Dramatizing Performance in Beckett's Plays

손홍기 새한영어영문학회 2001 새한영어영문학회 학술발표회 논문집 Vol.2001 No.10

베케트 극의 연극성 : 후기 극을 중심으로

손홍기 새한영어영문학회 2002 새한영어영문학 Vol.44 No.1

Most critics agree that Beckett is among the first playwrights to produce a radical deprivileging of the orthodox dramatic text and, of the author's position in the theatrical hierarchy. Beckett continued to expose new boundaries by enacting in his late plays what lies beyond the post-structuralist horizon in contemporary theatre. He dramatizes the essentials of theatre, the contingent and dramatic interdependence between the actor's bodily resources and the role that the text commands. Especially in his late plays we can find his predilection for self-reflexive techniques of theatrical presentation. He himself said that 'I can think of none whose concern was not predominantly with his expressive possibilities, those of his vehicle." Therefore we call his late plays self-referential, in which he put the strong emphasis on various aspects of the self-consciousness of an expressive artist. This paper is to analyze self-referential techniques in Beckett's later plays: the use of the real theatrical devices on stage and the direct/indirect appeal to the representational processes, actor-audience relationship on stage, and the active participation of audience through the fragmented narrative. Through the self-referential techniques Beckett establishes the dialectic between text and performance, which animates his plays. I believe that one of the reasons why Beckett's plays can give us a great pleasure is that his plays always enable us to experience the polyphonic nature of the theatrical presentation.

Elizabeth 時代의 Villain hero에 투영된 Machiavelli의 政治哲學

孫洪基 新羅大學校 1983 論文集 Vol.14 No.-

Some critics on Elizabethan drama have tried to distinguish two types of revenge tragedy. These are the Kydian tragedy in which the protagonist is a hero who is a revenger of blood, and the villain tragedy in which the protagonist is a villain who may or may not be a revenger in a play in which revenge takes an active part in resolving the catastrophe. In the villain plays revenger heroes gave place to villains. This change gave the dramatists a good opportunity to vary the monotonous Kydian fomula and to express the general villainy of action. The villainous characters were greatly influenced by Italian stories. And the Elizabethan's creation of the Italian villain was closely allied with Machiavelli's principles reflected in his The Prince. The reason was that Machiavelli's realistic view on human being was the best for the dramatists to create villain heroes. These Machiavellian villains follow the tenets of Machiavelli in order to carry out their private purposes. For them the end justifies the means. They are pragmatic, treacherous, stealthy, greedy, atheistic, machinating, self-centered inhuman monster. But they are almost always defeated by the even craftier villain. The dramatists satirize the folly of villain through the death of the Macahivellians who try to carry out their selfish end through policy. Out of the hostile moral view of the world in the late sixteenth century, the dramatists desperately searched for a moral philosophy. They found such a philosophy in the classical Stoics, for Stoicism teaches us either to exercise endurance or to show indifference in the face of a hostile world. The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois by Chapman and The Broken Heart by Ford contain Stoic characters such as Clemont and Calantha. In the character of Clemont and Calantha they affirm the digniy of man.

No Man's Land의 언어 게임의 형식

손홍기 新羅大學校 1995 論文集 Vol.40 No.1

No Man's Land is a country of the word, which means that characters in the play live only at the level of language. Their true identity can be found not inthe palpable action but in words. They attribute status to themselves by means of speech act in which what they do and what they have been is described. They try to keep their status or identity through the use of strategic language. Therefore consciuosly or unconsiciously they are in language game with each other in which they try to have superiority over the other. In this paper I analysed three types of language game in No Man's Land. My focus is on the pattens of speech act rather that its contents. First, repetition is used not only to convey emphasis and to crete humor but to reveal psychological or emotional condition. Repetition for Spooner and Foster expresses their surprise and uneasiness which is under the cover of phatic or social expressions. Repetition for Foster and Briggs expresses their antagonism against Spooner. As Spooner attempts to effect a more permanent connection with Hirst, they simultaneously denigrate and drive a wedge between him and Hirst by making fun of him. When there happens gradual shift of meaning of the repetitive language, if functions as mockery. Secondly, name game is used to create an identity. When authoritative men such as Hirst in No Man's Land and Goldgerg and McCann in The Birthday Party want to keep their superior position in relation to the other, they usually give the other a new identity by calling them another name. Hirst in this play makes Spooner and Briggs what he wished them to be. But they respond naturally to their new name. Both Hirst's creation of their new identity and their natural responses are, in a sense, strategic, for Hirst can keep control of them and they compete each other to get the status they want by doing so. Finally, story-telling game is closely related with name game in that game players donimate the other by changing the other's identity. The past can be created or modified through story-telling. Therefore whether the story is true or not does not matter. What counts i its effect on the other. In this play Spooner and Hirst compete through boasting chronicles about past successes with women, including each other's wife or lover. Those chronicles become weapons in their struggle for domination over each other. They perceive the created past as real. Language game in Pinter's plays leads toward a power equilibrium among characters. They conquer or are conquered through language game. Therefore language game is one of the most important dramatic device to make Pinter's plays dynamic.

