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Sara Khan

July 1, 2013

Deptt. Of English Language and Literature,

University of the Punjab.

Abstract

This paper examines the colonial dynamics at work in the play Isis written by Nawal El

Saadawi. The paradigm it applies is Frantz Fanon’s critique “On Violence” from his work The

Wretched of the Earth. The play portrays the violent process of asserting power by the

authoritative rulers and the subsequent liberation of the dispossessed by the sagacity of the

goddess Isis. This finds its equivalent in the colonial process and the ensuing decolonization

process that Fanon talks about in detail in “On Violence.” The play shows a significant

divergence from the decolonization process as described in “On Violence” in a way that the

process becomes much less violent and blood-spattered. This is all because of the character of

Isis, the goddess of justice, clemency, wisdom, art and intelligence that the much predicted

violence in the process of decolonization (as discussed in Fanon’s critique) is avoided. Thus the

purpose of the study is to spotlight the power of the mythical goddess materialized in the

powerful character of Isis and her enlightening leadership against the sheer oppression with

reference to the decolonization process.

Literature Review

Nawal El Sadaawi is an important Arab feminist voice. She was born in a small village in

Egypt and became a doctor. The AUC Press Book of Modern Arabic Literature introduces her as
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“the second most widely read Arab writer in the English-speaking world (after Naguib

Mahfouz)…A controversial figure, she is seen very differently in the Arab world from how she

is seen in the West” (Davies 364). It is because of her different perspective on things from

general Arab voice with its patriarchal overtones. This is evident from the way she takes up the

character of Isis in her play Isis in contrast to the Isis drawn by Tawfiq al-Hakim. Adele S.

Newson-Horst talks about this contrast in his foreword to the play Isis: “El Saadawi’s Isis is

alternately fierce, vain, confident, strong and merciful…this strongly contrasts with the image of

Isis the loving wife in Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Isis” and that “female characterization in both works is

complex and thoroughly drawn around creative evocations of their imagined lives” (15). This

also makes a comment on the difference of male and female perspective on a mythical female

character. Davies writes about Hakim as “the leading playwright of his time in Egypt” (124).

Thus, Saadawi’s voice goes against the mainstream which in this case is the dominant male

voice.

Adele S. Newson-Horst writes in the introduction to the play Isis, “El Saadawi firmly

situates herself as a writer for social justice. She insists that it is her job, as a writer, to expose the

truth about colonial rule, political patrimony, and religious fundamentalism” (11). The play gives

voice to the dispossessed and also realizes their desire for a perceptive leadership in the character

of Isis. This is however, an issue of universal appeal yet Isis is the Arabic representation of the

process of decolonization as the inferior classes confront the privileged class (Divine and man-

power). The post-colonial paradigm like The Wretched of the Earth speaks in the distinctly

outlined terms: ‘the colonist, the colonized and decolonization’ the dynamics of the

confrontation between privileged and unprivileged classes (Fanon 1). Saadawi deals with the

issue of justice and equality as Newson-Horst states: “El Saadawi’s polemics centre on a debate
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about justice…justice does not exist without equality-equality for poor, women, and the lower

economic classes…when there is unity among these factions, as advocated in her play Isis, the

rule of the unjust or the privileged class can be defeated” (10). The analysis of Saadawi’s

dramatic work Isis in the light of Fanon’s critique “On Violence” will also provide an insight

into the fact that two different narratives related to different geographies converge at the

common ground of justice.

El Saadawi as Newson-Horst describes, “Appropriates Isis’s legendary place in the

Egyptian consciousness to enable her successes and well-being” (10). He further relates the

whole episode of how she was “singled…out from all the girls to play the role of Isis on stage”

and that people started to refer to her as Isis after such successful performance and that she

“dreamt of sitting at a piano playing music, singing and/or dancing” (10). He quotes El Saadawi:

“my feet beating on the ground, my head crowned with the disc of the sun, lifting it up like the

goddess Isis” (10). This echoes with the undercurrents of Carl Jung’s theory of Collective

Unconscious and Archetypes. Anthony Stevens in his Encarta Encyclopedia article “From Jung”

writes:

A diagrammatic representation of Jung's model of the

psyche…should be visualized as a globe or a sphere, like a three-

layered onion. At the centre, and permeating the entire system with

its influence, is the Self. Within the inner of the three concentric

circles, is the collective unconscious, composed of archetypes. The

outer circle represents consciousness, with its focal ego orbiting

the system rather like a planet orbiting the sun, or the moon

orbiting the earth. Intermediate between the conscious and the

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collective unconscious, is the personal unconscious, made up of

complexes, each of which is linked to an archetype: for complexes

are personifications of archetypes; they are the means through

which archetypes manifest themselves in the personal psyche.

