芥川竜之介「羅生門」論 - その逆説的な世界を辿って-

Abstract

In Rashoumon, a lonely law-rank person, the main character who finds himself in a situation where he cannot do anything but to starve to death or to become a thief in the anarchy-like situation, is encouraged by the logic of existence for self-justification by an old lady suffering from the same situation. In this article, through comparison with other literary works by Akutagawa, we explore the process whereby the main character breaks the law and the way in which he is involved in the external world. Compared with the unstable law-rank person, the old lady is much more courageous and brave. In the meaningless world where no law or order exists, the self-justification of the old lady cannot be simply regarded as a sophism which re-creates the cyclic logic of evil. The anti-logic of the law-rank person who faces the old lady (who leads him to a “decision” and a “way-out”) and breaks the law can be viewed as the paradoxical reversal. There are also other paradoxical scenes and situations. A case in point is the situation where the law-rank person, who is isolated and receives no support from anyone, must seek for a place where the dead bodies are abandoned as a “place where he can comfortably sleep for a night.” Another notable situation is where he is affected by the person “who is governed by brute force” through his self-justificatory statement. Also, relevant to the current point is the paradoxical relation between a person who lives by plucking hair from the dead body and another person who is encouraged by the person. While the old lady gives wisdom to the law-rank person and encouraged him, she is at the same time a victim of the wisdom and courage. At the end of the story, “with her gray fringe,” the old lady looks through the bottom of the gate which the law-rank person left; this scene can be treated as a symbol which relativizes the world of paradoxes and mysteries.