Amplified Love in Sarah Kane's Cleansed: A Jar of Nuances

Abstract

Sarah Kane’s play Cleansed created headlines in 1995 due to its violent and shocking content. While the theme of love has been acknowledged in the discourse on the play since its original staging, the emphasis has been on the grotesque nature of the play. This thesis aims to bring attention the theme of love in Cleansed and argues that the violence is merely a tool in amplifying the experience of love. By reading the play as dramatic literature rather than a script that is to be staged, the emphasis is moved away from violence, and rather focuses on the expression of love. Through analyzing the couples presented in the play, it is evident that violence becomes a device for demonstrating the extreme lengths the couples will go to in order to protect both their love and their lovers. In the end, this thesis illustrates not only the relation between love and violence in Cleansed but also how the play shows the nuances of love in a way that transcends stereotypical expressions of it.