기계주의와 희극적 관례: 베르그송의 『웃음』과 『어니스트 되기의 중요성』의 희극성

Abstract

This article is a study on the relationship between the mechanism of laughter and the comic conventions of the late 19th century. For this study, this article discusses Henri Bergson's theory of laughter and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. The English drama of that time was influenced by many French dramatic conventions, especially the plot and the theory of comic drama. Wilde's drama shares its comic convention and culture with the mechanisms of Bergson's theory. Bergson criticizes de-humanization and the mechanization of life as a measure of "low human beings" and empathizes with the importance of the organism and the vitality of human beings. He concludes that the function of laughter is a correction of the abnormal action of mechanized human beings. His theory of laughter is fundamentally based on the theory of tragedy. The pity and fear in Aristotle's Poetics awakens the emotional engagement of the spectators, while the comic does not involve the feeling of the spectators in its plot. As a result, spectators can watch comic drama from a safe emotional distance. In The Importance of Being Earnest, the spectators see the drama from a superior position as it shows comic conventions which are already well known to them. Because Wilde follows these comic conventions, the spectators are able to understand his drama more effectively, and enjoy the story plot better. So even though the comic players are involved in much ado, and act out many twisted situations, the spectators believe that all conflicts and serious situations will end happily. In comic drama, everything is going to give way to happiness by the end of the drama. Moreover, the bad actions of evil characters will never be punished in the comic conventions. In The Importance of Being Earnest, the comic language and the comic situation are closely tied with comic conventions. These are well known as the best factors of Wilde's drama. Wilde takes advantage of the comic conventions when he constructs his comic language and situation through pun, irony, parody and exaggeration. Wilde follows the comic conventions to the letter, yet he invents a completely new play by distorting, mixing and inserting the comic conventions.