This model of psyche by Jung delineates the functional parts of the self and it separates personal

unconscious from collective unconscious. The construction of personal unconscious is

significant to look at in order to analyze El Saadawi’s intimate association with the character of

Isis. If complexes are personifications of archetypes and personal consciousness is made up of

complexes then El Saadawi’s personal unconscious expresses through her performance of the

role of Isis and the impression it made on the audience was therefore strong. This interpretation

also conforms to Newson-Horst’s statement that El Saadawi “appropriates Isis’s legendary place

in the Egyptian consciousness…” as she connects personal unconscious with the collective

unconscious and acquires the complete sense of self. Her feelings of pride manifest themselves

like this: “my head crowned with the disc of the sun, lifting it up like the goddess Isis” (10).

Stevens relates, in the article “From Jung” describing the Jungian concept of Archetypes,

“the most important archetype to be actualized in the personal psyche of a child is the mother

archetype” (N pag.). On an occasion El Saadawi says, “My mother would be at her best, once

more a shining star…her head held high, a woman full of pride, a goddess like Isis, a halo of

light around her head, like a full moon, a silvery crown that the ancient Egyptian goddess wore

above her brow” (qtd. In Newson-Horst 10). He further states:

Actualization (Jung also speaks of 'evocation', and 'constellation')

of an archetype seems to proceed in accordance with the laws of

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association… Two of these laws are particularly apposite

[pertinent]: they are the law of similarity and the law of contiguity

[intimate relationship]. Thus, the mother archetype is actualized in

the child's psyche through the contiguity of a female caretaker

whose behaviour and personal characteristics are sufficiently

similar to the built-in structure of the maternal archetype for the

child to perceive her and experience her as 'mother'. Then, as the

attachment relationship develops, the archetype becomes active in

the personal psyche of the child in the form of the mother complex.

Thus, in the character of Isis is the actualization of El Saadawi’s maternal archetype as she

associates herself with Isis and also her mother, quoting Newson-Horst again, “female

characterization in both works is complex and thoroughly drawn around creative evocations of

their imagined lives” (15).

El Saadawi reconstructs the character of Isis in “Egyptian consciousness” (Newson-

Horst 10). Newson-Horst quotes El Saadawi:

Many writers have written about Isis…but no one credits her as a teacher

and inventor of agriculture, bread making, and writing, nor do they portray

her accurately as a figure who had a philosophy, values, and religion…

Many writers have ignored this truth about Isis and considered her

merely the wife of Osiris…an example of such a portrayal is her role in

the play Isis written by Tawfiq al-Hakim, in which he limits the character

of Isis to that of a woman who lost her husband and is determined to bring
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him back. Al-Hakim compares Isis to Sheherezad and Penelope, who also

supported their husbands. He transforms Isis into a silent figure unable to

participate in the debates among philosophers and writers…

In contrast to this image of Isis El Saadawi restructures Isis’s legendary position. El

Saadawi makes use of the medium of drama to fully actualize the potential embodied in

the character of Isis of her play Isis. Isis is the realization of the power of the maternal

archetype which confronts dictatorial regime of Ra: the male God. The next chapter will

closely look at the process of ‘decolonization’ under Isis’s discerning guidance.

Methodology

The analysis of the play Isis written by Nawal El Saadawi in the light of Fanon’s ideas

about colonial rule and the process of decolonization involved thorough reading of the text of the

play. The chapter ‘On Violence’ has been selected as the primary paradigm to look at the play.

The secondary source was Encyclopedia Encarta article “From Jung” written by Anthony

Stevens to see the undercurrents of Jungian Archetype in the reworking of the myth of Isis by El

Saadawi.

The research has to cope with the limitation of human potential, time and word limit. It

is, nonetheless, a promising addition to the existing body of literature.

Data Analysis

Frantz Fanon in his critique “On Violence” from The Wretched of the Earth says,

“Decolonization is the encounter between two congenitally antagonistic forces…their

first confrontation was coloured by violence and their cohabitation- or rather the
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exploitation of the colonized by the colonizer- continued at the point of the bayonet and

under cannon fire” (Fanon 2). This means that the two confronting forces are in a

constant state of combat where at one time one is exploited and the other is the exploiter.

