现实百态 》 笑面人 The Man Who Laughs 》
雨果與《笑面人》
維剋多·雨果 Victor Hugo
《笑面人》是雨果在一八六九年寫成的長篇小說。這部小說以十七世紀末和十八世紀初的英國社會為背景，也就是從詹姆士二世起到他的女兒安妮女王統治英國的那個時期。 小說主人公格溫普蘭是一個爵士的後代，從小就被賣給兒童販子，成為宮廷陰謀的犧牲品。他落到兒童販子之手以後，被迫動過毀容手術，臉孔因此始終像在怪笑一樣。後來，他被好心的流浪人於蘇斯所收養。從此，他就跟着於蘇斯到處賣藝。格溫普蘭在見到於蘇斯之前，還在雪地上救起過一個女嬰——就是盲姑娘蒂，好心的於蘇斯也把她收養了下來。他們幾個人四海飄泊，受盡貧窮與不幸的折磨，但是他們並沒有嚮環境屈服，他們彼此之間充滿着誠摯的感情。在顛沛流浪生活中格溫普蘭和盲姑娘蒂之間也漸漸産生了愛情。 後來格溫普蘭有機會重新獲得爵士的頭銜，他卻厭惡貴族生活，在議會痛斥了貴族罪行後，回到自己的同伴那裏。這時蒂已經病得奄奄一息，終於去世，格溫普蘭悲痛萬分，結果投海自殺。 格溫普蘭的悲慘遭遇從而發生的那個時期，正是英國資産階級革命後不久，資産階級和新貴族建立了君主立憲政體。革命的結果對人民來說，衹是資本主義的枷鎖代替了封建主義的枷鎖。財富和特權集中在一小撮統治階級手裏，廣大人民依舊過着苦難深重的生活。
《笑面人》-作品賞析
雨果通過格溫普蘭他們的悲慘遭遇反映了當時的兩個對立的階級的尖銳矛盾：占絶大多數的人民群衆過着貧窮困苦的生活，一小撮上層貴族窮奢極侈，道德敗壞。雨果利用了豐富的歷史文獻生動地列舉了當時英國不平等的社會面貌，揭露統治階級的種種虛偽和醜惡。在小說裏，作者完全站在同情人民的立場上為貧苦大衆作辯護，描繪底層人民的疾苦。笑面人格溫普蘭在貴族院對一些王孫貴族的慷慨激昂的控訴，該是全書的高潮，該是對這樣一個不平等社會的極為淋漓盡致的描繪：人民過着凄慘的日子，無罪的人被定了罪，八歲的小姑娘開始賣淫，煤礦工人拿煤塊填肚子，漁人吃的是樹皮草根，嬰兒睡在地上挖出來的土洞裏。除了貧窮、失業、饑荒、疾病以外，我們看到壓在百姓頭上的還有警察、法律、宗教、秘密逮捕、監獄、酷刑，等等。飽經滄桑的於蘇斯就對格溫普蘭這樣說過：“沉默是窮人唯一的朋友。他們衹可以說一個字：‘是’。承認和同意是他們的全部權利。對法官說‘是’。對國王說 ‘是’。老爺們如果高興，就賞我們幾棍，我就被他們打過，這是他們的特權，他們即使把我們的骨頭打斷，對他們的尊嚴也不會有什麽損害。”他又指出：“你是生活在這樣一個國傢裏：鋸掉一棵三年的小樹，就得安安靜靜地被人送上絞刑架。……主教法庭要是判决你犯了異端邪教的罪，就該活活燒死。” 在另一方面，統治階級享受種種特權，窮奢極侈，拚命壓榨百姓的血汗來供他們揮霍。女王丈夫的年俸一下子就要增加十萬英鎊。苛捐雜稅一樣一樣地增加。 雨果把笑面人格溫普蘭的悲慘故事，就安排在這樣一個環境裏。 格溫普蘭在議會裏的發言，是對那個社會的一個有力的控訴，其實格溫普蘭和他的兩個親人—一於蘇斯和蒂的悲慘遭遇本身，就是一個有力的控訴。統治者的魔手毀滅他們的幸福，即使於蘇斯牢牢守住他的“沉默是窮人唯一的朋友”的信條，他也無法逃避這一隻看不見的、可怕的手。 這幾個善良的可憐的人、他們的命運正是當時英國廣大的勞動人民的普遍命運。雨果在小說中運用了他最為擅長的浪漫主義的對比手法，生動地刻劃了這幾個主要人物的形象。
