『유리 동물원』의 사회비평적 요소 고찰 (A Social Criticism of The Glass Menagerie)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국현대영미드라마학회
· 수록지 정보 : 현대영미드라마 / 22권 / 3호 / 91 ~ 111페이지
· 저자명 : 조숙희

초록

It is generally accepted that Tennessee Williams’ dramatic world is limited to the personal and sexual arena, disregarding the social issues. However, Williams himself continuously insisted that he is a revolutionist, and that the majority of his work deals with social issues in one way or other. It is also true that some critics have supported the author’s contention, analyzing his works with a view of social criticism. The main purpose of this essay is to add another viewpoint in Williams’s feature as a social critic by investigating the characters in The Glass Menagerie. For the purpose, I try to examine The Glass Menagerie within the paradigm of “one dimensional man” coined by Herbert Marcuse. By the term, Marcuse describes the public who are subordinated and subsumed by the totality of the ideology represented through the industrialization and the culture industry.
The characters in The Glass Menagerie are internalized and manipulated by the invisible but dominant power system that wants them to remain as a necessary lower part of the society. For the purpose, the system dazzles the public with the false vision and transforms them into the “one dimensional men.” Therefore, the helpless fugitiveness of the characters of the play is underlined by the conspiracy to make them follow the social ideology, and their failure to feel even the necessity of breaking the subjugation leads to a bitter criticism on the society armed with technology which deliberately and insistently stamps down individuals. In sum, The Glass Menagerie effectively shows Williams’s feature as a consistent social critic.

영어초록

It is generally accepted that Tennessee Williams’ dramatic world is limited to the personal and sexual arena, disregarding the social issues. However, Williams himself continuously insisted that he is a revolutionist, and that the majority of his work deals with social issues in one way or other. It is also true that some critics have supported the author’s contention, analyzing his works with a view of social criticism. The main purpose of this essay is to add another viewpoint in Williams’s feature as a social critic by investigating the characters in The Glass Menagerie. For the purpose, I try to examine The Glass Menagerie within the paradigm of “one dimensional man” coined by Herbert Marcuse. By the term, Marcuse describes the public who are subordinated and subsumed by the totality of the ideology represented through the industrialization and the culture industry.
The characters in The Glass Menagerie are internalized and manipulated by the invisible but dominant power system that wants them to remain as a necessary lower part of the society. For the purpose, the system dazzles the public with the false vision and transforms them into the “one dimensional men.” Therefore, the helpless fugitiveness of the characters of the play is underlined by the conspiracy to make them follow the social ideology, and their failure to feel even the necessity of breaking the subjugation leads to a bitter criticism on the society armed with technology which deliberately and insistently stamps down individuals. In sum, The Glass Menagerie effectively shows Williams’s feature as a consistent social critic.

참고자료

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