A Streetcar Named Desire 읽기 15

[yum]

MITCH:

I better leave it on.

BLANCHE:

No. I want you to be comfortable.

MITCH:

I am ashamed of the way I perspire. My shirt is sticking to me.

BLANCHE:

Perspiration is healthy. If people didn’t perspire they would die in five minutes. [She takes his coat from him.] This is a nice coat. What kind of material is it?

MITCH:

They call that stuff alpaca.

BLANCHE:

Oh. Alpaca.

MITCH:

It’s very light weight alpaca.

BLANCHE:

Oh. Light weight alpaca.

MITCH:

I don’t like to wear a wash-coat even in summer because I sweat through it.

wash-coat : 당시 미국에서는 시어서커(Seersucker), 린넨(Linen), 혹은 가벼운 면(Cotton) 소재로 만들어 집에서 물세탁(Wash)이 가능한 여름용 정장을 'Wash-suit' 또는 그 상의를 'Wash-coat'라 불렀다.

여름용 정장의 소재: 20세기 초중반, 알파카 울은 가볍고 광택이 있어 여름용 신사복(Lightweight summer suits) 소재로 실제 사용되었다. 미치는 나름대로 블랑쉬라는 '상류층 여성'에게 잘 보이기 위해 격식을 차린 옷을 입고 나온 것이다.

심미적 안목의 부재: 그러나 알파카는 관리가 까다롭고 통기성이 면(Cotton)이나 린넨(Linen)만큼 뛰어나지 않다. 땀을 많이 흘리는 체질인 미치가 굳이 알파카 재질의 코트를 고집하는 것은, 자신의 신체적 조건보다 **'남에게 보여지는 격식'**을 우선시했음을 보여준다. 블랑쉬가 "Oh. Light weight alpaca."라고 앵무새처럼 되뇌는 것은 미치의 패션 감각이나 지식 수준을 은근히 조롱하거나, 그의 서투른 노력을 관조하는 태도로 해석될 수 있다.

- 미치가 알파카(Alpaca)를 선택하고 워시코트(Wash-coat)를 거부하는 행위는 다음과 같은 상징성을 띤다.

은폐와 위장: 얇은 워시코트는 땀에 젖으면 속이 비치거나 색이 변해 신체적 리얼리티를 적나라하게 드러낸다.

사회적 격식의 오용: 미치는 땀을 흘리지 않는 것처럼 보이기 위해(즉, 블랑쉬의 환상을 깨지 않기 위해) 통기성이 좋은 얇은 옷을 포기하고, 땀을 흡수하여 밖으로 내보내지 않는 두꺼운 알파카 코트 속에 자신을 가두는 형국이다.

미치가 여름에 맞지 않는 알파카를 고집하는 이유는 실용성이 아닌 상징성 때문이다.

계급적 상승 욕구: 노동자 계급인 미치에게 알파카는 자신이 동원할 수 있는 가장 '고급스러운' 소재였을 가능성이 크다. 그는 시원한 면직물(Wash-coat)을 입고 땀자국을 드러내느니, 덥더라도 '좋은 소재'로 알려진 알파카를 입어 자신의 품격을 증명하려 한 것이다.

육체성의 은폐: 앞선 대화에서 보듯, 미치는 땀이 겉으로 배어 나오는 것을 수치스러워한다. 두께감이 있고 흡습력이 좋은 울 계열의 알파카는 땀을 안쪽에서 머금어 겉으로 드러나는 것을 지연시킨다. 즉, 미치는 쾌적함(Comfort)을 포기하고 **'땀나지 않는 것처럼 보이는 가짜 모습'**을 선택한 것이다.

결론

미치는 여름에 입기에 부적합한 옷을 입은 것이 맞다. "Light weight alpaca"라는 그의 주장은 자신의 신체적 고통(땀)을 감수하면서까지 유지하고 싶어 하는 위태로운 자존심의 발로다. 테네시 윌리엄스는 이 소재의 부조화를 통해 미치가 결코 블랑쉬의 우아한 세계에 자연스럽게 녹아들 수 없는 인물임을 암시하고 있다.