格溫普蘭的臉是醜的，但是他的內心卻無比美麗。當他被人拋棄，一個人孤孤單單地跟死神搏鬥的時候，他還想到去救另外一個孩子，擔負起另外～個人的命運；他在成為爵士以後，忘記不了百姓的疾苦，痛斥了那些貴族老爺，最後情願拋棄榮華富貴，回到自己的親人身邊。因此，“雖然大傢都認為他是個怪物，可是蒂卻認為他是天上的神仙。”蒂說：“長得醜，這算得了什麽？做壞事纔叫醜。格溫普蘭衹做好事。所以他最漂亮。” 蒂自己呢，是一個瞎子，從小就沒有見過陽光，但是她“眼睛雖然看不見，卻充滿了亮光”。她看得到亮眼人看不到的東西，那便是格溫普蘭的內心的美。她一心愛着格溫普蘭，把格溫普蘭視做她的太陽。這是一個美麗純潔的少女。於蘇斯則是一個善良智慧的老人，他不顧自己窮睏，收留下兩個孤兒，撫養大了他們；他的才智也是驚人的，在他的身上閃耀着勞動人民的智慧的光芒。然而他深受生活的磨難，懂得一套人情世故，在惡勢力的迫害下，他也不得不逆來順受。 在他們三個人之間存在着深厚的感情，他們相依為命，互親互愛，誰也離不開誰，誰也少不了誰。他們之間這種真摯的感情，加強了小說結局的悲劇氣氛。
跟他們形成強烈對照的是安妮女王、約瑟安娜、大衛·第利—摩埃爵士這批人。他們殘暴專橫、作威作福、荒淫無恥、道德敗壞，為了滿足自己的私欲，什麽醜事都做得出來。舉幾個例子看吧：安妮女王憎恨約瑟安娜，以能看到她嫁給格溫普蘭這個畸形人為一大樂事，絲毫也不顧姊妹之情。約瑟安娜和大衛·第利—摩埃兩人都不願意結婚，因為這對各自的放蕩生活有許多便利。約瑟安娜甚至引誘格溫普蘭，想尋找墮落的樂趣，這種行為衹有從她的放蕩無恥的變態心理中可以得到解釋。這個貌若天仙、心似蛇蝎的女人，當她最後知道格溫普蘭是她的真正的丈夫的時候，反而立刻把他趕走，對他說她恨他。
小說的浪漫主義特色還表現在作傢對情節的安排上：整個故事是由許多出人意外的事件聯結而成的。小說一開始，一個孤苦伶仃的孩子給拋棄在荒涼的海岸上，等待着他的衹有死亡，但是他卻逃出了睏境。這樣的開頭就強烈地吸引住了讀者。尤其是第二部第四捲開始，約瑟安娜的來信給格溫普蘭帶來的不安，大海中漂來的葫蘆裏的秘密，格溫普蘭突然一變而為剋朗查理爵士，於蘇斯看見監獄裏扛出一口棺材以為格溫普蘭已被處死，約瑟安娜與格溫普蘭偶然相見，格溫普蘭在議會控訴統治者的罪惡，他尋找親人不見正想跳河時看見那頭幾乎與於蘇斯形影不離的狼狗奧莫，等等，真可以說是波瀾迭起，風雲變幻，而格溫普蘭的形象在這一連串的情節發展中也顯得愈益鮮明。這是這部小說的又一特色。
然而，雨果雖然真實地描敘了一個不平等的社會面貌，但是他對那個社會的本質是缺乏認識的，因此對當時社會的階級矛盾揭露得還是不夠深刻的，也缺少正確的分析。例如，他在刻劃反面人物的時候，卻把一個地位屬於次要的巴基爾費德羅寫成了首惡，似乎沒有這個人物從中施展他的陰謀詭計，格溫普蘭的命運可能就不會如此悲慘。至於把情節發展過多地建築在意外的事件出現上，偶然性太大，也自然而然地衝淡了一出嚴肅的悲劇的性質。此外，作者引經據典、夾議插敘之處也使人感到比較多。這些都可以說是這部作品的不足之處。
雨果與《笑面人》
維剋多·雨果於一八○二年二月二十六日誕生在法國東部伯桑鬆城。雨果的父親，西吉斯貝爾·雨果，本是法國東部南錫一個木工的兒子，法國大時他是共和隊的上尉，曾參加過意大利和西班牙戰爭，在拿破侖時期晉升為將級軍官。
雨果從童年起就在不停的旅遊中度過，他的父親西吉斯貝爾·雨果把妻子和孩子從一個駐紮地帶到另一個駐紮地。雨果一傢從伯桑鬆遷移到厄爾巴，從厄爾巴遷到熱那亞和巴黎，之後又在西班牙居住了一個時期，西吉斯貝爾曾在那裏擔任各種高級官員。雨果則和他的兄弟歐仁在馬德裏學校中念書。
一八一二年初，當西班牙的氣氛急劇變化，在西班牙的法國人受到驅逐出境的威脅的時候，這時已經晉升為將軍的雨果的父親便把妻子和維剋多等幾個孩子送回法國。在法國的傀儡約瑟王被推翻後，西吉斯貝爾·雨果也回到祖國。維剋多·雨果在這一時期目睹波旁王朝的復闢、拿破侖從厄爾巴的歸來等等重大事件。這些重大事件後來對他的創作生活有深遠的影響。