In Isis the power struggle between the state machinery (divine and manpower) and the ill-

treated goddess Isis is a struggle between justice and absolute hegemonic power. The

absolute god RA has for his weapons the holy book and sword for he believes that these

two are essential to exert one’s authority. At one point he distinctly pronounces this:

RA. I need the holy book and the dagger together. A god cannot neglect

either of them. (I. I. 36)

Isis on the other hand symbolizes justice, clemency, wisdom, arts, intelligence and above

all speech and these are her weapons against the totalitarianism established by RA. As for

the intensity of violence involved in the process of implementing the laws of RA, the

punishment is not lesser than the ‘point of the bayonet and under canon fire’ (2). In one

of his heated conversations with Seth- the Earth god, RA proclaims:

RA. Whoever opposes my wish will be punished by death, death with this

dagger. ( God RA points at the dagger in Seth’s hand). (I. I. 36)

RA defines his doctrine to have three important points. The second one is:

RA. Whoever doubts the sacred quality of RA will be burned to death or

thrown to the wild animals to be devoured. (I. I. 34)

This command from RA figures time and again in the play and the given examples are

only from the very first dialogue between RA and Seth. Death and atrocious torture as
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punishment of disobedience becomes the central point of RA’s regime just as the

exploitation of the colonized by the colonizer is described by Fanon.

There are three rules that RA establishes just after he possesses the throne of sky. The

very first rule is that any man with weak faith and who defies Ra’s laws will be subjected to

terrible violence. The persecution involves burning to death or being thrown to the group of

animals to devour. Fanon compares the hegemonic or colonial culture to “DDT” (pag. 7) the

insecticide which kills not only the harmful but also good helpful insects too. In RA’s case his

command to kill anyone who doubts in his power is equally brutal for he doesn’t see how much

good is being destroyed with this practice. His command to kill Osiris only that he didn’t fight

against his own mother along with RA is representative of the same DDT kind of destructive

spirit which doesn’t perceive the goodness in Osiris before killing him.

In Fanon’s opinion the most effective device of an autocrat is the use of police and

military which is permitted to keep close watch on the dispossessed and contain them by using

the language of ‘pure violence’ in the name of law enforcement. He states:

In colonial regions, however, the proximity and frequent, direct

intervention by the police and the military ensure the colonized are kept

under close scrutiny, and contained by rifle butts and napalm. We have

seen how the government’s agent uses a language of pure violence. The

agent does not alleviate oppression or mask domination. He displays and

demonstrates them with the clear conscience of the law enforcer, and

brings violence into the homes and minds of the colonized subject. (4)
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There are rapes, uncontrolled killing and abduction in the play Isis and there is no end to it. The

invention of ghosts by the army officer to breed fear in the people is such a device to keep them

in control and even subjugated to any violence committed on them. It is because of this that the

old peasant woman cries for her daughter who is abducted by the ghosts but never lets a fowl

word delivered from her mouth against the god RA.

The resurrection of Osiris could be seen in the light of what fanon says about the process

of decolonization. He states, “Decolonization is truly the creation of new man… “the thing”

colonized becomes a man through the very process of liberation” (2). At this point I will bring to

notice the title of the foreword to the text of Isis “In the light of a liberating female gaze: the

dramatic literature of Nawal El Sadawi”. In the play, Isis’s liberating gaze, her vision and

wisdom brings Osiris back to life. Fanon further adds that “but such a creation cannot be

attributed to a supernatural power…” (2) This refers to the point which Osiris as the sailor makes

emphatically that he is a man and not the god Osiris. After resurrection in his discussion with

The Priest Osiris says:

OSIRIS. No…I am not a god and not of the lineage of deities and masters…I am

an offspring of slaves. (II. I. 86)

He along with Isis establishes a small state where divinity is equal to humans. The

humanistic element of such liberation is unmistakably fostered in the play.