BLANCHE:

Oh.

MITCH:

And it don’t look neat on me. A man with a heavy build has got to be careful of what he puts on him so he don’t look too clumsy.

BLANCHE:

You are not too heavy.

MITCH:

You don’t think I am?

BLANCHE:

You are not the delicate type. You have a massive bone-structure and a very imposing physique.

MITCH :

Thank you. Last Christmas I was given a membership to the New Orleans Athletic Club.

- New Orleans Athletic Club : 1872년에 설립된 이 클럽은 미국에서 두 번째 혹은 세 번째로 오래된 애슬레틱 클럽이다. 1929년에 현재의 프렌치 쿼터(French Quarter) 위치로 이전하면서 화려한 대리석, 샹들리에, 도서관, 바(Bar)를 갖춘 **'남성 전용 사교의 장'**으로 자리 잡았다.

배타적 공간: 당시 이 클럽은 엄격한 회원제로 운영되었으며, 여성의 출입이 금지된 지극히 남성 중심적인 공간이었다. 심지어 아내가 전화를 걸어도 남편을 호출해주지 않는다는 규칙이 있을 정도로 남성들의 '해방구' 역할을 했다.

BLANCHE:

Oh, good.

MITCH:

It was the finest present I ever was given. I work out there with the weights and I swim and I keep myself fit. When I started there, I was getting soft in the belly but now my belly is hard. It is so hard now that a man can punch me in the belly and it don’t hurt me. Punch me! Go on! See? [She pokes lightly at him.]

soft – hard : Scene 5에서 블랑쉬의 대사에 soft와 hard의 사용을 생각나게 한다.

I never was hard or self-sufficient enough. When people are soft—soft people have got to court the favour of hard ones, Stella. Have got to be seductive—put on soft colours, the colours of butterfly wings, and glow—make a little—temporary magic just in order to pay for—one night’s shelter! That’s why I’ve been—not so awf’ly good lately. I’ve run for protection, Stella, from under one leaky roof to another leaky roof—because it was storm—all storm, and I was—caught in the centre. . . . People don’t see you—men don’t—don’t even admit your existence unless they are making love to you. And you’ve got to have your existence admitted by someone, if you’re going to have someone’s protection. And so the soft people have got to—shimmer and glow—put a—paper lantern over the light. . . . But I’m scared now—awf’ly scared. I don’t know how much longer I can turn the trick. It isn’t enough to be soft. You’ve got to be soft and attractive. And I—I’m fading now!

BLANCHE:

Gracious. [Her hand touches her chest.]

MITCH:

Guess how much I weigh, Blanche?

BLANCHE:

Oh, I’d say in the vicinity of—one hundred and eighty?

MITCH:

Guess again.

BLANCHE:

Not that much?

MITCH:

No. More.

BLANCHE:

Well, you’re a tall man and you can carry a good deal of weight without looking awkward.

MITCH:

I weigh two hundred and seven pounds and I’m six feet one and one half inches tall in my bare feet—without shoes on. And that is what I weigh stripped.

신장 : 187 cm, 체중 : 94 kg

BLANCHE:

Oh, my goodness, me! It’s awe-inspiring.

MITCH [embarrassed]:

My weight is not a very interesting subject to talk about. [He hesitates for a moment] What’s yours?

BLANCHE:

My weight?

MITCH:

Yes.

BLANCHE:

Guess!

MITCH:

Let me lift you.

BLANCHE:

Samson! Go on, lift me. [He comes behind her and puts his hands on her waist and raises her lightly off the ground] Well?

MITCH:

You are light as a feather.

BLANCHE:

Ha-ha! [He lowers her but keeps his hands on her waist. Blanche speaks with an affectation of demureness] You may release me now.

MITCH:

Huh?

BLANCHE [gaily]:

I said unhand me, sir. [He fumblingly embraces her. Her voice sounds gently reproving] Now, Mitch. Just because Stanley and Stella aren’t at home is no reason why you shouldn’t behave like a gentleman.

MITCH:

Just give me a slap whenever I step out of bounds.