維剋多·雨果在巴黎貴族中學學哲學和數學，父親想叫兒子入著名的工業專門學校，結果沒有成功，因為維剋多·雨果酷愛文學。他從十四歲起便開始寫作，而在十五歲上就已經因為自己的詩篇《讀書之益》得到法蘭西科學院的奬賞。年輕的雨果這時已才華漸露，他於是决心放棄鑽研數學，把自己的一生獻給文學。
雨果從小就受到父親和母親的觀點的影響，父親反對波旁王室，母親卻是君主政體的積極擁護者，一個保皇主義者。因此，雨果好像經常處在兩種敵對的衝突的環境中。雨果由於早年受到母親的影響較多，思想一度比較保守，曾經歌頌過波旁王朝的復闢；但後來逐漸轉變，同情資産階級，反對封建勢力。一八五一年雨果因諷刺了拿破侖三世，，長達十九年。拿破侖三世被推翻以後，他重返祖國，曾任第三共和國國會議員。雨果雖對一八七一年巴黎公社的性質及其全部偉大意義未能認識，並不贊成，但在公社失敗後，曾竭力維護害的公社社員，把自己在布魯塞爾的府邸開放給避難者。
雨果一生的創作時期長達六十年之久，是個多産的作傢，也是個多産的詩人，他的主要作品有長篇小說《巴黎聖母院》、《悲慘世界》、《海上勞工》、《笑面人》、《九三年》，詩作《懲罰集》、《兇年集》和劇本《剋侖威爾》、《歐那尼》等。他前期的創作，基本上是站在資産階級人道主義立場上，同情人民疾苦，希望通過改良社會，解决矛盾。後期創作有一定的現實主義因素。
《笑面人》是雨果在一八六九年寫成的長篇小說。這部小說以十七世紀末和十八世紀初的英國社會為背景，也就是從詹姆士二世起到他的女兒安妮女王統治英國的那個時期。
小說主人公格溫普蘭是一個爵士的後代，從小就被賣給兒童販子，成為宮廷陰謀的犧牲品。他落到兒童販子之手以後，動過毀容手術，臉孔因此始終像在怪笑一樣。後來，他被好心的流浪人於蘇斯所收養。從此，他就跟着於蘇斯到處賣藝。格溫普蘭在見到於蘇斯之前，還在雪地上救起過一個女嬰——就是盲姑娘蒂，好心的於蘇斯也把她收養了下來。他們幾個人四海飄泊，受盡貧窮與不幸的折磨，但是他們並沒有嚮環境屈服，他們彼此之間充滿着誠摯的感情。在顛沛流浪生活中格溫普蘭和盲姑娘蒂之間也漸漸産生了愛情。
後來格溫普蘭有機會重新獲得爵士的頭銜，他卻厭惡貴族生活，在議會痛斥了貴族罪行後，回到自己的同伴那裏。這時蒂已經病得奄奄一息，終於去世，格溫普蘭悲痛萬分，結果投海自殺。
格溫普蘭的悲慘遭遇從而發生的那個時期，正是英國資産階級後不久，資産階級和新貴族建立了君主立憲政體。的結果對人民來說，衹是資本主義的枷鎖代替了封建主義的枷鎖。財富和特權集中在一小撮統治階級手裏，廣大人民依舊過着苦難深重的生活。
雨果通過格溫普蘭他們的悲慘遭遇反映了當時的兩個對立的階級的尖銳矛盾：占絶大多數的人民群衆過着貧窮困苦的生活，一小撮上層貴族窮奢極侈，道德敗壞。雨果利用了豐富的歷史文獻生動地列舉了當時英國不平等的社會面貌，揭露統治階級的種種虛偽和醜惡。在小說裏，作者完全站在同情人民的立場上為貧苦大衆作辯護，描繪底層人民的疾苦。笑面人格溫普蘭在貴族院對一些王孫貴族的慷慨激昂的控訴，該是全書的，該是對這樣一個不平等社會的極為淋漓盡致的描繪：人民過着凄慘的日子，無罪的人被定了罪，八歲的小姑娘開始賣淫，煤礦工人拿煤塊填肚子，漁人吃的是樹皮草根，嬰兒睡在地上挖出來的土洞裏。除了貧窮、失業、饑荒、疾病以外，我們看到壓在百姓頭上的還有、法律、宗教、秘密逮捕、監獄、酷刑，等等。飽經滄桑的於蘇斯就對格溫普蘭這樣說過：“沉默是窮人唯一的朋友。他們衹可以說一個字：‘是’。承認和同意是他們的全部權利。對法官說‘是’。對國王說‘是’。老爺們如果高興，就賞我們幾棍，我就被他們打過，這是他們的特權，他們即使把我們的骨頭打斷，對他們的尊嚴也不會有什麽損害。”他又指出：“你是生活在這樣一個國傢裏：鋸掉一棵三年的小樹，就得安安靜靜地被人送上絞刑架。……主教法庭要是判决你犯了異端邪教的罪，就該活活燒死。”
