Castrating the Authority in El Sadaawi’s play Isis

Abstract

This paper on the Egyptian feminist playwright Nawal El
Sadaawi’s play Isis (1986) seeks to explore the psychological and social
dimensions of castration by applying the Slovenian Marxist and
Lacanian philosopher Slavoj Žižek’s ideas on symbolic castration,
ideological fantasy and mask. The focus will be on Žižek’s understanding
of Lacan’s ideas on symbolic castration. It will be proved that Ra, Seth
and their state machinery are castrated from within. But in order to
conceal their inner castration, they create a symbolic order of power and
masculinity. The role of female gaze, stage props, theatrical devices,
language and gestures as tools of deconstruction and castration will be
discussed to highlight the castration anxiety, and the symbolic castration
of Ra and Seth.