『케일럽 윌리엄스』: ‘개인되기’의 모순적 경험

Caleb Williams is a self-examination on the value of ‘the individual’ which William Godwin supported most strongly in his political writings. In this novel, Godwin scrutinizes the possibility and limit of the ideal of the individual by representing the hero, Caleb Williams, who defines and asserts himself as a decent individual, despite he is only a servant, struggling against Falkland, his master and representative of the ruling class of the society. Caleb’s social criticism is based on Rousseau’s antagonism of ‘the true individual’ against ‘the false society.’ Rousseau criticized that society is corrupt because of its false, deceptive appearance and that truth is distorted and the true individual is alienated from society. Like Rousseau, Caleb asserts himself as a holder of truth and the antithesis of corrupt and false society. In this sense, Caleb is a Rousseauvian individual. But the final realization he reached painfully through the devastating sufferings and isolation is that there’s something wrong with his reasoning and that he has been self-centered. On the final scene of court, Caleb sincerely reflects on himself and he and Falkland make sincere communication and reconciliation. By this conclusion, Godwin reflects on the limit and danger of Rousseuvian individual, its self centeredness while he fully recognizes the possibility and positive power of it. The final scene of the reconciliation of the two antagonists is not Godwin’s naive retraction of the ideal of the individual. It is the literary representation of his philosophy of the ideal relationship between individual and the society, true harmony through sincere communication among individuals.