‘권력투쟁’과 ‘주체성’으로 살펴본 『귀향』

Abstract

The characters in Pinter’s works play games with words not only to face the reality of life, but also to protect themselves from others. In The Homecoming, the main characters use abusive words and sometimes fight against each other to secure their own field. Especially, the male characters fight for hegemony even before Teddy coming back home with his wife, Ruth. They fabricate the pasts and idealize themselves to vie for power. But they all give in to Ruth’s power, including Teddy. Ruth’s intuitive words, which are well contrasted with Teddy’s metaphysical words, elicit immediate responses from her opponents. Besides, The Homecoming illustrates the violent force that abusive words bring about and the negative effect that distorted words cause. The Homecoming starts with family rows, specifically a quarrel between father and son in a ‘motherless’ home. Their conflict intensifies on the ground of the breakdown and change of family structure, which occurs in the motherless home. In a traditional home, a mother internalizes family ideology and teaches her children patriarchal disciplines. But if the mother is not in the home or refuses to accept the role as a discipliner, her children don’t have any chance to acquire patriarchal norms. In The Homecoming, Jessie is not obedient to patriarchal rules, but she has not given up being a mother. In short, in The Homecoming, Jessie exists as an “absent presence.” Ruth finally comes to substitute for Jessie. In the past, female bodies and their sexual desire were just a means to satisfy male sexual desire. But now female bodies and their sexual desire are dominant ideologies, and sometiems control those of male. In The Homecoming, Ruth refuses to accept imposed feminity and finds her new identity as an independent woman. She becomes a representative ‘Pinteresque’ female character who opposes the oppressive marriage institution and patriarchy, and tries to pursue her true life. In conclusion, Ruth is not a passive female character who necessarily follows outmoded traditions, but a positive female character who is willing to sacrifice everything for whatever she wants. In short, Ruth is one of Pinter’s most fully developed idealized female characters.