Postmodern Gender Relationship Analysis In Paula Vogel's Two Plays:Desdemona:A Play About A Handkerchief And How I Learned To Drive

This thesis intends to study contemporary female playwright Paula Vogel‘s two famous plays, Desdemona: a Play about a Handkerchief(1996) and How I Learned to Drive(2008) from the postmodern perspective, with concentration on the gender relationships. The thesis pays attention to how the conventional gender relationship is deconstructed and how the postmodern gender relationship is reconstructed. The postmodern gender relationship is full of uncertainties and varieties; however, the reconstruction of postmodern gender relationship in Vogel‘s two plays has some consistencies. This study firstly introduces Paula Vogel‘s two plays, literature review, and the theoretical framework of this thesis. The following chapter focuses on the postmodern techniques, such as, pastiche and ambiguity in the texts and how these techniques contribute to deconstructing patriarchal gender relationships. Chapter three concentrates on the prominent postmodern technique of intertextuality. The intertextuality of Paula Vogel‘s two plays and two classic works, Othello and Lolita facilitates the deconstruction of the patriarchal gender relationship. The intertextuality of Desdemona and Drive contributes to the reconstruction of the postmodern gender relationship. This thesis then explicates the reconstruction of the gender relationship in two ways. Firstly, ambiguous gender roles are portrayed through the analysis of the characterization. Secondly, the gender relationship is reconstructed by the comparison and contrast of Desdemona and Drive. The last chapter concludes the thesis by addressing how these two plays not only deconstruct the patriarchal gender relationship but also reconstruct dynamic and ambiguous postmodern gender relationship with certain consistency, that is, female characters keep fighting for the life that they desire.