Analysis Portrayal of Women Domination in Eugene Ionesco's 'Amedee' and Edward Albee's 'The American Dream'.

ABSTRACT

Sebagai bahan penulisan skripsi ini saya memilih drama yang termasuk dalam aliran Theatre of the Absurd karena selain isinya menarik, saya mendapati bahwa alasan penulis drama membuat karya mereka pun menarik dan dibutuhkan waktu untuk mengerti apa alasan sang penulis membuat drama.

Saya memilih drama karya Eugene Ionesco dan Edward Albee karena Ionesco terkenal dengan sebutan bapak dari Theatre of the Absurd sedangkan Albee, walaupun berasal dari aliran Theatre of the Absurd, karya-karyanya menuju ke sebuah penyelesaian yang tidak lazim untuk drama yang beraliran

Theatre of the Absurd; dan keduanya adalah penulis yang sangat terkenal dengan

keahlian mereka dalam menulis drama dengan cara-cara yang berbeda dari penulis drama lainnya di zaman mereka.

Saya membagi skripsi ini dalam dua bagian. Bagian pertama adalah pembahasan mengenai wanita dominan dalam karya Ionesco Amedee, serta alasan Ionesco membuat karyanya tersebut adalah sebagai percobaan literatur (literary experiment). Bagian kedua adalah pembahasan mengenai wanita dominan dalam karya Albee The American Dream, serta alasan Albee membuat karyanya adalah sebagai cerminan kehidupannya serta mengkritik laki-laki pada masyarakat Amerika.

i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE ……… i

TABLE OF CONTENTS ……… ii

ABSTRACT ………. iii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Background of the Study ……….. 1

Statement of the Problem ……….. 2

Purpose of the Study ………. 2

Method of Research ……….. 3

Organization of the Thesis ……… 3

CHAPTER TWO: WOMEN DOMINATION IN IONESCO’S AMEDEE... 4

CHAPTER THREE: WOMEN DOMINATION IN ALBEE’S THE AMERICAN DREAM ……… 14

CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ………... 24

BIBLIOGRAPHY ………... 27

APPENDICES: Synopsis of Amedee ……… 29

Synopsis of The American Dream ……….. 30

Biography of Eugene Ionesco ………. 31

Biography of Edward Albee ……… 32

ii

Universitas Kristen Maranatha

29

APPENDICES

Synopsis of Amedee

Amedee is walking around his living room and once in a while he would sit in his chair and tries to write as he is a playwright; but no words can come out and he seems to always have something that distracts him from writing his play. His wife, Madeleine, has to work to support both of them. Not only does she have to work but she also has a habit of cleaning their house. They have been living in this house for fifteen years and they have not left since then. They use basket tied to a rope to buy provision from the market below their home. They are afraid to go out because they fear that people will find out that they actually have a corpse in their house which is growing bigger and bigger.

The corpse is getting so big that its feet take almost all of their living room. Amedee and Madeleine decide that they need to get rid of the corpse. They wait for midnight so that people might not see them with the corpse. At midnight Amedee manages to get the corpse out of their house with much effort. Madeleine does not help a bit only telling Amedee what he should do. Two policemen run after Amedee. Just before Amedee is caught, the body wrapped around Amedee opens out like a parachute then Amedee is flying out of reach of the policemen leaving “the world”.

Universitas Kristen Maranatha

30 Synopsis of The American Dream

Mommy and Daddy are sitting in their living room complaining that the guest they expected are late. Not only that, they are complaining about how these days people can get away with things. Mommy tells Daddy a story that she has bought a hat. She was happy with her new hat until she met a chairman of her woman’s club that said her new hat is wheat color not beige. So Mommy returns to the store and demands they change her hat to beige color just like she asked. Grandma enters the living room with neatly wrapped boxes. She drops them at Daddy’s feet and mourns about how everyone treats the old. Mommy and Grandma were poor then but after having married Daddy, she is rich. The door bell rings, and Daddy have to be encouraged several times by Mommy before he opens the door. It is Mrs. Barker the chairman of the woman club that said Mommy’s new hat is wheat color. She is invited to sit and they had a conversation. After being silenced for a while, Grandma finally said a word. Mommy threatens to have Grandma taken away. Mommy calls her a liar and commands Daddy to break her television. Mommy left to get Mrs. Barker water. Grandma and Mrs. Barker had a conversation. The doorbell rings and the young man enters. Grandma compliment his looks that his face is good-looking in a typically American way. The young man said that he will do anything for money. Grandma asks the young man to take all her boxes outside. Daddy and Mommy enter again and Mommy asks where Grandma is. The young man appears again and Mommy was pleased with her replacement.

