Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Arts - Department of English

Drama is a field of artistic expression that has classically excluded women. Women artists and women{u2019}s studies came rather late to this field. This thesis argues that despite the delayed entrance or perhaps on account of it, women{u2019}s contribution made a leap that bypassed the linear development of feminist studies. The development of women{u2019}s studies which is charted as movements defined as successive 2waves3, marks a steady path but one that eventually came to a relative standstill. Through the analysis of four plays written by women, the thesis argues that theatric contribution of women since the 1950 to 2012 can be read as a major contributor to women{u2019}s studies through gradually transcending all labeled endeavors and moving towards the liberation of women by posing a new trend for their advancement. It argues that, put together, the four plays under discussion suggest a theory of 2letting go3 of all that hampered women. It reveals their rewriting of their identity in a way that transcends the steadfast definition, clustering and labeling of them. The study focuses on the four plays{u2019} efforts at conjuring the Wild Woman archetype, hence allowing women to reconnect with their inner selves in ways that psychologically empower them

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