"Jack hath not Jill" : シェイクスピア作『恋の骨折り損』における結末の意義について

概要

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Shakespeare's comedies usually end with marriage. But as Anne Barton points out, "vows began the play of Love's Labour's Lost and vows of another kind end it." This ironical development leads to a highly unusual ending. Why did Shakespeare give such an insecure ending to his comedy? This play is an exception among his comedies and for this reason arouses my interest all the more. The aim of this paper is to consider in detail the relation between the convention and this play by analyzing the three oath-swearing scenes. In other words, my aim is to investigate the main reason why "Jack hath not Jill." Love's Labour's Lost is a comedy of artificial conventions, but the dramatist was especially careful here how he dealt with the convention, as he wished to improve on his inadequate use of it in the preceding play, in which he placed greater importance on convention than on reality; he both went against the convention that at the end of a comedy Jack shall have Jill and tried to challenge and transcend it. Unusual and elaborate as the ending is, since one year hence the possibility of marriage is suggested, the dramatist is, in effect, obliged to make use of the convention and this play cannot escape its spell, for this is a play, a conventional reflection of life. Love's Labour's Lost is a preparatory stage, however, which will enable Shakespeare in his later and maturer comedies to achieve the fusion of convention and reality.
2003-09-30