THE OPPRESSION TOWARD MEN AND WOMEN IN
PATRIARCHAL CULTURE AS SEEN THROUGH THE
CHARACTERS IN MARIA IRENE FORNES’
THE CONDUCT OF LIFE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SRI RUTH MEILINA SIANTURI
Student Number: 074214034
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
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THE OPPRESSION TOWARD MEN AND WOMEN IN
PATRIARCHAL CULTURE AS SEEN THROUGH THE
CHARACTERS IN MARIA IRENE FORNES’
THE CONDUCT OF LIFE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SRI RUTH MEILINA SIANTURI
Student Number: 074214034
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2011
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iii
iv
I will praise thee;
for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made:
marvelous are thy works;
and that my soul knoweth right well.
(Psalm 39:14, KJV)
LIFE is HARD!
TRY MORE,
PRAY MORE.
(a sticker on a motorcycle)
Jesus to me:
You are worth more than you’ve ever thought. . .
(Iyut)
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For
My Greatest and Beloved Parents,
Pangihutan Sianturi and Ruslan Situmorang
My Irreplaceable Sisters and Brother,
Masniary Sianturi, Martha Sianturi,
Maria Carolin Sianturi and Syawal Albert Daniel Sianturi
My Accidental Siblings,
Youth and Teen Fellowship of Hagios Family
My Lovely ‘Begundalz’,
All mates of ‘Sastra’
and My Partner in the Future. . .
vi
LEMBAR PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : Sri Ruth Meilina Sianturi
NIM : 074214034
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
The Oppression toward Men and Women in Patriarchal Culture as Seen through the Characters in Maria Irene Fornes’ The Conduct of Life
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan. Dengan demikian, saya memberikan kepada
Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam
bentuk lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara
terbatas dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media yang lain untuk
kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta izin dari saya maupun memberikan
royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal 25 November 2011
Yang menyatakan,
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Above all, my primary and greatest gratitude goes to Jesus Christ as my Almighty God, my Deliverer, my Comforter, my Best Pal and my Romantic Man.
I give thanks for the moon, the night sky, the dusk, the rainbow, the rain and the
endlessly passionate love and blessing that You always give every second in my
life, no matter how often I forget to be thankful for my precious life. You are
definitely awesome, Lord!
I dedicate my thesis to my beloved parents, Pangihutan Sianturi and
Ruslan Situmorang; Maria Carolin Sianturi and Syawal Albert Daniel Sianturi as my sister and my brother in all seasons. Through all challenges and difficulties, we realize more that His love is better than life. I am so blessed of
having a family like them all, and I cannot pass each day without praying,
thanking and loving each of them. They are my home.
This thesis would not be finished without the guidance, corrections,
supports and reminder of my thesis advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum. and my co-advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum.. I do appreciate their helps and patience during my thesis’ writing. I also give thanks for all my
lecturers in the Department of English Letters, Sanata Dharma University, for the
knowledge that has given to me.
I thank God for giving me Ko Tedy, Puni, and Kak Gati as my brothers and sister in Christ. I will not forget the time we wept, prayed, and laughed
viii
holding on to Christ! I give a billion thanks, huge hugs and lovely kisses to
Mekdi, Bella, Lemper, Yona, Nopek, Dion, Yosie, Ntis, Debby, Gatha, Septi, Botak, Dani, Oodz, Epan, Dapit, Alim and Miiko as my accidental siblings in Christ. We all have passed the process of our friendships’ crisis and I believe that
God indeed adds more love within us to love each other sincerely. I send my
thanks to F4 Community, partners of Teen’s Advisor, boys and girls of Hagios Teen Fellowship, friends in Hagios Youth; for the process of growing strong together in Jesus Christ.
I do not know what my life in Sanata Dharma University would be without
Irene Ossi Widyastuti, Maria ‘Koka’ Pranoto, Steffani Dhea, Hellene ‘Pibi’, Henrica ‘Tombrow’, ‘Lala’ Soehardi, Sylvia Puput, Maria ‘Pita’, Presti Nataya and ‘Abu’ Primasandi; I do love them! Moreover, to all friends of
‘Angkatan 2007-Generasi Menolak Tua!’: Zi, Kenan, Chenk, Sonson, Simon, Ilun, Yudha, Iyem, Dito, etc; all ‘The Bounty’s crew’, all committee of
‘JAKSA 2008-2010’. All of them enrich the color of my life through the classes, the talks, the processes and the sleepovers. I ask God to bless each of them.
Last but not least, I give thanks to all the people who give me thoughts,
advice and awareness of this wonderful life.
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LEMBAR PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS ……….. vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……….. vii
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ……… 6
A. Review of Related Studies ………... 6
B. Review of Related Theories ……….. 9
1. Theory of Character and Characterization ……….. 9
2. Theory of Patriarchy …………..……… 14
3. Theory of Gender ……… 22
C. Theoretical Framework ……… 27
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ………. 29
A. Object of the Study ……….. 29
B. Approach of the Study ………... 30
C. Method of the Study ……….... 31
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ………. 33
A. The Depiction of Male and Female Characters in the Play …... 33
1. Orlando ……….. 33
2. Leticia ……… 41
3. Alejo ……….. 49
4. Olimpia ……….. 53
5. Nena ……….. 58
B. The Patriarchal Culture as Seen in the Play ………... 61
1. The Elder Male as the Ruler of the Family ………... 62
2. The Uneducated Women ………. 67
3. The Typical Man and Women Characters ….……… 69
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C. The Oppression toward Men and Women in Patriarchal
Culture …………... 73
1. The Oppression toward Men in Patriarchal Culture …... 73
2. The Oppression toward Women in Patriarchal Culture ... 79
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ……… 85
BIBLIOGRAPHY ………. 88
APPENDICES ……… 90
Appendix 1 ……….. 90
The Summary of the Maria Irene Fornes’ The Conduct of Life ... 90
Appendix 2 ……….. 92
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ABSTRACT
SRI RUTH MEILINA SIANTURI. The Oppression toward Men and Women in Patriarchal Culture as Seen through Characters in Maria Irene Fornes’
The Conduct of Life. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2011.
