‘동물, 연극, 배우의 몸’—셰익스피어의 동물-되기: 『한여름 밤의 꿈』을 중심으로 (‘Animal, Theater, Body’—Shakespeare’s Becoming-Animal:Focusing on A Midsummer Night’s Dream)

Through most of his plays, Shakespeare tries to vitalize every character because he fundamentally aims for ‘movement’ and ‘liveness’. What is more remarkable is that this intentionality applies not only to humans but to all creatures, even to plants, animals and the universe. In fact, his work extends beyond simple humanism to the concept of posthumanism, embracing all nonhuman things and this is because Shakespeare’s insights are not from thoughts, but from feelings. In this aspect, his attitude and the point of view to the world is not only empathy as a writer, but also the actor’s work for acting. Their work is exactly the way Shakespeare looks at everything. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there is Bottom’s transforming from human to animal which is one of the Shakespeare’s posthumanistic insight and it can be well explained by Deleuze’s theory, ‘becoming-animal’. It is not a matter of representation or mimesis, to be animals, rather, it is a real body change through ‘affect’. Actually, Deleuze extends the meaning of Spinoza’s concept of ‘affect’, which is a resonance that one aspect is triggered or modified from another. Bottom’s body is the dramatization of the actor’s transformation process, literally, Bottom weaves the two worlds, the reality and the imagination, communicating with all creatures in nature. This Shakespeare’s post-humanistic point of view broadens our consciousness and gives the hints of how the play, actor’s body and all other creatures can be united.

Through most of his plays, Shakespeare tries to vitalize every character because he fundamentally aims for ‘movement’ and ‘liveness’. What is more remarkable is that this intentionality applies not only to humans but to all creatures, even to plants, animals and the universe. In fact, his work extends beyond simple humanism to the concept of posthumanism, embracing all nonhuman things and this is because Shakespeare’s insights are not from thoughts, but from feelings. In this aspect, his attitude and the point of view to the world is not only empathy as a writer, but also the actor’s work for acting. Their work is exactly the way Shakespeare looks at everything. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there is Bottom’s transforming from human to animal which is one of the Shakespeare’s posthumanistic insight and it can be well explained by Deleuze’s theory, ‘becoming-animal’. It is not a matter of representation or mimesis, to be animals, rather, it is a real body change through ‘affect’. Actually, Deleuze extends the meaning of Spinoza’s concept of ‘affect’, which is a resonance that one aspect is triggered or modified from another. Bottom’s body is the dramatization of the actor’s transformation process, literally, Bottom weaves the two worlds, the reality and the imagination, communicating with all creatures in nature. This Shakespeare’s post-humanistic point of view broadens our consciousness and gives the hints of how the play, actor’s body and all other creatures can be united.