『자에는 자로』: 권위를 문제 삼은 '문제극'

Abstract

This paper aims to explore how Measure for Measure, a "Problem Play", problematizes the issue of authority. In 1604, Shakespeare's company performed Measure in Whitehall, probably with James I as audience. King James had a strong theory of patriarchal kingship when he inherited English throne and a wide variety of discourse on patriarchal authority was poured out in the first decade of his reign. Through Measure Shakespeare participated in and contributed to the discourse in his own way. Measure is a play advocating King James's version of authority, an absolute authority naturalized and justified in patriarchal terms. But at the same time it is a play where marginalized voices of women and low-life characters make a subversive fissure in the dominant ideology of authority. They reveal Duke's hidden motive and raise doubts to its justice. So Measure can be said to be a site of ideological conflicts among various discourses on authority, with patriarchy as its dominant one. Many "problems" of this "Problem Play" are causes and symptoms of this ambiguous ideological position of the play, one of which is an institution of marriage that refuses to be an easy comic solution. By problematizing the patriarchal authority and making any easy solution impossible, Measure is truly a "Problem Play", subverting authorized history and questioning legitimate answers.