신세계의 불완전한 권위: 아프라 벤의 오루노코 와 과부 랜터 의 경우 (The Imperfect Authority of the New World: Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko and The Widow Ranter)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 영미문학연구회
· 수록지 정보 : 영미문학연구 / 21호 / 5 ~ 39페이지
· 저자명 : 김윤경

초록

Aphra Behn’s two later works, Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave and The Widow Ranter: The History of Bacon in Virginia: A Tragicomedy, explore the question of authority in the New World. The two main characters, Oroonoko and Bacon, are charged with romantic heroism and highly idealized as nearly perfect beings, but they have an awkward relationship with political, legal authority of the colonies and fail to appropriate authority. Though royal Oroonoko consistently respects de facto authority and shows sympathy with royalty such as Charles I whose story he learns in Suriname, his racial identity deters him from achieving political authority in the English colony. Bacon, being a mere gentleman, cannot excuse himself from the blame of acting without permission from legal authority.
The New World in the two works is in power vacuum, and the absence of authority makes the characters vulnerable, and constrained by situations, they attempt rebellion. While Oroonoko chooses to liberate himself along with his wife and other slaves in a grand way and reveals the feeble foundation of the Suriname colony, Bacon’s rebellion is characterized with ludicrous confusion and he is gradually isolated from others. As Oroonoko and The Widow Ranter differ in terms of genre and socio-historical setting, the conclusion of the works shows the two colonies in a quite different state. The Suriname colony, divided within and unable to answer Oroonoko’s challenge, drives him to death but feels horror at the royal slave’s death and collapses tragically. Bacon becomes almost an anti-hero and other characters take more dominant roles; thus his death does not damage Virginia seriously and through his rebellion the incapable mob is replaced by relatively better people. In this tragi-comical ending, Behn cynically but practically endorses the future of the hybrid world of the colony.

영어초록

Aphra Behn’s two later works, Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave and The Widow Ranter: The History of Bacon in Virginia: A Tragicomedy, explore the question of authority in the New World. The two main characters, Oroonoko and Bacon, are charged with romantic heroism and highly idealized as nearly perfect beings, but they have an awkward relationship with political, legal authority of the colonies and fail to appropriate authority. Though royal Oroonoko consistently respects de facto authority and shows sympathy with royalty such as Charles I whose story he learns in Suriname, his racial identity deters him from achieving political authority in the English colony. Bacon, being a mere gentleman, cannot excuse himself from the blame of acting without permission from legal authority.
The New World in the two works is in power vacuum, and the absence of authority makes the characters vulnerable, and constrained by situations, they attempt rebellion. While Oroonoko chooses to liberate himself along with his wife and other slaves in a grand way and reveals the feeble foundation of the Suriname colony, Bacon’s rebellion is characterized with ludicrous confusion and he is gradually isolated from others. As Oroonoko and The Widow Ranter differ in terms of genre and socio-historical setting, the conclusion of the works shows the two colonies in a quite different state. The Suriname colony, divided within and unable to answer Oroonoko’s challenge, drives him to death but feels horror at the royal slave’s death and collapses tragically. Bacon becomes almost an anti-hero and other characters take more dominant roles; thus his death does not damage Virginia seriously and through his rebellion the incapable mob is replaced by relatively better people. In this tragi-comical ending, Behn cynically but practically endorses the future of the hybrid world of the colony.

참고자료

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