The issue that women have lower position than men has existed since a long time ago. By looking at the physical strength, the tendency to act kindly and the ability to express the emotional expression make women look weaker than men. This condition becomes clearer in patriarchy. In patriarchy, women are regarded as the second class society, because it puts men higher than women. It is also believed that patriarchy is the main source of women suffering and oppression. While women are oppressed in patriarchy, men also suffered in that system. This phenomenon appears in Maria Irene Fornes’ The Conduct of Life. It is the reason why the writer is challenged to analyze the oppression that men and women suffer in patriarchal culture through the characters in the play.
There are three objectives in this thesis. The first is the characterization of all characters in the play. These characterizations will reveal the condition of each character. The second objective is finding the patriarchal elements in the play. Since the play takes place in an unknown Latin American country, it needs proof that the setting of the play is a patriarchal society. The last objective is the oppression that the men and women characters suffer in patriarchal culture.
This thesis is a library research. The primary source is the script-play by Maria Irene Fornes entitled The Conduct of Life. The other source such as theories and references are taken from the written texts. After reading the play for several times, then searching the appropriate theories and approach is the next step to analyze it. Theory of character and characterization, theory of patriarchy and theory of gender are the most appropriate ones. Since this study analyzes men and women, the gender study is the right approach to be used.
xii
ABSTRAK
SRI RUTH MEILINA SIANTURI. The Oppression toward Men and Women in Patriarchal Culture as Seen through Characters in Maria Irene Fornes’
The Conduct of Life. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2011.
Permasalahan bahwa wanita memiliki posisi lebih rendah daripada pria sudah ada sejak lama. Menilik dari kekuatan fisik, kecenderungan untuk bersikap ramah dan kemampuan untuk mengekspresikan perasaan membuat wanita terlihat lebih lemah dari pria. Kondisi ini semakin jelas dalam patriarki. Di dalam patriarki, wanita dianggap sebagai masyarakat kelas kedua, karena pria dijunjung lebih tinggi daripada wanita. Patriarki juga dipercaya sebagai sumber dari penderitaan dan tekanan yang wanita alami. Bukan hanya wanita, namun pria pun mengalami tekanan yang sama dalam patriarki. Fenomena ini terjadi dalam karya Maria Irene Fornes, The Conduct of Life. Inilah alasan penulis tertantang untuk menganalisa tekanan yang pria dan wanita alami dalam budaya patriarki yang tergambar lewat tokoh yang ada di dalam drama tersebut.
Skripsi ini mempunyai tiga tujuan. Pertama, penokohan semua tokoh dalam drama tersebut. Penokohan ini akan mengungkapkan keadaan tiap tokoh. Kedua, menemukan unsur patriarki dalam drama. Sehubungan karena drama ini berlatarkan sebuah negara di Latin Amerika yang tidak diketahui dengan jelas, jadi diperlukan bukti bahwa keadaan masyarakat dalam drama tersebut adalah patriarki. Ketiga, tekanan yang dialami oleh tokoh pria dan wanita di dalam budaya patriarki.
Skripsi ini merupakan sebuah penelitian kepustakaan. Sumber utama adalah naskah drama oleh Maria Irene Fornes berjudul The Conduct of Life.
Sumber lainnya seperti teori dan referensi berasal dari teks tertulis. Setelah beberapa kali membaca naskah, langkah selanjutnya untuk menganalisa adalah mencari teori dan pendekatan yang sesuai. Teori yang digunakan adalah teori tokoh dan penokohan, teori patriarki, dan teori gender. Karena kajian ini menganalisa pria dan wanita, jadi studi gender adalah pendekatan yang dipakai.
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
According to the The Holy Bible, in the beginning, God created Adam as the first man on this earth. Then He thought that it was not good for the man to
live alone, so He created Eve to be a helper for Adam. “The Lord God said, “It is
not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him”” (2009:
5).
As the time goes by, the matter that God created Eve to be Adam’s helper
brings a misconception about the woman’s status. The term ‘helper’ causes
woman to have a lower level than man. It is added with the matter that woman
was created from a rib of the man, and it creates an opinion that in the creation of
a woman, the participation of a man was totally needed; while God created a man
directly from the ash, without any participation of a woman. Unfortunately this
misconception still exists nowadays. Most of the people forget that God created
both male and female equal and “in the image of God He created him,” (2009: 3),
which means similar to His image. He created us equal and gave no tendency to
make someone higher than the other. As the world develops with its knowledge,
technology and modernity, one of the effects caused by the misconception is the
existence of patriarchy.
Wheelehan, 2004:93). The existence of the man as the head of the family makes
the younger men, the women and the children under the control of the man.
Patriarchy is “a system of male authority which oppresses women through its
social, political and economic institutions” (Humm, 1995: 200). However, the
concept of patriarchy which puts men higher than women has been used by the
feminists in general as the root of the oppression that women suffer.
Every system which is created by human beings should have at least a
purpose that is good for their life. It happens also in patriarchy. In the beginning,
the system surely created for some good purposes. Unfortunately, people grow
with their basic characteristic that is never feeling enough with their condition and
wanting more and more. If this characteristic exists in the man who controls that
situation, it will make him greedy and cause bad effects to those who are led by
him. Generally, patriarchy is always connected with the male’s power and male’s
domination toward women. This link has caused oppression toward women.
Most of the cultures in this world use patriarchy as their system, although
there are some cultures that use matriarchy as their system. The patriarchy system
gives more opportunity and more power to men to do many things and in turn,
gives limitations for women to do so many things. Realizing it or not, patriarchy
makes men show their existence, but gives the invisibility to women.
The reasons why men oppress women are based on assumption that
physically men are stronger than women and it leads them to be more aggressive.
There are always two things in an oppression case: the oppressor and the
another side is weaker than the other. Then the oppressor uses the power that he
has to oppress the victim. He does it to get advantage for himself. The bigger the
power that the oppressor use to the oppressed, the more obedient the oppressed
will be. It will make the oppressed person powerless and have nothing to do
except do what the oppressor ask to do so.
Oppression is not always on women as the weaker side, but it can be on
men too. Both male and female are oppressed because they, unconsciously, accept
and fulfill their gender role. “…the male gender role or the female gender role is
like a script that men and women follow to fulfill their appropriate parts in acting
masculine or feminine” (Brannon, 1996:168). To play his role as the breadwinner,
a man has to work and earn money for fulfilling his family’s needs. He will do a
lot of things to show that he is capable to be regarded as the breadwinner. Since
there are two main matters in life: accepted and respected; someone will do many
things to be accepted in his environment or society. Then they will do the same to
be respected in his society. In many cases, they will not care about themselves,
their feelings or even their life. For women, they are expected to do more than
men do.
