Adolescence and Femininity at the Play Spring Awakening^*

Abstract

This paper aims to raise the theoretical discussion about the vicissitudes in the process of teenage girls becoming women, from the psychoanalytical point, which says the puberty is a landmark on sexual development. Adolescence is approached as a sexuation process resulting from Oedipus. For the boys, the identification with the father is enough, while the girls need extra work. We are going to examine the proper impasses and the outputs to the femininity construction incented by Wendla and Ilse, adolescent characters from the play Spring Wakening by Frank Wedekind, in the face of the real drive.

Keywords:
adolescence; femininity; psychoanalysis