戦争と歴史的記憶

――ナポレオン戦争期の『ヘンリー五世』

抄録

Henry V is often considered as a patriotic play, which clarifies Henry's heroism. But John Philip Kemble's productions of the play show interesting contradictions when we examine their performing dates and Kemble's stage text. First, he produced the play with a great success during the fervor of pro-French atmosphere after the Great Revolution in 1789. But after the war broke out between England and France in 1793, Kemble somehow became reluctant to produce this play. We find only a few performances after the war. Second, the text of Henry V, which Kemble published in 1806, has two particular features concerning the cruelty of war. While he consistently eliminated vivid expressions that would remind the audience of the cruelty of war, he never cut out episodes in it. The same can be said about the illegitimacy of Henry V as a man and an English King. The present paper clarifies these contradictions, which also may reveal artistic characteristics of Kemble's productions. They might have been a part of the movement of restoring the ‘authentic’ Shakespeare.