在另一方面，統治階級享受種種特權，窮奢極侈，拚命壓榨百姓的血汗來供他們揮霍。女王丈夫的年俸一下子就要增加十萬英鎊。苛捐雜稅一樣一樣地增加。
雨果把笑面人格溫普蘭的悲慘故事，就安排在這樣一個環境裏。
格溫普蘭在議會裏的發言，是對那個社會的一個有力的控訴，其實格溫普蘭和他的兩個親人—一於蘇斯和蒂的悲慘遭遇本身，就是一個有力的控訴。統治者的魔手毀滅他們的幸福，即使於蘇斯牢牢守住他的“沉默是窮人唯一的朋友”的信條，他也無法逃避這一隻看不見的、可怕的手。
這幾個善良的可憐的人、他們的命運正是當時英國廣大的勞動人民的普遍命運。雨果在小說中運用了他最為擅長的浪漫主義的對比手法，生動地刻劃了這幾個主要人物的形象。
格溫普蘭的臉是醜的，但是他的內心卻無比美麗。當他被人拋棄，一個人孤孤單單地跟死神搏鬥的時候，他還想到去救另外一個孩子，擔負起另外～個人的命運；他在成為爵士以後，忘記不了百姓的疾苦，痛斥了那些貴族老爺，最後情願拋棄榮華富貴，回到自己的親人身邊。因此，“雖然大傢都認為他是個怪物，可是蒂卻認為他是天上的神仙。”蒂說：“長得醜，這算得了什麽？做壞事纔叫醜。格溫普蘭衹做好事。所以他最漂亮。”
蒂自己呢，是一個瞎子，從小就沒有見過陽光，但是她“眼睛雖然看不見，卻充滿了亮光”。她看得到亮眼人看不到的東西，那便是格溫普蘭的內心的美。她一心愛着格溫普蘭，把格溫普蘭視做她的太陽。這是一個美麗純潔的少女。於蘇斯則是一個善良智慧的老人，他不顧自己窮睏，收留下兩個孤兒，撫養大了他們；他的才智也是驚人的，在他的身上閃耀着勞動人民的智慧的光芒。然而他深受生活的磨難，懂得一套人情世故，在惡勢力的下，他也不得不逆來順受。
在他們三個人之間存在着深厚的感情，他們相依為命，互親互愛，誰也離不開誰，誰也少不了誰。他們之間這種真摯的感情，加強了小說結局的悲劇氣氛。
跟他們形成強烈對照的是安妮女王、約瑟安娜、大衛·第利—摩埃爵士這批人。他們殘暴專橫、作威作福、荒淫無恥、道德敗壞，為了滿足自己的私欲，什麽醜事都做得出來。舉幾個例子看吧：安妮女王憎恨約瑟安娜，以能看到她嫁給格溫普蘭這個畸形人為一大樂事，絲毫也不顧姊妹之情。約瑟安娜和大衛·第利—摩埃兩人都不願意結婚，因為這對各自的放蕩生活有許多便利。約瑟安娜甚至引誘格溫普蘭，想尋找墮落的樂趣，這種行為衹有從她的放蕩無恥的心理中可以得到解釋。這個貌若天仙、心似蛇蝎的女人，當她最後知道格溫普蘭是她的真正的丈夫的時候，反而立刻把他趕走，對他說她恨他。
小說的浪漫主義特色還表現在作傢對情節的安排上：整個故事是由許多出人意外的事件聯結而成的。小說一開始，一個孤苦伶仃的孩子給拋棄在荒涼的海岸上，等待着他的衹有死亡，但是他卻逃出了睏境。這樣的開頭就強烈地吸引住了讀者。尤其是第二部第四捲開始，約瑟安娜的來信給格溫普蘭帶來的不安，大海中漂來的葫蘆裏的秘密，格溫普蘭突然一變而為剋朗查理爵士，於蘇斯看見監獄裏扛出一口棺材以為格溫普蘭已被處死，約瑟安娜與格溫普蘭偶然相見，格溫普蘭在議會控訴統治者的罪惡，他尋找親人不見正想跳河時看見那頭幾乎與於蘇斯形影不離的狼狗奧莫，等等，真可以說是波瀾迭起，風雲變幻，而格溫普蘭的形象在這一連串的情節發展中也顯得愈益鮮明。這是這部小說的又一特色。
