“그녀에게 망령들어”: 복수자의 비극의 기호와 섹슈얼리티의 혼란

Abstract

In Renaissance drama, a revenger begins his action as a Platonist whoaspires to rehabilitate the violated value of the past. He cannot perform a facilemourning for the value he has cherished. Along the way, he realizes the channelto the public justice is closed.or, he himself closes it.to resort to privaterevenge. In The Revenger’s Tragedy, however, this process is omitted. Inattempting at paying back for the immoral event perpetrated on him nine yearsago, Vindice already decided to take a private revenge. The play seems to gostraight to the confusion of public discourse which already everywhere reachesits full ripeness and capacity. One's public identity frequently fails, and theabsolute signifier of God is parodied, and further, the revenger is cynical abouthis own act of revenge. This confusion of signs is finally amplified by thesymbolic value of woman. In the revenger’s mind, woman takes the place of thefutile public justice and transcendental authority represented by the king andGod. But rather than remaining a Platonic Idea, woman soon becomes a fluidsign most susceptible to social change. Related to this sense of change, what isspecial in The Revenger’s Tragedy is a strong social criticism by Vindice, adisinherited son. The malcontent attitude toward society enables him to keepdistance from the courtly value, including his respect for woman. In this regard,The Revenger’s Tragedy is no longer in the morality tradition. Although dramatispersonae of the play are all allegorical abstractions, Vindice is not Everyman, butan individual entity under subjection to social change. Utter confusion, parodyand decadence coexist with social criticism in the play.