A Study Of Yeats’s "Mask View"

William Butler Yeats,a Nobel Prize winner in literature and Irish poet and playwright,formed his own set of theories in his creative practice,with "mask" as his most important concept.The concept of mask permeates Yeats’ writing and life,which is a way for Yeats to explore the deep "anti ego" and construct his own subject.It is also an important means to reflect the embarrassing situation in the Irish literary world in the real society and break the dilemma of the marginalization of Irish civilization.Based on its specific expression in writing,this article attempts to analyze the ideological source and core concepts of Yeats’ mask view,and further explore the special contributions of Yeats’ mask view in literature,aesthetics,philosophy,and other related fields.The first chapter focuses on the "self" in Yeats’ s mask view.Influenced by the environmental factors of the special era,the construction of a "mask" has become an effective means for Yeats to manifest "self" and "anti self" in the context of his identity.Yeats’ s mask view covers the thoughts from individuals to social groups.Its core is to hide the "self" behind the mask and indirectly express personal emotions in a seemingly concealed manner,thereby expressing complex and contradictory thoughts.Yeats’ s "mask" undergoes a process from "anti ego" to "unity of existence." In literary works,the narrator wears various masks to demonstrate the multidimensional personality of the self.The "self" and "anti ego" are independent of each other and speak out independently."Self" and "anti self" are both different aspects of personality,and they are in the "unity of existence" while opposing each other,achieving complementarity in the collision of ideas.Another manifestation of Yeats’ "anti ego" in his mask view is the appearance of a "patricide" mask,which reflects Yeats’ individual anxiety and resistance under patriarchal discourse.Yeats followed the writing trajectory of "The King of Oedipus" and re analyzed the theme of father killing and son killing.The appearance of the "father killing" mask is Yeats’ struggle against the "father" in language and spirit,the manifestation of his Oedipus complex,and also reflects Yeats’ profound understanding of the discourse power of British culture.The main content of the second chapter is the female mask in Yeats’ s mask view.Yeats recognized the feminine side of her personality structure.By exploring and externalizing the spiritual world hidden in the depths of unconsciousness,Yeats further concretely seeks a writing style of "female anti ego",which is manifested in the construction of a female mask in her writing.Through female voice writing,she creates a polyphony with the "ego",and realizes the other construction of an ideal woman in her works.The female masks created by Yeats not only help awaken the neglected female groups in society,but also become an important weapon for narrators to confront narrow religious beliefs and rebuild national self-confidence.From a philosophical perspective,through the internalization of the narrator’s self identity,the female mask keeps the narrator in expansion and change,opposing and connecting each other,further highlighting Yeats’ s gender perspective.The third chapter mainly discusses the "nation" issue in Yeats’ s mask view.With the rise of the Irish independence movement,in order to break the discourse hegemony of British culture,Ye Zhili,as a nationalist,tried to use national masks to highlight the cultural symbols of Ireland and respond to the needs of the national movement.The narrator’s wearing the mask of heroes and lower class people in myths and legends is undoubtedly an effective way to construct the image of Irish culture,which can awaken the collective memory of the Irish nation and enhance the sense of identity of the Irish people towards the nation at a deeper level.The fourth chapter discusses the literary theoretical significance of Yeats’ s mask view through a comparison with Bakhtin and Eliot.Yeats’ s mask theory aims to explore the multidimensional and contradictory nature of his thoughts,and has certain similarities with Bakhtin’s polyphonic novel theory in its ideological core.Both advocate breaking the authority of monologue writers,demonstrating a reverence for equal dialogue.Yeats’ s mask view can provide an explanation for the origin of Bakhtin’s polyphonic novel theory.The core concept of Eliot’s poetics is the "non personalized" theory.Analyzing the process of proposing,developing,and revising this theory,we can find traces of the influence of Yeats’ mask theory.The two incubated in similar times and environments,and Eliot’s poetics can be seen as the continuation and improvement of Yeats’ mask theory.