Violence and Re-vision of History in Henier Muller's Hamletmachine

• Main Authors: Yu-chen Lin, 林佑貞
• Other Authors: Wu Hsin-fa
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2003
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/11093085374092353945

碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 外國語文學系 === 91 === ABSTRACT Heiner Müller, one of the most influential German playwrights, always challenged its readers/audiences and the dominant authority by his bold experiments on dramatic texts and performances as well. In 1977, he completed Hamletmachine, which is not only a dramatic play based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, de/reconstructing German history but also an intriguing poetic work with a constellation of images from the past and present as well. This thesis gives a profound investigation into the radical concept of history in Hamletmachine, on the basis of Walter Benjamin’s historical reflections. Both Benjamin and Müller aim to subvert the fundamental principles of rationality and teleology in traditional Western historiography. The relation between postmodern theatre and drama is my next focus: drama does not die out in the domain of postmodern theatre, but rather plays a crucial role to produce prosperous meanings through dialogue with different cultures, disciplines, historical events, etc. Then this thesis proceeds to expose the failure of an artist/bourgeois intellectual at the revolutionary moment, at the moment of blasting open the historical continuum. That violence, the controversial and problematic force, becomes an effective means for women/the third world to revolt against the patriarchal history, the ongoing millenniums oppression and inequality is argued discreetly. Benjamin’s interpretation of Paul Klee’s “Angelus Novus” opens our eyes to an alternative human history; Müller’s Hamletmachine shocks us into consciousness of our living condition, to concern about the marginal and the oppressed voices, and to recognize the fate of human beings nowadays─the coming of the age of terrorism！