A Comparative Study Of Crimes Of The Heart And’night, Mother

Beth Henley and Marsha Norman are two successful female dramatists on thecontemporary American stage. Both of them have established their high status inAmerican dramatic history in the latter half of the twentieth century with theirrespective work Crimes of the Heart and’night, Mother. Twentieth century is acritical period that witnesses the growth of female dramatists and the flourishing oftheir literary creation. Among the substantial female dramatists, Beth Henley andMarsha Norman are two of those outstanding representatives. Beth Henley won thePulizter Prize for drama in1981and just two years later Marsha Norman won theaward. They earned their own unique place on Broadway and changed the mainstreamtrend led by male dramatists.Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley and’night, Mother by Marsha Norman arethe best known of all their works. Due to the fact that both writers are from the Southof America, their works share many similarities and at the same time vary in someaspects. This thesis aims to make a comparative study between Crimes of the Heartand’night, Mother from three aspects, that is, the thematic concern, the backgroundconcern and the mode concern.In addition to introduction and conclusion, the thesis is divided into threechapters.Chapter one centers on the shared concern of women’s relationship in the twoplays. This chapter is subdivided into two parts. The first part explores themother-daughter relationship in’night, Mother. The play subverts the traditionalmother-daughter relationship which deeply roots on blood relationship and creates anew mode which emphasizes the equal status between mother and daughter. Thesecond part discusses the sisterhood in Crimes of the Heart. The play reconstructs thetraditional sibling relationship dominated by patriarchal system and pays tribute to thetrue sisterhood which answers the call of the thriving feminist movement. The studyshows the playwrights’ similar concern on the trend of women relationship fromseparation to unity and their increasing focus on female autonomy and dignity.Chapter two explores the background concern of the two playwrights. The firstpart illustrates the features of regionality in Crimes of the Heart. The Mississippi areawhere Beth Henley was born has a big impact on her writing and is the inspiration ofthe grotesque style in her play. Besides, Beth Henley puts great emphasis on family ties which is a common theme of American Southern literature. She pays greatattention to the image of women and discusses their change from the traditionalSouthern lady into the modern women who begin to gain the awareness to challengethe social inequality and prejudice. While Beth Henley adheres to the Southern settingand Southern tradition, Marsha Norman attempts to go beyond the limitedgeographical setting of the South and presents the universal and prevalent existentialstate of ordinary people. The second part dwells on the universality displayedin’night, Mother which is not only a feminist play but also a play about the existentialdilemma confronted by modern human being. The protagonist Jessie tries everymeans to find the meaning of life and finally defines her life in her own way. The aimof the play is to make contemporary people think about the true meaning of life.Chapter Three discusses the different attempts in the creation mode of the twoplays. The first part illustrates the traditional realism adopted by Crimes of the Heartand the comedic color in the play. Beth Henley employs the realistic approach todescribe the characters, language, setting, structure and theme of the play. Althoughthe three sisters still face the oppression of the patriarchy society, the play ends with ahappy ending in that the MaGrath sisters come back together and believe that they canget through the real bad days. The second part elaborates on the new-realism tendencydisplayed on’night, Mother and its tragic theme. Apparently the choice made byJessie is negative and even submissive to the fate, her will to control her own fate isadmirable and tragical. Norman uses Jessie’s tragedy to trigger the fundamentalthinking on the meaning of existence of the modern life, which is also in coincidencewith the theme of new-realism.The comparative reading of the two plays shows that both born in the South, thetwo playwrights choose different dramatic modes to express their same concern of thefemale relationship and their existential state. Their efforts in sticking to the southerntradition and going beyond the regional limitation to reach universal meaning makethem unique writers. They have made contribution not only to the development of thefeminist drama but also to the whole American literature.