Carnivalization and The Female Grotesque in Jean Genet’s The Balcony: A Textual Analysis
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Date
2021
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Publisher
UMT Lahore
Abstract
This study aims to analyze Jean Genet’s play ‘The Balcony’ from the lens of Mikhail Bakhtin’s
theory of Carnivalesque and Mary Russo’s idea of The Female Grotesque. Jean Genet’s play ‘The
Balcony’ is one of the well-known masterpiece in the Theatre of the Absurd which represents the
theme of illusionary life verses realistic life. This research explores Genet’s play ‘The Balcony’
from a Carnivalesque and feministic perspective. The study aims to investigate that how Genet’s
play is a representation of Bakhtinian Carnival and how the idea of ‘The Female Grotesque’ can
be related to the female characters in the play. The study is based on a qualitative approach method
and the model used for the research is textual analysis. Textual analysis is a methodology that
requires the understanding of language and the symbols in a text. The data is collected from the
play ‘The Balcony’ and is analyzed from two different lenses. The first part covers the analysis of
Bakhtinian Carnival and its major aspects. ‘The Balcony’ represents a carnivalized world where
the roles and powers are subverted. It represents the brothel as a place of illusions and fantasies
where everyone is free from the harsh reality of the outside world and the official system is
mocked. The second part covers the idea of ‘The Female Grotesque’. It covers the analysis of the
female characters in the play to present them as grotesque feminine bodies. The study contributes
to the fact that Bakhtin’s carnival theory holds a great importance in Genet’s absurd play ‘The
Balcony’. The research discovers that these illusions of power exists in every individual, hence a
person can create a carnival world in his illusions to escape the class system of the society. The
study contributes to explore Jean Genet’s other works from Bakhtin’s Carnivalesque framework
and highlights the importance of the grotesque in the field of feminism.