美国国家公共电台 NPR Bloody-Scepter'd 'Tyrant' Explores Shakespeare's Take On Politics

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Shakespeare wrote great tyrants² - Macbeth, the Scott who plots a bloody³ route to the throne. Richard III, the brother of a king and rudely stamped, in Shakespeare's phrase, who murders his way into power and madness. Coriolanus, the Roman ruler who believes power in the hands of citizens is like permitting crows to peck the eagles and betrays his city. Lear. Lady Macbeth. Henry VI. Julius Caesar. One of Shakespeare's themes is how men and women may lust⁴ for power and use it in the worst way.

Stephen Greenblatt, the award-winning Shakespeare scholar, writer and professor of the humanities at Harvard, has looked once more at the works which have inspired him during a time that concerns him. His book is called simply "Tyrant¹." Professor Greenblatt joins us from his campus. Thanks so much for being with us.

STEPHEN GREENBLATT: Thank you, Scott.

SIMON: You say that Shakespeare wrote histories to write actually about the present. And without comparing yourself to Shakespeare, are you doing the same in this book?

GREENBLATT: Yes, Scott. We are always doing this. We look at the past in order to understand something about the present. We bring the concerns of the present to understand something about the past. And I am trying to think through a somewhat disorienting moment by looking away from that moment back 400 years to the past.

SIMON: What fascinated Shakespeare about tyrants?

GREENBLATT: Shakespeare kept asking himself really all his career, how is it possible for societies with apparently⁵ stable institutions and with ordinary self-interest for them to fall into the hands of catastrophic leaders?

SIMON: And also, the question - I guess you begin with the question of, why would people be drawn⁶ to those kinds of rulers?

GREENBLATT: Yes. He wants to know, especially because people often know that the aspiring⁷ rulers are liars⁸, impulsive⁹, dangerous demagogues, why is it that people embrace them? Because after all, Shakespeare understood as we understand that people are concerned about their own interests. So he's fascinated by what I call in the book the enablers, the people who help someone of this kind, even in the clear-sighted knowledge of what they're dealing¹⁰ with, to achieve their ambitions.

SIMON: But if great writers and scholars are arguably more interested in tyrants often than ordinary people, why would we expect anything less of citizens?

GREENBLATT: Well, the question is why citizens would walk into what appears to be a terrible trap. And Shakespeare had some ways of thinking about this, partly thinking about what happens when party politics become bitterly factionalized, partly thinking about the lure¹¹ of fraudulent populism. What happens to make people embrace leaders who have no respect for existing institutions or laws, to identify with the bullying¹² of the weak, to accept lies that appear to be told without consequences? But as I say, he's also interested in how one might get out of this situation, how one might escape from the lure or the fascination¹³.

SIMON: And did he see a route out?

GREENBLATT: He didn't think it was easy, but I think he thought there were a variety of different ways that might lead out, starting of course with what he took, I think, to be the worst attempt to get out, namely assassination¹⁴. But there are other ways. He's interested in a variety of resistance leaders. He's interested in those who speak truth to power - often women, actually, in his plays. He thinks about what it means to feel that you're genuinely a servant the way a nameless servant, the remarkable¹⁵ nameless servant, is in "Lear" or "King Lear" who stops his master from torturing a suspected traitor¹⁶.

And then he thinks about ordinary people, about voters. But he didn't think that Richard III came to power only by murder or by blood. He thought he came to power by election. And Shakespeare was fascinated by the notion that people would elect someone like that. And then he also was fascinated by the possibility that you wouldn't elect someone like, you'd remain silent as in - the crowd first does in "Richard III."

Or marvelously, at the end of his career, Shakespeare thought in a very sustained way about what it would mean for politicians, low-level, ordinary politicians, to insist on the observing of democratic procedures and voting procedures as they do in that play "Coriolanus." And that is what in effect defeats the rising tyrant.

SIMON: Stephen Greenblatt, his book "Tyrant" - thanks so much for being with us.

GREENBLATT: Thank you, Scott.

1 tyrant   

n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人

参考例句：

• The country was ruled by a despotic tyrant.该国处在一个专制暴君的统治之下。
• The tyrant was deaf to the entreaties of the slaves.暴君听不到奴隶们的哀鸣。

2 tyrants   

专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 )； 暴君似的人； （古希腊的）僭主； 严酷的事物

参考例句：

• The country was ruled by a succession of tyrants. 这个国家接连遭受暴君的统治。
• The people suffered under foreign tyrants. 人民在异族暴君的统治下受苦受难。

3 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

4 lust   

n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望

参考例句：

• He was filled with lust for power.他内心充满了对权力的渴望。
• Sensing the explorer's lust for gold, the chief wisely presented gold ornaments as gifts.酋长觉察出探险者们垂涎黄金的欲念，就聪明地把金饰品作为礼物赠送给他们。

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

7 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

8 liars   

说谎者( liar的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The greatest liars talk most of themselves. 最爱自吹自擂的人是最大的说谎者。
• Honest boys despise lies and liars. 诚实的孩子鄙视谎言和说谎者。

9 impulsive   

adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的

参考例句：

• She is impulsive in her actions.她的行为常出于冲动。
• He was neither an impulsive nor an emotional man,but a very honest and sincere one.他不是个一冲动就鲁莽行事的人，也不多愁善感.他为人十分正直、诚恳。

10 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

11 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

12 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

14 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

15 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

16 traitor   

n.叛徒，卖国贼

参考例句：

• The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
• He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。