《紅樓夢》吸收了傳統小說的豐富內涵與深層結構，又進一步加以深化與複雜化，而晉身為足以容受現代西方文學理論之檢證的世界級經典。本文透過西方神話學與原型批評的幫助，探索《紅樓夢》中構成全書敘事架構的原型模式及其細膩環節，釐清《紅樓夢》以賈寶玉為中心人物所形成「啟悟」模式的深層意義，提出更加深入詮釋的可能。據此，可以明確認定賈寶玉所開展的啟悟歷程，並非超越時代的「英雄神話」，而是以「順從」（submission）為基本態度的「成年儀式」，最終使之可能從自己的內心結合起對立的力量，落實為其生活中的均衡狀態，而從母親的世界移往父親的世界、由「男孩」蛻變為「男人」。故《紅樓夢》在其表面上抗拒成長的主觀意圖之下，實質上則是一部逐漸與社會達到協調的成長小說；雖然與英雄神話分享了近似的結構乃至象徵內涵，但從其結果而言，其本質卻屬於「男孩啟蒙」的「成年儀式」。

This article utilizes Western mythological and archetypal criticism to explore the archetypal pattern that constitutes the narrative structure of The Dream of the Red Chamber. The exploration clarifies the mode of Jia Bao-yu’s initiation in the novel: a “rite of passage” adopting “submission” as basic gesture, rather than a “英雄神話 hero myth” aspiring to go beyond the era. Jia’s initiation happens in this way to reconcile conflicting powers in his own heart and to result in balanced life equilibrium, shifting from a world of Mother to a world of Father, from a Boy to a Man. From this perspective, under an apparent motif of resisting growing adult/mature, The Dream of the Red Chamber is in depth a compromising-with-society Buildungsroman. True, it does share with 英雄神話 similar structure and symbolic meanings. Nevertheless, in essence it recounts a “rite of passage” through which a boy is enlightened.

《紅樓夢》;賈寶玉;啟悟模式;成年儀式;神話─原型批評;成長小說

The Dream of the Red Chamber;Jia Bao-yu;initiation mode;Bar Mitzvah （Rite of Passage）;archetypal criticism;Bildungsroman