Use Of The Voice In Irene And Madame D 'Aiguiness's The Captive'

The Captive depicts a story about a young woman named Irene who attempts to conceal her love for Madame d’Aiguines by creating a fake marriage with her best friend, Jacques, who goes along with the idea, but is actually in love with her. Irene hopes this plot will appease her father so she won’t have to move with her father and sister to Rome, Italy. To Jacques dismay, however, he later discovers that her affection is not returned, because she is having an affair with Madame d’ Aiguines. A reoccurring theme that will be discussed in the literature review as well as the chapter on The Captive will discuss the ways in which the use of the voice (or lack of) in Irene and Madame d’ Aiguines character is a signifier of their lesbianism. Sherrie

According to Sherrie A. Inness, “The Captive was hauled by critics as the first play on the American stage to deal openly with what one reviewer called a “repulsive abnormality.” Ten years prior, God of Vengeance was scorned for offending rabbis, Jewish men and women’s religion and abusing the significance of the Torah. Critics and reviews failed to deliver their remarks on the intimate lesbian love, but in The Captive, the lesbian undertones are concealed and carried out in a strategic fashion, yet these moments were censored and triggered. Due to these moments where the acts of lesbianism were not apparent, it was deemed with obscurity, causing the play to fall short overall. Similar to God of Vengeance, The Captive was confronted with “obscenity charges in the United States, and after a run of less than five months, the play was raided and closed down by police” (Inness 304). With this framework in mind, my case study is not diminished by the greater public opinion, rather Edouard Bourdet’s strategic approach to lesbianism and the way in which is portrayed in society juxtaposed the emergence of lesbianism in the United States in the early part of the twentieth