CRITICISM OF PHALLOCENTRIC AUTHORITY IN TIMBERLAKE WERTENBAKER’S THE LOVE OF THE NIGHTINGALE

Abstract

Timberlake Wertenbaker’s The Love of the Nightingale (1988) is a modern adaptation of Ancient Greek myth, and it alludes to the gender differences by employing ideas about gender roles. The play deviates in form from the classical drama structure in favor of a more charged and driven scenic transition through a puppet show as a metatheatrical device. Based on sexuality of the genders, the play is a criticism of phallocentric authority. It highlights the role of desire in human decisions and actions. Furthermore, it is a social commentary on the power dynamics involved in consensual, physical, and emotional disruptions. This paper aims to relate Wertenbaker’s theatrical representation of Philomele who is raped, mutilated, and silenced to Lacan’s symbol of the phallus as presented in The Meaning (or Signification) of the Phallus, which appeared in Écrits in 1966. In his article, Lacan digresses Freudian concept of the Oedipus complex and suggests that phallus is a signifier that has a meaning in itself, independent of what it signifies. The phallus operates in three ways: the symbolic, the imaginary, and the real and it is a signifier of the desire of other. The symbolic lack of the phallus implies the possession through non- possession and a desire to own it. Lacan’s concept of the phallus is apt in approaching the intricate relationship of Philomele, Procne, and Tereus which is a conflation of desire and eloquence or inarticulacy of women. Therefore, this article intends to explore Wertenbaker’s emphasis on phallocentric authority and sexual desire, in relation to gender, through Lacanian theory.