然而，雨果雖然真實地描敘了一個不平等的社會面貌，但是他對那個社會的本質是缺乏認識的，因此對當時社會的階級矛盾揭露得還是不夠深刻的，也缺少正確的分析。例如，他在刻劃反面人物的時候，卻把一個地位屬於次要的巴基爾費德羅寫成了首惡，似乎沒有這個人物從中施展他的陰謀詭計，格溫普蘭的命運可能就不會如此悲慘。至於把情節發展過多地建築在意外的事件出現上，偶然性太大，也自然而然地衝淡了一出嚴肅的悲劇的性質。此外，作者引經據典、夾議插敘之處也使人感到比較多。這些都可以說是這部作品的不足之處。
齊越
一九七八年三月
英國的一切都是偉大的，連不好的東西，甚至它的寡頭也不例外。從字義上說，英國的貴族社會是名符其實的貴族社會。沒有比這個封建制度更有名氣，更可怕，更根深蒂固的了。說實在的，封建制度在當時是有用的。在英國，應該研究“貴族統治”這個現象，正如在法國應該研究“君主統治”這個現象一樣。
這部書的真正名稱應該叫做《貴族》。接下來的一部可以叫做《君主》。假如作者能夠完成這兩部著作，那麽，下面接着寫的第三部書自然就應該叫做《九三年》了。
一八六九年四月，
於奧特斐爾—豪斯。
The Man Who Laughs is a novel by Victor Hugo, originally published in April 1869 under the French title L'Homme qui rit. Also published under the title "By Order of the King". Although among Hugo's most obscure works, it was adapted into a popular 1928 film, directed by Paul Leni and starring Conrad Veidt, Mary Philbin and Olga Baclanova.
Background
Hugo wrote The Man Who Laughs, or the Laughing Man, over a period of fifteen months while he was living in the Channel Islands, having been exiled from his native France due to the controversial political content of his previous novels. Hugo's working title for this book was On the King's Command, but a friend suggested The Man Who Laughs.
Plot summary
The first major character whom the reader is introduced to is a mountebank who dresses in bearskins and calls himself Ursus (Latin for “bear”). His only companion is a large domesticated wolf, whom Ursus has named Homo (Latin for “man”, in a pun over the Hobbesian saying "homo homini lupus"). Ursus lives in a caravan, which he conveys to holiday fairs and markets throughout southern England, where he sells folk remedies.
