Transgression unbound: subjectivity and subversion in Howard Barker’s The Castle

Abstract

Critics have employed a wide range of post-structuralist theories to cast light on Howard Barker’s art of theatre, but the application of Judith Butler’s theories to Barker’s dramatic works has so far been neglected. In an attempt to fill the existing gap in the scholarship and criticism on Barker’s drama, this study will employ Judith Butler’s conceptions of fluid identity and subversive performativity as a theoretical framework to examine the presentation of transgressive subjectivity and the possibility of subversive agency in The Castle, where Barker’s innovative explorations of identity, sexuality, and freedom get manifestation through the characters’ transgressive identities and their re-significations of hegemonic institutions.