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영어

This paper deals with the mythic structure of Agamemnon myth with which Curse of the Starving intensifies its theme of inherited curse. Some critics have alluded to the mythic elements in the play, but none has delineated the play’s undercurrent mythic meanings related with the Agamemnon myth. Instead, many critics believe that the family in Shepard’s domestic drama is a metaphor for society and that the disintegration of the family is a metaphor for American culture. We can read a social criticism in the play through its surface manifestations. The approach of social criticism, however, seems to be an incomplete way to probe into the meanings in the undercurrent of Curse of the Starving Class since the play deals with the human condition, not merely its social manifestations. In its underlying structure the play deals intensely with the inheritance of a family curse. We may have to note that this theme of inherited curse is intensified through the undercurrent mythic structure borrowed from the Agamemnon myth in which the family curse of Tantalus is handed down through Atreus to Orestes.