The action moves to an English sea coast, on the night of January 29, 1690. Hugo sets this date precisely, but nowhere in the narrative does he link it to any specific real-world historical event. A group of men, their identities unknown to us, are urgently loading a ship for departure. A boy, ten years old, is among their company, but the men are anxious to be rid of him. While the boy desperately pleads not to be abandoned, the men leave him behind and cast off.
The desperate boy, barefoot and starving, wanders through a snowstorm and reaches a gibbet, where he finds the corpse of a hanged criminal. The dead man is wearing shoes: utterly worthless to him now, yet precious to this boy. Beneath the gibbet, the boy finds a ragged woman, frozen to death. The boy is about to move onward when he hears a sound within the woman's garments: He discovers an infant girl, barely alive, clutching the woman's breast. Hugo's narrative describes a single drop of frozen milk, resembling a pearl, suspended from the dead woman's nipple.
Although the boy's survival seems unlikely, he now takes possession of the infant in an attempt to keep her alive. The girl's eyes are sightless and clouded, and he understands that she is blind. In the snowstorm, he encounters an isolated caravan, the domicile of Ursus.
The action shifts forward 15 years, to England during the reign of Queen Anne. We meet the Duchess Josiana, a spoiled and jaded peeress who is bored by the dull routine of court. A courtier tells the duchess that the only cure for her boredom is “Gwynplaine”, although he does not divulge who or what this Gwynplaine might be.
Now we are reunited with the wanderers. Ursus is 15 years older now. Surprisingly, the wolf Homo is still alive too, although the narration admits that his fur is greyer. Gwynplaine is the abandoned boy, now 25 years old and matured to well-figured manhood. In a flashback, we witness the first encounter between Ursus and Gwynplaine. The boy is clutching a nearly-dead infant, and therefore Ursus is outraged that the boy appears to be laughing. When the boy insists that he is not laughing, Ursus takes another look, and is horrified. The boy's face has been mutilated into a clown's mask, his mouth carved into a perpetual grin. The boy tells Ursus that his name is Gwynplaine; this is the only name he has ever known.
The foundling girl has grown older too. Now sixteen years old, she has been christened Dea (Latin for “goddess”), presumably by Ursus. Dea is blind but beautiful and utterly virtuous. She is also in love with Gwynplaine, as she is able to witness his kindly nature without seeing his hideous face. When Dea attempts to “see” Gwynplaine by passing her sightless fingers across his disfigured countenance, she assumes that he must always be happy because he is perpetually smiling. They fall in love.
Ursus and his two surrogate children earn a bare living in the funfairs and carnivals of southern England. Everywhere they travel, Gwynplaine keeps the lower half of his face concealed. He is now the principal wage-earner of their retinue; in each town they visit, Gwynplaine gives a stage performance; the chief feature of this performance is that the crowds are invariably provoked to laughter when Gwynplaine reveals his grotesque face.
At one point, Ursus and Gwynplaine are readying for their next performance when Ursus directs Gwynplaine's attention to a man who strides purposefully past their fairgrounds, dressed in ceremonial garments and bearing an elaborate wooden staff. Ursus explains that this man is the Wapentake, a servant of the Crown. (“Wapentake” is an Old English word meaning “weapon-touch”.) Whomever the Wapentake touches with his staff has been summoned by the monarch and must go to wherever the Wapentake leads, upon pain of death.
Josiana attends one of Gwynplaine's performances, and is sensually aroused by the combination of his virile grace and his facial deformity. Hugo makes it clear that Josiana's feelings towards Gwynplaine are erotic and sexual. Gwynplaine, too, is aroused by the physical beauty and haughty demeanour of this sensuous woman.
Suddenly, the Wapentake arrives at the caravan and touches Gwynplaine with his staff, compelling the disfigured man to follow him to the court of Queen Anne. Gwynplaine is ushered to a dungeon in London, where a physician named Hardquannone is being tortured to death. Hardquannone recognises the deformed Gwynplaine, and identifies him as the boy whose abduction and disfigurement Hardquannone arranged twenty-three years earlier.
In the year 1682, in the reign of James II, one of the king's enemies was Lord Linnaeus Clancharlie, Marquis of Corleone and a baron in the House of Lords. The king arranged the baron's abduction and murder. The baron, already widowed, left a two-year-old son: Fermain, heir to his estates. With the king's approval, Hardquannone gave this helpless boy to a band of wanderers called “the Comprachicos”.
