선과 악의 대립과 공존, 그리고 치유: 『지킬 박사와 하이드 씨』와 《블랙 스완》 비교 연구

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to clarify characteristics of good and evil, and to examine how they are naturally in conflict in every human being’s mind. To find out more specific details of good and evil in our minds, I would like to choose two texts for a comparative study. The first is Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which is a canonical text dealing with the ultimate conflict between good and evil. The other is Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, which also deals with the same conflict, but in the different way. Stevenson’s book ends with a tragic death because of the conflict between good and evil, but Aronofsky’s film shows how good and evil can be reconciled when we realize that evil is a secret but at the same time inevitable desire that should not be repressed. We need to understand and release our secret desire, which is called “the shadow” in Carl Jung’s theory. Then, we finally have deepened our understanding for ourselves, and freed ourselves from the evil obsessions and taboos that were made by strict social rules and traditions. In this paper, I would like to suggest that we only could have the quintessential freedom of our desire when we really understand our shadows. And I also would like to insist that we are able to be honest for ourselves when we have better understanding of both sides of good and evil.