The Politics of Autobiography in Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis and Phaedra’s Love

Abstract

This research closely examines Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis and Phaedra’s Love as autobiographical plays that are based on Kane’s own life experience. It tries to explore Kane’s motive behind the inclusion of autobiographical elements in these plays. Her plays represent the condition of women in patriarchal society. Applying the theory of autobiography the researcher attempts to analyze the politics behind the use of Kane’s own life story as a subject matter. In this plays she represents her as the representative of other females. In these plays Kane expresses her personal matters about her mental state, feelings and desires which should are supposed to remain secret with her. In fact, she wants to encourage those women who feel hesitant to express their feelings with others. In the same way she feels some relief by confessing her every feeling because sharing is best medium to reduce own’s suffering. Similarly, in these plays, Kane shows the conflict between life force and death force. In fact, this is not only the condition of Sarah Kane’s life but this is the condition of everybody. In this way, the concept of the eros and thanatos in these two plays become personal as well as political. Hence, this project explores into Sarah Kane’s play 4.48 Psychosis and Phaedra’s Love as an amalgam of personal and political motives.