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Theories on love from: CENTRAL TOPIC/TENET Our experience comes

 Freud from the Western world
 Stenberg
Literary theories:
 Kristeva Figures of love: LOVE  Post-structuralism
 Bataille  Mythological  Deconstruction
 Fromm  Political  Transexual studies
 Literary
S O  Lesbian/gay
 Artistic Foundational
 Historical texts

OBJECT OF LOVE can be a person, object, career, nature, abstract noun (power)

SUBJECT OF LOVE someone who loves (always a person)

Wants relationship and experiences with love S only one who loves
Believes the object retrieves on his love but what is the measure? UNIDIRECTIONALITY

Love is unidirectional → S doesn’t know if the O retrieves that love →accept limitation of the
relationship and create anxiety/animosity

FIGURE OF LOVE way love is experienced/thought about that shapes how conceive love

“Representation of love situation which re-enacts, evokes, alludes to recognizable ways of

loving at a particular time/place and which may be partially or totally assimilated into culture”

Love in the western world →figures of love mythological (cupid)

Artistic (sculpture-la piedad)
Historical (napoleon-zeal of power)
Literary (Romeo & Juliet)
Political (Peron/ Evita-Age gap & ≠ social worlds)

CONFIGURATION OF LOVE figures that are conjoined (come together)

“Assembling of figures of love which account for the ways of loving at a
particular place and time”

PAST (or Eastern world) PRESENT

Arranged marriage Socialize through media
Virginity until marriage Liquid love (lack of commitment, short-lived, ephemeris )
No one night stands Gender fluidity (polyamory, 3-part-relationship)
One night stands

FOUNDATIONAL TEXTS

Founded love from Ancient Greece Heteroerotic

“Song of songs” “Symposium”

Not understandable Plato

Poem about strong desire (yearn)not Different characters talking about love
fulfilled
Feeling through the senses → edible
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Choice of object/libido →one´s ego or body S O Being too perfect can´t spot any flaw (exaggeration)
Based on our previous experience that satisfied
our libido (create perfect version of other)
Narcissism →the taking of one´s ego or body as
sexual object or focus of the libido or the seeking Idealisation → the exaggeration of the positive attributes and
or choice of another for relational purposes on the minimization of the imperfections or failings associated with a
basis of his/her similarity to the self person/place/thing/situation, so that it is viewed as a perfect or
nearly perfect

Locus amenous spatial setting where lovers meet

Foreplay what happens before the sexual act

Intercourse the actual act

Song of Songs song of erotic love polyphony (various voices: bride, groom)
Erotic language
Figures (bride, groom, man, woman, edibility: biting)
Abounds in imagery (images related to the senses)
Imprecision (originally in Hebrew and ≠ translations)
Foreplay (appealing to the sense, you play with nice words before act)
Intercourse (I sat in my lover´s and ate his fruit)
Earthly, common, sensual (achieve sexual satisfaction through edible issue)
Locus amenous (nature, plants, fruits, senses, mountains-imagery) S (bride) O
Possession, love as sickness, jealousy, suffering, separation, praise, admiration (groom, king)

Foreplay Structure “Song of Songs”

Idealisation
Intercourse
Couple chooses Possession
to be together Suffering
Break-up
Locus
amenous Fall

SAPPHO

S (Sappho-use of pronoun I)  O (her beloved- a “she”) Homoerotic

The feelings expressed are of yearning, desperation and grief

CATULLUS

S (Catullus)  O (idealized and unattainable for him- 50 Licinius , 86 Lesbia and 99 Juventius)
Homoerotic with Licinius and Heteroerotic with the rest.

The feelings expressed are of obsession, admiration, anguish/frustration and fear/concern

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Plato´s THE SYMPOSIUM

Myth of the Andorgyny humans were composed of 3 sexes: man, woman and the union of
the 2 (Androgyny) that possessed both female and male features. It was separated and
doomed to look for their other half

Relation to heteroerotic love if the androgyny was man-woman, the union was for
procreation. In contrast, if the combination was man-man/woman-woman they felt satisfied
with being allowed to stay together.

Socrates/Diotima conception of love  Love is a spirit or supernatural being that stands

between fairness and good, mortal and immortal. It is a profound desire for the possession of
the good that ultimately leads to happiness

Power of love (Diotima) Love is a spirit that bridges the gap between the divine and the
mortal, making communication between these realms possible.

