Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2001. [Vol. 7.] Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 27)
Studies - Lenke Németh: David Mamet's Women Characters: Conceptions and Misconceptions
negation of male subjectivity is exemplified in the hasty sexual intercourse the anonymous woman has with Bernie. She brings it home to him that he is just as unimportant to her as she is to him. Joan, on the other hand, subverts the verbally abusive level of sexuality in her encounter with Bernie in a singles' bar. She refuses to act out the role of a sex object and to employ any subtle feminine strategies to stifle Bernie's sexual advances. Instead she tells him point blank: "I don't find you sexually attractive" (20). In The Woods , Ruth treats Nick as an object whom she tries to win and buy with her endless talk and gifts, whereas Nick, feeling trapped by her importuning him for commitment, turns mean, violent, and finally he rapes her. In the second phase, which I date from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, Mamet considerably departs from his pattern of marginalising women characters in his works. The novelty of portraying women in House of Games, Speed-the-Plow, and Oleanna lies in two facts: first, the women protagonists embody a new type of woman who challenges and even subverts male power and authority in public places of life; second, closely linked to the previous one, these characters act as autonomous human beings located outside their domestic environment. The unconventional portrayal of the women protagonists of these plays, however, engendered more debate than acclaim. These heroines' violence and arrogance toward their male counterparts as well as the seemingly ungrounded shifts in their acts and discourse created a huge stir and puzzlement at the time these plays were produced. Through the lense of the "parodying double" role of the women, however, the conflicting interpretations concerning the female protagonists' behavior can be conveniently resolved. Thus, their sudden metamorphosis —a most frequently attacked aspect —is nothing else but a hyperbolic emulation of certain sides of the male characters presented in the plays. In fact, in "doing business" with their male counterparts, all the women characters mimick male practices. Human and business relations are equally built on and motivated by deception and betrayal. For instance, adopting strategies of cunning and betrayal, Karen, the secretary in Bobby Gould's Hollywood studio in Speed , plows her way to secure her position in the film industry. Yet, she employs 40
