拉的小孩與白蘭琪之間的多種巧合性，暗示史黛拉的嬰兒出生那一刻即是白蘭琪重生的開始。白蘭琪因「慾望街車」之旅讓她能夠恢復被男性所剝奪的女性身體自主權權利，甚而開啟建立女性身份的契機。
Drawing on Hélène Cixous’s écriture féminie and Sigmund Freud’s instinctual dualism of Eros and death, this thesis attempts to explore how gender differences and the alloy of human instincts─desire and death─provoke the opposition between Blanche DoBois and Stanley Kowalski and especially Blanche’s inner conflict with herself in Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Chapter One will focus on the external factors which cause Blanche to be opposed to Stanley and vice versa. Their differences in social backgrounds─Blanche is the representative of southern aristocrat while Stanley is that of working class─clearly prefigure their incompatibility. From the perspective of Michel Foucault’s concept of social regulation and normalization, their differences in social norms in terms of their social backgrounds─Blanche adheres to the southern aristocratic norm while Stanley advocates the primitive norm─lead to their ensuing opposition in Elysian Fields. Chapter Two will turn to Cixous’s concept of phallocentrism to explore another cause of their inexorable antagonism, that is to say gender differences. Throughout many poker nights in this play, Stanley could be conceived of as the king who seizes the throne of Elysian Fields by means of male potency, subjugation of female characters, and violence against those who try to pose a challenge to his authority. Blanche attempts to stage a revolt against Stanley’s phallocentric realm by abetting Stella to emancipate from her husband’s ferocity. Based on Cixous’s concept of écriture féminie, Blanche’s abundant desires could be regarded as a way of inscribing her feminine desires onto her body (or expressing Williams’s sexuality in this drama), since the playwright claims that he identifies with Blanche. The revelation of her desires transgresses the phallocentric inhibition that women should be passive nonentities and even disorients Stanley’s male potency. Chapter Three will deal with Blanche’s inner opposition between desire and death from two perspectives. The first half of this chapter will attempt to decipher the enigma of her inner conflict in terms of Freud’s psychic opposition between the instinct of Eros and that of death. Blanche’s self-torment, in the form of having intimacies with strangers and capitulating to Stanley’s rape, is driven by her sense of guilt for her husband Allan’s suicide, that is to say the derivative of the instinct of death. The second half of this chapter will turn to Cixous’s concept of writing through death to shed light on her inner association of desire with death. Based on Cixous’s affirmation that the only passage for a writer to penetrate into truths is through death, we could deduce that Blanche’s initiation of intimacies/William’s commencement of writing are both on the verge of death: she undergoes Allan’s death, while he withstands his sister Rose’s total derangement. To sum up, Blanche’s ultimate nervous breakdown should not be completely interpreted as her final downfall. To a certain degree, Tennessee Williams, in the disguise of Blanche, may suggest that the birth of Stella’s baby appears to be Blanche’s rebirth. Through the journey of desire release, she recuperates her identity as a woman/human in lieu of a silent nonentity. |