Universitas Kristen Maranatha

31 Biography of Eugene Ionesco

Eugene Ionesco was born in Slatina, Romania, in the year 1909. His father was a Romanian and his mother was French. The family moved to Paris in 1911 where his father studied law. Because of complex circumstances, his father secretly divorced his mother and remarried and was appointed general inspector in Bucharest police. His father was always on the side of the authority in power. His father took the custody of the children and Eugene with his sister had to live with his father and stepmother. Eugene was unhappy because he was more attached to his mother than to his father. He studied French at the University of Bucharest and became a French professor. There he began to write. He married in 1936.

After World War II, he returned to Paris and lived in poverty. He taught himself English and found the essential nonsense of the phrases and expressions found in textbooks to his amusement which lead him to write his first play The

Bald Soprano (1950). Ionesco had always been associated with the term antiplay.

He avoided realistic imitation and used symbol and language instead to penetrate a deeper level of meaning.

His other works are The Lesson (1952), Victimes (1953), Amedee (1954),

Rhinoceros (1959), Exit the King (1962), Killing Game (1970), and Macbett

(1972). In the last twenty year of his life, Ionesco concentrated on paintings and lithography and wrote several prose works. He died in Paris on March 28, 1994. <www.bedfordstmartins.com/litlinks/drama/ionesco.htm>

Universitas Kristen Maranatha

32 Biography of Edward Albee

Edward F. Albee was born in Washington D.C on March 12, 1928. He was adopted at the age of two weeks by Reed and Frances Albee. He was named after Reed’s father. This family was very wealthy. His parents were a unique couple. Reed was a small, quiet and unassertive man, whereas, Frances was a loud, aggressive, domineering woman. Many of Albee’s women character was based on his stepmother. His school records were not a good one. He was sent to boarding school and was dismissed because of cutting class, ignoring his academic works, not playing in sports and having a bad behavior. He was transferred to several schools before he was transferred to Choate where he was encouraged to write. After graduating in 1946 he entered Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

In 1948, Albee left his family for New York City. In 1958 at the age of thirty, Albee quitted his job with Western Union and wrote The Zoo Story. The play was rejected by several New York producers. After being posted from friends to friends the play was finally accepted for production and premiere at the Schiller Theater Werkstatt in Berlin on September 28, 1959. From then Albee won the recognition as a formidable talent. In 1960 the play won the Vernon Rice Memorial Award.

His major work Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ran for 664 performances and made into a popular film. Albee received three Pulitzers, for A Delicate

Balance (1966), Seascape (1975), and Three Tall Women (1991).

Universitas Kristen Maranatha

1

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Martin Esslin in The Theatre of the Absurd stated that absurd plays have no story or plot to speak of, often have neither a beginning nor an end, seems often to be reflections of dreams and nightmares (Esslin, 1961: vxii-vxiii). Both authors Eugene Ionesco and Edward Albee, and their works, Amedee and The

American Dream, can be categorized into Theatre of the Absurd.

Eugene Ionesco is a playwright from Eastern Europe who has been called the father of the theater of the Absurd and he often uses exaggeration as his characteristic in his play. He also combines dream or nightmare atmosphere with grotesque, bizarre and whimsical humor. Whereas Edward Albee’s contribution in the literary world is that his works can be categorized into Theater of the Absurd but unlike Theater of the Absurd circularity (there is no beginning or the end) or open-endedness (there is no definite resolution), he makes his ending move toward resolution, denouement, and completion.

There are three reasons why I choose these plays. Firstly, because I am interested on how the two playwrights convey their message to the

Universitas Kristen Maranatha

2

audiences which are different from other playwrights in their days. Secondly, both women in the plays are major characters and on top of the men. And thirdly, I am also interested how the two playwrights portray the dominant woman in different ways.

I am going to discuss the role of women who are more dominant than their husbands in both plays. Relating to the American society in 1960s and European society in 1950s the time both plays are published, society always sees that men should have a more dominant role than the women; men should make the decision, men should tell women what to do and demand that the women do what the men ask them to do. <www.marxist.com/marxism-feminism-emancipation-women080300-2.htm>; but both playwrights reverse the role which is absurdity in itself. Not only do I want to discuss about this reverse role, but I also want to discuss how both playwrights differ in portraying the women domination, and to what purpose both playwrights portray such women.

