『オセロウ』と『行人』の“出遭い”

―女性の問題に即しての相互解釈

抄録

　Though Natsume Sōseki was a representative scholar of English literature who left many commentaries on Shakespeare’s works, he suggested that the distance of time and space between Shakespeare’s works and us impedes our appreciation. Therefore, although his own work Kōjin and Shakespeare’s Othello share a similar theme, i.e., a husband’s doubts about his wife’s chastity, there is neither evidence of Sōseki’s awareness of this similarity nor any sign of direct influence. Rather, the seemingly Shakespearean theme here should be understood as something Sōseki arrived at independently through his study of human psychology in his writing. Thus Kōjin is a work in which Sōseki challenges the approaches he has hitherto taken in dealing with the problematics of psychological relations by focusing on the theme of distrust of one’s lover. A study of Kōjin and Othello can elucidate their common theme.

　In Othello, Iago succeeds in behaving himself as an honest, sincere man who is sarcastic but not evil-minded. Yet in an official field, he could not help noticing his position in a lower class than that of Cassio. In Kōjin, Jirō’s situation is also that of the man who is not in line to inherit the family estate, while Ichirō is depicted to have been cherished as an heir. Though Jirō’s malice or envy on Ichirō is not overtly described, he is able to entertain the family or relatives and be trusted and consigned to mediate between Ichiro and Nao. His behavior during his conversation with Ichirō, shows a curious similarity to that of Iago before Othello in that both skillfully irritate their interlocutors. Iago and Jirō could be said to represent a lesser power which manipulates a public center from outside.

　But the fact that Iago seems to be steered by the atmosphere Desdemona originates as well as Jirō indicates that, as some critics pointed out, the tragedy between Othello and Desdemona is innate in their relationship. Othello, who not only deplores his own plight but also calls down a curse on marriage itself, resembles Ichirō, who does not ascribe his misery to the personality of his wife. Both of them confess their discontent with their inability to attain their wives’ inner spirits. In his lecture on Othello, Sōseki characterized Desdemona as a Japanese woman who has been educated in a Confucianist way. Just as Ichirō laments his wife’s lack of resistance to his violence against her, we can picture Othello’s complaint of Desdemona’s passivity in the face of his unjust treatment of her. The complaints of the two protagonists originate from the lack of recognition that the relationship between a husband and a wife differs from that of a son and a mother.