for journalist-ga
What plays, fictional stories feature:
1. Mothers or Fathers who kill or envy their children.  
2. family dramas/lit. that resolve their situation with one child
separating from the family.  eg. "the Glass Menagerie"
...as Shakespeare said the Tip's the thing.  Take your time, I can wait
for the ans.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 19 Sep 2003 13:07 PDT

Hi, j10.

My good friend and colleague, journalist-ga, is currently on vacation
in Europe. If your question has a deadline attached to it, you might
want to open it for other Researchers. If not, I'm sure journalist
will be glad to assist you after returning to the United States.

Best wishes,
pinkfreud, Google Answers Researcher

---

Clarification of Question by j10-ga on 19 Sep 2003 13:13 PDT

I'm not in a big rush,but if you'd like to give it a go, that would be
fine.  Maybe I just envy her vacation, but while journalist-ga's away,
pinkfreud could play too.

Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to answer your
question. I've relied mainly on my memory to gather some literary
examples for you; sometimes a search engine is less useful than a mind
filled by many decades of reading. For each of the works that I've
chosen, I have included a summary in my own words, plus a brief online
description, with a link to the source of the descriptive material.

======================================================================
         MOTHERS AND FATHERS WHO KILL OR ENVY THEIR CHILDREN
======================================================================

One of the most famous (and horrific) dramatic depictions of a mother
who kills her children is Euripides' tragedy, "Medea." The horror
derives not only from the murder of the children, but from the fact
that Medea murders them solely in order to hurt her estranged husband.

"...the passionate, barbaric Medea, who exacts a horrible vengeance
and triumph over Jason by killing the children she bore him as well as
the princess of Corinth for whom he had abandoned her... There are
different versions of the myth, but it is possible that Euripides was
the first to devise this ending in which Medea intentionally kills the
children, seeing it as the best way to torture Jason for the rest of
his life."

Didaskalia: Mother as Monster, A Sicilian Medea
http://didaskalia.berkeley.edu/issues/vol3no2/MacMedea.html

======================================================================

In Goethe's "Faust," the devout Gretchen kills her illegitimate child
when she is consumed by guilt over her sins:

"Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust  (Written in the 1700's, this is
the story of a disillusioned scholar, who turns to search the world of
experience when his intellectual pursuits become dry and lifeless.
Nearing despair, he makes a pact with the devil, Mephisto, that he
will be given infinite knowledge with godlike power to last until he
reaches a stage of satisfaction. If he ever declares, 'Oh stay; you
are so fair!' to any given moment, he will immediately be required to
surrender his soul to the devil. The play continues as Faust, who
doesn't believe in God, falls in love with a deeply religious girl
named Gretchen, whom he seduces. Unable to live with her sins she
kills her and Faust's child and is sentenced to death. However,
recognizing her guilt, she is in the end saved by God."

Connie Wineland: Literary Works Recommended for Good Christian Reading
http://www.utionline.net/~fa122874/conniewineland/More_Books/more_books.html

======================================================================

In Eugene O'Neill's play "Desire Under the Elms," a young woman
married to an older man engages in an affair with her stepson. After a
child is produced by this union, the mother murders her child because
she believes this is what the child's father wants:

"Eben Cabot returns to his family farm to find his father, Ephraim,
remarried to Abbie, who has been promised the farm on the condition
she will bare him another son.  Eben's hatred for his father combines
with his growing desire for his young stepmother..  Eben and Abbie
consummate their relationship and she gives birth to a son Ephraim
believes to be his.  After a quarrel in which Eben realizes Abbie
might have had the affair with him only to steal the farm, he tells
her he wishes the child were dead.  To prove her love for him, Abbie
murders the infant and tells Eben that now they can be together--Eben
is appalled.  Eventually, he agrees to share the guilt and the sheriff
leads them both away."

Goucher College: Test Your Psychoanalytic Methods
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng215/test_your_psychoanalytic_methods.htm

======================================================================

In "The Good Earth," a novel by Pearl Buck, a Chinese woman, O-lan,
kills her newborn infant in a time of famine:

"The dark side of O-lan's character is that she kills her own child.
When the famine hits their home and she gives birth to a child,
knowing that the child would die within few days out of starvation,
she kills the child even before Wang Lung sees the child. She tells
him that the child died soon after birth. She is scared of the fact
that it will be hard to find food to feed one more mouth and even more
painful if the baby dies within few days."

Homepage of Rajeena Shakya: O-lan
http://faculty.rmwc.edu/fwebb/buck/rshakya/versionOfGoodEarth.html

======================================================================

In John Pielmeier's play "Agnes of God," a young, naive nun named
Agnes bears a child. Agnes, who may be a saint -- or may be a madwoman
-- kills the infant.

