「라쇼몬(羅生門)」에 나타난 하인(下人)과 도둑의 상관관계 - <생래성범죄자설> 관점에서 본 하인의 외형적, 신체적 특징을 중심으로 -

Abstract

This thesis attempts to analyze and compare the external and physical traits of a servant in RyūnosukeAkutagawa’sRashōmonby usingLomreso’stheory of the ‘born criminal’ and study the servant’s behavior, or in other words the process of a servant becoming a thief (or the process of committing a crime). To put it concretely,this is ultimately to prove the inevitable relationship between the servant’s appearance (including the external and physical traits of the old women, another character in the book) and what he seeks to do, which is crime. Lombreso’stheory of the ‘born criminal’ is, in fact, mostly disapproved at present. However, this theory of atavism strongly influenced not only literature but diverse areas such as race and culture from the days of its arrival from the West in the Meiji period. Lombreso’s theory seems to have exerted influence on his fear of heredity as his mother died from lunacy, and also on his literature work through which he attempted to define heredity overcome his fear of it. In this sense, the servant and the old women in the book Rashōmon, the disease which are shown in their external and physical traits, their savage image, and the series of incidents that happen at the tower of Rashōmonall imply that they were born to become criminals. Furthermore, the setting Rashōmon embodies a space that is isolated (which excludes social class such as lunatics and the sick) from the ordinary world.