The excessive use of brutality hints at the insecurity the autocrat feels after taking

unlawful possession of the throne. He always fears the people he has deprived and made to

suffer. Fanon observes, “The gaze that the colonized subject casts at the colonist sector is a look

of lust, a look of envy. Dreams of possession. Every type of possession: of sitting at the
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colonist’s table and sleeping in his bed, preferably with his wife” (5). In anticipation of such

envy from the subordinates the ruling machinery remains in a constant state of fear. Fanon

further states: “The colonist is aware of this as he catches the furtive glance, and constantly on

his guard, realizes bitterly that ‘they want to take our place’ (5). The Army Chief fears Isis’s

power to resurrect Osiris. He says:

THE ARMY CHIEF. The ability to resurrect the dead means, of course, the

ability to destroy the living. Whoever gives life can also take it. She

competes with the God RA in this power. Her existence has become

dangerous, my lord, to the existence of Ra. (I. IV. 56)

The absolute God Ra is constantly tormented by the suspicions against the black Ethiopian slave.

Ra discovered him in bed with his favourite woman in harem. In his anger he does not just

commands the death of the slave but attempts to inflict extreme humiliation on him. Ra says:

THE ARMY CHIEF. Cut off from his body that piece of meat, which caused him

to imagine that he was a man who could dare to look at one of the god’s

women. Remove it from his body with the knife to make him realize that

he is merely a humiliated eunuch slave…(II. II. 91)

Seth also remains in a constant state of awe against Isis. He sometimes calls her a witch and

sometimes a sorceress.

Fanon observes that the colonial world is “the compartmentalized world, the world

divided in two” (5) and that “the colonist’s sector is a sector built to last…the colonist’s feet can

never be glimpsed, except perhaps in the sea, but then you can never get close enough” (4). This
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strikes awe and admiration in the minds of the subordinates. Ra also makes use of this device to

instill fear and wonder in the minds of his subjects. He says:

RA. To instill terror a God must not stand in front of people to give speeches.

Human ear must not hear my sacred voice. In any case, people fear and

revere the written word more. (I. I. 33).

It is noteworthy that Isis never for a moment in the play commits an act of violence

against RA or Seth. Although it is a natural state for any colonized sector to have impassioned

claims against the hegemony that their world is basically different as Fanon views it. He says,

“Challenging the colonial world is not a rational confrontation of viewpoints…but the

impassioned claim by the colonized that their world is fundamentally different” (6). Isis does

possess the ardent and angry claim against Seth yet her anger never goes unruly. Fanon further

states, “In its bare reality decolonization reeks of cannonballs and bloody knives and a

murderous and decisive confrontation between the two protagonists is eagerly expected by the

dispossessed” (3). At this point the character of Isis appears to go at a tangent from how Fanon

looks at the colonial situation and the process of decolonization. This is of interest that the

goddess Isis channelizes the murderous impulse that the desolate sector entertains against the

exploiter. Isis’s own self divides into Isis, the kind goddess and Isis, the destroyer” (I. III. 48) to

establish the rule of justice. She says:

ISIS. Justice is goodness for goodness, evilness for evilness, and butchery for

butchery. He who starts first is the oppressor…I will avenge the blood of

Osiris from you, Seth. Beware the wickedness of Isis. She is no longer a
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merciful goddess. She has turned into a devil…the devil incarnate…(I. III.

Pag.49)

Conclusion

The dispossessed people guided by Isis and Osiris are able to negotiate for themselves a

desirable space to live and even live for. The manner with which violence is avoided and

channelized to a more fruitful pursuit is the attribute of Isis’s sagacity. They do violate the

established laws by establishing a state within a state but in a peaceful way. The Act II scene I

open on the dancing and singing people while before this the atmosphere of the play reeked of

the blood of castrations, unstopped killings and resounding with the cries of people terrified by

the ghosts and phantoms. Isis’s decision to hold a people’s court to try Seth is the beacon for the

people. The moment she is in control of the situation people from every field of artisanship find

the sense of justice without giving vent to their extreme desire of violence as Fanon views it.
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Works Cited

Davies, Denys Johnson, ed. The AUC Press Book of Modern Arabic Literature. The American

University in Cairo Press: Egypt, 2006. (124, 364). Print.

Newson-Horst, Adele S. foreword . Isis. By Nawal El Saadawi. Trans. Rihab Kassatly Bagnole.

26 Westbourne Grove, London W2 5RH: London, 2009. 10-12. Print.

El Saadawi, Nawal. Isis. Trans. Rihab Kassatly Bagnole. 26 Westbourne Grove, London W2

5RH: London, 2009. Print.

Fanon, Frantz. “On Violence.” The Wretched of the Earth. Trans. Philcox, Richard. Grove Press,

New York: New York, 2004, Print.

Stevens, Anthony. “From Jung.” Past Masters Series. Microsoft Encarta, 2009. Reproduced with

permission from Oxford University Press.