"Agnes bears a child, whom she kills because it, like her, is 'a
mistake'. It doesn't help that Agnes believes she has had sex with God
in the form of a dove. The film is a finely detailed exposition of the
moral minefield that results when a 'holy innocent' faces both the
rigour of secular law and the exigencies of a church playing politics
to survive."

Sydney Morning Herald: Sister acts
http://old.smh.com.au/news/0202/23/spectrum/spectrum20.html

======================================================================

In Toni Morrison's novel "Beloved," an African-American woman kills
her infant daughter to save her from a life of slavery:

"Sethe kills her own daughter in a fit of anxiety, rather than to have
her children taken away by the slave owners which tracked her down
following her escape. These markings tell Beloved's story, how her own
mother sawed away at the baby girl's tiny neck, her fingernails
clawing into her forehead."

Kansas State University: Beloved's Scars and Further Complications of
Scars as Communication
http://www.ksu.edu/english/janette/installations/sheyene/belpg.htm 

======================================================================

In Alice Walker's novel "The Color Purple," Celie is twice impregnated
by her abusive father, who murders at least one of the babies:

"Meet Celie. She has given birth to the second of two children, both
products of rape -- rape by her own father. He kills the child and
Celie suspects that he has killed her first baby as well."

Green Man Review: The Color Purple
http://www.greenmanreview.com/film/film_colorpurple.html

======================================================================

In Shakespeare's play "Titus Andronicus," Titus kills his son, Mutius,
for having betrayed him:

"Titus is called emperor by the people, but he gives both the crown
and his daughter, Lavinia, to Saturninus, declaring that the latter
will be emperor. He thereby raises the wrath of Bassianus, who was
betrothed to Lavinia. From here on, all is gore.

Titus's sons slay Tamora's son, Alarbus, in revenge for the sons of
Titus killed in battle with the Goths. Bassianus tries to take Lavinia
from Titus, who slays his own son, Mutius, for siding with Bassianus."

Utah Shakespearean Festival: Titus Andronicus
http://www.bard.org/SectionEducate/titusfuture.html

======================================================================

In Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein," the scientist Victor
Frankenstein literally builds himself a son, using parts from dead
bodies. When the son becomes uncontrollable, he and Victor engage in a
battle of wills that results in the deaths of both:

"Victor Frankenstein, a spoiled and pampered son of an upper-class
Swiss family, compulsively driven to solve the mystery of life,
creates another male, a 'son'. He is therefore the perfect filicidal
father... At the moment of animation of his creation, Victor's
enthusiasm ("love") changes to revulsion and in a dreadful proto-scene
he rejects his "son" as a monster and flees in terror. The son, whose
mind is initially as unformed and open as that of an infant is left to
stumble about the countryside, desperately seeking love but
engendering fear and violence in everyone he encounters... Father and
son pursue one another across the world until they finally achieve the
ultimate filicidal success--mutual self-destruction."

Texas Chapbook Press: Filicide
http://www.texaschapbookpress.com/filicide06chap502.htm

======================================================================

In the musical play "Gypsy" (book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule
Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim), a domineering mother named Rose is
driven by envy of her two daughters, who go on to successful careers
in show business as the actress June Havoc and the ecdysiast Gypsy
Rose Lee.

"In a reprise montage of 'Let Me Entertain You' we see Louise hit
stardom as the Queen of Strip, Gypsy Rose Lee. In the final scene Rose
visits Louise in her star dressing room. Rose feels jealous and
resentful that it is her dreams that have brought Louise fame. They
quarrel and Louise goes. Rose sings 'Rose's Turn', wishing she had had
Louise's chances. Louise returns to make friends with her mother
before the final curtain."

The Guide to Musical Theatre: Gypsy
http://www.nodanw.com/shows_g/gypsy.htm

======================================================================
         STORIES IN WHICH ONE CHILD SEPARATES FROM THE FAMILY
======================================================================

In Thomas Wolfe's monumental novel "Look Homeward, Angel" and its
sequel, "Of Time and the River," Eugene Gant leaves home in order to
escape a pedestrian existence and follow his dreams:

"Thomas Wolfe's classic coming-of-age novel, first published in 1929,
is a work of epic grandeur, evoking a time and place with
extraordinary lyricism and precision. Set in Altamont, North Carolina,
this semi-autobiographical novel tells the story of a restless young
man who longs to escape his tumultuous family and his small town
existence."

Amazon: Look Homeward, Angel
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684842211/002-2120503-0383220?v=glance

======================================================================

In the novel "He's Leaving Home," by Kiyohiro Miura, a young boy
leaves his family to become a Buddhist monk:

"Autobiographical novel explores the conflicting emotions the Kimura
family experiences when their sixteen-year-old son Ryota leaves home
to become a Zen monk."

