Fool for Love: Analysis of Major Characters
"Fool for Love" is a dramatic exploration of complex relationships set against the backdrop of a rundown motel in the Mojave Desert. The play centers on the tumultuous relationship between Eddie, a rodeo stuntman, and May, his half-sister and former lover. Eddie is characterized by his obsessive, self-centered nature, having traveled a long distance to rekindle his intense, love-hate bond with May, although he is notorious for his infidelities. May, seeking to piece her life back together after years of emotional turmoil, grapples with her feelings for Eddie while also confronting the reality of their toxic dynamic.
The Old Man, a spectral figure representing a distant patriarch, looms over their interactions, embodying both a source of conflict and a commentary on their troubled family history. Martin, a maintenance man and May's potential new love interest, adds another layer to the story, as he navigates the confusion of Eddie and May's deep, intertwined past. While the characters are deeply flawed and their relationships fraught with tension, the play poignantly captures themes of obsession, familial ties, and the struggle for personal redemption.
Fool for Love: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Sam Shepard
First published: 1983
Genre: Play
Locale: The Mojave Desert
Plot: Expressionism
Time: The late 1970's
The Old Man, who may or may not be the ne'er-do-well father of Eddie and May by different mothers. Of indeterminate age, he is not a living character and exists only in the minds of Eddie and May, who communicate directly with him at their discretion. The Old Man, dressed in Western clothing, complete with Stetson hat, sits in a rocking chair throughout the play and sips whiskey that he pours from a bottle into a Styrofoam cup. He claims to be married to country singer Barbara Mandrell and stares at what he says is her picture on an empty wall in the rundown motel where all the action takes place. The patriarch does not seem to like his children very much; he says of them, “I don't recognize myself in either one a' you.… You could be anybody's. Probably are.” He is a specterlike figure, a kind of perverse Greek chorus who argues with Eddie and May until the end, when they leave and he is left alone, staring at the empty wall. It is possible that he is the only real individual and has invented the whole episode, with the other characters being figments of his imagination.
Eddie, an ornery rodeo stuntman in his late thirties. He is dressed in his working clothes, and his smell indicates his need of a bath. The cowboy is the former lover and half brother of May. Eddie is obsessed with May. To find her, he has traveled 2,480 miles with his pickup truck and horse trailer. For fifteen years, he has had an intense love-hate relationship with May, usually breaking it off because he is always chasing someone new. Women seem to find him attractive and irresistible. A mysterious and unseen lady known as “the Countess,” said by May to be his latest conquest and her reason for leaving him, arrives in a Mercedes Benz and waits for Eddie outside the motel. Eddie has bought some property in Wyoming and has come to take May there. He is a violently self-centered man who is obsessed with pursuing May for himself. Eddie wins May back at the end but then inexplicably leaves her for the enigmatic Countess.
May, the attractive half sister and former lover of Eddie. She is in her early thirties and has had a turbulent fifteen-year relationship with Eddie. Tired of his continual infidelities, particularly with the wealthy Countess, she apparently has left him for good and now lives in a dingy motel on the edge of the Mojave Desert. May works as a short-order cook and is putting her shattered life together. When Eddie unexpectedly shows up, May is both pleased and disgusted by his sudden intrusion and his passionate pursuit, but she cannot forget their stormy emotional past or their mutual attraction and revulsion. She knows they are inextricably bound together, but she has no illusions about Eddie, or about the Old Man. Her outburst at Eddie's drunken lies to Martin about their relationship forces her version of the truth to be revealed and precipitates Eddie's exit, a departure that she knows will be final.
Martin, an easygoing, solidly built maintenance man in his early thirties. A native of the area, he arrives at the motel to pick up May for their first date. Thinking that May is in trouble when he hears screams, Martin makes a dramatic entrance by kicking open the door and tackling Eddie to the ground. Martin is interested in developing a relationship with May. He is a simple, amiable individual who is puzzled by the contradictions between the stories told by May and by Eddie. He remains a largely uninteresting and undeveloped character, but his presence delineates the incestuous bond between Eddie and May. Martin remains confused by all that occurs from the moment he arrives until the end, when he watches May leave the motel.