To reveal the purpose of each playwright, I will use additional information. To know about Ionesco’s purpose, I will use info about the reality of life when the play, Amedee, was published, and Ionesco’s literary records. For revealing Albee’s purpose, I will use his biographical data and historical data especially about feminism. Both playwrights’ purpose will be discussed further in the thesis.

Universitas Kristen Maranatha

3 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1. How do the playwrights portray the dominant women in both plays? 2. What is the playwrights’ purpose of portraying women domination?

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

1. To show how the playwrights portray the dominant women in both plays 2. To show the playwrights’ purpose of portraying the women domination

1.4 METHOD OF RESEARCH

In writing this thesis, I used library research. First, I read two primary texts, Edward Albee’s The American Dream and Eugene Ionesco’s Amedee. Then I search the internet for additional information about the two primary texts. From the additional information, I make analysis for the two primary texts and draw conclusion.

1.5 THE ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

I divide this thesis into four chapters. First chapter is Introduction which contains Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Method of Research, and the Organization of the Thesis. Second chapter is Analysis of Eugene Ionesco’s Amedee. Third chapter contains Analysis of Edward Albee’s The American Dream. Fourth chapter is Conclusion.

Universitas Kristen Maranatha

24

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

Both Ionesco’s Amedee and Albee’s The American Dream can be categorized into Theatre of the Absurd. Both plays have similarities and differences. In this chapter I would like to contrast both plays.

Their similarities are both Ionesco’s Amedee and Albee’s The American

Dream have women characters that are major characters and they both are married

and are more dominant than their husbands. The husbands in both plays are the main objects of their wives domination.

Their differences are Madeleine is working to earn a living for her family whereas Mommy is a housewife; and how the wives in both plays dominate their husband. In Ionesco’s Amedee, Madeleine’s domination toward Amedee is like a boss to a worker; whereas in Albee’s The American Dream, Mommy’s domination toward Daddy is like a parent to a child.

In Ionesco’s Amedee, Madeleine’s domination like boss to a worker is shown through how she commands Amedee, her bossy attitude, her blame-fixing, she keeps on commanding Amedee until she gets what she wants, and she is always trying to find Amedee’s fault; and she keeps on criticizing Amedee;

Universitas Kristen Maranatha

25

whereas in Albee’s The American Dream, Mommy’s domination like a parent to child can be seen through Mommy’s obsessive behavior in getting Daddy’s attention, how she commands Daddy, Daddy’s echoing Mommy and vice versa, Daddy‘s seeking her approval of his masculinity, her using reverse psychology and Daddy’s indecisive and submissive action.

Using Paranoid Personality Disorder theory, I realize why Madeleine is more dominant as she can not function in subordinate position and she has the fear of losing her independence; therefore, she is always on top of Amedee making her domination like a boss to a worker; and using Reverse Psychology theory, I realize that Mommy is emasculating Daddy by making him like a child as parents may used Reverse Psychology to control their children.

Even though both plays portray dominant women, both playwrights have different purposes. Ionesco’s Amedee like many of his other plays is experimental or absurd. The dominant woman is one of the elements that make the play absurd because it is contrary to the reality of life. Ionesco is living in France by the time he made the play in 1954 and the French society in Ionesco’s days has the view that women should be dependent on the husband or the husband should take a dominant role in families. Ionesco’s Amedee is opposed with the reality of life as women in 1954 are always dominated by men but Ionesco reverse the role of making Madeleine dominant; therefore, making the play a literary experiment. Making experimental plays has a purpose to attack the bourgeois realism. Ionesco feels that realism plays is a limitation for playwrights to adopt a critical view.

Whereas Albee’s purpose in creating the dominant women are firstly, he wants to reflect his life experiences by making his dominant women characters

Universitas Kristen Maranatha

26

based on his stepmother, secondly, he wants to criticize the society that now men are emasculated and powerless in the society especially in family life, and thirdly he wants to criticize that feminism movement plays a role toward the emasculation of men. The dominant women in his plays are the reflection of the playwright’s experience, Albee growing up in the care of his dominant stepmother and weak stepfather. Through the negative portrayal of the woman, Albee’s plays show that he despises his stepmother. Albee puts forward that men in American society are emasculated and powerless; seen from Albee’s The American Dream that Daddy is emasculated by Mommy and he is fighting a losing battle over household decision and ends up by questioning his masculinity to Mommy. It shows that Daddy is the portrayal of men that need women’s acceptance and reassurance. Albee also suggest that Feminism plays a role in emasculating men. Extreme feminist view mentions that men can be made just the same as women by emasculating them.

I think that Albee’s play is more successful than Ionesco’s in conveying their messages to the reader. Firstly, Ionesco’s Amedee is an experimental play and Ionesco only made another play that has the same theme about dominant woman; secondly as his dominant woman is opposed to the real life, my guess is the French society at Ionesco’s days will consider the play as fiction and can never happen. On the other hand, Albee’s plays, talk more frequently about dominant women in household and people can find such dominant women in real life at the time the play was published in 1960. Therefore I think Albee is more successful in conveying his message.

Universitas Kristen Maranatha

27

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reference:

Balswick, Jack O., and Judith K. Balswick. The Family: A Christian Perspective

on the

Contemporary Home. Michigan: Baker Book House, 1992.

Sarason, Irwin G., and Barbara R. Sarason. Abnormal Psychology: The Problem

of

Maladaptive Behavior. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc. 1972.

Zanden, James W. Vander. Social Psychology. New York: Random House, Inc.1984.

Internet:

Biography of Edward Albee. 25 Oct 2005 <www.fundus.org/pdf.asp?ID=59> Biography of Ionesco. 25 Oct 2005 <www.untitledtheater.com/Ionescobio.htm> Biography of Eugene Ionesco. 25 Oct 2005.

<www.bedfordstmartins.com/litlinks/drama/ionesco.htm>

Brantley, Ben. Stage View; Albee’s Tigers, Albee’s Women. 19 Apr 2006 <www.query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html>

Universitas Kristen Maranatha

28 <www.britannica.com/eb/article-22523> Forum Discussion page. 22 May 2006.

<www.mothering.com/discussions/archive/index.php/t-7176.html> International Theatre Institute. 27 Mar 1976. International Message by Eugene Ionesco.

24 May 2006 <www.ionesco.org/int-message-en.html> Rochefort, Christiane. Les Petits Enfants du Siecle. 20 May 2006

<www.sunderland.ac.uk/~os0tmc/contem/roch.1.htm>

Reverse Psychology. 15 May 2006. <www.infoplease.com/ipd/A0626132.html> www.essays.cc/free_essays/c2/wuj94.shtml

Taken In Hand. 22 May 2006. <www.takeninhand.com/node/434>

Primary Text:

Albee, Edward. The American Dream. Stevens Theatre Company,1975. Ionesco, Eugene. Amedee or How to Get Rid of it. Paris: Theatre de Babylone, 1954.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1. How do the playwrights portray the dominant women in both plays? 2. What is the playwrights’ purpose of portraying women domination?

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

1. To show how the playwrights portray the dominant women in both plays 2. To show the playwrights’ purpose of portraying the women domination

1.4 METHOD OF RESEARCH

In writing this thesis, I used library research. First, I read two primary texts, Edward Albee’s The American Dream and Eugene Ionesco’s Amedee. Then I search the internet for additional information about the two primary texts. From the additional information, I make analysis for the two primary texts and draw conclusion.

1.5 THE ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

I divide this thesis into four chapters. First chapter is Introduction which contains Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Method of Research, and the Organization of the Thesis. Second chapter is Analysis of Eugene Ionesco’s Amedee. Third chapter contains Analysis of Edward Albee’s The American Dream. Fourth chapter is Conclusion.

Universitas Kristen Maranatha 24

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

Both Ionesco’s Amedee and Albee’s The American Dream can be categorized into Theatre of the Absurd. Both plays have similarities and differences. In this chapter I would like to contrast both plays.

Their similarities are both Ionesco’s Amedee and Albee’s The American

Dream have women characters that are major characters and they both are married

and are more dominant than their husbands. The husbands in both plays are the main objects of their wives domination.

Their differences are Madeleine is working to earn a living for her family whereas Mommy is a housewife; and how the wives in both plays dominate their husband. In Ionesco’s Amedee, Madeleine’s domination toward Amedee is like a boss to a worker; whereas in Albee’s The American Dream, Mommy’s domination toward Daddy is like a parent to a child.

In Ionesco’s Amedee, Madeleine’s domination like boss to a worker is shown through how she commands Amedee, her bossy attitude, her blame-fixing, she keeps on commanding Amedee until she gets what she wants, and she is always trying to find Amedee’s fault; and she keeps on criticizing Amedee;

whereas in Albee’s The American Dream, Mommy’s domination like a parent to child can be seen through Mommy’s obsessive behavior in getting Daddy’s attention, how she commands Daddy, Daddy’s echoing Mommy and vice versa, Daddy‘s seeking her approval of his masculinity, her using reverse psychology and Daddy’s indecisive and submissive action.

