Exploration of Lacanian Psychological Disorder in Edward Albee’s The Sandbox and Three Tall Women

Edward Albee (۱۹۲۸–۲۰۱۶), a prominent American playwright, portrayed the modern conditions throughout his works. Following a successful career in the ۱۹۶۰s and early ۱۹۷۰s, relying on his tumultuous childhood and troubled upbringing, Albee felt the liberty to begin exploring the themes of psychology of maturing and troubled childhoods. In this article, his plays The Sandbox (۱۹۵۹) and Three Tall Women (۱۹۹۴) will be explored by emphasizing the themes of anxiety and self-formation. As both protagonists of these plays are suffering from anxiety caused by a lack of separation from their mothers, and the continuing, dominating effect of their mothers in their lives, they find a form of peace in acting out, in order to redeem themselves as separate individuals. Holding Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytical discipline as the main theoretical framework for this analysis, this article first elaborates on the Lacanian understanding of the concept of anxiety. Then, by drawing excerpts from the plays, and the overall suggestive passages, the subject of the devouring mother will be traced within the present and past of both plays’ protagonists. The problematic nature of these characters’ self-formation processes will be explored upon by a scrutinizing reading of Albee’s implicit cues and hints to their troubled upbringing and youth. Finally, the actions of these characters are going to be deciphered in the form of consequences of a sense of overbearing anxiety, caused by the dominating influence of their mothers, coupled with a distorted self-formation process, which eventually led to a defense mechanism of acting out in an attempt to relive and reevaluate with the hope for absolute redemption.

Keywords:

Anxiety , devouring mother , self-formation , psychology , acting out , Lacan