“Comprachicos”: this word is Hugo's invention, based on the Spanish for “child-buyers”. They make their living by mutilating and disfiguring children, who are then forced to beg for alms, or who are exhibited as carnival freaks.
It becomes clear that, after disfiguring the two-year-old Fermain and renaming him Gwynplaine, the Comprachicos kept him in their possession until they abandoned him eight years later in 1690, on the night when he found Dea. Their ship was lost in the storm at sea, with all hands, but one passenger considerately wrote out a confession and cast this adrift in a sealed flask, which now has belatedly come to the attention of Queen Anne.
Dea is saddened by Gwynplaine's protracted absence. Dea has always been frail, but now she withers away even more.
Gwynplaine is now formally instated as Lord Fermain Clancharlie, Marquis of Corleone. In a grotesque scene, he is dressed in the elaborate robes and ceremonial wig of investiture, and commanded to take his seat in the House of Lords. But, when the deformed Gwynplaine attempts to address his peers — now his peers in the literal sense — the other lords are provoked to laughter by Gwynplaine's clownish features.
Gwynplaine renounces his peerage and returns to the caravan of Ursus, and to the only family he has ever known. Dea is delighted that Gwynplaine has returned to her. The four friends (including Homo) cast off aboard a vessel to the continent, resolved to abandon England forever. During the voyage, while Ursus slumbers, Dea reveals her passion to Gwynplaine, and then she abruptly dies. When Ursus awakens, Gwynplaine has vanished, and Homo is staring mournfully over the ship's rail, into the open sea, implying that Gwynplaine has drowned himself.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
There have been several dramatic adaptations of The Man Who Laughs. These include:
Film
See The Man Who Laughs (film) for the full list
Theatre
* Clair de Lune, a stage play written by Blanche Oelrichs under her male pseudonym Michael Strange, which ran for 64 performances on Broadway from April to June 1921. Oelrichs/Strange made some extremely arbitrary changes to the story, such as altering the protagonist's name to “Gwymplane”. The play features some very contrived and stilted dialogue, and would probably never have been produced if not for the fact that Oelrichs's husband at this time was the famed actor John Barrymore, who agreed to play Gwymplane and persuaded his sister Ethel Barrymore to portray Queen Anne. The ill-starred drama was dismissed as a vanity production, indulged by Barrymore purely to give his wife some credibility as playwright “Michael Strange”. The review by theatre critic James Whittaker of the Chicago Tribune was headlined “For the Love of Mike!”
* In 2005, The Stolen Chair Theatre Company recreated the story as a "Silent film for the stage." This adaptation pulled equally from Hugo's novel, the 1927 Hollywood Silent film, and from the creative minds of Stolen Chair. Stolen Chair's collectively created adaptation was staged as a live silent film, with stylized movement, original musical accompaniment, and projected intertitles. Gwynplaine was brought to life by Jon Campbell and was joined by Jennifer Wren, Alexia Vernon, Dennis Wit and Cameron J. Oro. It played in NY to critical acclaim and has been published in the book, Playing with Cannons.
* In 2006 the original story was adapted into musical by Alexandr Tumencev (composer) and Tatyana Ziryanova (Russian lyrics) and entitled 'Man Who Laughs' ('Человек, который смеётся'). This musical adaptation is performed by the Theatre of musical "Seventh Morning" starting from November, 6.
Comics
* In May 1950, the Gilberton publishing company produced a comic-book adaptation of The Man Who Laughs as part of their prestigious Classics Illustrated series. This adaptation featured artwork by Alex A. Blum, much of it closely resembling the 1928 film (including the anachronistic Ferris wheel). The character of Gwynplaine is drawn as a handsome young man, quite normal except for two prominent creases at the sides of his mouth. As this comic book was intended for juvenile readers, there may have been an intentional editorial decision to minimise the appearance of Gwynplaine's disfigurement. A revised Classics Illustrated edition, with a more faithful script by Al Sundel, and a painted cover and new interior art by Norman Nodel, was issued in the spring of 1962. Nodel's artwork showed a Gwynplaine far more disfigured than the character's appearance in either the 1928 film or the 1950 Classics edition.
