AN UNINVITED PARTY: POWER, GAZE, AND WEDEKIND’S LULU

by Chon, ChuYoung

This thesis consists of three sections, each looking at various receptions of Frank Wedekind’s Lulu plays. By summarizing a brief reception history of the plays, contradictory readings of the figure Lulu will be presented. I will argue that being a subject in the modern time, Lulu can be seen as a tragic victim who is cast into a network of power and gaze. What becomes evident is that the figure Lulu embodies a character much in advance of the era. In this, she is a postmodern phenomenon that has contradictory natures to the modern ideas of totality, rationality, centrality, and ‘the one.’ Though caught as an object in the “Panopticon,” she announces the destiny of modernity by showing its result of excessive exercise of power, a persisting projection in a disciplined society.