Origin of love the product of the union of a wealthy and wise father (Plenty/Poros) and a
poor and foolish mother (Poverty/Penia). Love was conceived out of Poverty´s conspiracy in
the garden of Zeus. Love is beautiful because it was born on Aphrodite´s birthday (god of
beauty) and because he is a lover of wisdom (which is a beautiful thing).

Pregnancy of the body vs soul  gestation of a child as a result of marriage that hopes their
mortal offspring honours them. Pregnant souls conceive wisdom, beauty and virtue, usually
referred to as artists, poets or inventors that seek to establish an immortal tie with their
creation

Homoeroticism The separation of the androgyny leaves room for doubt because it is not
explicitly stated that the missing half is the opposite sex. Thus, the isolated part can yearn for
its same-sex half or the opposite one. Therefore, love may be interpreted as the desire for
wholeness regardless of gender, which may be realised in homo or heteroeroticism.

Freud “everything is explained through sexual drive/sexuality”

 Phenomena of love → ≠ manifestations/ways of love (love can be many things)

 Common, earthly, sensual love →achieve sexual satisfaction
 Heavenly, unsexual, tender love →love for parents, pets, friends
 Sexual overestimation →idealisation → boost other´s ego and love it
 Identification (finding oneself in other people) vs Infatuation (loses oneself to other)
 Being in love (hypnotized) vs Hypnosis (induce sleep)
= see through/pick the object through sight & feel in a dream &controlled
≠ hypnosis has no sexual satisfaction

 S O (object-cathexis)
 Ego ideal →devotion to the object psychic phenomenon→ idealized expected
best version of you

Inside world

EGO O O External world It meets your

expectations
Appropriates it and makes it part of his inside world (the ideal ego)
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Stenberg TRIANGULAR THEORY

Love whole made of parts that can’t be broken down P

Intimacy closeness, tenderness, caring ≠ combinations

Passion sex, desire, points (libido) to the lover will give ≠ types
Commitment decision of loving and maintaining it of love
 Nonlove → absence of all three components I C
 Liking → experience intimacy but not passion and commitment
 Infatuated → passion but not intimacy and commitment
 Empty → commitment but not passion and intimacy
 Romantic →intimacy and passion but not commitment
 Companionate →intimacy and commitment but not passion
 Fatuous →passion and commitment but not intimacy
 Consummate or Complete → full combination of all 3

Both expect the same amount of the elements (if

Relationship both want more passion it succeeds but if one
succeeds if wants more and other less then failure)

Love as story
Multiple conceptions of what love can be as a result of our exposure to stories  we form our
own stories of what love is or should be

We are likely to succeed in close relationships with people whose stories match our own

THE THEATRE OF SHAKESPEARE´S DAY

*The first theatre was built when Shakespeare was

a kid. (before in halls, courtyards and inns)
*Circular theatre
*Performances were given in the day of light and
artificial lighting used for special effects
*Richly ornamented when a tragedy draped in
black
*Expensive costumes (more than buying plays)
*Properties movable objects used in plays and
the L of play draw attention to them (like
handkerchief and Othello´s sword)
*The playwright used language as an instrument to create the atmosphere (richness of L)
storm scene created by dialogue
*Convention of Shakespeare´s theatre soliloquy, direct addresses to the audience shapes our
responses by heightening the suspense, irony and audience more
knowledge than characters
Men playing female roles through L persuaded the audience of beauty and
sensuous power of women
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THE LANGUAGE OF THE PLAY (OTHELLO)

Play  dialogues are in prose because we speak in prose but in Othello they speak in verse as
in poem but not with rhyme. Rhythm is used to tell stories in verse

Poems →words combined to create rhythm and musicality. ≠ patterns:

Process by which you divide the syllables in stressed+ stressed SCANSION (mark stress)

I THINK THIS TALE WOULD WIN MY DAUGHTER TOO musicality of English L

Unrhymed Iambic Pentameter BLANK VERSE

(no rhyme at end) (2 syllables [stress combination]) (5 groups [feet])

Enables Shakespeare to achieve many striking effects by variation of pause, stress and number
of syllables

Metrical forms change for the sake of avoiding monotony and add emotional power

Musical pattern was used to create the effect of honour/respect in Shakespeare`s time.

