셸리의 『맵 여왕』(Queen Mab)에 나타난 “폐허”의 비유와 서술의 문제
The Trope of ‘Ruins’ and the Problem of Narration in Shelley’s Queen Mab.
0
조회
0
다운로드
0
인용
0
참고문헌
키워드
초록
In Queen Mab, Shelley makes a sharp critique of contemporary society through the trope of ‘ruins.’ By drawing the reader’s attention to places of past civilizations, where numerous monuments of once powerful rulers have turned into ruins, Shelley predicts the future of the oppressive powers of his time, criticizing the English government and monarchy. The trope of ruins is also extended to the realm of discourse. Still focusing on the trope, Shelley also directs a poignant critique towards the way the ruling classes circulate lying words and use them ideologically for their purposes. Shelley indicts the institution of the Christian religion as one that oppresses people with empty words about God, Hell, and Heaven. Interestingly, however, Shelley’s indictment of the oppressive powers of the contemporary society through Queen Mab, is undermined by other narrators in the poem, especially by Ahasuerus, a phantom figure Queen Mab calls out. Ahasuerus’s statements, which are a curious mixture of strong social protest, passivism and self-indulging narcissism, seriously weaken the validity of Queen Mab’s statements. This also threatens the poet’s statements of social protest in that Queen Mab is just a mouthpiece of the poet. Ultimately, this conflict between radical social criticism and its passivism never seems to be resolved in the poem.
Abstract
In Queen Mab, Shelley makes a sharp critique of contemporary society through the trope of ‘ruins.’ By drawing the reader’s attention to places of past civilizations, where numerous monuments of once powerful rulers have turned into ruins, Shelley predicts the future of the oppressive powers of his time, criticizing the English government and monarchy. The trope of ruins is also extended to the realm of discourse. Still focusing on the trope, Shelley also directs a poignant critique towards the way the ruling classes circulate lying words and use them ideologically for their purposes. Shelley indicts the institution of the Christian religion as one that oppresses people with empty words about God, Hell, and Heaven. Interestingly, however, Shelley’s indictment of the oppressive powers of the contemporary society through Queen Mab, is undermined by other narrators in the poem, especially by Ahasuerus, a phantom figure Queen Mab calls out. Ahasuerus’s statements, which are a curious mixture of strong social protest, passivism and self-indulging narcissism, seriously weaken the validity of Queen Mab’s statements. This also threatens the poet’s statements of social protest in that Queen Mab is just a mouthpiece of the poet. Ultimately, this conflict between radical social criticism and its passivism never seems to be resolved in the poem.
참고문헌 (15)
- Althusser, Louis, "Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays" (1971), Monthly Review P
- Altick, Richard, "Victorian People and Ideas: A Companion for the Modern Reader of Victorian Literature" (1973), Norton
- Foot, Paul, "Red Shelley" (1988), Book Marks
- Grimes, Kyle, "Queen Mab, the Law of Libel, and the Forms of Shelley’s Politics", The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 94(1), pp.1~18 (1995)
- Hildebrand, W. H, "Shelley’s Early Vision Poems", Studies in Romanticism, 8(4), pp.198~215 (1969)
- Lee, Monika H, "‘Nature’s Silent Eloquence’: Disembodied Organic Language in Shelley’s Queen Mab", Nineteenth-Century Literature, 48(2), pp.169~193 (1993)
- Peacock, Thomas L, "Palmyra and Other Poems" (1806), T. Bensley
- Schwartz, Lewis M, "Two New Contemporary Reviews of Shelley’s Queen Mab", Keats-Shelley Journal, 19, pp.77~85 (1970)
- Scrivener, Michael, "Shelley and Radical Artisan Poetry", Keats-Shelley Journal, 42, pp.22~36 (1993)
- Shelley, Percy Bysshe, "A Philosophical View of Reform" (1920), Oxford UP
- Shelley, Percy Bysshe, "Shelley’s Poetry and Prose" (2002), Norton
- Shelley, Percy Bysshe, "The Cenci: A Tragedy in Five Acts" (2008), Valancourt Books
- Smith, Jessica, "Tyrannical Monuments and Discursive Ruins: The Dialogical Landscape of Shelley’s Queen Mab", Keats-Shelley Journal, 47, pp.108~141 (1998)
- Williams, Raymond, "Marxism and Literature" (1977), Oxford UP