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Modern American Drama and Continuity of Female Playwriting Tradition: Trifling, Motive, and Bonding in Trifles and The Clean House

  • Journal of Modern English Drama
  • Abbr : JMBARD
  • 2015, 28(1), pp.203-230
  • Publisher : 한국현대영미드라마학회
  • Research Area : Humanities > English Language and Literature > English Literature > Contemporary English Drama

Choi Seok Hun 1

1연세대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

American stage has been dominated by male playwrights while not many women’s voices have been heard. The lack of a discernible tradition of female playwrights is at least partly responsible for the vicious cycle of gender inequality in contemporary American theatre. While not much research has been conducted on Sarah Ruhl’s works, her plays are usually discussed in relation to canonical male writers of modern western theatre or in the context of third wave feminism, often described as “whimsical.” Rather than indicating her debt to the male-centered theatrical heritage of modern western theatre or focusing on her uniqueness against other women writers of her previous generations, the essay aims to discover dramaturgical continuity between one of her major plays, The Clean House (2005), and a monumental play that represents the first and second waves of feminism, Susan Glaspell’s Trifles (1916). Using the motifs of trifling, motive, and bonding, the two plays stress the importance of women’s household responsibilities and community. In both works, these three themes are closely related; belittling domestic labor and apathetic understanding of human psychology appear as barriers to achieving a true bond between the characters. Through these critiques of trifling and motive, Trifles and The Clean House ultimately show the importance of human bonding transcending secular concerns and social differences. Situating the two important modern dramas of different generations in dialogue, the study hopes to contribute to the development of a more discernible tradition of women playwrights.

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