Male bonding in David Rabe’s "Hurlyburly"


Term Paper (Advanced seminar), 2006

22 Pages, Grade: 1,0


Excerpt


Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Hurlyburly ’s Male Characters
2.1 Eddie
2.2 Phil
2.3 Mickey
2.4 Artie

3. Homosocial Desire

4. Masculine Relationships
4.1 Eddie and Phil
4.2 Eddie and Mickey
4.3 Mickey and Phil
4.4 Mickey and Artie

5. Male Bonding Rituals
5.1 Drugs
5.2 Women
5.3 Boasting
5.4 Aggression

6. Self-Enactment

7. The Vanity of Language and Intellect

8. Conclusions

9. References

1. Introduction

On writing Hurlyburly, it was David Rabe’s intention “to venture near at least the appearances of the so-called ‘realistic’ or ‘well-made’ play” and its clear causal relations (Rabe 1991b: 200). What should be underlined, though, is the word ‘appearances’, since Rabe’s works, like those of his post-‘60s dramatist colleagues Shepard, Mamet and Albee, rather belong to the Drama of New Realism: using the dramatic techniques of Realism they depict a seemingly normal everyday environment and current social topics, yet then bring in surrealistic elements to create an effect of alienation.

One of the characteristics found in New Realism is an adaptation of the techniques proposed and employed by Antonin Artaud who in the 1930s established his idea of a ‘Theatre of Cruelty’ (théâtre de la cruauté) as a catalyst and outlet for repressed aggressions:

If the essential theatre is like the plague […] it is not because it is contagious, but because like the plague it is the revelation, the bringing forth, the exteriorization of latent cruelty by means of which all the perverse possibilities of the mind, whether of an individual or a people, are localized. […] That is why […] I propose a theatre of cruelty[…]

(Antonin Artaud quoted after Brustein 1965: 368sq.)

Even though Artaud points out that by this he does not necessarily mean bloody violence, his concepts have more often than not been (mis-)understood to mean exactly this (cf. Brustein 1965: 369); David Rabe himself makes use of (partially unmotivated) physical violence in his play Streamers. Yet although one may also finds staged physical violence in Hurlyburly, as when Phil gives Donna a butt (cf. Rabe 1995-primary source text, henceforward abbreviated as ‘H’-: 232) or throws Bonnie out of his car (only told in the play, cf. ibid. 291, but present in the film adaptation), the impact of this play lies in emotional and verbal aggression: the cathartic shock desired by Artaud’s ‘Theatre of Cruelty’ is reached by the excessive use of degradation and obscenities. While Rabe sticks to the structure of a well-made play (cf. Reinelt 1991: 202), he thus de-familiarizes the clichés used and reaches the estrangement effect characteristic of New Realism.

2. Hurlyburly ’s Male Characters

Rabe’s play is set in a Hollywood Hills house shared by the characters Eddie and Mickey, the place of their meetings with their friends Phil and Artie as well as with the female characters. The society they all are placed in is a cruel and demanding one, especially intellectually, as all the men are ”trained to control their feelings and think” (Rabe 1991b: 200) and at the same time have to maintain the relationships with their surroundings. Therefore, it is not surprising that each of the four men has to find ways to meet the necessary requirements of Hollywood business, and to cope with the exigencies of human communication to which they are unaccustomed – in short: to deal with life.

“Rabe’s characters either accept their sordid existence with cynicism or they look for the easy fix or the feeble lie that will make life more convenient but never more meaningful.” (Kolin 1986: 67). This statement shall serve as a working hypothesis for a closer look at the four male characters and their approach towards life.

2.1 Eddie

Eddie is a casting director, though he does not appear to be all too dedicated to his job, but rather to be sedating the grief of his life by means of drugs, and to keep up a good relationship towards his friends and, though less importantly, towards his lover Darlene.

Since much of the play’s action centers on Eddie, some critics have jumped at raising Eddie to “the status male of the group with whom the others seek to ally and thereby define themselves.” (Radavich 1993: 5) Though this is a reasonably enough characterization, it might falsely lead to the conclusion that Eddie knew better than others how to deal with life in the ‘hurlyburly’ of their Hollywood home – which is not the case, as the author himself stresses: “Though it might be said that the play makes itself manifest through Eddie, he is not its embodiment, and he does not understand it. (Rabe 1991b: 208) Even Eddie himself admits: “[A]t least I know that I don’t know, which is more than most people.” (H 347). This Socratic admission of scio non scire already shows that Eddie represents an intellectual, though an intellectual full of doubt about society and life, which is why Eddie is questioning everything (again like Socrates) and is looking for constancy and lasting emotions in an otherwise ever-changing surrounding. This seeking is presented as a more noble approach towards life than the cynicism of other characters. As is pointed out by Reinelt (1991: 200): “Eddie is a suffering hero--not completely without critique--but with enough undistanced empathy to maintain a central protagonist’s epistemological primacy.”

