W. B. Yeats의 작품 속 도전적 여성들

Abstract

This study examines strong female figures challenging patriarchy in W. B. Yeats’s works. In the late 19th century and even in the early 20th century, gender roles in the Britain and Ireland are strictly divided and limited by the patriarchal society. Even after Ireland achieved its independence and became the Free State, its catholic paternal hierarchy forced women to uphold dutifulness, moral purity and chastity. However, female characters like Helen, Deirdre, Aoife, Emer, Fand, Inguba, Cathleen ni Houlihan, Countess Markievicz, Sheba, and Crazy Jane, do not follow the traditional gender roles defined by the male-dominated culture. The purpose of this paper is to examine ‘a terrible beauty’ embodied by heroic female figures derived from Greek myth, Celtic legend, and Ireland history with the subversive power to disturb patriarchal hierarchy and male hegemony in Yeats’s works. In addition, it is to examine Yeats’s attempt to achieve ‘wholeness’, in other words, ‘the Unity of Being’ by combining femininity and masculinity, and restore prehistoric power in human world.