Honour/nobility/upper classes/respect→ Blank verse

Foul L ugly/cruel/lower classes/criminals/deceitful acts→ Prose

Iago when sketching and scheming →Prose

When talking to Othello →Blank verse

OTHELLO (1603)

Shakespeare (1564-1616)  authorship was challenged (Marlow or Oxford actual writers)

Posthumously his scripts were collected and published after his death

Wrote Othello in mature period (sophistication of L) Romeo Juliet young period

“Lord Chamberlain´s Men (later King´s Men)” was his theater company at Globe

Renaissance (1500-1600) from theocentric to anthropocentric exploration and discovery

rediscovery of Classical literature (Greek and Latin tragedy/comedy)

Elizabethan Age humanism from God´s tenets to explore man potentialities)

Tragedy: death of the main characters vs Comedy: always has happy ending (not laughter)

Problems while reading  L (not contemporary, written in verse and many allusions, intertex)

Main objective while reading  topic-based analysis LOVE (focus on the ≠ relations)

“Othello and Desdemona´s relationship fails because on the one hand excessive narcissism and
on the other hand excessive idealization” (tragic love)

Venetians-Elizabethans →white, smart, courageous men/ beautiful, submissive, white women

Mark behaviour through L  Othello shows through discourse behaves Venetian (not Turk)

Speaks in BLANK VERSE until transformation scene→ transforms into a beast when Iago
tells him that Desdemona had sex with Cassio)
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“Black skin white soul”black but not savage and cruel but pure and brave

Othello “the other” (outcast) → he behaves as a Venetian even though he is an outcast

The blackness of his skin marks him off as an outsider when in fact Iago is the
outsider because he doesn’t share Venetian values.
Extreme Narcissism → egocentric military and ethnicity (moor-black African)
Looks for features in Desdemona that are similar to what he would do
What sparkled his narcissism → she is not black and she is loyal, obeys him as he pleases

Desdemona Overidealisation susceptible, gives in, submitted to him

D as O excessive idealisation

O as S excessive narcissism
Is brave when she reveals against her father (brave like Othello)
Exaggerates and sees no flaws in Othello
Infatuation not thinking clearly and hypnotized by Othello´s words
let herself dies because Othello said so

Othello + Desdemona commitment and intimacy (O idealizes D but dominated by narcissism

Sexual engagement of Othello and Desdemona compared to animal mate

Heavenly love forbidden love between Moor (other) and high-society women ≠ social worlds

Tragedy  conflict is presented from a state of order into a state of disorder (brings chaos)

Iago and Othello were comrades brothers in arms (army and battle)

Order into Begins when Othello is Problem escalates when Othello marries Desdemona
disorder hired to fight the Turks in secret and Iago is not appointed but Cassio

Disruptive Iago feels betrayed and hurt by the one he admired and acts in consequence (plots against Othello).
behaviour Iago suffers from losing its love to Othello and Brabantio suffers from the elopement

Collapse into Othello and Desdemona dies at the end

Othello murders Desdemona
violence
Othello as soldier (brave man/adventurous) but as a lover (Desdemona falls in love with his
tellings of adventures)
Soldiership
Striking Othello can be good
Lover lover and soldier because he is
too much time away from home
Adventure
Othello as the “Raconteur” skillful at storytelling because all fell Roman virtuous: courageous,strong
for his stories. men in order to be citizens. (as
Figure of spider web many get trapped in the web of lies. Othello is)

Transformation scene  Othello becomes a beast because Desdemona not pure any more but
then regains his nobility and honour when accepts his fate and dies

Transparent characters words, decisions are honest and true to their real self

Othello is really in love with Desdemona  confirms honesty

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Desdemona loves her father but she also loves her husband  confirms honesty
Desdemona`s commitment is true/absolute due to Othello`s blackness

Iago real self appears when he is alone shows his true intentions (also L)

Development of time →discrepancy in the time-scheme of the play but moves swiftly in the
actual representation

The physical movement from Venice (security & order) to Cyprus (chaos & emotional
turbulence). The storm serves as a prelude, is a metaphor for the passage from security to
disorder)

Deconstruction (1960s-1970s Jacques Derrida)

Literary criticism that includes the strategies and rules for interpreting pieces of writing taking
fostering the challenge of pre-conceived assumptions and conceptions.
Impact from a positivist perspective of finding meaning corresponding words to objects
and experiences observed to adhere to a relativistic, dynamic world with countless meanings

Principles of deconstruction (passionate/emotional approach):

 Reject binary oppositions that gives precedence to a central term (male/female)

 Meaning is essentially undecidable→ Not solid and guaranteed meaning to a text
 A single text can contain many meanings, all of them possible and replaceable by
others  can be read in ways different from what it seems to be saying
 Looks for places where the text contradicts and thereby deconstructs itself
 Language cannot convey universal truths and absolute meaning.

