Desire and Family Ideology in Albee’s The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?

Edward Albee’s works often explore the dissolution of traditional American family values, focusing on the relational emptiness of middle-class heterosexual couples. In his later work, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, Albee challenges the heteronormative family ideology by dramatizing Martin’s queer desire towards a goat. Previous studies have interpreted Martin’s bestiality through Freudian psychoanalysis but have failed to provide an in-depth analysis of desire. In Freud’s theory, the forbidden desire of Oedipus is repressed and considered the cause of the tragedy that dismantles the traditional family structure. However, in The Goat, Albee portrays Martin’s desire for Sylvia as an epiphany, emphasizing a positive perspective of soulful resonance rather than the negative connotation of desire as a product of lack. Albee’s perspective on desire resonates with Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of “desiring-production,” thereby giving Martin’s desire a productive meaning of “becoming.” Furthermore, Martin’s epiphany implies both a private awakening to queer desire and a realization of the social reality imposed upon him. Thus, the play suggests that the ultimate cause of the tragedy is not Martin’s desire but rather the heteronormative family ideology that confines desire. In conclusion, considering the positive essence of desire, the play calls for a more tolerant attitude towards sexuality and a need to establish more inclusive family structures.