악인의 전형, 인간의 전형: 멜빌의 「빌리 벋」의 비어
A Typical Villain, a Typical Man: Vere in Melville's "Billy Budd"
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Melville's “Billy Budd” is said to be “the most puzzling masterpiece.” It would be essential to understand Vere to fully comprehend the work because “the story's complexity goes in hand with a thickening in the character of Vere.” Four notable words, intellect, father, bachelor and marble, are used to describe Vere, the last describing him indirectly. Except for ‘intellect,’ critics pay no attention to these words in analyzing “Billy Budd,” though we find them with ease in the criticism of other works of Melville. Intellect is a sign of evil in Melville. Vere and Claggart have ‘more than average intellect’ in common. A Bachelor is one who doesn't know what evil is, like Captain Delano in “Benito Cereno” or those sailors of Bachelor who never observed Moby Dick. The Father in Pierre is connected to the evil of the past. Vere is referred to three times as looking like Billy's father. Claggart's forehead looks like the time-tinted marble. The air of the ship after Billy's death is compared to white marble. In Pierre, stone signifies evil deep in human mind and the reality which is full of evil. If Melville's works are “reciprocal and mutual,” marble could signify Vere's evil mind and the evil reality man has to face with. To Melville the prototype of evil in man is the extreme fear of the other party. When Claggart was murdered, “Vere's sense of the urgency of the case overruled every other consideration.” To surgeon, Vere is thought to be ‘unhinged.’ By the fear of mutiny, he sentences Billy to death in the name of “measured forms” just as Pierre decided to sacrifice himself in the name of good. Two themes that obsessed Melville are the nature of evil and the ambiguity of appearances as related to evil. It can be concluded that the ambiguous and indirect treatment of Vere is due to the evil in Vere. Vere is a Melville's typical villain, but as his name(vir) suggests, he is a common man.
Abstract
Melville's “Billy Budd” is said to be “the most puzzling masterpiece.” It would be essential to understand Vere to fully comprehend the work because “the story's complexity goes in hand with a thickening in the character of Vere.” Four notable words, intellect, father, bachelor and marble, are used to describe Vere, the last describing him indirectly. Except for ‘intellect,’ critics pay no attention to these words in analyzing “Billy Budd,” though we find them with ease in the criticism of other works of Melville. Intellect is a sign of evil in Melville. Vere and Claggart have ‘more than average intellect’ in common. A Bachelor is one who doesn't know what evil is, like Captain Delano in “Benito Cereno” or those sailors of Bachelor who never observed Moby Dick. The Father in Pierre is connected to the evil of the past. Vere is referred to three times as looking like Billy's father. Claggart's forehead looks like the time-tinted marble. The air of the ship after Billy's death is compared to white marble. In Pierre, stone signifies evil deep in human mind and the reality which is full of evil. If Melville's works are “reciprocal and mutual,” marble could signify Vere's evil mind and the evil reality man has to face with. To Melville the prototype of evil in man is the extreme fear of the other party. When Claggart was murdered, “Vere's sense of the urgency of the case overruled every other consideration.” To surgeon, Vere is thought to be ‘unhinged.’ By the fear of mutiny, he sentences Billy to death in the name of “measured forms” just as Pierre decided to sacrifice himself in the name of good. Two themes that obsessed Melville are the nature of evil and the ambiguity of appearances as related to evil. It can be concluded that the ambiguous and indirect treatment of Vere is due to the evil in Vere. Vere is a Melville's typical villain, but as his name(vir) suggests, he is a common man.
참고문헌 (30)
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