earticle

영어

This essay aims to explore the possibility of recovering the ethics of the other, which has become lost in contemporary society as portrayed in Sarah Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone. It examines the (un)representability of otherness and investigates the figuration process of the other, who defies representation. This study delves into the role of language in representing lost memories through the perlocutionary acts of others, and its contribution to reviving a human life within a community. To address these inquiries, the essay commences with a fundamental question: “Is it possible to unconditionally mourn for others who have lived an unethical life?” At the core of Ruhl’s play lies the theme of recovering humanity through the “confabulations” (65) of others. This theme explores how the perlocutionary acts of others can transform an inhuman existence into a human configuration, even though it is impossible and inappropriate to represent it directly. The study employs the concept of melancholia to analyze Ruhl’s play, which captures the dreamlike phenomenon of animating a lifeless object as a stranger within oneself. Through Ruhl’s nonlinear writing, the essay unveils the ethics of others at the juncture where human active subjectivity fades away and passive vulnerability takes hold.