Both oppressions are done under the patriarchal culture. Whether they
realize it or not, men and women accept and follow their ‘destiny’ as men and
women, and they live according to the role that society gives them.
Since this thesis takes a drama as the source of the topic, it needs some
explanation about what drama is. Play or drama is one major genre in literature. A
a play is performed on stage, it will give the spectators pleasure more than the
pleasure of watching a movie. The combination of the actors, the costumes, the
setting of the stage and the lights is a stunned thing, moreover if it is watched live.
Besides that, a play can be used as a way to criticize something. Every people or
group can use it to show their opinion, their criticism and their idea to the society.
Feminist too, can do it. “Feminist plays and performance art explore issues of
women’s oppression and right based on sex and gender-related issues” (Barranger,
1990:647). The issues that they discuss in the play are mostly about the inequality
that they get or the struggle that they work on to get their freedom and right.
The Conduct of Life is a play by Maria Irene Fornes which tells about the oppression that women suffer because of the man’s dominance toward them.
However, the victim of the oppression is not only the women, but also the men.
The men are also oppressed by the patriarchal culture that exists in the play.
Because of this unusual issue, the writer is challenged to explore the play more
deeply.
B. Problem Formulation
According to the purpose of this writing, there are three problems that will
be discussed further:
1. How are the male and the female characters depicted in The Conduct of Life? 2. How is the patriarchal culture seen in The Conduct of Life?
C. Objectives of the Study
Considering the problem formulation, there are three objectives of the
study. The first one is to get the description of each character in the play clearly,
male and female. The second is to know how the patriarchal culture seen in the
play. Then, the last is to reveal the oppression that the man and woman
experienced as exposed in the play.
D. Definition of Terms
In order to help the readers understand this writing clearer, there would be
two definitions to be explained.
1. Oppression
According to Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture,
oppression is “the condition of oppressing or being oppressed” (1992: 932). Then,
the term ‘oppress’ itself has definition “to cause to feel ill or sad” (1992: 931).
From the definition of two words above, oppression means the condition that
causes to feel ill or sad.
2. Patriarchal Culture
The term ‘patriarchy’ refers to “...the way in which societies are structured
through male domination” (Edgar and Sedgwick, 2005: 270). It means that the
society is dominated by the men. Then, the definition of patriarchal culture is the
culture that uses patriarchy as their system. The culture will appreciate men more
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CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
There are several related studies that will be discussed in this part. Those
studies are needed in order to understand the play from various points of view.
Different studies will make the understanding of this play more completed.
The first review is from the preface of the The Conduct of Life’s script play. Barranger makes a review of it, saying that
the domestic unit in The Conduct of Life is a political microcosm for a tyrannical, male-dominated, class system characterized by the destructiveness, aggressiveness, and victimization. The system transforms women (and also men) into creatures who are conditioned to engage in betrayal, aggression and violence (1990: 651).
The review above shows that the system used in the play is laden with
roughness that can easily destroy and cause bad effects in a society. She also
states that the effect of that society is the transformation of human beings into the
creatures who get used with the betrayal, aggression and violence. The condition
does not only change the women, but also the men.
Another review comes from Barnet, Burto, Ferris and Rabkin in the book
Types of Drama. They state that Fornes
Barnet et al. discuss the condition of Latin community in America. They emphasize the dictatorship, class division focuses on the marginality, and clash
toward sexuality and sexual violence. When it is seen from the play script, they
have a tendency to stand for the female characters who become the victims of the
dictatorship that the main male character has.
Moreover, Barnet et al. also studies about the placement setting of the stage. “Many critics have argued that the geography of the stage world Fornes
describes is fundamental to the playing of the drama. Each level offers a visual
clue to the separation and isolation experienced by the characters (Barnet et al., 2001: 1345)”. With her background as a painter, the position and the heights of
the stage have main point for Fornes. The complete setting of this play, based on
the stage directions is so symbolic for the audiences.
Gary Vena and Andrea Nouryeh also review this play. They state,
“Fornes’ characters come to an understanding of how to conduct their lives by
articulating their ambitions and fears” (1996: 1148). They focus on the connection
between the characters and the title of the play. The title The Conduct of Life
becomes the basic reason why they do what they do, and each character has a
different way to conduct their life. After exploring each character of the play, they
added that, “each of the play’s nineteen short scenes captures a single dramatic
moment in the lives of the characters, letting the audience piece together the moral
tale unfolding before them” (Vena and Nouryeh, 1996: 1149). In a similar
for the characters. The things are still jumbled and Fornes as the playwright offers
the audiences to arrange them to be completed.
A different opinion comes from Widjaya in her undergraduate thesis. She
states that
as the ending of this play is a continuing of victimization, beginning from Orlando’s victimization toward three women characters then Leticia to Nena by giving the gun to Nena after Leticia shoots Orlando dead, the writer sees it as an endless chain of tyranny. The effect of Orlando’s victimization still continues as an endless chain of tyranny (Widjaya, 2003: 51).
This study seems quite similar to the first study that has been discussed
before, it is about victimization. However, this study focuses on the chain of
tyranny that has no end because of the main male character’s victimization toward
the three female characters in the play. It has no end because as the victims, they
continue the victimization to other characters as seen in the ending of the play.
Then the last review is also from an undergraduate thesis. She says that the
feminism ideas shown by the three female characters and The Conduct of Life are some protest against male-domination and patriarchal culture (Perdana, 2008: 51).
Many critics categorize this play as a feminist play. However, Fornes does not
claim herself as a feminist, but because the play puts women as the center of the
issue and there are some ideas of feminisms inside, then it is categorized as a
feminist play. It is also a protest against male-domination and patriarchal culture
because those conditions are the reasons why feminism exists.
This writing has some similarities with some studies above, but still, this
writing has different focus to explore from those studies. If the previous studies
writing focuses on the oppression that men and women suffer in patriarchal
culture that exists in the play. Usually, the victims who are oppressed with
patriarchal culture only women as the weaker side, but according to the play, men
also take part as victims because of the patriarchal culture. This writing will focus
on the oppression that both men and women suffer in patriarchal culture.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Before depicting each character in the play, the first thing to do is knowing
what a character is. Starting with its definition, character refers to “a reasonable
facsimile of a human being, with all the good and bad traits of being human”
(Roberts and Jacobs, 1989: 56). A character is a human being in a literary work
who also has speech, thought and behavior like the real human being. How the
writer of the literary work describes the character is nearly like a person in reality.
