<방랑자>(The Wanderer)에 나타난 화자의 정체성 연구

The Narrator's Identity in The Wanderer

This paper is designed to examine (1) the identifications of the first person speaker and the third person speaker, (2) the relationship between the two speakers, and (3) the nature of awakenings in two speakers with reference to comitatus and Christian tradition. It is generally agreed that the poem is a blend of pagan and Christian element which do not readily coalesce. Numerous references to heroic society proves that the first person speaker is a member of comitatus and his moral value is based on the heroism. The most important concept, the binding force of society, was the comitatus, the mutual loyalty between lord and thane or warrior. The leader provides legal and economic protection in return for military services. Glory is regarded as immortality to the members of comitatus as souls in Christians. Though there is an apparently abrupt change of thought at line 62, where the real seafaring theme ends and not very obviously connected moralizing begins, the two parts are closely linked grammatically and thematically. Both two parts share the essential theme of the transience of this worldly. Scholars generally agree that the first half has been devoted to the experience and limitations of the individual in the clutches of adverse fortune. From line 62 the theme is now broadened in scope to include the whole of man's existence. But I believe that even in his monologue the first person speaker already reached a new state of mind in which he shows very sceptical view on the earthly life. This sort of new kind of awakening in the first person speaker is very similar to the overall theme of transience on this earthly life, which is emphatically repeated by the third speaker. I suppose the only difference between the first person speaker's awakening and the subject matter dealt with by the third speaker is the scope of the theme. Seafaring journey serves as a bridge to the wider, more universal theme of the second half of the poem, which is a homily on the transitory nature of earthly prosperity and happiness and the importance of afterlife. Though his new perception on life surpasses the boundary of comitatus, the first person speaker's awakening does not develop into the theme of the changelessness and security of the heavenly kingdom, which is the major concern of the third speaker. It is quite certain that the poet introduced a specific society, comitatus, as a vehicle of his poetic purpose in order to deliver his message--the transitory nature of earthly prosperity and happiness and the importance of after life.