『햄릿』의 은유 양식: 극중 인물의 병치구조

Abstract

Hee-uhk YoonIn his major tragedies, Shakespeare parallels and contrasts characters by structuring each scene as a separate unit whose mutual opposition escalates dramatic tension. The opposition of characters between and in each scene seems to defy an organic unity, but rather makes it more dramatic. This dramatic methodology of Shakespeare's calls attention to the linguistic theory of Saussure and Jakobson. Especially Jakobson's dichotomy classifying language as the paradigmatic/ syntagmatic plays a key role in unveiling the parallelism of characters in Hamlet. Shakespeare's workmanship in Hamlet reveals preference of similarity to contiguity, of metaphor to metonymy. This assures us that the semiotic theory of Jakobson will offer useful access to the parallelism of characters as a metaphorical pattern in Hamlet.Shakespeare's major tragedies are, in essence, verse. Jakobson argues that metaphorical relationships prevail in poetry, while they weaken in prose. Thus, the study on the parallelism of characters as a metaphorical pattern in Hamlet turns into another interesting arena in which the validity of Jakobson's argument is debated. Shakespeare induces us to read Hamlet metaphorically. The signifi of Hamlet does not reside in the syntagmatic relationship with its signifiant. The signifi of Hamlet is decoded in the relationships with the parallelled characters. In other words, it depends upon multi-layered analysis on the parallelism of Hamlet's strikingly opposed characters: Laertes, Fortinbras, and Pyrrhus.