Woodinville High School: Readable Non Fiction 
http://whsweb.nsd.org/popups-nonfiction.html

======================================================================

The novel "Trout Rising Again," by Rufus Lin, focuses on a young
Eurasian woman who leaves her home in Singapore and emigrates to
Canada:

"In this novel, Rufus Lin, a nondescript Canadian who spent some years
living in Singapore, explores the reasons why a person would want to
leave home and set up roots elsewhere.

The protagonist for his story is Maria, a Singapore born Eurasian who
starts a new life away from Singapore, oddly enough in Canada. Her
reasons for leaving the country of her birth are delicately traced in
this novel through her conversations with her friends, her own
personal thoughts, and through her friends lives. Those familiar with
Singapore's culture may identify with some of Maria's reasons, which
makes this tale of making another home away from home poignant."

The Flying Inkpot: Leaving Home Blues
http://inkpot.com/books/troutrising.html

======================================================================

In the classic novel "Siddhartha," by Hermann Hesse, a young man from
a wealthy family sets out on his own in search of enlightenment:

"Siddharta is the son of a renowned Brahmin, a good-looking,
intelligent and rich boy. But his spirit needs more than what he sees
in life. Siddharta is an individualist looking for himself and for his
own personal connection to the Universe. So he leaves his family and
joins the samanas, wandering monks. He lives with them until he
becomes dissatisfied once again. In his wanderings, he meets the
Gotama Buddha, and joins his group of students. He appreciates what
Gotama teaches, but it remains within himself the sense that he can't
learn from others, that he will have to find the truth by himself."

New Vision: Siddhartha
http://www.newvision-psychic.com/bookshelf/Siddhartha.htm

======================================================================

"Willie Was Different" is a children's book by the famed artist Norman
Rockwell in which an awkward and sensitive young bird leaves the nest
to seek a life of musical expression:

"Tiring of his father's lectures about the importance of being like
every other wood thrush, Willie leaves home and one day hears Miss
Polly, the town librarian, playing her flute. He joins her in singing
duets, and realizes that his destiny is to become a great singer.
Well, ornithologists become hysterical! A wood thrush who composes his
own music! Willie ends up in the National Aviary in Washington, DC,
where surrounded by other birds, he can no longer sing. Miss Polly
rescues him and takes him back to New England, where they sing their
duets just for themselves. The story of course is one of
self-discovery and having the courage to be different, which any child
(or adult) can relate to."

Bookwire: Willie Was Different
http://www.bookwire.com/bookwire/perlscript/review.pl?1234

======================================================================

While researching the portion of your question related to parents
killing their children, I came across several mentions of a book
entitled "Filicide: The Murder, Humiliation, Mutilation, Denigration,
and Abandonment of Children by Parents," by Arnaldo Rascovsky. The
description of the book made it sound as if it may be of interest to
you; a large section of it is devoted to the subject of filicide in
literature. Below you'll find pricing information for this book:

Addall.com
http://www3.addall.com/New/compare.cgi?dispCurr=USD&id=591781&isbn=1568214561&location=10000&thetime=20030919145118&author=&title=&state=AK

======================================================================

Search terms used:

"filicide" + "literature"
"medea" + "children"
"desire under the elms" + "child"
"faust" + "child"
"agnes of god" + "child"
"beloved" + "toni morrison" + "child"
"titus andronicus" + "son"
"frankenstein" + "son"
"gypsy" + "musical" + "daughters"
"look homeward angel" + "leaves"
"siddhartha" + "family"
"leaving home"

======================================================================

If you have any questions, please request clarification; I'll be glad
to offer further assistance.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

---

Request for Answer Clarification by j10-ga on 19 Sep 2003 19:20 PDT

This is a good beginning pinkfreud, thanks.  I had forgotten that
scene in "The Good Earth".  Although I didn't ask it, you make me
wonder about native/aboriginal stories about filicide/infantacide.  It
would be a great addition.  I'm working on a book, and if you allow I
will ask google for your name for attribution.  Thanks for your help
so far and if you have additions that occur to you in the next days
I'd love to receive them.  Can I post it again or leave it open for
politicalguru ga on return?  I'm happy to increase the price if you
require more $$ for your time.  I'm new at this, so please advise.  I
am familiar with the Rascovsky book, and the problem (I'm a
psychoanalyst) I'm hoping to expand my writing on a particular aspect
of multi-generational transmission of pathology through the use of
literary and dramatic references.  You can go wide if you like. Oh,
and I luv the pink in freud.

