셰익스피어 극을 통한 인간이해 - 비극을 중심으로

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Every man that searches for spiritual evolution cannot get to the highest state of wisdom without facing the inner-self. Shakespeare's tragedies, King Lear, Macbeth, Hamlet show that tragic heroes should live lives of suffering and ignorance because of the failure of seeing through into the self wrapped with every kind of illusion. They also show how much more a hard job it is that a man should make a ethical choice via self-awareness. Nevertheless, they teach that the hardship is the crucial key to keep man from falling into the state of beast as well.
In King Lear, seemingly trivial faults in the relationship between Lear and Cordelia prove to get to the fatal catastrophe, for actions are taken without the knowledge of true self. Lear's tragedy is brought about by the failure of finding the true cause of his wrath in himself, which energy is uncontrollable to him. Cordelia's hatred towards her sisters who talkatively pay lip services to their father-king in order to 'draw' their fortunes provokes her habit of teaching, which has Lear possessed with the storm of wrath. Lear refuses to be taught. The sense of 'being taught' drives him to madness. Lear must have felt the sense of inferiority for he thinks a king should not be taught. The dragon's wrath is touched by the teaching daughter Cordelia who would not acknowledge that her hatred is caused by refusing the inner desire to take an action the same as her sisters do. So she takes herself for an angel. This is the story of persons who fail in achieving self-knowledge and about a king whose mind is so empty as to deny the whole being as a king.
We can find in Macbeth another king who has never thought of what a king is. When he murders Duncan, Macbeth hesitates because of lack of just cause. His act of bloody slaughter in the battle is applauded as a brave deed to save the state just because it wins the good cause. Finally Macbeth becomes the victim of an illusion that he qualified himself to be a king. To achieve a goal, Macbeth doesn't tell good from bad and takes a shortcut to the gold crown. But once he has won the goal, he cannot live a happy life for he is not ready for being a king. Malcom says that he has no qualities of good king in himself and so if he were to be a king, he will be of great danger to the peace of the state. Malcom's clear insight into his own nature will make him a good king and at least tell to himself that he should make a transcendental choice for he has found out a wide gap between his nature and what a true king is. Macbeth has no choice but to get to the self-destruction for he has never faced into his true nature, which is full of bloody-mindedness and cowardice.
We can find three persons, in Hamlet, who are placed in an similar situation and show different responses in their act. Fortinbras, Laertes, Hamlet have the good cause of revenge. Laertes has gathered a mob of rioters and invaded to the Elsinore under the just cause of revenge for his father. He, however, chooses to plot against Hamlet, for he has to hide his desire to make the best of an opportunity and become a king. Fortinbras, taking advantage of the given cause, never hesitates to satisfy his desire. He never hides what he wants like Hamlet and Laertes do. Hamlet always covers up his desire and his way of doing with many excuses and gets pale with ethical agony: 'whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or take arms against sea of trouble, and by opposing end them'. Hamlet must have felt charms at Fortinbras' resolute action totally different from his own one. Hamlet sometimes does something rashly and unexpectedly and makes every effort to take his revenge, which causes fatal catastrophe for he does not face what he really wants in himself. After he returns to Denmark from the way to England, he finally finds out the real cause of his action. Hamlet realizes that he wants to kill his uncle who has 'kill'd his king and

참고문헌 (Reference)

1 "Tragic Balance in 'Hamlet'" 36 : 43-52, 1983

2 "The Voice in the Sword" 59-89, 1987

3 "The Embassy of Death an Essay on Hamlet" 1963185-192

4 "The Criminal as Tragic Hero" 12-23, 1966

5 "Shakespeare's Patterns of Self-Knowledge" Ohio State UP 1972

6 "Shakespeare's Mortal Knowledge" Macmillan 1993

7 "Pense'es" Penguin 1966

8 "Hamlet's Readiness" 33 : 267-273, 1984

9 "Cordelia and Lear" 8 : 141-158, 1957

10 "Antithesis in 'Macbeth'" 25-33, 1966

11 "An Essay on 'Hamlet'" 107-115, 1975

12 "A Lust for Power" 39-57, 1987

13 ".The Story of the Night:Studies in Shakespeare's Major Tragedies" Routledge 1961

14 ".Shakespeare's Tragic Heroes:Slaves of Passion" Methuen 1930