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The Tattooing of Sexual Identity and Its Geography of Exclusion in Martin Sherman’s Bent

  • Journal of Modern English Drama
  • Abbr : JMBARD
  • 2017, 30(2), pp.283-302
  • Publisher : 한국현대영미드라마학회
  • Research Area : Humanities > English Language and Literature > English Literature > Contemporary English Drama

Jung,Byung-Eon 1

1부산대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This essay considers the making of sexual identity and its effects on homosexuals during the period of the Nazi regime in Martin Sherman’s Bent. It utilizes Michel Foucault’s theory of power along with the concepts of “social tattooing” and “the bios of zoe” in order to explore the ways in which Max, a promiscuous gay man in 1930s Berlin, is psychologically freed from the geography of exclusion. Mainly using the character’s journey from negation to acknowledgement of his sexual identity, this essay suggests that the negative image of homosexuality is not natural, but is symbolically constituted to solidify Hitler’s Nazi regime. Even though he is homosexual, Max is eager to wear the yellow star that shows he is a Jew by falsely proving to a Nazi SS officer and guards that he is “not bent.” Thus, his heterosexuality is socially constructed when they cry “make him a Jew.” Max voluntarily repeats the practices of disguising himself as a heterosexual, for homosexuals are “tattooed” to be the lowest among the prisoners. This ideology of classification functions as the eye of power to render him docile in that he obeys the will of the Nazi regime. However, Max finally wears Horst’s jacket with the pink triangle on it and kills himself by walking into the electrified fence. This visual gesture represents his desire for a space of inclusion. By rejecting his “docile” body, he voluntarily chooses to become a homosexual speaking-subject.

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