This suggests that power is not just about its physical manifestation Dorfman seems to say that people can have power in different ways, and that Paulina’s resistance through mental toughness is a bold example of strength.Īs part of her efforts to take control over her situation, Paulina uses characteristically male techniques of intimidation to try to address the injustices she has faced. She has been through far more than either of them and does not display the meekness of Gerardo or the likely immorality of Roberto. Accordingly, as the audience gradually learns more about what happened to Paulina, she stakes the claim to be the strongest of the three characters. Despite her extreme suffering, Paulina never gave up Gerardo’s name, showing her in a small but vital way to be more powerful than her torturers. Importantly, part of the reason Paulina was tortured was that her attackers wanted to know the identity of an anti-dictatorship activist that she knew-who, it turns out, was Gerardo. The character of her torture was directly linked to her inferior status as a woman, with her torturers frequently referring to her as a “bitch” and “fresh meat,” asking themselves macabre quasi-scientific questions on the effects of their torture on her “sex.” She was disenfranchised of her power and treated as a discardable sexual object by her male abusers. Paulina’s specific experiences under the military regime demonstrate the devaluation of women taken to its horrific endpoint: Paulina’s rape was the ultimate violation of her identity as a woman. Gerardo and Roberto’s attitude implies that Paulina’s suffering is, in part, her own fault-simply for being a woman. All of these details, then, accumulate over the course of the play to paint Paulina as an isolated woman in a world dominated by men, making her actions all the more understandable. Gerardo, for his part, had an affair with another woman while Paulina was being tortured by the dictatorship. Roberto often refers to Paulina as a “bitch,” and both men characterise her as “mad” or “insane,” denying her the right to seek justice. Gerardo frequently barks orders at her and Roberto at one point appeals to Gerardo, “man-to-man,” to save him: "She isn't the voice of civilization, you are." Paulina also recounts frequent sexually explicit references made about her by her torturers. Both Gerardo and Roberto speak about Paulina in demeaning terms. It’s important to understand the way in which Paulina lives in a male-dominated world rife with misogynistic attitudes. This implicitly highlights the gendered dynamics that structure Paulina’s world, in which men are presumed authorities and women denied full autonomy and respect. What is undoubtedly true, though, is that Dorfman shows his audience a temporary reversal of the power structure that facilitated Paulina’s attacker-for the duration of the play at least, Paulina has control. Whether or not she is right do so, or successful, is another question, and one which ultimately the audience must answer. The sudden appearance of Roberto, the man who she feels certain is her attacker, gives her an impromptu opportunity to empower herself by taking the issue into her own hands. And though her husband, Gerardo, appears to be supportive of her, his actions frequently suggest otherwise. Paulina is a strong, intelligent woman who has suffered the double injustice of being raped and knowing that her attacker has in all likelihood escaped any possibility of punishment.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |