Fernando Arrabal\u27s Ars Amandi : The Theme of Love in Selected Plays

The evolution in Arrabal\u27s treatment of the theme of love reflects both the development and enrichment of his dramatic techniques and the resolution of his own deep-seated psychological conflicts. Arrabal\u27s theater utilizes his concept of dramatic ceremony to project his intense desire for personal, political and artistic liberation. Psychological and social forces combine to frustrate the fulfillment of love in his early theater (Fando and Lis, 1956) but ultimately love functions to obviate both internal and external constraints. Sexual union, which receives its most rapturous affirmation in Arrabal\u27s plays written during the late 1960\u27s (The Law of Barabbas, Ars Amandi, and Erotic Bestiality), reflects the reconciliation of dialectical forces present in man\u27s psyche. Women come to serve as intermediaries between man and the world. And in the broadest sense, the dramatic structure of Arrabal\u27s mature plays can be depicted as the movement from psychic fragmentation to psychic unity, effected by the force of love