節制、慈悲與傅柯式的反思: 論史賓瑟 《仙后》 中之恩典與自我觀照

Abstract

本論文研究主旨在於以傅柯自我關懷的理論，來探討史賓瑟的史詩《仙后》中，對於後宗教改革時期的男性氣概的重新詮釋與形塑。本研究闡明史賓瑟《仙后》如何重建新的道德秩序與政治想像，使男性氣質的概念游移在暴力式的英雄主義與基督教的慈悲為懷。本文中特別說明史詩《仙后》試圖以女性特質—自我犧牲、自我責罰、對別人苦難的感傷--來重塑新教概念中的男性氣概。 本論文最後說明史賓瑟筆下的宗教特質如慈悲或自我犧牲如何微妙地連結我們對於女性美德的想像，把宗教的柔順特質與對女性的期待糾結在女性角色的呈現上。 本論文分成四個章節。第一章以傅柯的自我關懷及醫療凝視的觀點作為理論框架來理解史賓瑟如何沿襲古典時期自我檢視與自我醫療的類比，並進一步運用傅柯的分析來探討史賓瑟如何用醫藥的比喻來看待人的生存困境，從而使讀者反思健康/疾病概念的二元論述。第二章主要要細察史賓瑟如何透過紅騎士的道德成長來呈現基督教倫理中自我苦行與古典範式中自我形塑的矛盾，其中包括對於新教的崇偶與反偶運動的辨證，本章也探討史賓瑟關於受難他者的詩學呈現並分析史賓瑟如何整合宗教受難的意象與英雄英勇典範來建構一種新的男性氣概的觀點。第三章指出節制傳奇如何將古典及基督教關於自我技藝的概念加以內化，來表意出史賓瑟所認定的節制美德，並闡明史賓瑟的節制美德是必須服膺於基督教關愛他者的律令。第四章主要針對女性角色中對於自我修練與關懷他者的倫理學討論。文中特別以女性主義觀點出發，批判傅柯的自我關懷理論，闡述傅柯所提出的自我關懷的詮釋觀點是從自我修練為起點，關懷他者為目的的思維方式，是以男性為主體為論述基礎，女性傳統上只被認為要符合社會期許: 養育小孩 照護家庭。本章試圖理解當時的宗教背景、史賓瑟所思維的女性美德以及伊莉莎白一世本人的倫理態度，來詮釋女性角色中的自我修為與責任倫理之間的關係。

In this study I investigate Spenser’s attempt to reshape the Post-Reformation masculinity represented in his Faerie Queene, with the help of some Foucauldian reflections on the ethical practices of self-care. My thesis aims to clarify the Spenserian compromise set forth in his poem between violent and erotic heroism on the one hand and Christian benevolence on the other, where this form of mediation embodies a new kind of moral construction and new kind of political imagination. My reading of Spenser’s Faerie Queene serves to show how the poet seeks to redress the concept of Protestant masculinity dominant in his time by mediating it with the more feminine virtues of self-sacrifice, self-pathologizing, and vulnerability to other people’s sufferings. At the end of the thesis, I suggest that Spenser’s representation of mercy and self-sacrifice is also ambivalently associated with his culture’s ideal of feminine virtue in terms of the traditional expectations of womanhood. The thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter One elaborates Foucault’s idea of the medical gaze as a useful framework for understanding Spenser’s conception of the human intellect, locating this analysis in Spenser’s broader critique of medicine which leads us to reflect on how we might treat the notion of the oppositions of health and sickness. Chapter Two turns to a discussion of the Spenserian construction of the self, including the debate regarding the role of idolatry and iconoclasm in the poem. It also examines Spenser’s poetics of the suffering Other and offers an analysis of how he combines the suffering divinity with the heroic ideal to construct a new form of masculinity. Chapter Three points out how Spenser internalizes both ancient and Christian traditions and how he portrays Guyon as a figure of mixed moods or even of a mixed nature. It articulates Spenser’s notion of askesis and also examines the Spenserian representations of the arts of living alongside the Foucauldian perspectives on self-fashioning, interpreting Spenser’s conception of aesthetic existence as a mode of being that has to be based on one’s obedience to God’s design. Chapter Four looks at the types of women’s self-cultivation, suggesting that women’s traditional role of caring of others contrasts with Foucault’s focus on the primacy of self-care.