Deconstruction analysis

How to analyze?: “Look for aspects that remain unnoticed in other approaches”

Defer (postpone) meaning

Postpone final association
Process → DIFFÉRANCE and never ending meanings
Working on ≠ differences

TRACE→ every time you move on, sth is lost to enable movement forward
Morphology OTHELLO + DESDEMONA

Compatible because Othello`s dark side is hell for Desdemona and she is Othello`s hell

Etymology Desdemona = “fallen angel” (Satan)

Gaps Othello + Iago speculate before Iago`s appointment

There was fondness for each other but brotherhood is broken and Iago
feels betrayed and starts revenge/plotting leading to tragedy

Othello`s trust in Iago: not explained and doubt raised on Desdemona`s purity
All the time support Iago patriarchal system
Brotherhood and soldiership Handkerchief as proof
Talked as honourable as Othello
Desdemona was a liar (lied to father so always trust men in patriarchy)
He knows how Venetians generally behave (Othello fails to believe the individual
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Desdemona and believes Iago`s ideas of average Venetian women)

Delusional jealousy when the O is of the same sex (homoerotic attachment)

Unfounded suspicion of sexual and emotional rivals and fear of losing the partner
and the relationship
Iago fears losing his partner to Cassio/Desdemona it can be argued he is in love

Kristeva “Tales of love” discuss ≠ literary works from perspectives of love (post-struct,
feminism and psychology)

“Love as a personal experience in the singular” (= Stenberg based on personal exp)

-Unidirectionality (S only one who loves the object and not reciprocate)

-Inexpressibility  difficult to express and define (= post-struct that challenges the ling sign:
love as vertigo, cataclysm, him, belfire)

-Singularity S loves O
“I” who love S only Our beloved (passive)
capable of loving the O Unidirectionality
-Transference happens when the S becomes dependent on the object

Thinks Other will

give solution, that
S O
Patient Analyst
it will heal us
analysand Other
In love means “to fall in S O
love with the power the Desdemona
Othello
O indulges”
Third Party Social acceptance

Othello hypothesis: What if marrying a member of Venetian society makes him socially
accepted? (because he was underestimated due to ethnic)

Kristeva Deconstructs “LOVE”→ (plenty of definitions)

Play with signifiers to
Post-structuralism never find 1 conclusion as in structuralism find multiple signifiers
“Love reigns between the borders of narcissism and idealization” Encompasses a bit of both and the
“Love reigns”  powerful concept that archetypically Love pendulum leans to 1 side or the other
considered a god (Aphrodite)

Works with 2 components of the linguistic operation:

Semiotic (expresses objective meaning) vs Symbolic (rhythmic and illogical aspects of meaning)

Post-structuralism pay attention to the ling sign but challenges the

signification of the sign “What if not?”
Structuralism univocal Post-structuralism the signified changes

Signifier
Love
Signifier
Challenge the univosity of Love
Signified
≠Signified
signified
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THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY-OSCAR WILDE (1° 1890 2° 1891-censored)

OSCAR WILDE (1854-1900 within the Victorian Period) Bisexual

Irish author who wrote: poems (unreal genre cause we speak in prose)

Plays (criticized manners of Victorian time and long speeches)

Novels (cheap massive reading in magazines/long speeches as plays)

Essays (ideology socialist followed motto)

Short story for children (Happy prince and Canterville ghost)

Wit held a great mastery of L conveyed ideas and used figurative language

Clothing extravagant (aesthete) Feminine/Androgynus description of Dorian (flower)

Oxford specialized in the Classics (Greece and Rome)

Ravenna (Prize in Oxford) poem about admiring beauty of sunset in Italy

Not realistic  use of figurative L to highlight the beautiful things (Lord of Light=Sun)

Ban censored many poems and works throughout his career

Bosie name of the boy Wilde had relations with

Melmothpseudonym Wilde used in Paris when exiled  from top of the world to fall

Speranza`s influence his mother poet was admirer of art

1878-1895  Dandified aesthetics: active writing// overt manifestation of appearance and

manners (longer hair, jewelry, gestures, amariconado)

1895-1900  Physical, psychological and literary breakdown/fall

IMPRISONMENT in 1895 ended decadence.

