『겨울이야기』 : 발라드 장수 오톨리커스의 직업

The Winter’s Tale is a play in which tragedy and comedy are combined. In this play, Autolycus connects these two genres and elevates the merry atmosphere of comedy. He can be considered as one of many other comic characters in Shakespeare’s plays, but he has much more realistic characteristics with his various jobs which reflect the social atmosphere of England at the time. The most important role of Autolycus is a balladmonger and ballad singer at the sheep-shearing festival. As this play has many allusions on ballad which was very popular in 16th century England, the ballad which Autolycus sells and sings shows us many characteristics of the ballad at the time. This play also shows us the general reaction and attitude of the English people toward ballad and balladmongers. Autolycus’s jobs such as a balladmonger, ballad singer, and tinker, however, are fundamentally related to another bigger class group of rogues because Autolycus uses these jobs to cover his roguery. Rogues, vagabonds, masterless men like Autolycus caused serious social problem during the Elizabethan era, and the rogue literature which depicted their lives and characteristics was popular among English people. Accordingly, Autolycus’s wrong doing as a poor man on the street and a balladmonger at the festival in the play is found in Robert Green’s Cony-catching pamphlets. Besides Autolycus’s present jobs in the play, his previous jobs mentioned by himself is a very important element in considering the realistic aspect of his character and the play. He was once a courtier serving Prince Florizel but he was whipped out of the court and had several jobs mostly of the people of the lower class. In the play, Autolycus’s previous jobs such as ape-bearer, bailiff are as important as his present status in understanding his character because he reflects the lower class English men at the time. His various jobs show us not only his grim past but the hard lives of low class English men in that era. Shakespeare was excellent in depicting low-status English men and their lives, and Autolycus was one of them. The most realistic thing about Autolycus is that he is a comic character who has fear of living as a rogue. This psychological aspect of him results from his various jobs which can be seen as his personal history, and this makes the depth of his character. Thus, Autolycus can be said one of the most realistic characters created by Shakespeare’s keen observation and deep understanding of his time an