A bad character does not always do bad things, in a certain time he/she also does
something good. A character is presented as natural as a human being, with their
weakness, strength, dreams, will, and many others.
Since this thesis explores about a play, the approach to the character and
characterization is for drama. There are few differences between character and
characterization in play, fiction and poetry. In drama, characters are represented
by the actors. Whatever the actors do in the stage, their actions become the clues
There is a change around the middle of the eighteenth century in social and
ethical considerations that caused philosophers and writers to look upon human
beings, a common humanity. “We have come to see human beings as less than
heroic but still deserving of our attention and respect” (Barranger, 1990: 341). The
bourgeois drama of the middle eighteenth century often emphasizes the power of
someone to be a hero. In modern dramas, the characters are shaped to be more
human. “They are not kings and princess, but they exhibit joy and pain as
universal human” (Barranger, 1990: 341).
In modern dramas, playwrights usually “create three-dimensional
characters who are distinct individuals and seem to represent people who react to
the outside world as we do” (Vena and Nouryeh, 1996: ix). The three-dimensional
characters are made as real as the common human being. Then, there are also
some kinds of characters: major characters, they who stand at the center of the
drama are the protagonist (the hero) and antagonist (the opponent); and minor characters, they who stand at the periphery or somewhere in between. In fact, the
playwright may create characters who are stereotypes or may represent ideas
(Vena and Nouryeh, 1996: ix).
Based on Barranger’s point of view, “characters have complex
personalities” (Barranger, 1990: 338). Each character cannot only be said as the
smartest one, while in the other side he/she is also bed-tempered. It is quite
impossible if a character only has one characteristic, but it depends on how the
playwright describes him/her and whether he/she is a major character or not. In
choices ultimately derives from situation” (Barranger, 1990: 338). Like the human
beings, the actions, words, and decisions come from the situation and condition
that the characters have.
There are several ways to approach the understanding of drama’s
characters. First, observing what the playwright says in the stage direction about
them. Second, observing what the characters say about one another in the
dialogue. Third, classifying the general types—physical and psychological. Forth,
interpreting the moral or ethical choices that determine their destinies (Barranger,
1990: 339).
Different from character, characterization can be said as the way the
character is depicted in the story, in this case, in the play. The way we can get the
characterization from a character is by seeing him/her from appearance (what
he/she wears and how he/she looks like), a place to live, mind (the way he/she
thinks about something), speech (the way he/she delivers his/her words and also
their dictions), and actions (the activities that he/she do and his/her responds
toward something) (Barranger, 1990: 338). The way we can get the
characterization can be said as the method of characterization. Moreover, the methods of characterization can be seen from the hidden narration, the conflict,
soliloquy and aside, and the place where they do their actions.
Hidden narration means “having one character in a play narrates something about another character” (Reaske, 1996: 47). The word ‘hidden’ means
characterization through hidden narration connects deeply with the
characterization through the words and action that certain people do in a play.
Just like human beings, whenever we interact with other people, it might
cause a conflict. The same thing happens in a play, “characters interact with other characters and, typically, this interaction results in some form of conflict”
(Barranger, 1990: 339). The conflict can exist in various ways: “a character
against God, against nature, against society, against the unknown, against another
character, and against himself or herself” (Barranger, 1990: 339). Each character
is not possible to have more than a conflict within them. The clash between the
character and those things adds more color to the play and makes it more
interesting.
Characters’ fates are often determined by issues of heredity and environment, by their fitness to survive in a hostile world, by their neuroses as a result of unresolved conflicts, and by economic factors where character becomes a function of society materialism (Barranger, 1990: 339).
Because the characters in play are made as closely similar as human beings, they
have to struggle and survive to face the obstacles and the bad things that happen to
them. Whatever comes to them, they have to overcome or give up.
In addition to the method of characterization, there are soliloquy and
aside. Soliloquy is “speech of a character alone on the stage, revealing his thoughts”, while aside is “speech in the presence of others but unheard by them”
is when the actor speaks alone on stage, and aside is when the actor is speaking,
but the other actors pretend not to hear him/her.
Another thing that is needed to be understood about the method of
characterization is the place where they do their actions. Moreover, the play that we discuss here is a play by Maria Irene Fornes in which the placement of the
setting has their own meaning. Therefore, the position of the actor speaking is also
important. “We need to be able to determine where the action is taking place,
which characters are present even they are not speaking, and what is happening
from moment to moment” (Vena and Nouryeh, 1996: viii).
As the play runs on the stage, the attentions are grabbed to be focus on
whatever happens on the stage. Mostly, the focus points to the character that is
having dialogues. “Certain characters may know less than we do because they
have been offstage, while others, although silent, may have witnessed or heard the
same scene as we have” (Vena and Nouryeh, 1996: ix).
For the audiences and them who read the script, there are some challenges
to get the complete understanding about the characterization of the characters. The
characters do not always reveal their mind with dialogues, but sometimes their
gestures have implications more than their words. “We must see and understand
what is explicitly said and done, as well as be alerted to what is implied and left
2. Theory of Patriarchy
Literary, patriarchy means “rule of the father” (Payne, 1997: 394). It
means that the rule of the society is held by the elder man of that society. In other
words, a man takes control of this society.
Although most of the society systems in the world use this system, in fact
“all human societies are patriarchal in that they are segregated and stratified by
sex” (Payne, 1997: 394). Men and women are different from each other, but when
the differences between these two sexes become the reasons to stratify, it will
cause problems.
Actually, patriarchy is not a bad system of society. Although there is no
accurate purpose of this system, but it is assumed that patriarchy system made for
making a good society. A single leader for a society will lead the society into a
well-structured society, of course with the corporation and the help from the
people within it. In patriarchal society, the elder male is given the opportunity to
be the leader. When the system is run, it is very possible for the people who run it
to do mistakes. If we look clearly for the patriarchy society nowadays, its
condition is bad. Moreover, Humm emphasizes the men’s condition in a
patriarchy system. She states that patriarchy “has power from men’s greater
access to, and mediation of, the resources and rewards of authority structures
inside and outside the home” (Humm, 1995: 200). The society gives so many
accesses for men to do almost all things, while it gives limited accesses for
women to do so. These accesses give power and space to men. Then, men with
in society create them into human beings who believe that it is their natural right
to have power and they start to dominate the others who are weaker than them.
