T. S. Eliot's "Gerontion" (1919) is so ambiguous that it is almost impossible for the reader to escape the labyrinth of interpretations constructed by critics and scholars with regard to various allusions, obscure poetic dictions and phrases, and contentious images and symbols. The purpose of this paper is to pave a clear path through the labyrinth of conflicting theories and interpretations by contrasting and analyzing the labyrinthine ones on Gerontion's phantasmagoric dramatic monologue. The complicated and controversial interpretations of the battle symbolism, "the jew," "house," "Christ the tiger," characters, "knowledge," "History," "tree," "you," "gull," "the Trades," etc., are traced without bias or ambiguity. Gerontion meditates on depraved transubstantiation, the devouring Christ the tiger, History compared to Satan or a prostitute, and humanity annihilated into atomic fragments. Gerontion also evokes a variety of symbols of the collapse of Western Civilization. He, as a character, embodies the concept of "dissociation of sensibility," for by the end of the poem, his infirm body disappears and thought alone remains. All these things can be revealed to the reader who passes through the labyrinth of interpretations.

• Joong-Eun Ahn(Andong National University)