★瓶中美人的電影海報★
【 The Applicant 】 Sylvia Plath
First, are you our sort of a person?
Do you wear
A glass eye, false teeth or a crutch,
A brace or a hook,
Rubber breasts or a rubber crotch,
Stitches to show something’s missing? No, no? Then
How can we give you a thing?
Stop crying.
Open your hand.
Empty? Empty. Here is a hand
To fill it and willing
To bring teacups and roll away headaches
And do whatever you tell it.
Will you marry it?
It is guaranteed
To thumb shut your eyes at the end
And dissolve of sorrow.
We make new stock from the salt.
I notice you are stark naked.
How about this suit─
Black and stiff, but not a bad fit.
Will you marry it?
It is waterproof, shatterproof, proof
Against fire and bombs through the roof.
Believe me, they’ll bury you in it.
Now your head, excuse me, is empty.
I have the ticket for that.
Come here, sweetie, out of the closet.
Well, what do you think of that ?
Naked as paper to start
But in twenty-five years she’ll be silver,
In fifty, gold.
A living doll, everywhere you look.
It can sew, it can cook,
It can talk, talk , talk.
It works, there is nothing wrong with it.
You have a hole, it’s a poultice.
You have an eye, it’s an image.
My boy, it’s your last resort.
Will you marry it, marry it, marry it.
聽著美麗年輕的女詩人,跨越時空鏗鏘有力的朗讀這首詩,
不禁對她早熟的才華感到佩服。
(
http://dcc.ndhu.edu.tw/trans/chenli/Plath.htm#The_Applicant)
詩中她藉著婚姻仲介業者的第三人稱口吻,
紮紮實實的把婚姻市場的交易手法揶揄一遍:
先生,你健康嗎?不健康,沒關係,毋須自怨自艾,我們會想盡辦法包裝你,
你言之無物嗎?不要沮喪,我這裡有許多女人也是這樣的,
你要的是會縫紉會烹調的女人嗎?沒問題,我們儲藏室多的是這樣的女人呢,
你要不要娶”它”?你要不要買下這個活生生的玩偶呢?
★1956年與同為詩人的丈夫Ted Hughes相視而笑,兩人的結合羨煞旁人★
Sylvia Plath(1932-1963)作為一名50年代的女詩人(生平介紹:
http://mypaper.pchome.com.tw/news/ncucherie/3/1277191532/20061224234154/#centerFlag),
可以想見當時保守的社會風氣並不鼓勵女人出頭,
寫作,再加上寫晦澀難懂的詩,難免已不被社會主流價值觀認同,
更何況自己的丈夫是一名得獎無數的詩人,在他的光環之下,
Sylvia Plath 要如何認同自我存在的價值呢?
於是她選擇那個年代的女人自我認同的方式:與具有社會地位的老公結婚,
犧牲自我寫作時間與靈感養育子女,甚至試圖原諒老公的偷腥外遇,
彷彿她的人生從此就可以獲救重生,沒有悲傷與哭泣.......
依循電影的脈絡來看,我們清楚感受到青春時期的Sylvia Plath 最是快樂,
她輕盈踩踏腳踏車滑進大學校園那一幕,在我們心底激起無數水花,
她站在輕舟上朗誦喬叟的詩給牛群聽,那種姿態連魚兒都害羞的躲起來了呢,
但是,她生命中的歡樂並不多,接下來現實生活加諸她的考驗越來越多,
一顆纖弱敏感的心,哪承受得住接踵而來的壓力呢?
憂鬱的她嘗試在現實瓶頸中捉住一條可以攀爬的繩索,那條繩索是詩,
於是她前所未有的瘋狂寫詩,寫出一首首暴烈震撼的詩,
出版了詩集《巨神像》(The Colossus)。