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Guilt and Repression in Hare’s Skylight

  • Journal of Modern English Drama
  • Abbr : JMBARD
  • 2013, 26(3), pp.243-261
  • Publisher : 한국현대영미드라마학회
  • Research Area : Humanities > English Language and Literature > English Literature > Contemporary English Drama

김화순 1

1인천대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

David Hare’s Skylight portrays an irresoluble love triangle among Tom, Alice, and Kyra in London, presenting the agenda of intolerance and injustice through the two alienated lovers’ guilt and repression. As an offstage character, the absent presence of Alice is so powerful in a love triangle, controlling Tom and Kyra throughout the play. Tom and Kyra have suffered inner guilt in a different way after the disclosure of their betrayal and Alice’s eventual death intensifies their guilt which functions as “shadow” to them. Tom’s guilt positioned in his “shadow” is projected on his son Edward and the relationship between father and son is described as disaster because of the lack of genuine communication. Kyra’s guilt seems to project on herself, punishing herself with her own hand; she devotes herself to the education of young students in East Ham. Hare’s play displays the prisoners of one’s own opinions who cannot tolerate different beliefs nor can open the prison of opinions for their change. Since the prisoners cannot accept themselves because of the “shadow,” they can hardly accept the other(s). In the play, it seems that Hare uses Kyra as his mouthpiece for his ideas of his society and we can associate the images of Tom and Kyra as representatives of two different social sectors in British society. Hare allows both Conservative and Liberal social sectors to gain equal weights of voice and seems to want their reconciliation for British society. Since the image of suffering Edward as son is paralleled that of suffering Kyra as daughter, the play also suggests that the meaningless repetition of suffering of the younger generation caused by the confrontation between two political sectors be wisely terminated in the name of reconciliation.

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