2.2 Phil

Eddie’s less sophisticated counterpart and best friend is Phil, “a would-be actor, ex-con, and violent personality better endowed with strength than looks” (Kolin 1986: 65). This critical characterization is not surprising since, as mentioned before, the cases of physical violence in the play are exercised by Phil: first (in retrospect) against his wife Susie (cf. H 175), then against Donna (cf. ibid. 232), against “some guy” (cf. ibid. 247seqq.), and later (again in retrospect) against Bonnie (cf. ibid. 291). Apart from this aggression against women and rivals, one can also state a self-destructive trait within him, which is proven by his announced and finally committed suicide (cf. ibid. 261: “I am feeling suicidal.”, 333).

Even though Phil is the only one married in the play (and gets divorced after act one), he does not, unlike all the other male characters, have any sexual contacts in the actual course of the play, and does not even show great enthusiasm at the idea of having it (cf. ibid. 280: “She don’t have to.). Perhaps it is this lack of an ‘outlet’ which makes him become “needy, wild, desirous, desperate“ (Rabe 1991b: 203), and which makes him use ridiculous things like a (broken) vibrator to get closer to women, even though he himself admits he is using “methods so outdated they appear to you a goof” (H 261).

Like Eddie, Phil is dissatisfied with his life, with his marriage and his career, and seeks to improve his situation. He is looking for answers and relief in trying to believe in a higher destiny like karma (cf. ibid. 257seqq.), yet not being an intellectual like Eddie, he is not taken seriously by the others (cf. ibid. 258, 261).

2.3 Mickey

Mickey is a casting director like Eddie, with whom he shares the Hollywood household, yet unlike him he has abandoned the search for deeper truths and has accommodated himself to his job and to life in Hollywood. He is “settled on the side of convention and reason, yet full of resentment and animosity” (Rabe 1991b: 205). In criticizing Eddie for his excessive drug abuse (cf. H 181) and mocking his room mate’s urge to find a deeper meaning in things (cf. ibid. 342), Mickey demonstrates that he has chosen a strategy of coping with life different from that used by Eddie: frank and cruel cynicism, ignoring human emotions. Kolin put his finger on Mickey’s apparent maxim of life in writing: “The only way to exist is to become a thing.” (id. 1986: 68).

Since, unlike Eddie and Phil, Mickey pretends to already know all relevant answers, he feels he is more secure and more stable than his friends, of which he tries to make the others aware, wanting to get recognition. He constantly wants to make his mark as a superior, trying to create a distinctive personal image for himself by criticizing the others (cf. H 181, 258, 340).

2.4 Artie

A screenwriter, Artie is (or pretends to be) the model businessman, whose most important object seems to be his watch (cf. H 198, 206), and who constantly has to take notes (cf. ibid. 252) and to check his messages (cf. ibid. 256), since he wants to stay in touch with the world he has, like Mickey, come to accept. He is described as “a mix of toughness and arrogance, a cunning desperation” (ibid. 196), and as “seedy and selfish” (Kolin 1986: 63). As a result, he is neither taken seriously by his ‘friends’ Eddie and Mickey, who mock him (cf. H 260), nor do they like him all too much: Eddie sees him as “an obnoxious, anal-obsessive pain in the ass who could make his best friend hire crazed, unhappy people with criminal tendencies to cut off his legs, which we have both personally threatened to do.” (Eddie to Phil, ibid. 171) Apart from re-introducing the concept of cruelty mentioned before, this statement shows a clear disgust with Artie from the part of the other males. For this reason, Artie needs Donna as a gift, as a ‘care package’ with witch to get the others’ recognition if not friendship.

[...]

Excerpt out of 22 pages

Details

Title
Male bonding in David Rabe’s "Hurlyburly"
College
http://www.uni-jena.de/  (Institut für Anglistik/Amerikanistik)
Course
The Crisis of Masculinity - The American Drama of the 1960s to 1980s
Grade
1,0
Author
Year
2006
Pages
22
Catalog Number
V93549
ISBN (eBook)
9783638068536
ISBN (Book)
9783638954747
File size
443 KB
Language
English
Notes
Dozent: "Eine gründliche und überzeugend vorgetragene Analyse der Figuren und Figurenbeziehungen, geschrieben in einem bemerkenswert guten Englisch. Die einschlägige Sekundärliteratur wurde kompetent ausgewertet und gut in die eigene Darstellung integriert."
Keywords
David, Rabe’s, Hurlyburly, Crisis, Masculinity, American, Drama, Rabe
Quote paper
Volker Lorenz (Author), 2006, Male bonding in David Rabe’s "Hurlyburly", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/93549

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