An Interpretation Of Homosexual Issue Under Alienation Effect In Cloud Nine

Caryl Churchill (1938-) is an active and talented British writer emerging in thelate twentieth century, and also the only two female playwrights who have extensivelyattracted critical and academic attention. Her outstanding comedy Cloud Nine firstmade her widely known to readers and scholars and also marked the start of herwriting career by winning her an Obie Award and the honor of "outstanding writer".Among all Caryl Churchill’s works put on stage, Cloud Nine ranks as the mostsuccessful play in terms of its business value. In the play, gender and sexualitybecome focus, which logically brings about plenty of articles exploring the play fromsuch perspectives as feminism, power and colonialism. However, their analysis tendsto be limited to the text level, and lacks an in-depth study of the play onstage underthe alienation effect and a study of the issue of gender and sexuality, especially that ofhomosexuality. This thesis aims to examine the issue of homosexuality from theperspectives of cross-casting, doubling and the overlapping of cross-casting anddoubling.The main body of the thesis consists of three chapters. The first chapter “Cross-casting That Reveals Plight of Homosexuals” discusses the dilemma of thehomosexuals through the perspectives of cross-casted Betty and cross-casted Edwardonstage. The confrontations of the male Betty with gay Harry and with lesbian Ellendisclose an isolated, unsafe, dark situation as well as an overwhelming public pressurethat homosexuals face in society. On the other hand, the cross-casted Edward suggeststhat homosexuals, similar to women, lack power, and may suffer a similar outcome intheir fight with the dominant heterosexual society.The second chapter “Doubling That Reveals the Change of Homosexuals’’Situation” explores the changes and development of homosexuals’ situation indifferent periods of time. The doubling between lesbian Ellen and the independentMrs. Sanders in the first act underscores the homosexuals as an image of rebel andvictim in the society of the Victorian time. On the other hand, the doubling betweenEllen in the first act and lesbian Lin in the second act makes sharp contrasts byshowcasing an opening and tolerant atmosphere that homosexuals face in the1970s’Britain. In addition, the doubling between gay Harry in the first act and Martin in thesecond act demonstrates different impacts that homosexuals have on heterosexualmarriage. The third chapter “Alienation Effect Providing A Chance of Rethinking ofHomosexual Issue” is dealt with from the doubling and cross-casting of Cathy. Thefirst part discusses the declination of heterosexual authority in modern London interms of gun, age and bullying. In the second part of this chapter, the thesis proposesto interpret homosexuality from the perspective of asexuality.