REALISM (1870-1910) main trend with capitalism: modernity (bank, city)

Portraying reality as it is, like photographs

AESTHETICISMbeauty admirer of art and landscaperelated to DECADENCE

AESTHETES were against the main contemporary movement in Victorian times: Realism

Romanticism Wilde was famous alongside Britain´s power and 1900 power started to wane

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

1890 Original version with 13 chapters in Lippincott´s magazinecriticism (pornographic)

1891Revised version with 20 chapters and a preface (definition of art/artist)

Basil Dorian Locus amenous: Basil´s studio (visual imagery)

Post-struct: gap in the relation: must have had a friendly relation before beginning of novel

Lord Henry (Harry) Dorian

Dorian Picture of Dorian Idealization of youth (narcissism)

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Highly sensory and metaphorical description PRECIOSITY excessive refinement of L

Long descriptions to exalt beauty Aestheticism

Adonis/Apollo  perfect shapes (Roman art depicting beauty) Figure of narcissist love

Dorian flawed, deeply self-centred man fixation towards loss of youth

Looked for exotic sensations

LOVE RELATIONS

Idealises Dorian and leads to death Basil Dorian narcissism that verges psychotic

Tender love/ homoerotic/ idealization before the conflict

Conflict begins when Henry enters D`s life & awakens dormant thoughts (youth is temporary)

Deconstruction →before Henry, Basil develops attraction to D when they spend time together

Idealisation→ Basil paints Dorian because he idealises him, he is the representation of beauty
and Basil keeps the picture to him (possession)
Student-teacher relation:
Narcissistic chooses own ego when D changes Henry Dorian homoerotic figuer of love
that derives from the
Both express admiration for the other
symposyum (exchange of
Self-pleasure fuelled by the fact that Basil wants to keep his feelings for Dorian wisdom from old man to
as a secret beauty from young man

Dorian Portrait narcissism/identification/aestheticism

Sybil Dorian She is charmed by Dorian like a witch (hypnosis)

She falls in love with him Prince charming (D attractive man that saves her)

Idelisation that leads into tragedy

Dorian Sybil face 1→ idealisation + third party (Dorian infatuated by art of acting)

Face 2→ aversion, cruelty when Dorian doesn’t like her acting →he goes
back to narcissism (he doesn’t believe his words hurt cause narcissistic)

SOCIAL INFLUENCE (Kellman) describes the way SI develops in 3 stages: A influencing B

COMPLIANCE notice sth you like, that pleases you (voice, posture, gestures): you comply
with the person, a question of attraction

IDENTIFICATION discover that there are traits that coincide with what you want (how he
uses his body, the way he likes to spend his time)

INTERNALIZATION attraction, agreement and also want to become that person, you
imitate the other (risky because you can be losing your identity)

Examples of social influence in the novel

Henry influences Dorian: Identification because they agree on some ideas & thoughts

Dorian influences Basil: internalization because he wants to protect D

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The picture influences Basil →internalization and identification (B wants to be as

beautiful as the picture

Lord Henry (it`s less significant) →compliance because he finds the picture
compelling and attractive

Dorian: identification and internalization

Dorian`s influence on Sybil internalization “I want to become..”

FOCAULT sex was not a topic to discuss and homosexuality was disregarded

VAMPIRES sucking of blood so they got real life from people

VAMPIRISM about using the metaphor of the vampire (absorb the life of smone)

suck out soul, energy & mind use smone else´s resources for own benefit

The portrait sucks all Dorian´s youth and beauty at end of the novel

When Dorian and Basil meet Basil feels intimidated by Dorian´s sight

Glorification of sightchoosing O through sight (catch O by impression it makes on people)

Glorification of sight as figure typically homoerotic (can´t express feelings with words)

Figure of triumvir perceptual (perceive through sight) pyramid

Portrait/Dorian
Novel shows 3 men standing as a pyramid.

