The Balcony

Jean Genet's 'The Balcony' is an eponymous title. It is the name of a brothel house run by a woman named Irma. It is an unusual brothel house where one's physical gratification never gets fulfilled. It is a place where one goes to gratify one's desire. The desire has nothing to do with one's physical urge. It is to do with one's hope of life, one's ambition and one's hankering for power. The whole play could be viewed in the aspects of desire for power, temporary loss of power and retention of the lost supremacy. The characters are the Bishop, the General, the chief of police and the judge who visit Irma's phantasmagoric studio where their inner desires get fulfilled by Irma. She supplies props and also characters and creates situations and executes their intentions. The characters or personalities turn to Irma to compensate their loss in the real world. The whole play is set only in the studio of Irma where most of the action takes place and the audiences are fed with information about the coup d'etat of without now and then with the arrival of characters. Genet works out the transformation fantastically as the members of Irma's clientele get in to ease them and with a sense of unbearableness of their loss. As the play progresses, there is gaining of power by the insurrectionists and as it reaches its denouement they are put under control and power gets restored. Irma appears as queen and faces the audiences and addresses them. It is not clear whether she puts on the role of the queen or she appears as queen. However she confirms the disbelief of the audiences by stating that things will be very strange in their real lives in their houses. The play ends with this final speech of Irma/Queen that is addressed to the audiences and not to the characters of the play. Through this play Genet confirms the 'play' of supreme powers in the lives of humans and its permeation everywhere.