They dominate in order to get more power and women are the weaker people that
men usually dominate.
As stated in Cultural Theory: The Key Concepts, patriarchy also refers to “the ways in which material and symbolic resources are unequally distributed
between men and women, through such social institutions”. The symbolic
resources include income, wealth and power; while the social institutions are the
family, sexuality, the state, the economy, culture and language (Edgar and
Sedgwick, 2005: 270). The main problem is still on the inequality between men
and women.
According to Millet, “the principles of patriarchy appear to be two fold:
male shall dominate female, elder male shall dominate younger” (Millet, 1971:
291). Therefore, if the condition of the principles exists, the domination seems to
have no end and leave the weak as the victims of the domination.
Since this writing explores about patriarchal culture, it is essential to know
about its characteristics. There are some aspects to know whether it is patriarchal
or not, and these things are taken from Kate Millet’s Theory ofSexual Politics. a. Ideological
Ideology in patriarchy is that “aggression, intelligence, force and efficacy
in the male; passivity, ignorance, docility … and ineffectuality in the female”
(Millet, 1971: 292). The ideology brings the society into a judgment that men are
For their activities, men and women have something called sex role. Sex
role is the elaboration of “conduct, gesture, and attitude for each sex” (Millet,
1971: 292). Sex role “assigns domestic service and attendance upon infants to the
female, the rest of human achievement, interest, and ambition to the male”
(Millet, 1971: 292). In similar words, all things about house and cares about
children are the tasks of women and the tasks of men are doing things to get pride.
The pride can be defined as honor, power and money. By looking at the meaning,
sex role is similar to gender role. Gender role will be discussed in the next theory.
b. Biological
Sex is biological while gender is “a term that has psychological or cultural
rather than biological connotations” (Millet, 1971: 296). In biological aspect of
patriarchy, there are not many explanations about biological things that can
differentiate men and women. The focus when someone born and people
recognize he/she as a boy or a girl, then as he/she grows in the society, its culture
will shape his/her behavior. This boy/girl will be gendered by the society. “Every
moment of child’s life is a clue to how he or she must think and behave to attain
or satisfy the demands which gender places upon one” (Millet, 1971: 297).
Gender is in charge in shaping or making a boy follows the maleness and a girl
follows the femaleness. It also states that the attributes of each sex will not be
important to the sense of maleness and femaleness, “…although the external
genitalia penis, testes, scrotum) contribute to the sense of maleness, no one of
c. Sociological
Family is the main institution of patriarchy. Family as a patriarchal unit
has a connection with the larger society as the whole patriarchal system. As the
fundamental instrument and the foundation unit of patriarchal society, the family
and its roles are prototypical. Family, society and state are three patriarchal
institutions, and all of them are related to each other.
In a family, the rule is given by the family head: a father. The co-operation
between the family and the larger society is essential (Millet, 1971: 299). In the
larger society, ‘the father’ is the ruler and ‘the member of the family’ is the
civilization. The connection between the ruler and the subject is “…parallel to that
of father and children” (Millet, 1971: 300). He father will give rules in the family
and the children should follow them. In patriarchal family, the kinship is
recognized by “…the male line” (Millet, 1971: 300). The family name is from the
father to the son and for most families who have no sons, the family name will not
be inherited. In patriarchy system, marriages are financial alliances and each
household operates as an economic entity much like a corporation. Wife and
children are dependent on father. The father earns the money for the family and
the mother takes care of the house. Both of the parents follow the gender role:
father as a breadwinner and mother as a caregiver.
d. Class
In a certain society where status is dependent upon the economic, social
and educational circumstances of class; it is possible for women to appear
ethnic mores in patriarchy is largely a matter of showing off the masculine
supremacy. The existing of class or ethnic is absolutely for the sake of the male.
According to Millet, “One of the chief effects of class within patriarchy is
to set one women against another, in the past creating a lively antagonism
between whore and matron, and in present between career woman and house
wife” (Millet, 1971: 304). The career women have tendency to consider
themselves higher than the house wives, because they do not only take care of
domestic things. The career women call it as virtue class. Then, not only the virtue
class which distinguishes women but also age and beauty. Women who are
beautiful, young and having career will get higher status than women who are not.
The career women become a usual thing nowadays. Nevertheless, women
have fewer permanents class association than the men do (Millet, 1971: 305).
Therefore, no matter how highly virtue a career woman is, she cannot afford the
same condition with a career man.
e. Economic and Educational
Since women always work in patriarchal societies, most often in the
routine tasks, then the issue here is not labor but economic reward. The kinds of
employment that open to women in modern patriarchies are, generally menial, ill
paid and without status (Millet, 1971: 306). In addition, Millet also says,
“Discrimination in matters of hiring, maternity, wages and hours is very great”
(Millet, 1971: 308). In fact, there is always at least a thing in patriarchal society
As stated in the explanation of class, many women nowadays become
career women. They have economic right to be independent. Two third of the
female population are working. Actually the career women have double tasks:
working and caring for her children and domestic things, since the day care or
other social agencies cannot be as responsible as mothers should be (Millet, 1971:
308).
For the jobs which need great power to do or related with machines, men
are required to do. While for the jobs which need accuracy and tidy, women are
required to do. Since women are doubtful that they could repair such machines on
any significant scale (Millet, 1971: 308-309).
In modern patriarchal society, the educational level is opened to women,
although the kind and the quality of the education are not the same between men
and women (Millet, 1971: 309). However, the possibility for women to be
uneducated is obvious. The generally operative division between masculine and
feminine subject matter are the humanities and certain social sciences to the
female and the science, the technology, the professions, the business and the
engineering to the male (Millet, 1971: 309).
f. Force
Historically, most patriarchies have institutionalized force through their
legal systems. Therefore, force is widely spread and generalized in most
contemporary patriarchies (Millet, 1971: 310).
The act of raping is a form of violence, particularly sexual, in character
women. Traditionally, rape has been viewed as an offense that one male commits
upon another—a matter of abusing “his woman”. In rape, the emotions of
aggression, hatred, contempt and the desire to break or violate personality take a
form consummately appropriate to sexual politics (Millet, 1971: 311).