They enjoyed the sight of the portrait

(glorification of sight) Henry Basil

Nietzsche “Birth of tragedy” describes features of Greek tragedy

Proposes that humans display features of 2 personalities

APOLLO DIONYSUS
God of youth and light God of wine (excesses and lust)
Rational sense Out of bounds and logic/ driven by
instinct/irrational
Metonymic Metaphoric
Moral rectitudewhen Dorian in social Undisciplinehad moments: killing Basil,
events he has moral rectitude force Alan with corpse (religion represents
this with sins)
Prone to the cultural and refined Prone to the orgiastic and the ecstatic
Solar and diurnal Lunar and nocturnal  Scenes of dionysm at
night
Critical Creative
Narrative scheme prevailing scheme double focalization (for aestheticism)

Not realistic: it is biased because CF [ CF A] Dorian

it sides with one character and Henry
alters the reality Anonymous voice Basil
(EN is realism cause objective) Henry
Support what Harry Basil
and Basil see
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BEAUTY ART AND LIFE

Aestheticism

Motto “Art is for art´s sake” all art is useless ≠ Realism: art to portray reality with purpose

“Life imitates art” Dorian imitates the picture (social influence all processes at once)

Implied author (Wilde) anonymous voice is a choice author intrudes to expresses his ideas

Wilde´s mind is sectioned in 3 characters. His behaviour links to the

Dorian Id (Dionysus side) characters:
BasilSuperego Idwhen dating men
HenryEgo superego when censored by society
egowhen applauded by society
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EUGENE O´NEILL (1888-1953) American playwright of the 20th century

First serious playwright that paved the way for following authors (Williams, Miller, Albee)

Evolution of the theatre in the States light in content, just for entertainment and fun. It
was devoid of content (just stardoms)

Both parents were artists (actors) but dysfunctional family (O´Neill inaugurated this era)

Theatre companies after the 1st decade of 20th century more serious productions
Susan Glaspell (owner Theatre) stories how life affected typical American families

Sailor adventures at sea first plays set at the sea “Sea plays”

Stream of consciousness he found a way to insert this method associated to fiction in drama

Bad health: suffered from tuberculosis, spent time bedridden, writing and reading a lot

Influenced by Freud and Greek literature (Phaedra and Medea)

20th century time when you see big changes in the arts REALISM MODERNISM
Impressionism/Expressionism
Art showed ≠ important changes in the early decades of 20th :
O´Neill experimented with the movs plays have traces of Realism, Modernism, Impre, Expre
Many movements throughout his life: from Realism to Post-modernism

Determinism: we are determined by external/internal structures out of our control (rain,

genetics) and we can´t fight it: Eben´s desire/love couldn’t be fought

DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS (1924)

Play  elements of realism imitate the way people live (plausible events and setting)
clearly structured (intro with 3 parts 4 scenes, dramatis
personae [list charac], primary and secondary text)
Elements of naturalism tackles topics that realism hid (sexuality, prostitution)
In the middle of the play, they have sex and many references to kissing and animals
sensing, standing through the wall (not realistic-sexual)
Textual
Primary text: dialogues Secondary text: stage directions, cues aspect vs
Introductionshift from descriptive language to personalization (inanimate objects with Spectacular
psychological implications: walls aren’t sick, people inside are) aspect

Elms symbolizing the nation as a whole

Compared to human beings (two elms, two breasts: maternity and breastfeeding) Breastfeed:
suck tits to
American dream founding of the country, immigrants came from Europe for prosperity attain
West-world expansion in the 18th century the first settlers and the “Gold rush” continuity
Gold rush myth that in the west was gold
New England significant to American history as it was one of the 1st settlements
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Gives information of real time (1850) and place (New England) is a feature of Realism
Gold rush  they move from the East (New England) to the West (Los Angeles)

L: characters talk with local accent local colour try to represent L and person in the actual
manner that they speak in England.
Phonomimesis: try to reproduce graphimically the way people speak in accurate manner

Love In Spring it flourishes and in Summer is passionate and short-lived.

Inspired on myths:
PHAEDRA MEDEA
Hippolytus´ step mother falls in love with Filicide: Medea kills her 2 sons because of
him (Phaedra). Abbie falls in love with Eben. jealousy of his husband.
No filicide here

Cabot´s family

Dysfunctionality no mother
The kids don’t share the same mother
Eben still trying to process his mother death (bereavement-grief)
Maw is present all the time in him
Cabot father harsh, rude, neglect and mistreat their children
Age gap: between Eben & Abbie and Cabot & Abbie

Glorification of sight when they meet, they instantly fall for each other
Locus amenous  kitchen, farm (it is purty: pretty)
Abbie and Eben  have sex like animals: compared to animal copulation “panting like animals”
Desire for each other, passion and tension, sensing through the walls
When they have sex in Maw´s bedroom, Abbie is trying to exorcise him (didn’t want be Maw)

Oedipus’s complex attachment not resolved with his Maw

He is pregnant with his mother: feels her inside and enacts her role as Maw (cleans, cooks)

EROTICISM (unit of analysis)- special form of sexual activity-

“Psychological quest for the continuity of being. When you engage in erotic activity, you
engage with the quest of continuity in your mind.”

