“어느 쪽으로 달아나도 지옥, 내 자신이 지옥이니”: 『실낙원』, 욕망이라는 이름의 비극 (“Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell”: Paradise Lost, A Tragedy Named Desire)

서지정보

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· 저자명 : 이정영

초록

This paper aims to explore Satan’s desire and his end as a tragic hero presenting a new point of view for analyzing a character in literary works. Satan, who is a witness and narrator, is an important character in Paradise Lost. There have been various critical responses on Satan in connection with contemporary events and figures. There have been opposing opinions in Satan as a literary character. Satanists emphasize Satan’s heroic features while anti-Satanists stress his selfishness or folly. This is because Satan is the product of Milton’s and readers’ psychology.
To analyze Satan’s actions, it is essential to investigate Satan’s psychology. Satan’s rebellion is triggered by the ceremony in which the Son is introduced by the Father as his successor. Thus, this paper explores Satan’s psychology focusing on his desire. Among contemporary critics, René Girard has a very unique opinion about desire. Unlike other critics, Girard argues that the human subject does not really know what to desire and that is why the subject is given over to the paradoxes of mimetic desire. According to Girard, the subject desires the object because the mediator(model) desires the object. The subject, the mediator and the object make the triangle of desire. In the triangle of Satan’s desire, the Son and the human are mediators as well as rivals.
The allegorical episode of Sin and Death also reveals Satan’s mimetic desire. Satan parodies the birth of Christ and the Trinity through the allegorical story. With Sin’s help, Satan travels through the chaos, which is the symbolic and maternal place in Paradise Lost. Satan heads toward the new world and God’s symbolic order to pollute Adam and Eve. Girard argues that violence is inherently hidden in the mimetic desire. Satan whose mimetic desire implicates violence causes the loss of Paradise. Satan’s devastating end is inevitable. Satan is a surrogate victim to restore order and he is now the tragic hero.

영어초록

This paper aims to explore Satan’s desire and his end as a tragic hero presenting a new point of view for analyzing a character in literary works. Satan, who is a witness and narrator, is an important character in Paradise Lost. There have been various critical responses on Satan in connection with contemporary events and figures. There have been opposing opinions in Satan as a literary character. Satanists emphasize Satan’s heroic features while anti-Satanists stress his selfishness or folly. This is because Satan is the product of Milton’s and readers’ psychology.
To analyze Satan’s actions, it is essential to investigate Satan’s psychology. Satan’s rebellion is triggered by the ceremony in which the Son is introduced by the Father as his successor. Thus, this paper explores Satan’s psychology focusing on his desire. Among contemporary critics, René Girard has a very unique opinion about desire. Unlike other critics, Girard argues that the human subject does not really know what to desire and that is why the subject is given over to the paradoxes of mimetic desire. According to Girard, the subject desires the object because the mediator(model) desires the object. The subject, the mediator and the object make the triangle of desire. In the triangle of Satan’s desire, the Son and the human are mediators as well as rivals.
The allegorical episode of Sin and Death also reveals Satan’s mimetic desire. Satan parodies the birth of Christ and the Trinity through the allegorical story. With Sin’s help, Satan travels through the chaos, which is the symbolic and maternal place in Paradise Lost. Satan heads toward the new world and God’s symbolic order to pollute Adam and Eve. Girard argues that violence is inherently hidden in the mimetic desire. Satan whose mimetic desire implicates violence causes the loss of Paradise. Satan’s devastating end is inevitable. Satan is a surrogate victim to restore order and he is now the tragic hero.

참고자료

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