해롤드 핀터 극의 비언어적 표현 기법 : 침묵과 휴지

손홍기 新羅大學校 1993 論文集 Vol.36 No.1

The realistic language such as cliche. nonsensical speech and trivial language. on which absurd playwrights heavily depend. took the place of the poetic language used by Fry. Eliot. and Yeats Pinter is different from other absurd playwrights in that throughout his entire work Pinter has been orking out different kinds of dialogue shaping. Since Pinter's originality lies in his style. it is necessary. first of all. to examine the dramatic function of his language to understand his plays. Amongst the foremost problems that language in Pinter's plays constantly struggles with is the expression of what lies beyond the power of words. Among the contemporary British dramatists Pinter makes the most dramatic use of silence on stage and silence plays as significant a role in his plays as the spoken word. Pinter employs the unspoken word to reveal the varying consciousness of his characters. The most significant part of drmatic action in Pinter's plays is controlled by the unspoken word. Therefore we must be attentive to the unspoken word. where some significant dramatic actions take plase. Non-verbal expressions are used to present the half-hidden nature of the characters. Even though there is no verbal interaction in silence and pause. there still goes on continuous flow of consciousness among the characters concerned. Silence in Pinter is a clear-cut break which denotes the endpoint in conversation Pinter's use of silence is part of his dramatic technique whereas in Beckett and Ionesco it is mostly suffused with a metaphysical speechlessness. Pinter employs silence to make the ending open. which betrays the audience's expectation that resolution would be made finally. Another use of silence is to show a character's isolation but it has nothing to do with man's inability to communicate but unwillingness to communicate. In this case. silence is 'a constant stratagem to cover nakedness.' Silence is also used to show confrontation between two persons. Pause are more meaningfully used to freeze the moment. thereby focusing attention on the mercurial range of words and their ability to reveal and conceal. Pause also denote the continuing conflict and progress of thought in the speaker's mind. In this case. pause is a lapse for the flow of meditation. Therefore the unspoken language in Pinter's plays is dramatic action. Through the usspoken. the audience can find the hidden reality of his characters.

RichardⅡ에 나타난 정치지도자의 유형 분석 : King Richard와 Bolingbroke

손홍기 新羅大學校 1989 論文集 Vol.27 No.-

Shakespeare wrote the history plays towards the end of the 16th century of bitter and acrimonious debate on kingship. His political characters are those who move between the poles of order and disorder in search of power. He presents various types of political leaders in the world of broken laws and violated justice which led him to study the nature of bad kings. According to medieval political theory, the head of state is imago Christi or vicarius Dei: the king imitates divinity. In Richard Ⅱ, Gaunt, Youk, and Carisle, who belong to the old order of medievalism, advocate the justice of Richard who is forced to be deposed, and reprimand Bolingbroke for his usurpation. But it is too simple interpretation that through their voices Shakespeare propergandizes traditional political belief. For I think that king Richard and Bolingbroke in complex political realities are beyond rigid moral standard. Therefore I think the problem of kingship must be surveyed in the light of the dualism of the king's mortality and the king's divinity. Then, this play is, in a sense, a critique of the limitation of divine kingship. Our interest of Richard Ⅱ lies precisely in the contrast between the anointed king's p[ower less realm and the usurper's consolidation of his power. Even though Richard is the anointed king, he falls becasue of his weakness and political crime. He places high value on the symbol of power, as if the power were inherent in the forms. For him, means matter more than ends, and thought more than action. His weakness results in the political crisis of England. Therefore he is a disorder figure. here we are to confront the paradox of the rightful king who is without power to sustantiate his right. on the other hand, Bolingbroke is a capable adminstrator in the situations where Richard has failed. he is a determined realist who penetrates deep into the nature of power politics. he is also a political opportunist who keeps silence and never permits himself to have a purpose till it is more than half fulfilled. And he is really a Machiavellian prince for whom the end justifies the means. His power without legitimacy is challengd by Northumberland's rebellion. in Richard and Bolingbroke, we are confronted with two different attempts to the political problems in a world torn by political strife. Each attempt causes political disorder and proves seriously defective. It is natural to think they are to remain bad kings. In the movement from medieval figural reality toward a more secular view of reality. Shakespeare recognized that Christian-chivalric king can be easily victimized in the callousness of power politics. Richard Ⅱ dramatizes that the medievalism of Richard's world is replaced by Bolingbroke's embryonic “Counter Renaissance” world. The clash and chaos in transitional period is undeniable. Through the two examples of failed political leaders, Shakespeare points it a mistake to regard a political theory as more important than, or even separable from, the man who hold it. For Shakespeare, ideal political order is based on the nature of political man, not on the kind of political theory.

