Dancing with Freud: Slawomir Mrozek's Tango

Slawomir Mrozek is one of the leading Polish playwrights of the twentieth century. His plays are generally satirical in nature and focus on political and moral issues. Tango, written in 1965, is no exception to this scheme. The play deals with the nature of power and its uses as a political tool.

The purpose of this paper is to examine Tango from a Freudian viewpoint. The reading of a basically political play alongside Freud's theories of psychoanalysis may seem incongruous at first; however, Freud does address political issues. The particular example from which I will draw is his discussion of the position of man and society and the development of civilization out of man's primal past in Civilization and its Discontents (1930). The connections between Tango and Freud's later theories are noteworthy, and the play becomes much more meaningful when read in this light.

The process of applying Freudian psychoanalysis to a literary text involves finding the central fantasy in the work, which then sheds its meaning. In his book The Dynamics of Literary Response (1968), Norman Holland states that psychoanalysis probes literary works "not so much for a central `point,' as for a central fantasy or daydream ... particular manifestations of which occur all through the text" (7). The central fantasy is one that is imbedded in the unconscious of all people. Unconscious awareness of the fantasy leads to a conscious understanding of what the work means when analyzed on an intellectual plane. A critic may reach a deeper level of understanding if he can uncover the basic fantasy entrenched in the work as well as in his own unconscious. Mrozek's Tango contains at its heart an Oedipal fantasy. One immediately may raise the objection at this point that there is only one son in the play, Arthur. Using Freudian analysis, however, we can postulate a nuclear family using all of the play's characters, not just the actual father, mother, and son.

Holland suggests that psychoanalytic observation shows that "even as adults we tend to respond to others as we responded in our first relations with other people, in other words, as we responded to our family" (46). Certain structural elements of Tango's script confirm this theory-especially those relating to the dynamics between family members, as represented in the diagram below:

Arthur is at the center of the diagram, just as he is at the center of the play. His father is Stomil, described as a "large, corpulent man" who scratches himself (Mrozek 20).

Eddie is a visitor in the house, but he can be considered a brother to Arthur if we keep in mind Holland's statement and if we are open to the script's clues. Eddie is the son Stomil and Eleanor wanted Arthur to be. They admire his naturalness and authenticity. Throughout the play, Stomil and Eleanor try to make Arthur see Eddie's admirable qualities as they do. Eddie may be seen as a reflection of Stomil, perhaps a reincarnation of Ston-til in his youth. Both men scratch themselves-revealing a propensity to satisfy their sexual itches in an unabashed, animal-like fashion-both are sleeping with Eleanor, and both live lives of freedom unfettered by social conventions.

Eddie's relationship with Eugenia concretizes his role as Arthur's brother. He calls Eugenia "Grandma" (36 and 65). He and Eugenia are seen together a number of times playing cards. When Eddie, Eugene, and Eugenia are playing cards at the beginning of the play, Eugenia tells Eugene: "Eddie knows best." She then tells Eddie: "I don't know what we would do without you" (12). Eugenia even calls Eddie to her deathbed with her other "children" (94).

Eugenia sees Arthur, her grandson by blood, in an entirely different light. Upon his entrance in Act I, she asks, annoyed: "What are you doing here?" (12). She later asks the same question in the same manner, and even refers to Arthur as a "little twerp" (65). It is obvious that Eugenia admires Eddie more than Arthur. Eddie has established himself as a fact in the life of the household; he is a memher of the family. Eugene sums up Eddie's position quite succinctly when he tells Arthur: "He goes around here as if he owns the place" (17).

Eleanor is Arthur's mother by blood. Ala, although she is Arthur's cousin, plays the role of sister-a fact reinforced by the text when Ala refers to Eleanor and Stomil as "Mother" and "Father" (79 and 107). Alas role as sister-figure becomes clearer when discussed in conjunction with the Oedipal fantasy, which will be explicated after the preliminary structure has been established.

Eugene, although he is actually Arthur's great-uncle, plays the role of grandfather by virtue of his age. Eugene represents the older generation, as does Eugenia. The similarity in his name to the actual grandmother's reinforces Eugene's position as grandfather. Eugene is a substitute for the father, Stomil, whom Arthur has never respected. Stomil has destroyed everything that Arthur holds sacred. Eugene represents the old order that Stomil has destroyed and that Arthur wishes to reconstruct.