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Fictionality as Narrative Strategy in Defoe’s Roxana
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This paper aims to examine Daniel Defoe’s deployment of fictionality as narrative strategy in Roxana: the Fortunate Mistress. In Roxana, Defoe manipulates the protagonist’s identity as a form of representation that is changeable, fluid, and open to multiple re-invention through the manipulation of belongings, language and story. The character Roxana appropriates the self-same logic for transforming herself to produce multiple fictional identities as the author of her tale. The fashioning of Roxana’s “true” self is structured through her relationship with her doubles: Amy and the Quaker. Amy does in deed what Roxana only wishes in thought and hence serves as the agent and as a projection of Roxana’s selfish desires. The Quaker functions as another kind of double as Roxana’s moral ideal, and Roxana is eager to achieve the Quaker’s identity not only through masquerade, but also through her narrative of repentance. The creation of characters who serve as doubles makes Roxana’s story of her true self both more realistic and believable. The guilt is deferred to Amy as Roxana strives to be true to her narrative of religious repentance and rebirth. The moment of conversion and true rebirth is never achieved however, as the delicate balance achieved by the narrative is abruptly aborted by the tragic murder of Susan, Roxana’s daughter. Susan’s discovery of Roxana as both her own mother (Susan) and as “Roxana” the courtesan threatens to undo Roxana’s impeccably constructed new identity. Even at the cost of killing her own daughter, Roxana wishes to adhere to her narrative of moral reformation, which founders in the brief final paragraph of the novel which deconstructs the fiction of the “real” self. Through the elaborate construction of Roxana’s identity and the swift destruction of that very identity, Defoe shows not only how real the fictional can be, but also ultimately how fictional the real can be. By undermining the fiction of the real self, Defoe may be laying claim to a more genuine real that escapes the bounds of fictionality.
Abstract
This paper aims to examine Daniel Defoe’s deployment of fictionality as narrative strategy in Roxana: the Fortunate Mistress. In Roxana, Defoe manipulates the protagonist’s identity as a form of representation that is changeable, fluid, and open to multiple re-invention through the manipulation of belongings, language and story. The character Roxana appropriates the self-same logic for transforming herself to produce multiple fictional identities as the author of her tale. The fashioning of Roxana’s “true” self is structured through her relationship with her doubles: Amy and the Quaker. Amy does in deed what Roxana only wishes in thought and hence serves as the agent and as a projection of Roxana’s selfish desires. The Quaker functions as another kind of double as Roxana’s moral ideal, and Roxana is eager to achieve the Quaker’s identity not only through masquerade, but also through her narrative of repentance. The creation of characters who serve as doubles makes Roxana’s story of her true self both more realistic and believable. The guilt is deferred to Amy as Roxana strives to be true to her narrative of religious repentance and rebirth. The moment of conversion and true rebirth is never achieved however, as the delicate balance achieved by the narrative is abruptly aborted by the tragic murder of Susan, Roxana’s daughter. Susan’s discovery of Roxana as both her own mother (Susan) and as “Roxana” the courtesan threatens to undo Roxana’s impeccably constructed new identity. Even at the cost of killing her own daughter, Roxana wishes to adhere to her narrative of moral reformation, which founders in the brief final paragraph of the novel which deconstructs the fiction of the “real” self. Through the elaborate construction of Roxana’s identity and the swift destruction of that very identity, Defoe shows not only how real the fictional can be, but also ultimately how fictional the real can be. By undermining the fiction of the real self, Defoe may be laying claim to a more genuine real that escapes the bounds of fictionality.
참고문헌 (15)
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- "Fictionality as Narrative Strategy in Defoe's Roxana"