* A second comic book version was produced by artist Fernando de Felipe, published by S. I. ARTISTS and republished by Heavy Metal Magazine in 1994. This adaptation was intended for a mature audience and places more emphasis on the horrific elements of the story. De Felipe has simplified and taken some liberties with Hugo's storyline. His rendering emphasizes the grotesque in Hugo and excludes the elements of the sublime that are equally important in the original.
Allusions/references from other works
The Joker, as drawn by Brian Bolland. This is one of many artists' renditions of the supervillain who was visually inspired by The Man Who Laughs.
* In 1869, while living in Buffalo, New York, Mark Twain published a parody of L'Homme qui Rit in the Buffalo Express newspaper. The parody attempted to offer parallels between Gwynplaine and Andrew Johnson, the scandal-plagued President of the United States at that time. The parody was not a success, and is of minor interest only because of its author's later prominence.
* In 1940, comic book artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger used Gwynplaine's lanky physique and grotesque grin as the visual inspiration for the Joker, Batman's archenemy. There the similarity ends, however; Gwynplaine is an embittered hero, while the Joker is a psychopathic criminal.
In the 1970s, Bob Kane acknowledged the inspiration for the Joker, and it was later explicitly referenced in the graphic novel, Batman: The Man Who Laughs. Comic book artist Brian Bolland said that watching The Man Who Laughs was one of his inspirations for drawing the graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke (1988). In the episode "Wild Cards" of the Justice League animated series (2003), The Joker infiltrated a TV station by using the alias "Gwynplaine Entertainment." Another point to note is the similarity of the name Hardquannone, the rescued physician, and the Jokers psychiatrist (later lover and partner in crime) Harley Quinn.
* Gwynplaine's physical appearance may have inspired "Sardonicus", a story by Ray Russell published in Playboy in 1961. This gothic horror tale describes a man who has experienced a shock so terrifying that he undergoes a medical condition called Risus sardonicus, in which his face is permanently paralyzed into an exaggerated grin. Russell's story was filmed that same year as Mr. Sardonicus, a low-budget horror film by William Castle, featuring one of the gimmicks for which that producer was famous: halting the projection of the movie a few minutes before it ended, ostensibly so that the audience could vote on whether Sardonicus would live or die. Allegedly, the projectionist had two different endings available, and would screen the one reflecting the audience's verdict. In reality, however, only one ending was ever filmed or shown, with Sardonicus starving to death, his handicap preventing him from eating.
* The novelist and essayist Ayn Rand adapted Hugo's term “Comprachicos” for her own purposes in a noted essay, published in The Objectivist in 1970. Rand used the term “Comprachicos” to designate various forces in society which — either through well-meaning ignorance or outright malice — distort and deform children's souls and minds in an attempt to force them into social conformity. She considered The Man Who Laughs to be Hugo's best novel.
* Pinball, a 1982 novel credited to Jerzy Kosinski, features a female character named Andrea Gwynplaine. As there is no parallel between Kosinski's novel and Hugo's, it was not immediately clear why this character was so oddly named. After Kosinski's death, it was determined that at least two uncredited “ghost writers” made substantial contributions to this novel and other works credited to Kosinski: one of those uncredited co-authors was journalist F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre, who had previously named himself after Hugo's protagonist, and who inserted the name “Gwynplaine” into the text of Pinball as a clue to his participation.
* In James Ellroy's book The Black Dahlia, the mutilation murder of Elizabeth Short is partially inspired by a painting of Gwynplaine. The painting ends up being the one of the major clues in solving the murder.
* A short story by the name of The Laughing Man is featured J.D. Salinger's Nine Stories. It appears to be influenced by The Man Who Laughs, featuring an individual facially disfigured in his childhood by criminals who have kidnapped him.
* In the 2008 movie "The Dark Knight" the character "The Joker" appears to take a more direct influence physically from Gwynplaine as his permanent grin appears to be caused by a mutilation to his face.
* In H.G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau, Moreau refers to L'Homme qui Rit when explaining the nature of his experiments to the protagonist.
* In the new Rob Zombie album, Hellbilly Deluxe 2, the last song is titled "The Man Who Laughs" and is based on the story of the same name.
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请给我换一个看看！ 拜托，快把噪音停掉！我读累了，想听点音乐或者请来支歌曲！
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