I SEARCH; PROBLEMS OF lEENTITY: Woman, Artist, and Breadwinner in the plays of Henrik Ibsen, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller NADA ZEINEDDINE A thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy English Department, University of Leicester December, 19Ô3 UMI Number: U344563 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Disscrrlation Publishing UMI U344563 Published by ProQuest LLC 2015. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 rrt To the fragrant memory of my father and To my mother With gratitude for her gracious loving - past, present, and future ”I don’t understand it. Why did you ever do that? Help me, Willy, I can’t cry. It seems to me that you’re just on another trip. I keep expecting you. Willy, dear, I can’t cry, Why did you do it? I search and search and I search, and I can’t understand it, Willy. I made the last payment on the house today. Today, dear. And there’ll be nobody home . . We’re free and clear. ... We’re free ... We’re free . . . . We’re free . . . . Linda Loman in Death of a Salesman CONTENTS Page Introduction 1 Chapter I: Problems of Identity, as experienced by the producer, in five plays by Henrik Ibsen 12 Chapter II: Problems of Identity, as experienced by the producer, in four plays by Tennessee Williams 123 Chapter III: Problems of Identity, as experienced by the producer, in three plays by Arthur Miller 209 Conclusion 287 Bibliography ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Who kindly sets a wanderer on his way Does e'en as if he lit another's lamp by his: No less shines his, %Aien he his friend's hath lit. To make verbal acknowledgements of my indebtedness to those who have accompanied me through the four seaisons of writing a thesis, so to say, is perhaps to remain indebted. Inarticulate though my words may be, I must entrust them with my innermost feelings of appreciation. My profuse thanks are due to Dr. Gordon Campbell whose diligent supervision has helped to bring this work to fruition. Dr. Campbell's knowledgeable mind, his sustaining encouragement, and his tolerant approach to literature and to the world it reflects are appreciatively perceived, and will always be meaningfully remembered. Professor J.S. Cunningham has been generous in the giving of advice, support, and encouragement. His characteristic modesty might be inclined to brush these words aiside, but this is where writing can at least reciprocate some of the generosity. I thank him for the perceptive critic, the good guide, and the stimulating scholar that he has been, and always will be. I wish to thank Professor P.A.W. Collins for his interest in the work, and his invaluable support of me. Dr. Paris Leary has encouraged the creation of this thesis; for that I thank him. My heartfelt thanks are due to Mrs. Doreen Butler who has been an agent in producing this thesis. She has not only coaxed her typewriter to express my thoughts, but also offered me friendliness and understanding. Members of the library staff have made their direct or indirect contributions to this thesis in ways ranging frcnn the seemingly simple yet esteemed gesture of making me feel at home in a conducive atmosphere to the more complex act of facilitating access to needed material. In this connection, I wish to thank Mr. Chris West and Mrs. Jill Peatro, former Heads of the Inter-Library Loan Section. My speciauL thanks are for Mr. Charlie Nosfworthy, Miss Stella Fearo, and Mrs. Linda Baines, members of the Issue Desk; and for Miss Jayne Quinn, member of the Inter-Library Loan Section, who have been kind to my thesis, and to me. I suppose many a thank has remained unsaid, and many a person unmentioned. That which remains to be said, those who are yet to be thanked, I must leave, hoping that time and space allow the unfolding of what might be valuable for them, and is so undoubtedly for me. Nada Zeineddine . 15 12.1983 A Tribute to Mr# G. S. Fraser "I lust to linger to the last" G. 8. Fraser, "Older" Death claims its victims but they defiantly survive in the vaults of memory. This is a tribute to the late Mr. G. S. Fraser who had to confront the inescapable reality implied by him in his expression; "the time comes when the leaf must fall". The leaves of his life may have withered, but his "lust to linger" is satiated for the present thesis is the leaf of a tree Mr. Fraser had planted in the course of a creative life. His memory most preciously lingers "to the last". Preliminary Declaration; I wish to acknowledge the fact that part of the material produced in connection with Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller is, to a certain extent, related to the subject-matter of my M.A. dissertation, presented in September, 1977.
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