Cruelty and Desire in the Modern Theater by Laurens De Vos

Author:Laurens De Vos
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781611470451
Publisher: Fairleigh Dickinson

Whereas the negation and introduction of a name should liberate the child from the suffocating dyadic chain, this symbolic castration is not easily implemented by Robin, since his unconditional demand for love still prevails. We know this is a highly dangerous situation, for an entity that dreams of a complete merger with itself without symbolical modification, follows the way to self-annihilation. This dictum, moreover, is the basic fundamental truth in Kane’s plays. She obliges her characters to strive for unconditional love, at the risk of their own lives. Kane constantly wanders along the borders of the territory of the real, of the Thing that we cannot grasp, of the desire that can never be fully satisfied. This uncompromising, symbolically unmodified attitude also explains Kane’s use of cruelty. The closer the real is being approached, the closer one comes to one’s death. This is the reason why Robin cannot survive. Refusing to surrender to his castration, he simultaneously undermines the process toward his subjectivity. It is symbolically highly relevant that Robin hangs himself by means of Grace’s pants. Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” comes to mind when the boy holds out his hand to Graham in the face of death. This new God, however, does not offer any redemption, but rather sets himself off as a partner in crime in Robin’s suicide, as he “wraps his arms around Robin’s legs and pulls” (144). Instead of offering salvation, the divine is a destructive, annihilating and merciless force.

Whether consciously or unconsciously, Cleansed consists of a number of parallels with the work and ideas of Artaud. It is probably because The Philosopher’s Stone (1929) is lesser known that its reminiscences with Artaud’s mime play have remained unnoticed so far. Different though they might be in characters and plot, with The Philosopher’s Stone heavily drawing on the tradition of the Commedia dell’ Arte and on techniques used in the silent movie, it touches on some themes and motifs that Artaud definitely shares with Cleansed. Artaud himself explains what the scenario is about:

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