Patriarchal society typically links feelings of cruelty with sexuality, the
latter often equated both with evil and with power. The rule here associates
sadism with the male (the masculine role) and victimization with the female (the
feminine role). Emotional response to violence against women in patriarchy is
often curiously ambivalent; it might refer to wife-beating. Since this tendency to
hurt or to insult has been given free expression, it has become much easier to
assess sexual antagonism in the male (Millet, 1971: 312).
g. Anthropological: Myth and Religion
Seeing their function as domestic servants, the females are forced to
prepare food. Actually, the females do not only prepare food but also serve the
males. In almost every patriarchal group it is expected that the dominant male will
eat first or eat better, and even where the sexes eat together, the male shall be
served by the female (Millet, 1971: 315).
The men’s house is a fortress of patriarchal association and emotion.
Men’s houses in preliterate society strengthen masculine communal experience
through dances, gossip, hospitality, recreation, and religious ceremony. They are
the scenes of scarifications, headhunting celebrations, and boasting sessions. The
tone and ethos of men’s house culture is sadistic, power-oriented, and …
According to the classical tale of Pandora’s Box and the Biblical story of
the Fall, woman was the cause of all chaos in this world. When Pandora opened
the box, the creature inside the box came out and spread the sadness, sufferings
and insanity to the world. Adam and Eve fell into their first sin right after they ate
the forbidden fruit, and it was Eve who offered Adam that fruit. At that that time,
they started to feel pain and illness. From these two myths, people believe that
woman is the one who is responsible and deserved to get the punishment (Millet,
1971: 318-319).
h. Psychological
The aspects of patriarchy have already described effects upon the
psychological of both sexes. Women in patriarchy are regarded as the marginal
citizens. Their situation is like the other minorities: they are singled out from
others in the society in which they live for differential and unequal treatment. One
thing that is asked here is the status of the minority whether they have become the
part of the society or not (Millet, 1971: 322). Moreover, all level of cultural
media, past and present, dictate the image that a woman should have. The media
offer women the requirements that could make them ‘better’ and unconsciously
they agree and fulfill them (Millet, 1971: 322). Perhaps patriarchy’s greatest
psychological weapon is simply its universality and longevity. Patriarchy still has
more power to hold through its successful habit of passing itself off as nature
In addition to the theory, since the major male character in the play works
in military, therefore the patriarchy which appears in the play is the patriarchy in
military. According to Martin,
Modern military forces are overwhelmingly composed of men. Furthermore, sexism is a common part of military training and military life. Soldiers are trained to be violent, competitive, tough, and 'masculine.' They are trained to reject feminine characteristics of supportiveness, cooperativeness, tenderness and physical softness. Often military training is accompanied by explicit verbal abuse of women and the portrayal of women only as sex objects (1990: 1).
By looking at the statements above, it is a natural thing if military patriarchy
decorates with force, violence and competition between the men in the society.
The military patriarchy also swept away all feminine attributes which are about
the tenderness, cooperativeness and physical softness. This society creates the
men do violence, domination and other bad treatments toward women. Because of
this condition, women are put in a position as objects or victims.
3. Theory of Gender
The concept between gender and sex is different. As stated in Cultural Theory, The Key Concepts “while our sex (female/male) is a matter of biology, our gender (feminine/masculine) is a matter of culture” (Edgar and Sedgwick,
2005: 158). Since gender is a matter of culture, it is possible that gender condition
in a certain place different from other place. In other words, “the precise ways in
which women express their femininity and men express their masculinity will
vary from culture to culture” (Edgar and Sedgwick, 2005: 158). Gender might
Gender is not given since an individual born, but something learned in a
society. There are some attributes and behaviors given to the male and the female.
As stated by Edgar and Sedgwick, “qualities that are stereotypically attributed to
women and men in contemporary western culture are seen as gender, which
entails that they could be changed” (Edgar and Sedgwick, 2005: 158). The
examples of the qualities in contemporary Western culture are the greater
emotional expression in women and the greater tendencies to violence and
aggression in men.
Since the gender is engaged with culture, each culture in a society will
give different treatment toward each sex. The society which exists in the play is
military patriarchy, therefore the military society is used here. According to
Martin, “the masculine ethos of military life has much in common with the
oppressive treatment of women in both military and civilian life, including rape,
battering, prostitution and poor working conditions” (1990: 1). It cannot be denied
that the life military is fully filled with oppression toward women. Generally, they
who commit the kinds of oppression are men.
In the study of gender, there are two things called gender role and gender stereotype. A gender role “consists of activities that men and women engage in with different frequencies” (Brannon, 1995: 168). Each male and female plays a
different role in society. Therefore, “the male gender role or the female gender
role is like a script that men and women follow to fulfill their appropriate parts in
acting masculine and feminine” (Brannon, 1996: 168). The society expects each
person acts to fulfill a role by behaving in the expected way in the appropriate
situation” (Brannon, 1996: 168).
Different from gender role, gender stereotype “consists of beliefs about the
psychological traits and characteristics as well as the activities appropriate to men
and women” (Brannon, 1996: 168). Gender role is defined by behavior, but
gender stereotype is beliefs and attitudes about masculinity and femininity. The
current gender stereotype comes from the long history between men and women
in the ancient times. For the men, the stereotype is from the nineteenth century
idealization, Male Sex Role Identity. “Men were seen as the opposite of women in
a number of ways. Men were active, independent, coarse and strong” (Brannon,
1996: 170). Pleck says that the Male Sex Role Identity “as the dominant
conceptualization of masculinity in our society and as source of problems, both
for society and for individual men” (Brannon, 1996: 171). It can be said that the
Male Sex Role Identity appear as the primary concept of masculinity and it indeed
becomes problem for the society and the male. The increasing of the life’s
demand makes men pressured to work harder in order to be good providers for
their families. This is a role that becomes more difficult for men to fulfill.
The closer a man conforms all of these characteristics, the closer he is to
be a ‘real man’. The pressure to fulfill this idealization is so strong. This
idealization is as unrealistic as the idealization for women, The Cult of True
Womanhood. Every man who is successful fulfilling this idealization may be
their wives and their children; and brings them into competition and achievement
at work (Brannon, 1996: 172).
