멜로드라마의 정치학 - 웹스터의 『하얀 악마』와 『말피 공작부인』

Abstract

John Webster’s major works have been regarded as tragedies, but they seem to be melodramas with their traits being quite different from what the traditional discourse of tragedy defines. There we cannot find the tragic conflict and agony the hero evokes due to his mistakes or moral sins. Rather his plays are full of some traits of sensationalism and decadence which are the main characteristics of melodrama. Although we cannot find the typical victory of the good in his works ending the conflict between good and evil, we can find a kind of melodramatic imagination that is found in the 19th century Victorian theaters. However, Webster's works don't represent the same moral lessons as the typical melodramas emphasize. The moral purpose presented in his works is connected to the author's political view about the ideological conflict and confrontation between the ruling class and the ruled, men and women, and masters and servants. Melodramas often designate the political, religious, racial, and sexual other as the force of evil, and establishes the stability and maintenance of the ruling order by destroying and containing the other's threat and revolt. But Webster's melodramas are out of this conservative ideology. His melodramatic techniques contribute to the criticism of the male-oriented ruling ideology. Therefore, it's not surprising to find that the male characters of high status turn out to be fully corrupted people, and the females and the malcontents become the main characters in Webster's plays. In The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, Webster takes advantage of melodramatic techniques as good means to criticize and overthrow the ruling ideology. In The White Devil, Vittoria and Flamineo, the woman and the malcontent, represent the new ideology of individual's freedom for success, while Brachiano, Francisco, and Cardinal the ruling ideology of social hierarchy. Although the two groups are all corrupted, Webster supports the former by making the inferiors more attractive and heroic. Also in The Duchess of Malfi, the Duchess and Bosola, the woman and the malcontent, represent the new ideology of woman's freedom to pursue her desire and the individual's chance for success. On the other hand, Duchess' brothers, Ferdinand and Cardinal, represent the male dominating hierarchical ideology. And Webster criticizes the latter by characterizing the brothers as hypocritical villains, while the Duchess as innocent victim.