Erotic activities kissing, posing, hugging, having sex. Possession fear of losing the O

POSSESSIONimplies ownership and control, possessing the O brings to an end the

discontinuity of being (because we fuse). if you can´t obtain the O, you either destroy O and/or
destroy yourself

Conception 2 separate DISCONTINUOUS entities (egg and sperm) and CONTINUOUS when
fusion but then DISCONTINUOUS when the cell divides
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Psychological= memory of once being a continuous being and trying to regain that continuity
but it only lasts a few moments (for example with sex)
Eroticism  psychological
Sexual activity physical

Sexual activity Physical, pleasure-bound: pleasure is in the brain, excitement for fantasies
and thoughts that make you sexually aroused (metaexitement)
Reproduction Biological, desire-bound: reproductive and biological basis, desire is driven by
hormones and the substances your body emulates.

Types of eroticism

PHYSICAL EMOTIONAL RELIGIOUS

Driven by what arises sexuality Trying to regain continuity via Religious acts (communion, prayers) also
other things that physical evoke the necessity to become one with
Body accompanies psychological
contact God, be continuous.
quest
Bonding with the other Union with the divine and transcending
Excites the carnal senses (can be
individuality (continuity)
a word, song, body shape, Examples: sending flowers,
perfume) saying nice things People make sacrifices to attain
continuity and transgress individuality

In common: shared focus on transgression (crossing boundaries and norms) and their
relationship to death, continuity, and the dissolution of individual separateness.

Emotional eroticism is not MATERIAL, it may derive from physical eroticism (sex, experiences,
acts) but it is not tangible. Physical E may evoke Emotional E.

In the play  Physical: when they perceive each other through the walls
Emotional: when they say nice things to each other
Religious: Eben & Mawhe feels his mother is there and Abbie wants to exorcize him

Physical eroticism and VIOLENCE blurry border between the sexual act and violence:
edibility and trying to engulf the O of love
The physical contact is more violent tongue in the mouth, not just kissing.

Death is linked to CONTINUITY when dying, the body fuses with the nature or universe.
The corps are buried under the ground: connection to nature

When there is death, there is discontinuity of a being (egg and sperm die) to become a
continuous being (become 2 in the cell) and then, become discontinuous again.

NAKEDNESSskin to skin contact to attain continuity (take out clothes to eliminate barriers)

OBSCENITYsociety imposed a taboo on the instinctive need to copulate

(sexuality/genitalia)
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DISPLACEMENT OF DESIRE (Freud)

S O
O
Every character starts with an initial (material) desire that is displaced to another (personal)
one and it relates to Greek tragedy from a state of order into disorder

“In Desire under the Elms, all the characters manifest the displacement of desire”

Abbie S O land, own the farm

O Eben (the moment she sees him (cataclysm), becomes more important than land)

Eben S O owning the land for his Maw and replacement for her

O substitutes Maw for Abbie

Cabot S O farm/land

O new son

Eben Simeon/Peter: liking, there is a bond but Eben wants to clear the farm

Abbie Baby explanations why she killed him…

 The extension of O Eben: sees baby as part of the O

 The baby is the memory of Eben if he abandons her, so she kills it
 It is her link to Cabot so she kills it to escape the farm
 Possession: if you can´t obtain the O, you either destroy O and/or destroy yourself
 Scientifically: she had a psychological bout
 Greek tragedy: metaphorical change from state of order into chaos
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COLOQUIO: “Desire under the elms” based on the theories on love

Love relations

1-EBEN ABBIE 2-EBEN MAW 3- CABOT ABBIE

4-EBEN SIMEON/PETER 5-SIMEON/PETER 6-ABBIE THE BABY

Eben and Abbie

Locus amenous  The cabot´s farm
Foreplay  hatred that builds sexual tension
FIGURES OF LOVE 
Figure of mother (Maw)
Figure of triumvir (trios, perceptual pyramids)

FREUD
He is narcissistic because he is interested in keeping the farm to himself but then he falls in
love with her and idealises her.

