THE PROBLEM OF PERSONALITY IN "ME, MYSELF AND I" BY EDWARD ALBEE
In the very beginning of the play “Me, Myself and I” by Edward Albee one of the twin brothers addresses the readers and spectators declaring that he is on the stage to make problems and to make things even more complicated than they are. He tries to get rid of his family and get out of all that mess. Wit and irony dominate in the play, that is why the playwright manages to attract, disappoint and upset the reader and the spectator. The play “Me, Myself and I” is created in its unique and original genre with the use of original stylistic, both linguistic and visual devices. The topic of subjectivity and the relationship between reality and imagination and reality in a literary work occupy the central position in the play. The motive of the twins is reiterated from folklore literature to the works of Shakespeare, Poe, Dickens, Wilde, Borges and many others. This topic is often treated as an instance of split personality; it belongs to the realm of the carnival, monstrous and supernatural and suggests a threat of expropriation of the personality. The play “Me, Myself and I” represents a meta and intertextual argumentation. To understand this reasoning, the reader or spectator needs to know and understand various theatrical conventions and numerous references to literary works. The protagonist of the play is completely unbalanced, he is in constant struggle. In order to achieve harmony, he has to return to uncertainty. The present article analyses the methods used by Albee to transform the stage into a meta- and intertextual “space”, at the same time undermining any belief in the personality and language as fixed, stable and functional entities.