Date of Award
12-2008
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
English
Abstract
In Blasted, Kane represents how incidents of rape highlight, exacerbate and solidify the unevenness of power distribution between men and women in the modern world and provides a new perspective at what we might call “rape in general” – a transhistorical phenomenon of rape as a practice of violence towards the female victim. Through a detailed analysis of the unique representational circumstances of the multiple scenes of rape, such as Cate’s meaningful absence in Ian’s scene of rape, the author of the essay comes to a conclusion that rape is and remains an engendered practice. However, along with reaffirming the depth of the fundamental binary opposition of masculine and feminine in the social construction of rape, Kane introduces a new dimension to the issue of sexual violence through the vividly represented physical rape of the feminized male body, questioning the status of rape as the female victim-only space.
Recommended Citation
Zhurba, Dina, "The endangered representation of sexual violence in Sarah Kane's Blasted" (2008). Master's Theses. 700.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/masters-theses/700