“In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants. The other is getting it.”
中文译文：世上只有两种悲剧，一种是得不到你想要的，另一种是：得到。奥斯卡·王尔德（Oscar Wilde）
——英国电影《王尔德的情人》（English: Wilde）
电影上映时间（Film release dates）1997年9月1日
这句话出现在电影的结尾，作为王尔德经历牢狱之灾、身败名裂、妻离子散之后的人生总结。影片讲述了英国文学天才王尔德与年轻俊美的道格拉斯爵士之间不为世人所容的爱情故事，这场恋情最终被道格拉斯的父亲告上法庭，王尔德被判两年苦役，从此由巅峰坠入深渊。这句台词是王尔德在影片中的最后一句独白（last lines），既是对自己一生的回望，也是对欲望与命运之间永恒矛盾的冷峻解构——他得到了渴望的爱情，却为此失去了整个世界。
This line appears at the end of the film, as Oscar Wilde reflects on his life after imprisonment, social ruin, and the collapse of his family. The film tells the story of the great Irish writer’s love affair with the young and handsome Lord Alfred Douglas—a relationship that, once discovered by Douglas’s father, led to Wilde being sentenced to two years of hard labor, descending from the pinnacle of fame to utter disgrace. This line is Wilde’s final monologue in the film (his last lines), serving both as a reflection on his own life and a cold deconstruction of the eternal tension between desire and fate—he obtained the love he craved, yet lost everything else in return.
这句话最致命的讽刺在于，它将”得到”与”得不到”同时判处为悲剧，从而堵死了人类所有的退路。王尔德用这短短一句话，对”欲望”本身完成了彻底的祛魅——人们总是以为悲剧在于”求而不得”，但王尔德以自己的一生为注脚告诉世人：得到，往往是另一种更隐蔽、更彻底的失去。他得到了与道格拉斯的热烈爱情，却失去了名誉、家庭、自由，乃至作为”奥斯卡·王尔德”这个符号的全部社会生命。那句”世界在我掌握中，我却掌握不住对你的感情”，与片尾的这句悲剧宣言形成了完美的呼应——你越渴望的东西，得到它的那一刻，往往也是它开始吞噬你的那一刻。
欲望的本质是匮乏，而匮乏一旦被填补，欲望本身就失去了存在的理由。得不到时，痛苦源于”缺”；得到之后，痛苦则可能源于”不再渴望”本身所带来的空虚感，或是得到之物与想象之间那道永远无法弥合的鸿沟。王尔德将这两种状态并置为”两种悲剧”，实则是在宣告：悲剧的根源不在”得”与”不得”之间，而在于”欲望”本身。只要你还想要什么，悲剧的剧本就已经写好了。
在维多利亚时代的背景下，这是王尔德对自己命运的清醒预言。他曾是伦敦最耀眼的天才，唯美主义的旗手，却因为”不敢说出名字的爱”被社会彻底抛弃。他得到过掌声、金钱、爱情，最终得到的却是监狱的铁窗和墓碑上的尘埃。影片结尾这句话的震撼力，正因为它是一个亲身经历过全部”得到”与”失去”的人，在生命的最低处给出的终极判决——命运从不许诺幸福，它只许诺过程，而这个过程无论走向哪一端，都以悲剧收场。
从更广阔的文学视角来看，这句话延续了王尔德一贯的”悖论式”智慧（paradoxical wit）。他惯于用看似自相矛盾的句式，击穿人们对世界的固有认知。就像他说的”我能抗拒一切，除了诱惑”，以及”我们都生活在阴沟里，但仍有人仰望星空”——这些句子之所以成为金句，正是因为在它们精巧的反转之中，藏着一种看透人性真相之后的通透与绝望。而”两种悲剧”这句话，或许是所有这些悖论中最残忍的一句：它不提供任何出路，不给出任何安慰，只是冷冷地告诉你——你逃不掉的。
The most devastating irony of this statement lies in the fact that it condemns both “getting” and “not getting” as tragedies, thereby cutting off all avenues of escape for humanity. With this brief statement, Wilde thoroughly demystified “desire” itself—people always assume that tragedy lies in “seeking but not obtaining,” but Wilde, using his own life as a footnote, told the world: obtaining is often another, more hidden and more complete form of loss. He gained a passionate love with Douglas, yet lost his reputation, his family, his freedom, and even his entire social existence as the symbol “Oscar Wilde.” The line, “The world is in my hands, yet I cannot control my feelings for you,” forms a perfect echo with this tragic declaration at the film’s conclusion—the very thing you crave most is often the very moment it begins to devour you the instant you obtain it.
The essence of desire is lack, and once that lack is filled, desire itself loses its reason for existence. When one cannot obtain something, suffering stems from that “lack”; after obtaining it, suffering may stem from the sense of emptiness brought about by “no longer desiring” it, or from the unbridgeable gap between what one has obtained and what one had imagined. Wilde juxtaposed these two states as “two tragedies,” effectively declaring that the root of tragedy lies not in the dichotomy between “having” and “not having,” but in “desire” itself. As long as you still want something, the script for tragedy has already been written.
Against the backdrop of the Victorian era, this was Wilde’s lucid prophecy of his own fate. He had once been London’s most dazzling genius, the standard-bearer of aestheticism, yet he was utterly cast out by society because of a “love that dare not speak its name.” He had once enjoyed applause, wealth, and love, yet in the end, all he was left with were prison bars and the dust on his gravestone. The power of this line at the film’s conclusion stems precisely from the fact that it is the ultimate verdict delivered—at the lowest point of his life—by a man who had personally experienced the full spectrum of “gaining” and “losing”: Fate never promises happiness; it promises only the journey, and no matter which end that journey reaches, it always ends in tragedy.
From a broader literary perspective, this line continues Wilde’s signature “paradoxical wit.” He was accustomed to using seemingly contradictory phrases to shatter people’s entrenched perceptions of the world. Just as he said, “I can resist everything except temptation,” and “We all live in the gutter, but some of us look at the stars”— —these phrases have become timeless quotes precisely because their ingenious reversals conceal a clarity and despair born of seeing through the truth of human nature. And the phrase “two kinds of tragedy” is perhaps the cruelest of all these paradoxes: it offers no way out, provides no comfort, but merely tells you coldly—you cannot escape it.
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