The images of masculinity in contemporary American drama: Albee, Shepard, Mamet and Kushner (Sam Shepard, Edward Albee, David Mamet, Tony Kushner)

Through examining works by Edward Albee, Sam Shepard, David Mamet, and Tony Kushner, this study investigates their portrayals of men and discloses new constructions of the image of masculinity in cultural, social, and sexual contexts as reflected from their plays.; The study begins with an overview of popular masculine images in American culture. Then it identifies the values and codes of traditional masculinity reinforced in works by precedent American dramatists. According to Augusto Boal, traditional Aristotelian criticism constructs a powerful coercive system in order to promote conformity to the ethos of the society. The traditional masculine ethos, as revealed in Kate Milleee's Sexual Politics, is based on the dichotomy of masculinity and femininity, heterosexuality and homosexuality. The portrayals of men as seen in the earlier dramas affirm those values.; Albee, Shepard, Mamet, and Kushner observe the untenability of those masculine norms and codes, and subverts the coercive value system by unmasking the ideology of power and dominance underlying the traditional image of manhood. These playwrights challenge critical receptions of masculinity in American theatre by disclosing masculinity as conceptual rather than biological, unstable rather than monolithic, and full of negotiation and revision in relation to the dynamics of cultural, social changes and political climates.; As a result, the images of masculinity constructed in the work by Albee, Shepard, Mamet and Kushner are subversive of the patriarchal heteroseuxal hierarchy. They open new discourses between power and sex, and enhances our critical senses of the self and of the society.