For women, the stereotype is from The Cult of True Womanhood in
Victorian times. According to Barbara Welter, “the attributes of True
Womanhood, by which a woman judges herself and was judged by her husband,
her neighbor, and society could be divided into four cardinal virtues—piety,
purity, submissiveness, and domesticity” Brannon, 1996: 169). Piety, during Victorian times, women were naturally more religious than men. Purity, losing their virginity was a horrible matter and worse than death, because purity is
extremely essential for all young women. If they lose it they would be regarded as
nothing. Submissiveness, women were supposed to be weak, dependent and timid. Then the men were supposed to be strong, wise and forceful. The characteristic of
the women would be completed by the characteristics of the men. Domesticity, the wives concerned with domestic things which were making a home and having
children. In Victorian times, it was believed that the combination of those four
characteristics would bring happiness and power to the women in that era.
Without fulfilling those characteristics, their life would not have meaning at all.
The gender stereotype will vary from culture to culture. Since the play
takes place in an unknown Latin American country, the focus of the culture is in
that place. Davenport and Yurich describe the stereotypes of Hispanic Americans,
“the men were depicted as clearly oppressive and the women as passive and
complaint” (Brannon, 1996: 182). Men are very dominant and women are
In gender, men will be asked to fulfill their masculinity and the women
will be asked to fulfill their femininity. Masculinity and femininity are constantly
changing. The paradigm that a masculine man is he who has big body with muscle
like cartoon Popeye might be disappeared and changed with the concept that small
man is not a problem; in turn he will be regarded as a cute man. The same case is
also for women. A woman who dresses like a man and smokes cigar in an
appropriate situation and condition will be regarded as feminine than a woman
who dresses like a lady and drinks a cup of tea.
Masculinity is “the set of social practices and cultural representations
associated with being a man” (Pilcher and Whelehan, 2004: 82). In similar words,
masculinity is being manly. There are some certain things that given by the
society for men to do. These things consciously or not are followed and done by
the men in order to become ‘a man’. Of course they were born as males, but
‘being a man’ is a process to become. By living his gender role as the
breadwinner, a man should work and responsible to his own family.
Femininity refers to “the ensemble of cultural forms, meanings, and values
conventionally associated with women” (Payne, 1997: 191). The dress and the
make up that the women wear or the passivity and the sex appeal that women have
are the marker of femininity, and each culture has different standards about it.
However, receiving and fulfilling their ‘destiny’ as wives and mothers for their
children are the most important femininity task for women. Since being a wife and
a mother is a choice for a woman, not every woman has the chance and right to
C. Theoretical Framework
Several studies are reviewed here to get the whole understanding to the
play. It is proved that The Conduct of Life is not only a play which tells about feminism, but also the system that transform men and women into the creatures
that live along with the roughness and destruction; the political issues reveal Latin
America; the chain of tyranny that always continues whenever the power is
misused by human beings, and the conduct of each character on their own life
personally. These studies make us one step closer to approach and analyze this
play.
Since there are three important things to be discussed in this writing: the
characterization of each character depicted in the play, the elements of patriarchal
culture that exist in the play and how the men and women oppressed in the
patriarchal culture as seen in the play; some theories are needed to reveal those
three things. These theories are the theory of character and characterization, the
theory of patriarchy and the theory of gender. In the theory of character and
characterization, it reveals the depiction of each character by looking at his/her
interests, desires, emotions, dialogues, gestures and moral principles that he/she
has in the story. This theory answers the first question in problem formulation.
The next theory, the theory of patriarchy reveals the condition of the play which
represents the condition of a patriarchal culture. The condition can be identified
from the relationships between men and women in the play, the political issues
that appear there, the ideology, the psychological condition of men and women
the second question in the problem formulation. The last theory is the theory of
gender. It is used also to help the revealing of men’s and women’s oppression in a
patriarchal culture. This theory is to emphasize the last thing that discussed here.
29
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of this study is a play by Maria Irene Fornes entitled The Conduct of Life, taken from Understanding Plays, 2nd edition. This play published in 1985 and was directed by Fornes herself. Its first publication was at Theatre for
the New City, New York. Starting her career as a painter made Fornes focus on
the arrangement of how the stage looked like. She said that “the stage is a very
beautiful place, nice to look at. And space is very important” (Barnet, 2001:
1357).
The Conduct of Life actually is not included as well-made plays, because there is “no explanation of character behaviors, no exposition to its rising actions
and climax, and no denouement” (Vena and Nouryeh, 1996: 1148) which is the
standard for a play to be said as a well-made play. The reality that appears in the
play is so much alike the real world which sometimes has no explanation about it
at all.
Maria Irene Fornes is well-known as a playwright, director, teacher,
translator and adaptor of the work of other Hispanic playwrights. She has received
several great achievements like a Rockefeller Foundations grant, a Guggenheim
fellowship, National Endowment of the Arts grants, and multiple Obie Awards
both as playwright and a director. This play is one of her most controversial plays
including Los Angeles, Chicago, Williamstown, Providence, and Iowa City. It
was also produced in London in 1988 by the Gate Theater.
The Conduct of Life is a play about a man in a military who has ambitions to achieve many things in his life. His ambitions are centered on the social status
that he will get later, thus he will be appreciated more by others. However, his
ambitions make him blind with other things like love, care, tenderness, and
humanity. He is covered with rage and often uses his power to dominate his wife,
his employee and an unknown little girl as his sex slave. This is a nineteen scene
play and most of the scenes are short. The fragmented scenes sometimes seem
awkward but mean a lot. The end of this play also offers us questions about why
the main female characters do it and what she really wants to say. The whole play
asks us to think and realize more about how we conduct each life, time to time by
looking at the realities that often annoy, destroy and hurt us.
B. Approach of the Study
To get a better understanding in analyzing this play, an approach is needed
in this thesis. The most appropriate theory to approach and to analyze the
oppression that men and women suffer in patriarchal culture in this play is the
gender study. Gender study is more less like gender criticism which “analyzes
differing conceptions of gender and their role in the writing, reception, subject
matter, and evaluation of literary works” (Abrams, 2009: 132). The focus of
running their role, how they interact with other sex, how they look at a problem
are the matters within male and female.
Moreover, gender study is also the studies about “inequalities and
differences, not just between genders but within genders, based on class,
sexuality, ethnicity, age, dis/ability, nationality, religion, and citizenship status”
(Pilcher and Whelehan, 2004: xii). It is proved that in each gender there are
inequalities and differences. Class, sexuality, ethnicity, etc are the things to
distinguish each gender.
