가부장의 크레딧 위기: 가정비극을 중심으로

Abstract

This paper aims to read the domestic tragedies in terms of the credit crises of their patriarchal husbands, focusing on A Woman Killed with Kindness and A Yorkshire Tragedy. The patriarchs of domestic tragedies lose their moral or economic credit, and only with the sacrifice and patriarchal virtues of their wives or sisters, do the patriarchs recover their credit and are received again in the credit network. In the main plot of A Woman, John Frankford loses his reputation and his moral credit for his wife’s adultery. Anne recovers her husband’s moral credit by starving herself to death, constructing her reputation as a martyr, and even turning her deathbed into a performance. In the subplot, Sir Charles Mountford loses his economic credit by his reckless behavior. Not understanding the credit mechanism, Charles mistakes a debt of a usurer for a gift and persuades Susan to surrender her chastity as “a present” to Francis. Thanks to Susan’s endorsement of the patriarchal authority, Charles is reinstated into the credit network of the gentle class. In A Yorkshire Tragedy, a drama of archetypal characters, driven by the despair of his credit crisis, Husband stabs his little sons to death and almost kills his wife. Only Wife’s strong support of patriarchy reestablishes her husband as a patriarch and returns the household to the credit network both in the drama and in real life.