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A Study of Tom Stoppard’s Voyage

  • Journal of Modern English Drama
  • Abbr : JMBARD
  • 2015, 28(2), pp.87-114
  • Publisher : 한국현대영미드라마학회
  • Research Area : Humanities > English Language and Literature > English Literature > Contemporary English Drama

KIM,TAI-WOO 1

1국민대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The aim of this thesis is to briefly survey the construction of Voyage, the first of Stoppard’s trilogy The Coast of Utopia, and to examine the problems involved in the description of Bakunin, its protagonist, in it. Like a tangled skein, Voyage is packed with diverse episodes and unfamiliar characters without a coherent plot. So a reader or an audience member will find it difficult to follow the play and properly appreciate it. Hence the need to clarify the construction. As for the description of Bakunin, it requires a detailed study in that the question should not be simply ignored on the excuse of Voyage being a fiction. As a dramatic work, Voyage is no doubt a fictional work, but it is also true that it is constructed in such a way that the characters and events described in it are the real historical people and events. Voyage is made up of two acts; the first focuses on Bakunin’s private life in Premukhino, while the second is more concerned with Bakunin’s public life in Moscow. The first act is largely about the episodes of Bakunin’s sisters’ romance and marriages, which is depicted in a distinctively Chekhovian style. The second act is in a way more confusing in that, though Bakunin still plays the major role, it does not proceed with a firm focus on Bakunin. While preparing for the subsequent Shipwreck and Salvage with the introduction of Herzen, the protagonist in both plays, it seems to be intended to give a wide politico-cultural view of the age. Stoppard openly acknowledged that in writing his trilogy he owed a lot to such eminent scholars as Edward Carr, Isaiah Berlin and Aileen Kelly. Unfortunately, however, they happen to be antagonistic to Bakunin and his ideas in various degrees. And in Voyage, quite expectedly, Bakunin is depicted in a very negative way. The negative treatment of Bakunin, however, cannot be wholly ascribed to the influences of the above-mentioned scholars, because a number of recent works on Bakunin including a biography give a more balanced appreciation of Bakunin and his ideas. The treatment of Bakunin in Voyage, therefore, definitely reflects Stoppard’s own ideological orientation and prejudices. In the end, it depends on oneself whether he/she feels sympathy with Bakunin and what he stands for, but it must be borne in mind that Bakunin was basically a freedom fighter, and a true criticism of his life and ideas should be made at least on the basis of that recognition.

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