코먼웰스의 주체와 국가성—<헨리 사극> 사부작을 중심으로
The Subject of Commonwealth and Nationhood in Shakespeare’s Henriad
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This paper examines the evolution of national consciousness in the second tetralogy of Shakespeare’s English history plays in the context of early modern commonwealth discourses. Standing for a state, the word “commonwealth” in sixteenth-century England was invested with polemical meanings, for its earlier historical usages were associated with popular uprisings. Speaking of the commonwealth, not the kingdom, implied a political positioning and preference for a more democratically-oriented constitution against the Tudor ideology of absolute monarchism. Thus, the commonwealth became the imagined target of the discursive projects that seek to reform social imbalances and promote commonality. Such projects included Shakespeare’s drama as well as the works of progressive thinkers, such as Thomas More’s Utopia and Thomas Smith’s De Republica Anglorum. While More’s utopian treatise remains a revolutionary thought-experiment, Smith’s depiction of the commonwealth particular to England is more situated in real circumstances. In Smith’s text, the commonwealth is a contratual and corporate entity of people who are united in common accord and common prosperity. This concept of the commonwealth is similarly voiced in Shakespeare’s drama. The working class characters of Richard II and Henry IV proffer their commonwealth ideals by commenting on the wrong doings of the self-interested ruling block. The passionate speech of Henry V eloquently gives a vision of the commonwealth nation in which all the subjects are united in brotherhood and mutually responsible for the safety and wellness of one another. Henry’s identification of himself as a common soldier gives a finishing touch to the Shakespearean design of an egalitarian nationhood.
Abstract
This paper examines the evolution of national consciousness in the second tetralogy of Shakespeare’s English history plays in the context of early modern commonwealth discourses. Standing for a state, the word “commonwealth” in sixteenth-century England was invested with polemical meanings, for its earlier historical usages were associated with popular uprisings. Speaking of the commonwealth, not the kingdom, implied a political positioning and preference for a more democratically-oriented constitution against the Tudor ideology of absolute monarchism. Thus, the commonwealth became the imagined target of the discursive projects that seek to reform social imbalances and promote commonality. Such projects included Shakespeare’s drama as well as the works of progressive thinkers, such as Thomas More’s Utopia and Thomas Smith’s De Republica Anglorum. While More’s utopian treatise remains a revolutionary thought-experiment, Smith’s depiction of the commonwealth particular to England is more situated in real circumstances. In Smith’s text, the commonwealth is a contratual and corporate entity of people who are united in common accord and common prosperity. This concept of the commonwealth is similarly voiced in Shakespeare’s drama. The working class characters of Richard II and Henry IV proffer their commonwealth ideals by commenting on the wrong doings of the self-interested ruling block. The passionate speech of Henry V eloquently gives a vision of the commonwealth nation in which all the subjects are united in brotherhood and mutually responsible for the safety and wellness of one another. Henry’s identification of himself as a common soldier gives a finishing touch to the Shakespearean design of an egalitarian nationhood.
참고문헌 (20)
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