Abstract
This paper offers a Lacanian/feminist reading of Night, Mother by the American playwright Marsha Norman. The play Night, Mother will be read according to Lacan’s point of view and the concepts of identity and identity formation are studied in this paper. The play will be analyzed based on the Lacanian concepts of the contrast between the Imaginary Order and the Symbolic Order, and the notion of Death Drive, suggesting that in the play Jessie represents the Symbolic Order and her mother, Thelma, represents the Imaginary Order. The notion of Death Drive and its omnipresence in Jessie’s psyche is discussed and emphasized. Thelma functions as the Other for Jessie, while her father functions as the Mother, a reversal of gender roles in the Lacanian reading. Moreover, the relationship between some of the concepts are explained. It will be explicated how the play can be brought in line with a feminist reading of Lacan by reversing the stereotypical gender roles and subsequently getting close to post-feminist authors.
Highlights
Marsha Norman (21 September, 1947) is an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter
The play will be analyzed based on the Lacanian concepts of the contrast between the Imaginary Order and the Symbolic Order, and the notion of Death Drive, suggesting that in the play Jessie represents the Symbolic Order and her mother, Thelma, represents the Imaginary Order
This paper is an attempt to analyze a play by Marsha Norman – Night, Mother and – through the projects of character identity and personality development based on Lacan's theories, contrasted with a feminist response and women's activist perusing of such contentions, that is current penchants of post-feminist or poststructuralist feminism
Summary
Marsha Norman (21 September, 1947) is an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play Night, Mother (1983). She wrote lyrics for Broadway musicals as The Secret Garden (1991), for that she got a Tony Award and she has won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical, The Red Shoes (1993) and the libretto for The Color Purple (2005). Her another work was the book for the musical The Bridges of Madison County. The paper proves that Thelma functions as the Other for Jessie, while her father functions as the Mother that is a reversal of gender roles in the Lacanian reading
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