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 19 Sep 2003 21:05 PDT

I will ponder this over the next few days, and will add titles as they
occur to me. I'll also do some investigation of native/aboriginal
stories involving filicide.

Regarding the matter of posting your question again, that is certainly
an option. Different Researchers will offer different perpectives on a
subject like this one, and to approach from several angles can result
in both depth and width of coverage.

~pinkfreud

Thank you very much for the generous tip!

Another classic example of filicide in fiction has occurred to me.
"The Bad Seed," a novel by William March, was adapted into a play by
Maxwell Anderson (and also filmed twice: once in 1956 for the big
screen, and once in 1985 for television). This troubling work presents
the theory that murderous tendencies may be heritable. Schoolgirl
Rhoda Penmark, who is all sweetness and light on the surface, turns
out to be a young murderess. Her mother, Christine, who adopted Rhoda
as a toddler, learns that Rhoda is descended from a woman named Bessie
Denker, who murdered her children, with Rhoda as the sole survivor.
Christine's awareness that Rhoda is without conscience, and has killed
several people in cold blood, leads Christine to shoot herself and
give Rhoda an overdose of sleeping pills.

~pinkfreud

In Ovid's "Metamorphoses," Procne kills her son, Itylus, in order to
take vengeance upon her husband Tereus for having raped and mutilated
Procne's sister, Philomela. After killing the boy, Procne cuts him up,
bakes him into a pie, and serves the pie to Tereus.

Chaucer retold this tale in his "Legend of Good Women." The story also
influenced Shakespeare, notably "Titus Andronicus," which adapts the
grisly account of baking a murdered child into a pie which is then
served to the child's parent.

Here's an excerpt from a review of a book that might interest you:

"India's folklore and classical literature abound with stories of
parents who sacrifice their children. In The Hungry God, David Shulman
examines one set of such tales - Hindu texts that bear similarities to
the biblical aqedah, the account of Abraham's near-sacrifice of
Isaac... Three Hindu tales figure most prominently in The Hungry God.
First, there is the South Indian story of Ciruttontar (Siriyala), who
kills and cooks his son to feast the god Siva. Shulman traces the
development of this story through the medieval Telugu sources, which
are often openly hostile to both the god and his murderous devotee. He
then turns to the story of Sunahsepa, nearly slaughtered by his cruel
father. Shulman studies this most famous Indian tale of child
sacrifice in both its ancient Vedic form and in later epic and
mythological versions. The third tale is that of Suka, who learns yoga
from his father and then - to his father's infinite grief - disappears
into the Absolute."

Seminary Co-op Bookstore
http://www.semcoop.com/detail/0226755711

Oh,you are on a roll!  If you continue this way you may need to change
your name to pinkKlein (as in Melanie).  I've got a lot of the
classical references and you've come up with several I didn't recall
or would never have come upon.  Great ideas.  Thanks so much for your
attention. The crossover to my film question on the same subject
should end up being really juicy. It's always so interesting to see
the primitive passions appear in lit. from earliest times - and sadly
continue to roil the world in modern times.

In the play "A Mouthful of Birds," by Caryl Churchill and David Lan,
Lena murders her infant daughter in order to free herself from an
oppressive marriage. This play is based upon Euripides' "Bacchae."

"Lena's possession frees her from the constraints imposed by
motherhood, as she murders her infant daughter. But what does it mean
for a woman to murder her daughter? Killing the daughter wounds the
husband and father profoundly, but killing the daughter does not
affect a patriarchal family structure most concerned with passing on
the name of the father through the son. Certainly from a feminist
standpoint, Lena's murder of her daughter may be seen as a
self-reflexive act, a symbolic killing of herself."

Johns Hopkins University Press: Theatre Journal
http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:yAXzDA6-9kIJ:www.metrostate.edu/cgi-bin/troxy/lproxy.cgi/URL-www.press.jhu.edu/journals/theatre_journal/v054/54.2evan.html

...and...it occurs to me you might want to know about the website
psychematters.com for some online psychoanalytic publications of
interest - especially postmodern psy. including Klein, Bion and the
rest of the British. I don't suppose you have a great demand in this
area but fyi. Contrary to F. Crews, there is great life after freud. 
I do analysis with adults and infants, for eg.

to pinkfreud-ga.  I noticed that I incorrectly rated your response.  I
intended 5 stars and only registered four.  If I can correct that,
please advise.  Thanks again for all your help.  I'll be back.

Because of the way that GA is set up, a rating, once assigned, cannot
be changed. But I do thank you for the additional "invisible" star.
Like most Google Answers Researchers, I try to give customers my best,
and it is very heartening to know that my work is appreciated!