Psychological Necessity of Shen Teh—Shui Ta Anamorphosis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70042/eroth/904196Keywords:
mask, identity, alter ego, lacking, animus, manque-à-être, anamorphism, gazeAbstract
This paper examines the psychological necessity of Shen Teh’s adoption of the Shui Ta persona in Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan. Through Lacanian psychoanalysis, it explores that Shen Teh’s disguise of Shui Ta, her imaginary cousin, is more than a materialistic necessity to survive in the societal structures, which compel individuals to adopt capitalist morality. Shen Teh, a good-hearted prostitute, creates a male persona, Mr. Shui Ta to know the public opinion about herself, glorify herself making her disguised role a sharp contrast to her female/original representation before other at the same time fulfil her desires to dominate over others which patriarchal society does not permit a female individual, and most importantly, fulfil her desire to be the male counterpart, thus completing the wholeness of her psychological identity.
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