Bodies That Matter in Edward Albee’s The American Dream (1961) and Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming (1965): A Comparative Study
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Date
2023
Authors
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Publisher
Université Mouloud Mammeri
Abstract
This dissertation is a comparative study of two literary works: Edward Albee’s The American Dream (1961) and Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming (1965). The purpose of this study is to unravel how men and women are judged in relation to their physical and biological distinctions, and highlight that the human body is depicted as a surface in which events occur and unfold through characters’ experiences in both American and British societies. To reach our purpose, we have relied on some theoretical concepts from Judith Butler’s Bodies That Matter: On The Discursive Limits Of Sex (1993) and Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990). We have explored how both Edward Albee and Harold Pinter handle the matter of the body in their respective works. Our work consists of two chapters, the first chapter discusses the subject pertaining to the human physicality, while the second one focuses on how genders perform and act their gender roles in society. In light of our findings, we have uncovered that the two respective playwrights in their works hold the same points of view regarding the focus on characters’ external attributes, rather than their internal ones. Yet, men and women establish new roles to act and behave
Description
64 p. ; 30 cm. (+CD-Rom)
Keywords
Biological distinction, Bodies That Matter, Performativity, Gender roles
Citation
General and Comparative Literature