『줄리어스 시저』의 거울구조

Abstract

Lee, HaengsooOne of the main themes of Julius Caesar is that a man needs a particular other as a mirror to find his identity. Shakespeare seems to tell us that to know one's real self through his relationships with others around him is one of the important purposes of life.In Julius Caesar, every character takes the role of a mirror to reflect another. Brutus reflects Julius Caesar, Cassius reflects Brutus and Brutus reflects Cassius. Present history reflects previous history as we see when the plebeians welcome Julius Caesar after he conquers Pompey, as they had upheld Pompey as the Lord before. This drama appears to deal with political problems, but actually its focus is more on the problems of pursuing identity than on conflicts of a political nature.Cassius said that he would be a mirror by which Brutus could see himself clearly in a way that he was as yet unaware. Therefore the characteristics of Cassius can be regarded as those of Brutus. The characters of Cassius and Brutus may appear to be very different, but the inner reality is that the character of Brutus reflects that of Cassius. Not a few critics complain about the ambiguous characterization of Brutus. While Cassius is revealed as a cunning and mean politician, the reputation of Brutus is good. Brutus is known as a noble man and is always described as an honourable man, but he may be self-deceptive in the sense that he does not realize his reality even though he does not disguise himself on purpose.Finding oneself through the mirrors around one and awakening to self-deception is not realized by any of the characters in Julius Caesar. It may be one of the messages of the drama that we the readers have to realize; that man must try to find his real identity through his relationships with others who act as mirrors to reflect him, and that this is difficult to achieve.이 행 수 (단독연구)대전대학교 영문과대전시 동구 용운동 96-3hs771@dju.ac.kr