The absent father in modern drama

Theories of modern drama point out the powerful sense of loss and alienation that is woven into the very fabric of modern d r a m a . This sense of loss is connected with the death of God and the destruction of absolute value systems. This study, however, takes the theory of loss one step further, tying the absence of God in modern drama to the absence of the father. The psychoanalytical theories of Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, and Carl Jung view the father as a disembodied presence standing above and outside of culture. These psychological theories of the father can be connected to the theories of the Cambridge Ritualists, who see drama as arising out of the primitive rituals that reenact the dying and rebirth of a fertility god. Applying both sets of theories, one can see how the absent father standing behind the absent or dying god becomes an imposing figure in drama. This all-encompassing father figure emerges in modern drama as an absent character, talked about but never seen. His absence, the source of profound mourning, propels a quest to restore him to presence, a quest which leads to self-destruction. Clearly, one phase of modern drama is haunted by the residual presence of the absent father. In this type of drama, the absent father not only controls the dynamics