Man-Woman Conflict in Selected Carlos Palanca: Award Winning Plays of the 1980’s

Abstract

The study attempted to help shape a fuller and deeper understanding of man-woman relationships and its attendant tensions, complications and intricacies seen and refracted through the feminist perspective and psychoanalytic lens. To achieve this objective, three selected Palanca award winning plays in the Philippines were critically examined to this end: The Chieftain’s Daughter by Felix Clemente, Celadons by Dhelia Racines, and Brisbane by Bobby Flores Villasis.  Freudian psychoanalytic criticism and feminist perspective guided the analysis and interpretation of the text. It aimed to identify the type of man-woman conflicts in each play and the literary devices which are employed in the plays. It also aimed to examine the confluence factors which underlie the conflicts and the insights into the man-woman relationship conveyed by the selected plays. Based on the analysis, among the devices used to highlight the conflict were dialectics and symbolism. Some of the underlying factors which affect the conflicts were the pressure of traditional value and practices, greed, and insecurities. Thus, this study unveiled the nature of gender and conflict and the understanding of the man-woman relationships through the intervention or mediation of literature.