BLANCHE:

That won’t be necessary. You’re a natural gentleman, one of the very few that are left in the world. I don’t want you to think that I am severe and old maid school-teacherish or anything like that. It’s just—well—

MITCH:

Huh?

BLANCHE:

I guess it is just that I have—old-fashioned ideals! [She rolls her eyes, knowing he cannot see her face. Mitch goes to the front door. There is a considerable silence between them. Blanche sighs and Mitch coughs selfconsciously.]

MITCH [finally]:

Where’s Stanley and Stella tonight?

BLANCHE:

They have gone out. With Mr. and Mrs. Hubbell upstairs.

MITCH:

Where did they go?

BLANCHE:

I think they were planning to go to a midnight prevue at Loew’s State.

‘Loew’s State’는 20세기 초중반 미국 극장 체인의 거물이었던 마커스 로우(Marcus Loew)가 설립한 **로우즈 스테이트 극장(Loew’s State Theatre)**을 지칭한다. 뉴올리언스 지점은 1926년 프렌치 쿼터(French Quarter) 인근의 커낼 스트리트(Canal Street) 1108번지에 개관하였다. 당대 최고의 건축가 토마스 램(Thomas W. Lamb)이 설계한 이 극장은 호화로운 이탈리아 르네상스 양식으로 건축되었으며, 약 3,300석의 객석을 보유한 뉴올리언스 최대 규모의 궁전형 극장(Movie Palace)이었다.

MITCH:

We should all go out together some night.

BLANCHE:

No. That wouldn’t be a good plan.

MITCH:

Why not?

BLANCHE:

You are an old friend of Stanley’s?

MITCH:

We was together in the Two-forty-first.

BLANCHE:

I guess he talks to you frankly?

MITCH:

Sure.

BLANCHE:

Has he talked to you about me?

MITCH:

Oh—not very much.

BLANCHE:

The way you say that, I suspect that he has.

MITCH:

No, he hasn’t said much.

BLANCHE:

But what he has said. What would you say his attitude toward me was?

직역: 하지만 그가 말했던 것들 말이에요. 나에 대한 그의 태도가 어떠했다고 당신은 말하겠어요?

의역: 조금이라도 한 말이 있을 것 아니에요. 그 사람이 나를 어떻게 생각하는 것 같던가요?

MITCH:

Why do you want to ask that?

BLANCHE:

Well—

MITCH:

Don’t you get along with him?

BLANCHE:

What do you think?

MITCH:

I don’t think he understands you.

BLANCHE:

That is putting it mildly. If it weren’t for Stella about to have a baby, I wouldn’t be able to endure things here.

MITCH:

He isn’t—nice to you?

BLANCHE:

He is insufferably rude. Goes out of his way to offend me.

MITCH:

In what way, Blanche?

BLANCHE:

Why, in every conceivable way.

MITCH:

I’m surprised to hear that.

BLANCHE:

Are you?

MITCH:

Well, I—don’t see how anybody could be rude to you.

BLANCHE:

It’s really a pretty frightful situation. You see, there’s no privacy here.

There’s just these portieres between the two rooms at night. He stalks through the rooms in his underwear at night. And I have to ask him to close the bathroom door. That sort of commonness isn’t necessary. You probably wonder why I don’t move out. Well, I’ll tell you frankly. A teacher’s salary is barely sufficient for her living-expenses. I didn’t save a penny last year and so I had to come here for the summer. That’s why I have to put up with my sister’s husband. And he has to put up with me, apparently so much against his wishes. . . . Surely he must have told you how much he hates me!

- That sort of commonness isn’t necessary. : 가난하고 좁은 집에 산다고 해서 인간이 짐승처럼 예의 없이 굴 필요는 없다. 여기서 commonness는 ‘천박함, 상스러움’을 뜻한다.

MITCH:

I don’t think he hates you.

BLANCHE:

He hates me. Or why would he insult me? Of course there is such a thing as the hostility of―perhaps in some perverse kind of way he―No! To think of it makes me... (She makes a gesture of revulsion. Then she finishes her drinks. A pause follows.) 

