『헛소동』와 인간관계의 재현

Abstract

Much Ado about Nothing is a play about representation. Characters in this play secretly represent themselves, in some way or other, as beings of some sort according to their own desire and the conception of their relations with others in their society while doing everyday things such as greeting, masquerading, wit-cracking, etc. In some cases their representations face objections whether directly or indirectly, but in most cases they are accepted for the sake of "peaceable" relationships and form the reality of their actual relationships. In fact, the actualities of human relationships in this play look real only when they are represented; the subjects of representation seem to occupy a realm broadly conceptual in nature, while the represented ones are felt to be so real that every character is quick to respond to them. The human relationship in this play becomes more alive and real by being represented, whether by courteous conversations or play-acts for the gulls to eavesdrop. That the representations look more real awakens us to the fact that the world as we know it is never real but a constructed one. There is no knowing the real world without the mediacy of language; things as we know them are not the things themselves but the concepts of them. Seen in this way, the play is a version of the world outside which becomes more alive and real by being represented. This is perhaps what Shakespeare meant by saying, "the whole world is a stage" and what the monstrous "nothing" in the title of the play really means. The play is a world which is, though represented, not a mere fiction because the world itself is not in a position to be asserted to be more real than the represented one.