This writing needs a tool that can delineate man and woman in their own
‘nature’, with all of their lacks and abilities. Gender study helps this thesis to look
at the condition of men and women without having any bias. The study will not
put one sex higher than another sex, since each sex has their own problem and
responsibility. The neutral tone of gender study is the most appropriate thing in
this approach. That is why gender study used here.
C. Method of the Study
This writing is a library research. All of the sources in this writing are
from the printed documents. The primary source is the script-play by Maria Irene
Fornes entitled The Conduct of Life and taken from Understanding Plays, 2nd edition. The secondary sources are articles, reference books, undergraduate thesis that discuss Fornes’ play and the theories needed to analyze it.
The steps for analyzing this play were: first, reading the work thoroughly
After reading for several times, the next step was searching the most suitable
references about the play. These references enriched the writer to link the events
that happen in the play with the background of situation and condition that the
writer got from the references. These references included the theories and other
writings that helped the writer to understand this play more. The next step was
applying the theories and the approach in the analysis. The first problem was the
depiction of the male and female characters in the play. Because the issue was
about the depiction of the characters, the theory of character and characterization
were used to answer the first problem. The second problem was the patriarchal
culture in the play. The theory used for the second problem was the theory of
patriarchy which explains the aspects of patriarchy. The third problem was the
oppression of men and women in a patriarchal culture as seen in the play. The
theory used for the last problem was the theory of gender. Finally, the conclusion
33
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
A. The Depiction of Male and Female Characters
The first step to analyze the oppression that the characters suffer in the
play is by looking at the characterization of each character. In The Conduct of Life, there are five characters: two males and three females. The major characters are Orlando, the lieutenant commander, and Leticia, his wife. Orlando is the
antagonist and Leticia is the protagonist. The other three characters are Alejo, a
friend of Orlando in military; Olimpia, a servant in Orlando’s house and Nena, a
destitute young girl who is taken by Orlando from the street. These three
characters are the minor characters in the play.
1. Orlando
In the beginning, Orlando was an army lieutenant, but recently he becomes
lieutenant commander. He has a wife named Leticia who is ten years older than
him. Their marriage cannot be said as a happy one, because most of the time
Orlando shows that he dislikes his wife through words and actions. In the play,
Orlando is the center of the conflict. His interactions with other character result in
problems. His conflicts with other characters bring us to get the characterization
of him. As a young man aged around thirty years old, he is really ambitious with
his life. Orlando is even rude, wicked and idealistic. Each characteristic will be
a. Ambitious
The most significant characteristic from Orlando is his ambition. It is seen
from his soliloquy in the beginning of the play.
ORLANDO: Thirty three and I’m still a lieutenant. In two years I’ll receive a promotion or I’ll leave the military. –Instead I will study the situation and draw an effective plan of action. I must eliminate all obstacles (in Barranger, 1990: 652).
The play opens with Orlando’s jumping-jacks and the above dialogue. The
dialogue shows that Orlando is a person with plans in the future. Actually, he does
not only have plans but also the tactics to realize his plans. At a glance, Orlando
seems to be a well-planned man, but if we look closer, he is so ambitious. His
plan to receive a promotion in two years or to leave the military shows his
ambition. He studies the situation, arranges plans, and eliminates all obstacles to
make his ambition come true. One of the plans that he arranges is making
relationship with people with high power or marrying someone from high status if
he cannot get it with his own efforts, this is seen from the dialogue below,
ORLANDO: …I will make the acquaintance of people in high power. If I cannot achieve this on my own merit, I will marry a woman in high circles. Leticia must not be an obstacle.—Man must have an ideal, mine is to achieve maximum power. That is my destiny (in Barranger, 1990: 652).
From the dialogue, the characterization of Orlando is revealed from the
way he thinks about something. His dialogue clearly says that no matter what
happens, in two years he must get that promotion. His opinion that being a man
must have an ideal and his destiny is to achieve maximum power are obviously
gets it by marrying Leticia, which means he could not achieve his target by his
own merit.
b. Idealistic
Orlando is a man with his own idealisms and he lives with them all. One
of the idealisms that he has is to get maximum power. He stated in his own
monologue, in the very beginning of the play. The monologue leads us to
understand his thought.
ORLANDO: Man must have an ideal, mine is to achieve maximum power. That is my destiny (in Barranger, 1990: 652).
Another idealism that he has is that a man should have a well-built body. It
refers to a good body shape with muscles and must be strong. It is believed that
Orlando has a good body shape, since he is in a military. It is added with his
activity to do exercises, like doing jumping-jacks in the beginning of the play. His
strictness in his idealism is also seen when he talks about a man with Alejo. His
dialogue with Alejo shows his certain opinion about what a man should be. In
scene 6, Orlando looks down on that man, his words are clear to conclude that he
hates weak man.
ORLANDO: He looked more like a whale than a horse. A seal. His muscles were soft. What does it feel like to be without shape like that. Without pride (in Barranger, 1990: 656).
The dialogue above shows Orlando’s mind and his mind is about condemnation.
Orlando classifies a man without strong muscle or well-built body is as same as a
seal. For Orlando, a good body shape is a pride and idealistically, thus a man must
Moreover, for Orlando, money is something respected. In scene 2,
Orlando, Alejo and Leticia are discussing about hunting, then they are talking
about the value of the money. Orlando cannot think why Leticia wants give her
money to them who need it. It is out of his ratio.
ORLANDO : …Ask her what she would do if she were rich and could do anything she wants with her money. [Leticia enters.]
LETICIA : I would distribute it among the poor.
ORLANDO : She has no respect for money (in Barranger, 1990: 653).
The dialogue above is the respond of Leticia’s plan about what she will do with
her money. Both Orlando and Leticia have a contrastive view about the using of
money. For Orlando, money is something that should be respected. In other
words, money has main position in Orlando’s life. It is in his priority. In fact is,
money needs no respect because it is neither human being nor God. We should
use it wisely for ourselves or help people who need it.
Therefore, Orlando’s idealisms are these three things: power, muscle, and
money. His ambition is for reaching all of them. Then, when he completed those
three things, he believed that he would be respected by other people and his status
in the society would increase.
c. Rude
The bad side of Orlando is his rudeness. It will be looked normal if he is
rude once in a certain condition, but in fact most of the time he is rude and all the
characters in the play become the victims of his rudeness. The most favorite
victim of his rudeness is his only wife, Leticia. He is totally rude toward her by
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