The Study of Pantomime as an Example of ‘Decolonizing Fiction’

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the play called Pantomime by Derek Walcott (1978) according to Greimas’s actantial model. The play problematizes issues of identity and validity of the binary oppositions such as master/slave and white/black through employing the master and slave stereotypes animated in the work called Robinson Crusoe. There are two characters named Trewe (S1), and Jackson (S2) in the play. S1, who is a retired English actor, sees his culture as superior to the native culture. S2, who is the servant of S1, has an inferiority complex as he is black. One day, S1, who runs a small hotel in Tobago and wants to entertain his guests at his hotel, wants to prepare a performance of the novel called Robinson Crusoe with Jackson. Interestingly enough, their performance does not reflect the binary oppositions based on the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized as in Robinson Crusoe. On the contrary, it openly reverses the roles performed by the colonizer and the colonized after a constant role-shifting by S1 and S2. At the end of the play, S2 asks for a raise from his employer S1 and this might be thought as a possibility for creating a world which is free from binary oppositions, and for starting a new sort of relationship based on an employee and an employer.

Keywords

• Pantomime
• Derek Walcott
• Binary Oppositions
• Greimas

The Study of Pantomime as an Example of ‘Decolonizing Fiction’

Abstract

Bu çalışma Derek Walcott tarafından yazılan Pantomime (1978) adlı oyunu Greimas’ın aktan modeline göre incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Oyun, kimlik konusunun yanı sıra effendi-köle ve beyaz-siyah gibi ikili karşıtlıkların geçerliliğini Robinson Kruzo eserinde canlandırılan effendi-köle sterotiplerini kullanarak sorunsallaştırır. Oyunda Trewe (Ö1) ve Jackson (Ö2) adlarında iki karakter vardır. Emekli bir İngiliz aktör olan Ö1 kendi kültürünü yerlilerin kültüründen üstün görür. Trewe’in hizmetçisi olan Ö2 ise siyahi olduğu için aşağılık kompleksine sahiptir. Bir gün, Tobago’da küçük bir otel işleten Ö1 oteldeki misafirlerini eğlendirmek için Ö2 ile Robinson Kruzo eserini canlandırmak ister. İlginçtir ki, bu performans Robinson Kruzo’daki sömüren ve sömürülen özerine dayalı ikili karşıtlığı yansıtmaz. Aksine, bu performansla sömüren ve sömürülen tarafından oynan roller, Trewe ve Jackson’ın sürekli roller değiştirmesiyle tersine çevrilir. Oyunun sonunda Ö2, Ö1’den zam ister ve bu durum ikilli karşıtlıklardan muaf bir dünya yaratılabileceğine dair bir umut olarak düşünülebilir çünkü bu ilişki patron ile işçiyi içine alan yeni bir tür ilişkiyi gösterir.

Keywords

• Pantomime
• Derek Walcott
• İkili Karşıtlıklar
• Greimas

References

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