진화론과 생태학의 관점에서 본 과학, 의학과 몸의 상호관계성 연구: 『지킬 박사와 하이드』, 『도리언 그레이의 초상』과 『모로우 박사의 섬』을 중심으로

초록

Body transformations, whether of humans into animals or of animals into humans, appear often in the Victorian novels like Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Island of Dr Moreau, and The Picture of Dorian Gray. The body transformations in the novels seemed to be imaginatively triggered by scientists or doctors in the fields of chemistry, anatomy, vivisection, and surgery. It is interesting that reflections of the transformation in the novels were greatly influenced by Darwin’s evolutionary theory. However, it is clear that human body is generally devolved into apelike one in the novels. Even though Dr. Moreau attempts to change beasts into humans in every aspect, his trials turn out to be in vain. The figure in the picture of Doran Gray is also deteriorated into a hideous and ugly one as Gray commits crimes and violences in reality. This symbolizes that the body transformations were to blame in the Victorian period. This also reflects that there were strong arguments and conflicts about Darwin’s theory between the conservatives who denied the theory and the progressives who accepted it. Interestingly, the body transformations can be discussed in the context of evolution and ecology while Foucault’s, Deleuze’s and Ponty’s theories are applied in the interpretation of the transformation. According to them, body has many social, cultural, and political implications not only because it is the first to perceive the world but also because it is the medium to form one’s consciousness. The novels, accordingly, show well the ecological role and function of body through the contradictory process of its evolutionary transformation.

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