Maskulinitet och makt
En studie av Georgs maskulinitet i Lars Noréns drama Natten är dagens mor
In the following essay I have read the drama Natten är dagens mor (The Night is the Day's Mother) by Lars Norén. My main focus has been on the older brother Georg. By using post structuralist gender theories I have sought answers to the following two questions: How is Georg's masculinity constructed and maintained, when seen from a gender perspective? What power structures arise between Georg's and the other men's masculinities? In my analysis I have approached Georg via three perspectives. First, I have by the help of Judith Butler's theory concerning gender performative actions tried to define the men's gender codes. I have used queer theory to show how the different masculinities can be understood as each others opposites. This way Georg's masculinity was defined as hegemonic in contrast to his brother's and father's. When Georg's masculinity is questioned he answers with violence in order to defend it. I have then used R. W. Connell's masculinity theory to show how the use of violence is a sign that the hegemonic masculinity is weak. The only power he has left over his brother's and father's masculinities is the one held by force and the one he has through his mother. As the violence increases, he loses power and as his mother suddenly chooses to stay with her husband instead of leaving, he has no other way out but to leave.