On Women’s Neurosis In Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women

Edward Albee is one of the leading American playwrights whose work Three Tall Women won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1994,making him the only American playwright in post-World War II who has won three Pulitzer Prizes.In this strongly autobiographical play,Albee exposes the realities of women’s lives in current society by telling the tragic story of the unnamed female protagonist at three different life stages characterized as A,B,and C.Since its release,a series of reviews of Three Tall Women have been published by literary and theater critics.Some scholars have analyzed the commodification of sexuality from the perspective of marriage and gender.Other scholars have explored the idea that aging is not an experience exclusive to the elderly from the perspective of death.These reviews have been quite illuminating for later studies,but they still do not explore the mental condition of the play’s heroines and its formative causes from the perspective of the women themselves.Based mainly on Karen Horney’s theory of neurosis,this thesis primarily explores the neurosis of the women in Three Tall Women and analyzes the deeper reasons behind the protagonist’s abnormal behavior caused by her neurosis.In doing so,this thesis reveals that the neurosis of the protagonist is not an inherently psychological condition,but an inevitable reflection of women’s anxiety and resistance to tradition and society in a difficult reality.Whether submitting to the patriarchal culture and suppresses self to the point of madness,or rising up against old convention,both are viewed as pathological manifestations of femininity that serve to demonize and stigmatize women.This thesis consists of three parts: the introduction,main body,and conclusion,of which the body part is divided into three chapters.The first chapter discusses the young woman’s obedience under repression.C’s submissive neurotic personality stems from the patriarchal society’s excessive demand that young women be meek and mild.The second chapter analyzes the aggressive behavior of middle-aged women with anxiety.B’s aggressive neurotic personality originates from society’s demand that middle-aged women should stay home and raise their children away from power.The third chapter argues the alienation of older women under depression.A’s detached neurotic personality derives from society’s demand that older people accept that they have difficulty being independent and must rely on others.It is important to note that this thesis divides the category of neurosis in women into three stages based on the logic of the drama itself,and these symptoms can occur at all ages.