일치와 차이 ―T. S. 엘리엇의 시극

Abstract

This study is to find out how various number of themes are revealed and then developed progressively in T. S. Eliot’s plays, Murder in the Cathedral, The Family Reunion, The Cocktail Party, The Confidential Clerk and The Elder Statesman. The martyrdom, which may be defined as the identification with the will of the God, of Archbishop Thomas Becket is so much emphasized that the aspect of salvation is neglected in Eliot’s first major play, Murder in the Cathedral. Thus in the second play, The Family Reunion, Harry’s salvation becomes the main theme. However, the process of salvation is sought here too vigorously and even violently to induce the death of Harry’s mother as well as that of his wife. In the third play, The Cocktail Party, several ways to salvation are suggested according to the levels of perception. ‘the best life’ of martyrdom is offered to the selected few including Thomas Becket. However, ‘a good life,’ in which a cocktail party is being held sometimes, is more than enough for the salvation of common peple because “human kind cannot bear very much reality.” For the third group of “a living object, but no longer a person,” to be an ordinary person can be the best way of savlation. The Confidential Clerk contains answers to the questions presented in Murder in the Cathedral, as The Cocktail Party has the solutions to the problems presented in The Family Reunion. Lucasta, ‘a living object,’ is changed into ‘an ordinary person,’ while Colby, ‘a good life,’ is changing into the mode of ‘the best life’ in The Confidential Clerk. The Elder Statesman, Eliot’s last play, tries to show that the salvation of Lord Claverton may be achieved by the confession of the past misdeeds.