By the Pricking of My Thumbs...

昨晚看了一齣法國電影節的電影, 名為"By the Pricking of My Thumbs", 法語原名是"Mon petit doigt m'a dit", 中文翻譯為"指拇一豎". 故事改編自著名偵探小說家Agatha Christie同名著作. 明天才刊出已寫好的看電影後感, 今天想說說的是這句莎翁名句的由來.

電影的名稱取自莎翁名劇"Macbeth"(麥克伯), 整句是如此:

By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks!

出現在Act IV Scene I, 女巫乙說的("Macbeth"中學時是有讀過的, 但實在忘記了這句. 中三時做話劇更飾演Lady Macbeth!).


網上找到翻譯如下:

拇指怦怦動, 必有惡人來; 既來皆不拒, 洞門敲自開.

這句喻意是不詳的預兆. 正如莎翁的其他著作中的對白, 許多時都被用作書名或電影名稱.

Wiki有以下解說:

The notion of a pricked thumb came from ancient Rome. It was said by seers that palpitations of the heart, the flickering of the eye and the pricking of a thumb were all warnings of evil. In particular, a pricking sensation in the left thumb was very worrisome.

原來除了"Macbeth"外, Agatha Christie另外有兩本著作的名稱也用了莎士比亞的"Hamlet" 及"Twelfth Night"作啟發的: The Mousetrap(話劇)(Hamlet)及Sad Cypress(Twelfth Night).

更多其他著作啟發自莎翁的: No Sweat Shakespeare