Abbie is at first narcissistic because her only interest is to inherit the farm but then he falls in
love with Eben and idealises him. However, she initially used him to have offspring and inherit
the farm. Then, she regretted the decision.

Common, earthly, sensual love  achieve sexual satisfaction

Sexual overestimation they boost the other´s ego
Infatuation  Abbie loses herself to Eben
Identification Eben found himself in Abbie (like the figure of his mother)
Hypnosis they are hypnotised (feel in a dream) but they do achieve sexual satisfaction
Ego ideal  Abbie is the idealized version of Maw & Eben is idealized version of a man (Cabot)

STENBERG

Consummate/complete they have the combination of the 3 items

Sacrifice: willing to sacrifice their son for him
Love as story Addiction: clinging, anxious attachment, anxiety of losing a partner.
Collection: Eben fits in Abbie´s scheme
Fantasy: Abbie expected to be saved by Eben (he fantasized with his mum?)
House and home: the core of the relationship is at the home (farm)

DECONSTRUCTION

Gap: Before the relationship they had, Abbie seemed to have some issues with men and not
having a home whereas Eben had this inconclusive grief with his mother.

Etymology: Hebrew “Abbie” happiness// Hebrew “Eben” stones

KRISTEVA
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Unidirectionality: in this case, both parts are S and love the O

Inexpressibility: Abbie cannot explain how much she loves Eben and he demonstrates it with
actions (killing the baby)

Transference: The third party here is portrayed as

Abbie S O E Eben Eben S O Abbie

THIRD PARTY THIRD PARTY

(having a baby to inherit the farm) (mirror the feelings for his Maw)

Abbie is dionysian (sinful as a woman and kills her baby) and Eben is apollonian but has
dionysian moments (when having sex with his step-mother)

SOCIAL INFLUENCE

Eben Abbie-INTERNALIZATION- Abbie can’t live without Eben

Abbie Eben- COMPLIANCE- he loves her but he doesn´t identify with her acts (killing)

EROTICISM

Cabot and Abbie

Locus amenous  met in a town after he lost his wife
Possession  Cabot believes he owns his wife
FIGURES OF LOVE 
figure of breeder (woman with the purpose to have children)
figure of prince charming? (he saves her from work and poverty)

FREUD

Cabot is a grumpy old man. He is highly narcissistic as he is only interested in having offspring. I
would not say he idealised Abbie but he felt more respect for her as a mother rather woman.

Abbie hates Cabot. She sees him as an escape from poverty and a plausible way of obtaining
property of her own (the farm). It can be argued that this makes her narcissistic because she is
concerned with her own interests and ego.

Common, earthly, sensual love  achieve sexual satisfaction

Idealisation they are both narcissistic so there is no idealisation of the other person
No identification, and no being in love or hypnotised
Idealisation  Cabot towards Abbie as a mother and Abbie believed he was his ticket away
from poverty and work.
Ego ideal they represent mother and saviour

STENBERG

Nonlove because there is hatred but they had passion (sexual encounters) so  Infatuated
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Love as story CollectionAbbie fitted in his intentions of wife and offspring

Autocratic Cabot dominates and controls Abbie
House and home the relationship has it core at the Cabot´s farm

DECONSTRUCTION

Abbie “happiness” brought Cabot the joy of a son but then she brought sadness
Cabot is a French surname, it can be consistent with immigration and it means “head”
precisely the alpha in the Cabot farm.

Gap: Abbie seems to have some trouble with men and Cabot seems a man that uses women
for his own benefit. Somehow he wanted another son, due to bad relationship with the other
sons.

KRISTEVA

Unidirectionality Cabot likes Abbie but she hates him

Transference It can be seen as

Cabot Abbie Abbie Cabot

Having offspring inherit the farm

Abbie is dionysian (sinful woman who is unfaithful) and Cabot is also Dionysian (because he is a
grumpy old man that mistreats his wives)

SOCIAL INFLUENCE

Cabot Abbie: there is not even COMPLIANCE

Abbie Cabot: COMPLIANCE & IDENTIFICATION because he is attracted to her maybe
IDENTIFICATION because he believed that she wanted a baby.

EROTICISM

Eben and Maw

Milagros Maldonado 2024