셰익스피어와 스펜서: 『비너스와 아도니스』

Abstract

Although William Shakespeare is a great dramatist, it seems that he was eager to earn the reputations rather as a great poet. While he never cared to publish his own dramatic works, he carefully read and edited the manuscripts of his poetry to publish. In that respect, Venus and Adonis, published in 1593, is a significant work, for it is the first publication of Shakespeare. Shakespeare respected Edmund Spenser and his poetic achievements, which were well established in England after the publication of The Shepherdes Calendar and The Faerie Queene. At the same time, however, Shakespeare considered the elder poet as his competitor and tried to present himself as a better poet than or at least equal to Spenser. Venus and Adonis significantly manifests Spenser’s influences in the thematic allusions and in the portrayal of the goddess and the boy. This paper examines the text of Venus and Adonis in order to see where and how Shakespeare borrowed materials from Spenser, so as to understand the relationships between the two poets. Shakespeare’s manifestation of Venus may prove that he skillfully utilizes Spenser’s imagery and allusions in his work, but at the same time it reveals the poetic achievements of Shakespeare as an innovator and creator.