블랑쉬가 차마 말을 맺지 못하고 "No!"라고 외치며 중단한 지점에는 '성적 긴장감(Sexual tension)' 혹은 **'성적 갈망(Sexual attraction)'**이라는 단어가 생략되어 있다.

블랑쉬는 스탠리의 공격성이 자신에 대한 **비틀린 성적 욕망(Perverse desire)**에서 기인했을 가능성을 직감한다.

"The hostility of (sex/attraction)"로 이어질 법한 문장을 끊어버림으로써, 그녀가 이 진실을 직면하기를 거부하거나 극도로 혐오하고 있음을 보여준다.

나. "Perverse kind of way" (비틀린 방식)

여기서 'perverse'는 단순히 성격이 고약하다는 의미를 넘어, 정상적인 구애나 호감이 아닌 가학적이고 폭력적인 방식으로 표출되는 감정을 뜻한다. 스탠리가 그녀를 모욕하는 행위가 역설적으로 그녀에 대한 강렬한 집착의 반증일 수 있다는 통찰이다.

== 이본

BLANCHE:

He hates me. Or why would he insult me? The first time I laid eyes on him I thought to myself, that man is my executioner! That man will destroy me, unless—

MITCH:

Blanche—

BLANCHE:

Yes, honey?

MITCH:

Can I ask you a question?

BLANCHE:

Yes. What?

MITCH:

How old are you?

[She makes a nervous gesture.]

BLANCHE:

Why do you want to know?

MITCH:

I talked to my mother about you and she said, “How old is Blanche?”

And I wasn’t able to tell her. [There is another pause.]

BLANCHE:

You talked to your mother about me?

MITCH:

Yes.

BLANCHE:

Why?

MITCH:

I told my mother how nice you were, and I liked you.

BLANCHE:

Were you sincere about that?

MITCH:

You know I was.

BLANCHE:

Why did your mother want to know my age?

MITCH:

Mother is sick.

BLANCHE:

I’m sorry to hear it. Badly?

MITCH:

She won’t live long. Maybe just a few months.

BLANCHE:

Oh.

MITCH:

She worries because I’m not settled.

BLANCHE:

Oh.

MITCH:

She wants me to be settled down before she— [His voice is hoarse and he clears his throat twice, shuffling nervously around with his hands in and out of his pockets.]

BLANCHE:

You love her very much, don’t you?

MITCH:

Yes.

BLANCHE:

I think you have a great capacity for devotion. You will be lonely when she passes on, won’t you? [Mitch clears his throat and nods.] I understand what that is.

MITCH:

To be lonely?

BLANCHE:

I loved someone, too, and the person I loved I lost.

MITCH:

Dead? [She crosses to the window and sits on the sill, looking out. She pours herself another drink.] A man?

BLANCHE:

He was a boy, just a boy, when I was a very young girl. When I was sixteen, I made the discovery—love. All at once and much, much too completely. It was like you suddenly turned a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow, that’s how it struck the world for me. But I was unlucky. Deluded. There was something different about the boy, a nervousness, a softness and tenderness which wasn’t like a man’s, although he wasn’t the least bit effeminate looking —still—that thing was there. . . . He came to me for help. I didn’t know that. I didn’t find out anything till after our marriage when we’d run away and come back and all I knew was I’d failed him in some mysterious way and wasn’t able to give the help he needed but couldn’t speak of! He was in the quicksands and clutching at me—but I wasn’t holding him out, I was slipping in with him! I didn’t know that. I didn’t know anything except I loved him unendurably but without being able to help him or help myself. Then I found out. In the worst of all possible ways. By coming suddenly into a room that I thought was empty—which wasn’t empty, but had two people in it . . .

quicksand : (1) loose wet sand that yields easily to pressure and sucks in anything resting on or falling into it (2) a bad or dangerous situation from which it is hard to escape

이본 : 초판에는 the boy I had married and an older man who had been his friend for years . . .이 없음.

[A locomotive is heard approaching outside. She claps her hands to her ears and crouches over. The headlight of the locomotive glares into the room as it thunders past. As the noise recedes she straightens slowly and continues speaking.]