FUSION OF ILLUSION AND REALITY IN SHEPARD’S FOOL FOR LOVE

Abstract

In this paper, Sam Shepard’s play Fool for Love is examined to trace how reality and illusion are fused in the lives of his psychologically convoluted characters.  Shepard places his characters in an apparently realistic setting of a “low-rent motel room” (19), the presence of which on the edge of the Mojave Desert, heightens the illusion of reality. The bond between Eddie and May, two main characters of the play, is also strengthened by illusions, yet, ironically, it is torn apart by truths. These truths have been concealed in order to protect the characters from the bitter reality of their incestuous relationship. Shepard presents the complicated realities of American lives and emphasizes the multilayered realities, just as there are multidimensional illusions. Drawing from Agata Bielik-Robson’s notions regarding delusion, fantasy, and reality, it is argued through textual analysis that fantasy or illusion cannot be regarded as the opposite of reality which is per se a phenomenon suffused with counteracting levels of perspectives. The paper, therefore, looks into the formation of varied illusions and how they affect the reality of particular situations in the play.