In the period of nationalism, W. B. Yeats's works address the loss of nation and resolute fights for independence and remembrance of the fighters killed in the struggles. Freudian ideas of mourning and melancholy and moral masochism and Jacques Rancière's ideas of colonial 'policy' or 'police order' and postcolonial 'politics' can provide effective tools to understand characteristics of the post-colonial works by Yeats. By putting side by side Freud and Rancière, we can produce a combination of mourning-colonial police-order vs. melancholy-post-colonial politics. The colonial police-order induces the colonized Ego to forget the loss of nation and move on to other objects, for example, money, through mourning. Melancholic post-colonial fighters derail the workings of mourning espoused by the colonial policy or police order. Melancholy and moral masochism of the colonized Ego are the driving forces of post-colonial struggles. Melancholy of the colonized Ego and sadism of the Super-Egoic demand of independence and moral masochism of the colonized Ego can explicate the bloody and 'erotic' relationships between the colonized Ego and the womanized ideal of nation, which have been interpreted as 'fatal mistress,' 'eroticized politics' and 'vampirism' by many Yeats critics. But melancholy and moral masochism drove the colonized Ego to fall into a fatal love relation with the female symbol of nation demanding unconditional sacrifice of the colonized Ego, which renders 'eroticized politics' and 'vampirism' noticeable.

There are two contradictory voices in W. B. Yeats concerning Irish nationalism. One is for support of Irish nationalism against the English colonial reign and its accompanying heroic sacrifices for the cause of Ireland. The other one is criticism against excessive demands for sacrifices for the sake of independence of Ireland. Instead of putting the first voice ahead of the second one, Yeats tries to record the two voices at the same time: the voice of justification of sacrifices for nationalism and the voice warning danger in nationalism as a commentary on nationalism. These ambivalent attitudes toward nationalism cannot be understood just as his uncertainties and ambivalent stance he took on Irish politics and his lack of understanding of reality. Rather, Yeats could be said as a faithful recorder of the inner territories of experiences of individuals in everyday life and reality under colonial reign and its countermovement of nationalism. He does not ignore the intimate and latent feelings of individuals (on the side of "body") heard through the loud exclamations of nationalistic causes (on the side of "spirit"). Yeats can be said as a postcolonial poet in so far as he supports Irish nationalism but with a hint of anti-nationalistic attitudes, he also raises questions about danger in postcolonial politics. He cannot be called just a crude propagandist of Irish nationalism. Rather by taking balanced attitudes toward nationalism and excessive sacrifices of individuals through nationalistic causes, Yeats suggests that nationalism could be an ideology and gives a warning sign that postcolonial politics should not forget its dark side.

이 글의 목적은 예이츠의 여성성에 대한 인식의 변화과정을 살펴보고 그의 여성성의 긍정이 예시하는 가능성을 알아보는 것이다. 여성은 남성중심적 이데올로기 아래에서 “실패냐 아니면 빗자루이냐"라는, 즉 가정적인 여성의 상징으로서의 실패와 가정 파괴적인 함축을 지닌 마녀의 상징인 빗자루 사이의 강요된 선택에 놓여진다. 특히 예이츠의 “나의 딸을 위한 기도” (A Prayer for My Daughter)에서는 자애로운 팰러스에 의해 어떻게 팰러스적인 여성이 만들어지는 지가 잘 드러난다. 그러나 예이츠의 여성에 대한 인식은 변화가 일어난다. 특히 “여인의 일생” (A Woman Young and Old)에서는 팰러스에 의해 생산되어 팰릭적 시장에서 소비되는 여성이 아닌, 여성의 고유한 특성이 생산, 소비되는, 여성적 시장이 발생하는 것을 볼 수 있다. 개별성이 가장 잘 드러나는 여성성의 강조에 대한 논의는 하나의 지배적인 기표에 의해 억압받는 다른 개별성들의 긍정의 방식을 예시한다. 이 작업은, 남성적 기표에 의해 억압되었던 여성성이 발굴되듯이, 보편적임을 주장하는 거대 서사에 의해 억압된 지역적, 일시적 작은 서사들에 대한 고고학적 접근을 통하여 이루어 질 수 있다. 이러한 작업은 하나의 가치로 환원되는 단선적, 획일적 세계가 아닌, 개별적인 다양한 가치가 공존할 수 있는 새로운 세계의 가능성을 열어 주는 출발점이 될 수 있다.

Eliot's quoting of the teaching of Hinduism in The Waste Land could be interpreted as a case of "romantic orientalism" leading to a sort of colonial exploitation or vampirism taking life force from the non-Western. Aware of the easy pitfalls of post-colonialism as a "prejudice" against a prejudice of the West or "resentment" at and vengeance on the West, a post-colonial reading of the Western cannons dealing with non-Western sources should be done not in a tribunal of the non-Western accusers but in a fair and third tribunal. In Eliot's case, a thorough reading of the commands from Hinduism (give, be compassionate and control) in 'What the Thunder Said' will reveal that he is free from any charges of orientalism. "Shantih"(peace) coming at the end of 'What the Thunder Said' will determine the character of the commands from Hinduism. If it is interpreted as a reward, the commands are hypothetical ones―'if you do these, 'peace' will be given as a reward for your act'. But if it is interpreted as a gift, the commands are absolute and categorical ones in the Kantian sense―'just act, 'peace' may come as a gift, but not necessarily.' As ethical commands, they are absolute and categorical ones. And different interpretations of 'the Thunder' by its addressees demonstrate that the ethical command addresses each individual singularly. Absoluteness and singularity characterize the the ethical commands of 'the Thunder.' The ethical commands of Hinduism are applied to everybody in contrast to the command of the vegetation ceremonies applying to kings alone. In a time of vegetation ceremonies and the Grail quest, kings and knights are supposed to take all the responsibility on situations on behalf of people, who can sit back to watch the development and demand the sacrifice of kings if things go wrong. It is a time of heroes. But in the present when all heroes disappear, everybody can be a hero taking in charge of whatever happens. Nobody is exempted from the ethical command addressing not only inert and inactive people in 'the Waste Land' but Eliot and Tiresias, the seer of 'the Waste Land' and the readers. Whatever rebirth in the West or elsewhere will depend on faithful embodiments of the ethical command.