Using Paranoid Personality Disorder theory, I realize why Madeleine is more dominant as she can not function in subordinate position and she has the fear of losing her independence; therefore, she is always on top of Amedee making her domination like a boss to a worker; and using Reverse Psychology theory, I realize that Mommy is emasculating Daddy by making him like a child as parents may used Reverse Psychology to control their children.

Even though both plays portray dominant women, both playwrights have different purposes. Ionesco’s Amedee like many of his other plays is experimental or absurd. The dominant woman is one of the elements that make the play absurd because it is contrary to the reality of life. Ionesco is living in France by the time he made the play in 1954 and the French society in Ionesco’s days has the view that women should be dependent on the husband or the husband should take a dominant role in families. Ionesco’s Amedee is opposed with the reality of life as women in 1954 are always dominated by men but Ionesco reverse the role of making Madeleine dominant; therefore, making the play a literary experiment. Making experimental plays has a purpose to attack the bourgeois realism. Ionesco feels that realism plays is a limitation for playwrights to adopt a critical view.

Whereas Albee’s purpose in creating the dominant women are firstly, he wants to reflect his life experiences by making his dominant women characters

Universitas Kristen Maranatha 26

based on his stepmother, secondly, he wants to criticize the society that now men are emasculated and powerless in the society especially in family life, and thirdly he wants to criticize that feminism movement plays a role toward the emasculation of men. The dominant women in his plays are the reflection of the playwright’s experience, Albee growing up in the care of his dominant stepmother and weak stepfather. Through the negative portrayal of the woman, Albee’s plays show that he despises his stepmother. Albee puts forward that men in American society are emasculated and powerless; seen from Albee’s The American Dream that Daddy is emasculated by Mommy and he is fighting a losing battle over household decision and ends up by questioning his masculinity to Mommy. It shows that Daddy is the portrayal of men that need women’s acceptance and reassurance. Albee also suggest that Feminism plays a role in emasculating men. Extreme feminist view mentions that men can be made just the same as women by emasculating them.

I think that Albee’s play is more successful than Ionesco’s in conveying their messages to the reader. Firstly, Ionesco’s Amedee is an experimental play and Ionesco only made another play that has the same theme about dominant woman; secondly as his dominant woman is opposed to the real life, my guess is the French society at Ionesco’s days will consider the play as fiction and can never happen. On the other hand, Albee’s plays, talk more frequently about dominant women in household and people can find such dominant women in real life at the time the play was published in 1960. Therefore I think Albee is more successful in conveying his message.

27

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reference:

Balswick, Jack O., and Judith K. Balswick. The Family: A Christian Perspective

on the

Contemporary Home. Michigan: Baker Book House, 1992.

Sarason, Irwin G., and Barbara R. Sarason. Abnormal Psychology: The Problem

of

Maladaptive Behavior. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc. 1972.

Zanden, James W. Vander. Social Psychology. New York: Random House, Inc.1984.

Internet:

Biography of Edward Albee. 25 Oct 2005 <www.fundus.org/pdf.asp?ID=59> Biography of Ionesco. 25 Oct 2005 <www.untitledtheater.com/Ionescobio.htm> Biography of Eugene Ionesco. 25 Oct 2005.

<www.bedfordstmartins.com/litlinks/drama/ionesco.htm>

Brantley, Ben. Stage View; Albee’s Tigers, Albee’s Women. 19 Apr 2006 <www.query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html>

Universitas Kristen Maranatha 28

<www.britannica.com/eb/article-22523> Forum Discussion page. 22 May 2006.

<www.mothering.com/discussions/archive/index.php/t-7176.html> International Theatre Institute. 27 Mar 1976. International Message by Eugene Ionesco.

24 May 2006 <www.ionesco.org/int-message-en.html> Rochefort, Christiane. Les Petits Enfants du Siecle. 20 May 2006

<www.sunderland.ac.uk/~os0tmc/contem/roch.1.htm>

Reverse Psychology. 15 May 2006. <www.infoplease.com/ipd/A0626132.html> www.essays.cc/free_essays/c2/wuj94.shtml

Taken In Hand. 22 May 2006. <www.takeninhand.com/node/434>

Primary Text:

Albee, Edward. The American Dream. Stevens Theatre Company,1975. Ionesco, Eugene. Amedee or How to Get Rid of it. Paris: Theatre de Babylone, 1954.