Waiting for Godot의 시간과 공간

손홍기 新羅大學校 1986 論文集 Vol.21 No.-

The Structure of time and place which Beckett places in Godot radically transcends that of realistic drama. The bare space leads the characters to the loss of memory about such basics as time and place. Their loss of memory is closely related to their perception of human situation. While in realistic drama the interaction of character and space exposes a range of classifying details, marking economic status, social attitude and psychology, Godot`s scenic description shows no particular socio-economic world. The bareness of space in this play, in a sense, is a metaphor of universe in which all humankind inhibit. And there is no basic change. The attempts to avoid entrapment in this space always fail, for there is no place to go. Godot therefore shows the anguish of human imprisonment in the infinitely expanded space. The expanse of space harmonizers with a concomitant expanse of time. This causes Vladimir`s attempts to locate events within space and time to be fruitless. So he perceives time as `permanent now` between the womb and the grave, which doesn`t include change or motion. It is natural that the action in Godot turns into time-killing games and routines. The two principles of time and space construction in Godot are that of the chain and the ring. This enables us to interprete Godot as the mythical representation. For myth shows perfect reality outside time and place. The archetypal human situation which Godot shows is the repeated anguish of desire and frustration. The tragedy is man`s inability to be a nihilist even in a situation of utter hopelessness.

The Birthday Party에 나타난 언어의 폭력성

손홍기 新羅大學校 1994 論文集 Vol.38 No.1

One of the primary concern of the playwrights who emerged since World War Ⅱ is the relationship between man and his language. In the plays of Eugene Ionesco, Harold Pinter, Edward Bond, Edward Albee, David Mamet, and Sam Shepard, we can find that language is not only a tool of dramatic expression but the central action or a powerful character who destroys the other characters of forces them into conformity. Therefore, in these plays, language seems to be in the cneter of our concerns. In The Bithday Party Pinter draws our attention ot so much to what is being said, as to the form of speech. He focuses on a distinctive usage of language as a form of aggression. He dramatizes dramatic violence through a few speech patterns of Goldberg and McCann : the use of stichomythia which transposes the dialogue into a derealised chant whose hypnotic effect makes Stanley to lose language, the use of jargon which forces Stanley to give up any response to their verbal agression, and 'name-game' in which name-calling functions as a domineering power rather than a symbol of man's identity. With the power of language only they attempt to control and shape Stanley's mind, to gain power over his thoughts. This means Stanley's total conversion into the mold of his torturers, Goldberg and McCann who speak for, in the voice of, a ruling social or political discourse. Therfore one of ironic facts found in Pinter's plays is that language is still alive as a form of manipulating and domineering power even though its referential function is almost not working. But we have to answer one question : Is it possible to criticise the danger of language through language? Pinter solves this problem by making a dramatic device to objectify language. Goldberg and McCann seem to be realistic characters. But their primary function in this paly i to show the destructive power of language. Through the characterization of them Pinter dramatizes all the negative power of language which we experience in our daily life.

Pinter극의 시간구조

손홍기 新羅大學校 1997 論文集 Vol.44 No.1

In his comedies of menace Pinter presented human situation in terms of space. However since 1968 Pinter has been preoccupied with the pressure of time, the fusion of past and present. It is due to his two screenplays adopted from the novels by L. P. Hartley and Proust which deals with the problem of time. Even though Pinter use 'the past' as an important element in his early plays, the whole time structure remained within the category of chronological time. As Pinter's plays have moved farther and farther away from anything like stage naturalism, there has been a corresponding increase in the play's time structure. In his memory plays such as Landscape, Slience, Old Times Pinter showed a violation of the conventional progress of time: the coexistence of past and present, the recreation of past in terms of present. His characters are struggling to recapture the past, but that past has now become fractured, unstable, and ultimately hazy. Because of the change time works on memory it is impossible to establish the exact reality of past. Pinter's memory plays suggest that the moments of the past are of a time that is dead. They can be created in the present. Therefore Memory shows their pasts which "explain" their present state; the truth or untruth of these stories is less important than the effect they have on their identity. What Pinter establishes in his plays is the subjectivity of reality, the fluidity of time and perception. Past exists not as it really was but it lives in the characters' memory and their experience of it. Therefore two apparently contradictory accounts of the same event can subjectively be true as they were shaped by human experience and survived in human memory.

학술진흥재단 어문학 분야 지원현황과 개선안

손홍기 새한영어영문학회 2006 새한영어영문학회 학술발표회 논문집 Vol.2006 No.10